Page 36 of Royal

The little girl looks like she has a scratch on her face, like she got hit with something or got scraped in a fall. I smile at them as we pass.

I don’t blame them. They’re just young kids.

We are led into an office where the couple from earlier this morning are sitting in chairs. They turn to watch us enter, giving us a hateful look.

Royal grabs a chair, scoots it away from them, putting distance between us, and has me sitting in it with him at my back, his hands on my shoulders.

The principal sits at her desk. She has a remote in her hand and points it at a flat screen behind her on the wall. The TV turns on, and a video is paused. We can see Penny eating her lunch at the table, and that’s all you can make out.

The principal looks to us, then the couple beside us. I can smell cigarette smoke across the room from the woman whom I’m assuming is the girl’s mother. She has her hand on her knee, her nails yellow, and dirt is caked under them.

I look away so I don’t show that I’m staring at her.

“Mr. and Mrs. Turner, this is the fifth time since the school year has started that you have been called into my office, and it seems that my warnings have not been enough.

The woman, Mrs. Turner, snorts at that. The principal’s face turns blank, and I know she is hiding her reaction.

“Let’s watch the video of what happened today.”

I can feel the hatred radiating from the woman next to me as she watches me like it’s my fault.

In the clip, you can see Penny at the table eating her lunch as the little girl and the older boy are whispering to each other, and then they point to Penny.

My stomach clenches with nerves, not liking the direction this is going. Royal tightens his hands on my shoulders, and I know he feels the same.

The little girl laughs at the boy, looking at Penny one last time. Penny is avoiding eye contact with her, staring at her food instead. Then, the little girl shoots across the table, grabbing her food and throwing it on the ground.

I look at Mr. and Mrs. Turner to see their reaction, but they act bored.

Penny stands up because some of the food hit her in the face as it flew past. Her face turns toward the camera, and I try not to react at the pissed-off look on her face because it’s the same one Royal is wearing right now.

The sound turns on, and we hear what is happening. “Why are you so mean? Did your parents drop you on your head too many times?” she says, and I concentrate hard so I don’t laugh.

The boy runs around the table toward Penny. He is almost twice her size. She doesn’t see him when he comes up behind her.

He grabs her hard. One hand grabs a hold of one of her braids, the other the strap of her sundress, and he wrenches her to the side, causing her to fall to the ground.

If I thought she was mad before, oh no, it was nothing compared to the way she looks now on the video footage. He starts to come for her again, and she rears her fist back, and with as much oomph as she can muster, she strikes him on the nose.

Blood immediately starts pouring from his nose and he falls to the ground, screaming at the top of his lungs that his nose is broken.

Penny is looking at the boy, then she raises her fist in shock like she can’t believe what just happened.

The little girl, his sister, I presume, makes herself known and screams too, charging toward Penny.

Penny smacks her hard, stopping her in her tracks before she can lay a hand on her. Then, while the girl is stunned, Penny pushes her down, and she scrapes her face on the side of the bench.

That’s when the teachers swarm in and take in the scene. Penny reaches her hand up to feel her messed-up hair, and she gives a disgusted look to the little boy on the ground.

She fixes her clothes and hair to the best of her ability, then follows the principal into the office.

I’m proud of her. She protected herself, and I genuinely believe she would have been seriously hurt if she hadn't.

As soon as the video cuts off, Mrs. Turner turns to us. “I want that little girl in jail! Look at what she did to my babies. She is a heathen like that club,” she spits out, her eyes getting a crazy glaze to them that makes me worry about her mentality.

The principal puts her hands up, wanting the woman to calm down. Mr. Turner, on the other hand, hasn’t said a word.

“Penny is not at fault here. She defended herself. This is the second time someone has attacked her within a week, and the other time being your daughter. Your son has hurt quite a few boys since the beginning of the school year as well.”

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