I Think That Car Just Stood Up by Teenage Anomaly
I'm trouble, yeah trouble now You think you're right, but you were wrong
I'm trouble y'all, I disturb my own town
I'm trouble, yeah, trouble now
I'm trouble y'all, I got trouble in my town
You tried to take me, but I knew all along
You can't take me for a ride
I'm not a fool now, so you better run and hide
A Week Later
I walked down the white and blue hallways of my school, grinning internally as people passed me. There was something thrilling about this secret I had inside of me- something thrilling in that they had no idea what I was, what I could do, or that I was perfectly authorized to carry the handgun that was currently sitting in the bottom of my purse, fully loaded, with the safety clicked on.
I reached the glass walls of the cafeteria, but instead of going inside it, I went in the opposite direction, passing by the blue columns and then pushing on the glass doors to enter the front office. The woman at the desk barely glanced up at me.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes ma'am," I said, smiling politely as I approached the desk. "I need to talk to the principal."
"What about?" asked the woman, glancing up at me with something like interest for the first time. My smile widened.
"It's private."
"I'm afraid she's busy right now-"
"It's very important."
"What could be that important?"
"It's regarding why I was absent the past week."
The woman stared at me, searchingly, then sighed, rising from her chair. She walked over to the office and knocked.
"Mrs. Vick? There's a student here to see you-"
The door swung open and a stately woman of about fifty came out of the room and, seeing me, smiled.
"Ah, yes. You have a problem."
"Not exactly." I pulled a thick envelope out of the front pocket of my bag. "It's concerning why I was absent all of last week."
"Okay." She waited.
"We should probably go in your office."
She raised an eyebrow but gestured inside her office. I made my way over to it, feeling every eye on the office on me. The principal swung the door shut and sighed.
"All right. Out with it."
I opened the envelope and pulled out a letter, handing it to her. She scanned it and her eyes flickered between me and it going wide.
"What does this mean?" she asked finally. I shrugged.
"It means exactly what it says. My absence happens to be involved with a case of national security, and every record that I wasn't at school has to be erased. Not just excused- erased. To someone looking in, it has to appear that I was at school last week. As you can see, it's been signed by both the President and Secretary of Defense John Keller."
"Why?" she asked incredulously, her brow furrowing. "What could you have been involved it-"
"That's classified, ma'am," I said, unblinkingly, my thumbs shoved through my belt-loops. She stared at me before sighing.
"Alright. I don't like it, but- I'll talk to your teachers."
I nodded. "One last thing- I don't want to sound like I'm threatening you or anything, but like I said, this is a matter of national security. If this goes beyond my teachers- if anyone gets any hint of anything wrong… well, that's a felony. Also, you should probably know that I'm carrying a loaded weapon- that's explained in the letter, too- and that my license and registration are in my bag."
I grinned suddenly and saluted my shocked Principal. "Have a nice day."
-
The smooth glass doors of the cafeteria felt weird on my still-healing hands as I pushed them open.
A few people stared at me as I made my way to the back of the light-filled cafeteria, a small smirk on my face. Some of them were smarter than others, and they could feel danger when it entered the room.
Man, I felt SO HARDCORE. I had a gun in my bag, I'd ridden in the recently repaired Jazz to school today, some of my best friends were alien, multi-billion year old robots the size of buildings, I'd spent the past week in a base that was now as secure as Area Fifty-One with some of the most dangerous people in the world. I was covered in half-way healed scrapes and scratches and did I mention I was carrying a gun?
"Hey, guys."
I swung my backpack off my shoulders and set it on the table with a loud thunk. My friends looked up at me and screamed with joy, and that's when the interrogation began.
"Oh my god! Where have you been?"
"We've had so much work in Johnson's class-"
"I got a car-"
I plopped myself down on the round, single-seater bench that emerged from the cafeteria table and looked at all of my friends, grinning.
"I was caught in the middle of an alien war."
"How ever did you survive?" asked one of my friends jokingly, grinning, shaking her pretty brunette head.
"Very carefully."
They chattered around me, thinking it was a joke, and I couldn't help but think: Oh yes. Things are going to get much more interesting from here on out.
Home isn't a place. It's a state of mind; a kind of being. I was involved with top-secret government groups, I knew things that people would kill to ask a few questions about. I knew, without a trace of doubt, that we were not alone in the universe.
And, finally, I was home.
IT'S NEVER REALLY THE END, IS IT?
"Trouble" by pink.
AN: Not sure when I'll start uploading the second story, but it'll probably be towards the end of this week, maybe a little sooner. Thank you so much to everyone one who reviewed, faved or alerted this story! I'm really glad you liked it. See you next story!
Love,
Sarah