Chapter Seven:

 

I gasp as Alice pushes me. She laughs evilly when she does. Alice looks me square in the eyes with her deathly stare, but this time, it seems more frightening. 

“Looky, here. Little Halo and her new boy toy, James Garcia.” Alice snorts. “You two are an embarrassment to be a couple.”

Alice slaps me across the face. It hurt, but not like what the kids in JUVY did to me. 

I guess if she wanted to fight, I’ll fight back. The JUVY way. 

 

Excerpt from Halo Nelson: The Nice Girl Behind The Shadows

 

Halo Nelson always seemed like the perfect little girl. Heck, her name is Halo. I guess her mother had a bad habit of names. From what we’ve heard from Ms. Nelson, Halo’s father left when she was a baby, along with her older sister, Kamile Nelson. 

Ms. Nelson didn’t say much about her ex-husband, though, she did say she regretted letting him take Kamile with him to wherever he was going. Ms. Nelson, or, Mary Nelson, says she named her Halo so that she could protect her from any dangers in life. 

During childhood, Halo would always be beaming a smile, with her little blonde pigtails and her adorable brown eyes. She would always listen to her mother, never disobeyed, did well in school. I don’t believe she had any friends that we or Mary know of. 

Then, Halo turned thirteen. She started getting into some really bad stuff. She started wandering off without notifying Mary, started stealing, the list could go on and on.

Mary also told us, that around this age, Halo found evidence of her father’s disappearance. Mary said that for some reason, she was exploring her bedroom when she looked under the bed and found a picture of her father, William Nelson. 

Ms. Nelson said she never changed her surname because legally changing names was expensive, and she couldn’t cover the cost at that time. And for some reason now, still hasn’t changed it. Maybe Mary still secretly loves her ex-husband.

After Halo found out about her father’s disappearance, she committed a crime. What was this crime you may ask? Halo Nelson committed a house robbery, and almost took the whole house’s belongings until the police showed up. 

What Halo was trying to steal was worth over $1,000,000. She was put on trial and was sentenced to JUVY for four years. All through eighth grade, freshmen, sophomore, and junior year of high school. She didn’t get out until this year when she turned eighteen. When Mary came to take her home, she was all beaten, knuckles bleeding, and still had her beautiful blonde hair, and still…smiling. Smiling as nothing had happened. 

Mary then took Halo to enroll at North Shore High School. At this point in life, nobody really trusts Halo, probably not even her own mother. What could four years possibly do to a teenage girl to make her be such a good person?

What area in the ground does Halo Nelson stand now?

 

Alice was held back by the teachers, James holding me back from beating Alice even more. She had a black eye and a bruise in her right arm. I, on the other hand, had only been slapped. 

The principle, Mr. Brewer, then comes by and looks me right in the face. James releases me and backs away. He doesn’t want to get spit on from the yelling-storm that’s about to happen. 

“Ms. Nelson! You know perfectly well that fighting in the school and on school grounds is forbidden! You were in JUVY for crying out loud! What made you even want to attack Ms. Anne anyways?! Huh?!”

James was right about backing away. My face was covered in saliva from Mr. Brewer. I couldn’t and didn’t really want to say much right now. But, I knew that I had to.

“I…I don’t know sir.” I mumble.

“Yes, you do!” Alice screams. “You were mad at me for slapping you so you went all psycho JUVY girl on me!” She starts breathing shortly. 

I say nothing. I just stare down at my feet, worrying that if I said anything more, they would throw me back in JUVY. My worn-out sneakers were better to look at than a beat-up rich girl and an angry 54-year-old man. 

“Ms. Nelson,” Mr. Brewer says impatiently. “You come with me. Now.”

Alice snickers but then flinches because her eye hurts. 

“You too, Ms. Anne.” He says.

The two of us follow him to his office. We sit down in little chairs that were very uncomfortable. 

“Now,” Mr. Brewer begins. “Who started this little fight of yours?” 

I look immediately at Alice. She just looks down at the floor. 

“Ms. Anne, did you start the fight?”

She nods but doesn’t look up at Mr. Brewer. 

“I…slapped her, sir,” Alice says quietly.

“And why did you do that?”

“I…I…was jealous. Of Halo.”

Alice Anne. Jealous. Of me? That’s so funny I almost laughed. 

“Not of her looks or anything like that,” She says. “I was jealous because she pretty much stole James from me.”

“I didn’t ‘steal’ James from you.” I counter. “James broke up with you. You were walking all over him like the snobby rich girl you are!”

Alice fake gasps like I offended her. Not surprisingly, Mr. Brewer believes her fake gasp and stares at me. 

I sit down and quietly listen to what he says next. 

“Ms. Anne,” He begins. “You may have only slapped Ms. Nelson, but you will still face consequences.”

Alice nods.

“You will be suspended for two days. I’m sure your parents will be very pleased with this.”

“They’re never home anymore, sir. My mother is always busy with her new designs and my father is packed with performing surgeries.” Alice says. 

“I shall email them then,” Mr. Brewer says.

Mr. Brewer then looks at Alice and motions her to leave the room. She gets up obediently and leaves. 

He takes a long deep sigh. “Ms. Nelson,” He starts. “You will be suspended for a week. You will be absent from the musical rehearsals and shall participate when you return. You’re lucky I’m not forbidding you from your part in the musical.”

I nod. 

“I shall call your mother and notify her about picking you up.”

I look up and gasp.

“No, sir. Please don’t. Mom is always busy with her shifts, you can’t bring this on her right now.”

“Then, you shouldn’t have beat up Alice Anne, Ms. Nelson.”

Mom comes to pick me up shortly after that. We don’t speak the whole car ride home, she was too mad to even talk to me. 

Then, mom breaks the silence doing what I’d normally do. 

“Halo Elwine Nelson,” Mom begins to say. “Why did you get into a fight with that nice girl?”

“Okay, first of all, she’s not nice. Like at all. Second of all, she slapped me first.”

“So you decided to go full JUVY on her?!” Mom asks, her voice rising. 

“I had no choice! I didn’t want to act weak!”

“I thought you changed Halo! I really did! Why do you act this way?!”

“It’s because of dad!” I yell.

Mom closes her mouth and continues to drive. 

“You’re grounded, Halo. For two months!” 

I sit back in my seat and wait for this drive to end. 

This was going to be the longest/most boring time of my life.

(In case you didn’t know, the picture is supposed to be Alice Anne at the top✌🏻😇)