I take a deep breath as I enter nervously the office that the whole school body passionately hates. I knew well what's going to happen when I first touched the door knob but I'm still reluctant about the consequences of my hasty actions.

"But Mrs. Austen, I have a proof that I really went to Canada because of some personal matter. Isn't that a valid excuse?" I tell the school's dean as respectful as I can manage despite the anger that's threatening to explode because of her lack of consideration. She fixes her glasses before bringing her clasped hands in front of her on top of the table. With the stern look she's giving me, I know that I must prepare now myself for the hurricane Austen, as the kids call it, that's coming.

"I didn't say that I don't believe you, Ms. Everdale. I'm saying that I do believe your excuse for not telling anyone about your sudden disappearance but that doesn't mean you can get away from the consequences of it," she mocks me, just exactly what I'm expecting, "you're aware that you'll be graduating in a few months, right? And you're aware of the consequences of consecutive absences, right?" My palms start sweating. Like all the rumors circulating in this whole campus, she really is this inconsiderate. This is the first time I have ever entered her office and I hate this already. Giving up, I nod.

"So, what's the punishment then?" I don't intend to be rude but my words come out that way. She doesn't look surprised by it though, instead she looks.. amused?

"How long were you gone again?" She goes through the papers on her table.

"Um, eight days?" I shrug nonchalantly.

"Okay. School service for 8 days." She says, dismissing me. Wait, what?

"Hold on, what does that mean?" I refuse to leave yet her office.

"It means that you will help around the campus. Cleaning, to be specific." She says as she smiles at me tauntingly. I fight the urge to roll my eyes at her since she's in a high position.

"Why would the punishment be cleaning? I mean, that was too heavy and I can't do that alone. This campus isn't only one room." I say aloud before I can even stop myself. She looks at me with wide eyes. Clearly surprised with me and my smart mouth. This will get me in more trouble, will it? She smiles and I sigh in relief inwardly. Or maybe not.

"Who says you're alone? You have a companion for this punishment, Ms. Everdale." She smiles.. at my misery, I suppose. "Also, I'll start tomorrow if I were you so my punishment will end earlier." She adds and I groan audibly and she goes back to her paperworks as if I wasn't there anymore.

"Okay. I'm leaving then, Mrs. Austen." I say, giving up because it's not like there's something I can do about it. I reach for the door without looking back at the annoying old woman. When I get out of the cursed room, my best friend, Allie is standing outside and leaning against the railings with her phone in hand, impatience is evident on her face. She runs to me immediately and asks me what happened. I tell her everything including hurricane Austen and she goes, "told you so". How helpful, Alison Reed.

***

After my last class ends, I go straight to the library to check out a book I've been wanting to read. When I walk out of the library, I almost jump out of shock at the scene before my eyes.

Chase Mendler slash everyone's boyfriend, as labeled by the female population in school for it is rumored that he dates a lot. He never admits to any of these but he's always seen holding hands or hanging out with different girls. Very celebrity-like, right?

But he's not alone. He's at the end of the stairs and leaning by the railings on the side, flirting with one of the popular girls here in school, Maddy I-don't-give-a-damn-what-her-surname-is. I take note of his right hand wrapped around her waist. They both realize my presence and stop to glance at me. Chase doesn't look mortified and so does the Maddy girl. Instead, they look like they're just waiting for me impatiently to run off so they can continue their business. I lower my head down and scurry off. I make sure not to look back again. How embarrassing. Wait, why am I the one getting embarrassed here? Sure, I find him hot but I know better than develop a crush on Mr. Everyone's Boyfriend and waste my time.

"Where have you been, Lia!" Allie comes out of nowhere, yelling at me.

"Library." I show her the book in my hand.

"Oh, I see. Let's go then? Mom made us a cake. Stop by at our place for an hour or two?" She links her arm around mine and we start walking back to my car.

"Last time I check, I'm not your personal driver." I roll my eyes at her playfully as she turns the music on and set the volume to the highest level.

"My car is still under surgery. You love me so you have to bare with me." She nudges my arm with her elbow as she starts singing along to the music. How loud and obnoxious. It's been a week since her and her car got into a minor accident. Good thing, her car caught most of the damage so she was not wounded severely. She drove home a little tipsy which resulted to this damage – this damage I mean, I have to drive her home until her car is fixed.

***

The next morning, I almost regret waking up after I realize that today's the first day of my punishment. I wonder what hurricane Austen has in store for me. After preparing for school and eating only a piece of pancake for breakfast, I drive myself to school.

"Andrea said you weren't answering her calls. She keeps texting me this morning." Allie gripes as she leans against her locker.

"My phone died." I say.

"Liar." It's true though.

"It did." I shrug.

"What happened?"

"I woke up this morning and found it dead under my bed. I can't blame it though, it's already too old and overused. I'm just gonna get a replacement soon."

"Oh, poor phone," she pretends to sympathize with me, "anyway, she's worried about you so try to drop by her clinic this weekend, okay?" Dr. Hartley – who I call Andrea as she wants to be called by her first name instead because it makes her feel like she isn't 39 but Allie refuses to do so just to annoy her – really is such a mom.

"I certainly will. I miss Miley anyway." With that, Allie leaves for her first class. Mine will start at 10 and it's only 8:30. I go straight to Mrs. Austen's office to inquire about my first task.

"Come in." I enter quietly. Her eyes are glued to the papers in her hands, barely acknowledging my unwanted presence. I decide to go on right away with what I need from her so I can get it over with quickly.

"Good morning, Mrs. Austen. I'd like to ask where I should start with my punishment." I say, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"Perhaps you can start with the mess in the stock room? It's that room down the hall, I'm sure you know where it is." She her thumb to aid in turning the pages easily. Mess kind of sounds bad.. I hope I'm wrong.

"Oh. Okay, then." I turn around before rolling my eyes. I head for the door and leave without saying thank you. Great, stock room it is.

I wander down the hall and search for the room. There's this brown door with a bond paper pasted on it that says "stock room" so I figure this must be it. I open the room and disgust flashes across my face immediately. It's a little dark inside – the windows are covered with dirty looking curtains; it seems that they weren't washed for years. The paint on the walls had chipped off. Spiders have rented the entire room and their webs are everywhere. Tables and chairs are scattered around and it's noticeable that each chair has missing body parts. Broken computers and tons of used paper are piled on top of a huge table and everything in this room is freaking filled with thick dusts. I'm quite sensitive to dust. I keep sneezing and I start feeling itchy everywhere whenever I clean dusty stuffs but it wasn't that severe so it's fine but still, this is bloody disgusting. What a disaster. I don't even know where to start. I enter and look around the room while I search for the cleaning materials.

"Excuse me? You're Ms. Everdale?" I turn around and find the school's cleaner by the door with pails and mops in her hands. I walk towards her. "Um, yes?"

"These are some of the cleaning materials that you can use. If you need more, you can find me anywhere and ask." I thank her before I grab the materials from her. The old woman smiles at me before she leaves.

Heck, where do I start? Maybe I should start dusting off the surfaces of every table first? It's not that I don't know how to clean, it's just that I've never tried cleaning such a messy room before. Messy is honestly an understatement; this room literally looks like it suffered from both world war one and two with how it looks.

I use the broom to dust first the surface of the table. After doing so, I grab a rag and dip it in the water before using it to wipe the dusted surface. I do the same to the chairs. After, like, fifteen minutes of repeating the same thing over and over again, I get bored so I decide to take a rest for a bit. I lean against the dusted table. I suppose I could use some music to lighten up the mood but when I reach for the pocket of my jeans, I remember my phone's death this morning. I start cursing at it for leaving me just when I needed it the most. I let out a frustrated sigh and the door suddenly opens and light enters the dark room. I squint as I look over the door.

"Bloody hell." The person who opens the door says.. more to himself and groans. He opens the door widely with his foot and enters. He leaves the door open. I straighten up and blink a few times to adjust my vision to the vision blurring light that's coming from the outside. When my eyes have already recovered from the blinding light, I finally recognize the face of the intruder.

Chase Mendler?