Back in the Principal’s office, the blonde Principal relaxed contently in her jar’s green liquid, with Horace standing guard. She watched as many bubbles rose from within the jar as she felt a soft thump resonating from her desk, and a knock came from the door.

“What’s all that, racket?” She yawned. “Could you check and see where it’s coming from, Horace? I’m trying to get some shut-eye...”

Horace saluted and walked over to open the door. However, before he reached it, the door slammed open, nearly hitting him against the wall. The girl standing in the doorway stomped inside, shutting the door and locking it behind her.

“Hey, Principal!” Lauren called out loud.

“Lauren, what are you doing here?” The Principal’s floating head questioned. “Did you make that noise?”

“No.”

“Do you know where it came from?”

“No...”

“Then why are you here?”

“I’m here for a different reason: revenge. I came here to defeat you.”

.-.-.-.

Glenda searched all over the top floor, but couldn’t find anything. No wandering clones, or any signs of destruction. Could that student have been lying to her? Was it a trap? Why was this area so quiet? She finally reached the Principal’s office, and overheard a loud and heated argument. Glenda tried to open the door but found it locked.

“But why?” The monster Principal asked.

“Simple. I need to stop these school teachings,” Lauren responded.

The Principal tried her best to keep up an innocent facade, but with each word that passed through Lauren’s lips, she found that task harder and harder to accomplish.

“Why would you want to do that? Our teachings make our students more powerful, and they can even make lots of friends and discoveries with their powers—”

“Liar!” Lauren interrupted, as her blood boiled while listening to the Principals’ speech she found to be self-righteous.

“Excuse me!?” The Principal questioned. Her mouth gaped, practically stunned, silent at her student’s outburst.

“It doesn’t bring happiness at all. It’s the exact opposite!”

“Why do you say that?” The Headmistress dropped the act. “Perhaps if you warmed up to others and stopped being such a cold—”

“My parents died because of your stupid teachings!”

The Principal gasped. “R-really? Is that so? I’m sorry; I didn't know...”

“You, what?” Lauren inquired, her face a flurry of emotions.

“I don’t remember.”

“How could you forget? Weren’t you there?” Lauren murmured. After fidgeting for a minute or two, she finally spoke: “Fine, let me enlighten you on my troubled past, and my justified rage.”

“Very well, please go right ahead, Lauren.”

“I think it’s been a decade since then; I can’t remember that well, but I’m pretty sure I know everything else...”

.-.-.-.

“On the day that it happened, my parents took me to an open house to try to enroll in your school. I was so excited the night before that I couldn’t even sleep. I wanted to be great at studies just like them. As we talked about the tour, I saw a young boy peeking from the side of the building. I said nothing, though, because I thought I had imagined things.

“When we entered the building, a tall woman immediately greeted us. It was Glenda.

‘Hello there.’ She greeted me with a wave.

‘Um... h-hi?’ I tried my best to say something but choked on my words. I ran behind my mom’s legs and shook uncontrollably.

‘Long time no see, so you’re here for the tour, correct?’ Glenda asked my parents. ‘You know some areas of the school are off-limits because of an accident yesterday.’

‘Yes, we’re aware.’ My dad replied.

‘I see.’ Glenda then turned to me and squatted down to talk to me on my level. “I hope you enjoy your time here and like the school.”

“Well, I hope so too...” I replied.

“I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I lied and gave her a weak smile, even though we had just got here.

‘There’s a lot of neat stuff around the school. I want to show you if you don’t mind.’

‘That sounds wonderful, Glenda.’ My mom replied.

‘I can even introduce you to the Principal—’

‘Uh, let’s not.’ My father interjected.

‘Why not? I’m sure she’d be delighted to see a fresh, new—’

“At that moment, I drew my attention to a shadow watching us from the hallway's corner. I was about to tell my parents about it, but the shadow ran off before I could, and curiosity got the better of me as I chased it.

“I ended up in a dimly lit room. I heard the door close behind me and panicked. Backing up against the wall, I accidentally knocked over a skeleton that had been standing in the corner, causing it to fall on the floor. I looked over and saw boxes tumbled across the floor with a boy on the ground. Said boy noticed I was staring and tried to run away.

‘Hey, wait, where are you going?’ I asked.

‘Why are you following me?’ The boy asked back.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Why do you care?’

‘Um…’

The boy sighed in disbelief. ‘Ugh, look, if I tell you why, will you keep it to yourself and not tell anyone else? You don’t seem like the type who’d do something like tattletale, but I want to make sure…’

‘I won’t tell. Your secret is safe with me.’

‘All right.’ He took a deep breath and exhaled before explaining. ‘I’m here to save my dad. He was supposed to teach me how to use dark magic this week.’

‘What happened to him?’

‘He got captured and taken into custody by this school.’

‘Well, dark magic sounds creepy…’

‘Creepy, are you kidding? It’s the coolest thing ever like you would not believe!’

‘Oh, but do you know why they took—?’

“Before I could finish my question, lightning struck the space between us. We turned around and saw a tall man with no head standing beside a window, looking all menacing. We screamed, rushed over to pop open the air vents, and crawled inside.

“I couldn’t believe what I was doing. I wasn’t thinking straight and assumed he wasn’t either. We soon ended up at the Vision Library and exited the vents. To our dismay, Horace had been waiting for us there and grabbed the boy by his shirt collar. I hid behind one of the back bookshelves and saw the boy struggle. I tried to push the bookshelves down but wasn’t strong enough.

“Horace eventually found me as he dragged us to your office, and that was when I first met you. You had been talking with two other adults so you could ask who we were. Glenda and my parents showed up. Horace let go of us, and I reunited with my parents. The boy wasn’t so lucky.

‘That was troublesome.’ I heard you say under your breath.

‘We’re so glad you guys solved that minor issue.’ The older woman chirped.

‘We should go.’ My mom said.

‘Why not stay here and chat?’ The older man suggested.

‘We’d rather not.’ My dad insisted.

You then said, ‘Now that you mention it, there is something I’d love to discuss with you two.’

‘What about the kids?’ Glenda questioned.

‘I don’t need your pity!’ The boy retorted.

After thinking about it, you decided the boy could stay, but I had to wait outside with Glenda."