Pencils & Polaroids

06: cross court

"Gang up? Seriously, Bark? That's the best you could come up with?"

My fists bang against the glossy wooden table as I lean ahead to match Rainer's daunting gaze. With a scornful glance at Sadie Harper (the vicious Hufflepuff captain) to his right and Jayden Banks (the manipulated Ravenclaw captain) to his left, I bring my gaze to the main target, the ruthless (worst) Gryffindor captain in the history of its leaders to knock him off his pride seat.

I know Harry Potter books painted Slytherin as the evil team, but believe me, I make one hell of a captain and in Cross Academy, Slytherin always wins.

How I got Eleanor Barcross to agree to split us into four Harry Potter houses, no one dare ask. It took a lot of sweat, tears, and emotional talking--and a heartbreaking bargain with Gryffindor's captaincy to her son--for her to finally pass the bill.

"For someone who sucks at political science, let me take this moment to educate you that you need to have a majority of votes for a bill to pass. In other words, Karen Smith, you have to talk to the other houses and get them on your side. It's not called ganging up, it's called following the Cross Court norms." I hate when he explains stuff I'm utterly well-versed with.

But little does he know, there's a loophole to every norm. My lips curl into a smirk I know he loathes with every cell in his body. "Not when you have the entire Cross faculty on your side."

His face pales when I submit the document having the signatures of every department head from grade seven till senior year. I shift the weight of my body to one of my hips and breeze my chipped nails.

"And Bark? You've got to stop watching Mean Girls. You're eighteen and it's kind of--" I cover my lips to the side and whisper to him, "--you know, embarrassing."

When all his tricks fail to charm, what does a privileged boy do? Oh yes, turn to his mommy.

Rainer's whiny eyes beg his mother to intrude because he's starting to look like a fool. "We're not allowed to approach faculty. She's broken a rule and hence, like the rule book of Cross court says in section D-4, her captaincy and her position in the student body should be terminated."

Such a dork. "Who said I approached the faculty?"

My innocent shake of the head puts judge Elanor Barcross, the dean of the school who is sitting at the head of the conference table into deeper turmoil because I found a rather harmless way to cover my tracks.

Rainer's head drops for a second before he lifts it up and questioningly looks at me. "The faculty approached you?" He laughs. "And who could have possibly tipped them off with this very confidential piece of information?"

Ass. Ass. Ass.

But he forgets I'm smarter than him. "I don't know, Bark. For starters, you could consider the roughly ten thousand students and staff at Cross Academy as your suspects. Let me know when you catch the rat. I'll give out a token of gratitude before reporting the misbehavior."

His jaw clicks. "Brave of you to call yourself a rat. Whatever will your self-respect make of it?"

Time to play the victim card again. "Headmistress, I get that he wants to frame me. But these baseless allegations after ganging up on me with the other two houses are starting to seem like harassment."

Could Rainer get angrier and finally lose his cool in front of his mother? I don't know, but leaning further in my direction with such a tightly clenched jaw and serial-killer eyes definitely counts for something. Thank god for the huge conference table between us, without which, my little life would've been in sheer danger.