Chapter 45

FRANKIE'S POV
THE NEXT DAY
According to what Principal Sterling had written in the letter, I was supposed to be in his office with my mum, Amber Swift. Turns out plans were changed and I had never been so happy about plans being changed before in my entire 10 years of being on earth.
'Good morning, Mr..?" Principal Sterling shook hands with the man that had accompanied me to his office that Monday morning as we all took our seats in his office. If the principal was surprised to be seeing someone else in place of my mum, he didn't exactly show it and that was a good sign.
'Jay, Jay Harley" the man smiled at the principal whose face lit up with recognition. It would have been strange if he didn't know who Jay Harley was, everyone in Oxford Oaks had heard of Jay Harley. Everyone.
I was having a hard time keeping my excitement at bay as I watched the principal return Jay's smile, 'It's nice to finally meet you in person, Mr Harley. I've heard a lot about you" he commented shaking Jay's hand again. Of course you have, you would have been likely to be stoned to death if you hadn't.
Jay just smiled politely and muttered a little, 'Thank you" Was it just me or was principal sterling acting strange? Adults did asskissing too? I thought it was something associated with children who wanted to be part of the popular kids population.
I was so glad Jay had finally convinced my mum to allow him go with me to the principal's office for the meeting in her place. I wasn't exactly sure how he had done it but he had and I was glad he had. So so glad.
Principal Sterling caught himself staring and averted his eyes as he cleared his throat, 'Weren't you supposed to come with your mum?" He turned his attention towards me. That was, when it dawned on me, I hadn't told mum about the meeting with the principal. How then did she know about it?
After I left the door where I was eavesdropping, I went back to the room to meet a very pissed Stacey. Apparently, someone had gone through her stuff and she was all the over the place about it. Danny sucked at keeping secrets more than Stacey and Maddie combined and before long, the culprit was revealed not to my surprise though.
Maddie was a walking busybody, it was a given for me to go through the journal. If I didn't have an idea of what was written in it, with the way Stacey guided it like her life depended on it, I would have attempted to go through it too.
Jay nudged me slightly with his feet and I looked at principal sterling who had a smug look on his face, he must have said something but I had drifted and didn't catch any of it. I was about to silently start praying when I started talking,
'Mr Harley was telling me your mum had some issues to settle over at work and wanted him to stand in for her, is that true?" He asked with a suspicious look on his face.
I gave him a bright smile as I answered, 'Yes, that's correct, sir" I glanced at Jay who mirrored my smile but his was a little bit less bright. I was obsessed with the way his blue eyes twinkled when he smiled mostly because Stacey had commented that we had similar eyes and could pass out for father and son
'And he's your godfather?" He raised an eyebrow quizzically and I cast a glance at Jay who nodded in confirmation. I didn't hear wrong at all, Jay Harley had told the principal he was my godfather.
Luke Clinton wasn't just a regular bully that was 6'2 and was dumb to the core. Luke was a very smart kid, in fact he was the top of the class followed closely by Stacey. Insulting him with dumbness was just plain stupid and incredibly false.
Like an unspoken rule for bullies, Luke was mostly in the hallways preying on little, helpless and insecure students who like him, all wanted to get into the popular crowd. So, it wasn't surprising that I found him in the hallway after Jay and I had left the principal's office.
It was either Jay owed me a lot from his previous life or something was really going on between my mum and him but I really didn't care much about it, he had saved me from the principal's clutches and I was grateful beyond what words could say. I knew the consequences of my actions weren't going to be trivial but it was more than I had thought.
According to Mr Sterling, theft was a huge offense, something people got expelled for and my only saving grace was the fact that Jay Harley had vouched for me. The principal said, Jay had swore I wasn't a thief, I had never stolen anything before in my life and my I did what I did only because I was following a dare the bullies had coerced me into doing to gain acceptance into their circle, which looked dumb now that I thought about it. Who makes someone steal to prove their worth?
It wasn't exactly the truth but it also wasn't far from it, the bullies had tied my acceptance to the fulfilment of the stupid dare I had eventually carried out. It didn't matter anymore though, besides Mr Sterling was a huge fan of Jay, there was no way he was going to expel the godson of the man he totally adored. I still couldn't believe Jay had said I was his godson, it was incredible.
'Who do we have here?" I heard someone call out from behind us as we walked into the cafeteria, it was time for recess and I needed to do a little introduction. I sighed and before I turned around to confirm, I knew who it was. Jay turned around first and just as I had thought, I was face to face with the leader of the cool kids in Oxford Oaks middle school, Luke Clinton.