I promise that the next update will be happier! Will hopefully do it on Boxing Day, but it may end up being on the 28th. Have a great Christmas everyone
India didn't know how she had made it to Tuesday night. Two long days of school, days she was sure went beyond the normal 24 hours, were finally finished, and tomorrow would be Wednesday, half-way through the week. Then another two days...she supposed Friday didn't count too much as no one really did much work, they were more inclined to mess about and annoy the teachers than do anything else....and the year would be over. She wouldn't have to see any of them again for months. On Saturday morning, she and Dad would be out of Victoria and beginning the drive to Queensland. India could barely wait, she'd be in the countryside, which she loved, and with Nan and Grandpa Steve and Riley, far away from everything that was going wrong here.
However, she still had the two days to go. India sighed, switched off her light and fell asleep.
India had a feeling of foreboding in her stomach when she woke up. After the day finished she wondered to herself if premonitions were really possible, though she hadn't
known what she was going to do, she'd just had a bad feeling about it...
India resisted the urge to pretend she was ill (something she knew had dad wouldn't believe anyway) and forced herself up and out of bed and then to school.
It's only two more days she thought to herself.
And they're closer to being over than they were last night.
The day began. Geography, History and Break all dragged on when came the dreaded Maths. India wondered, as she sat down, why it was that Stephanie had to sit diagonally across from her, and why she couldn't have sat behind.
The lesson started. Ms Brown's voice droned on and on and India wasn't listening at all. All she could think about was how Jamie and Stephanie were holding hands under the desk. She looked down and noticed the calculator by her hand. Without thinking about it, without even noticing that she was doing it, she picked it up and threw it full force at their heads. It missed, luckily, and shattered on the floor.
For a moment, India felt pleased. It had felt good to throw it and hear Jamie shriek like a little girl as it whizzed pass his ear. But a moment later she knew she shouldn't have done it. She wished she could turn back the clock and stuff the calculator in her bag.
The class was silent, wondering what was going to happen. Those who hoped for a scene got one.
Ms Brown came over, quivering in anger, and for the first time in her life India cowered in her seat. Before she could get some sort of apology out Ms Brown was shouting. India lost track in the end, but caught certain words. She had been dangerous and reckless and lucky it had hit neither Jamie nor Stephanie on the head. She was an immature, thoughtless girl who clearly had no idea on how to behave in a classroom. The she was sent to the principal's office.
The class started giggling nervously as India threw everything into her bag and nearly ran out. The principal wasn't much more sympathetic.
"What on earth were you thinking?!" he demanded. "You're lucky it's the end of term Miss Napier, I'd suspend you for the week otherwise. And I'm going to have to call your father in."
"No," pleaded India desperately. "Don't call him." She thought back to old Enid Blytons and Harry Potter books she had read. "Make me write a thousand lines instead and clean the classroom."
He laughed at her. "What year do you think we're in? Line writing went out a long time ago. No, I'm giving you two lunch-time detentions and you're going home for the afternoon."
India would have been grateful for the last part had she not been so worried about what Dad would say.
Declan was in his office, trying to muster up some motivation to fill in his spreadsheet when the phone rang.
"Hello?" It was the school. Declan had a feeling that this wasn't a phonecall to say hello.
"Yes, this is her father. She WHAT?!"
Declan came into the school and was admitted to the principal's office, where he found his daughter with a look of shame on her face.
"Mr Napier. Please sit down," said the principal.
"You remember what I told you about what India did?"
Oh, he remembered. He glared at her.
"Yes," he replied, thinking about what a stupid question it had been.
The principal rattled off the punishment he had given India.
"It's a shame that you're finishing the year this way India," he said. "Let's hope you start next year off on a better foot with a little more maturity!"
Neither India nor her father said a word to each other on the way home. It was only when they got into the house that Declan finally said to her,
"What were you thinking?! I didn't raise you to be a thug!"
"I'm not a thug!"
"Then why were you lobbing a calculator at a boy's head? India, we had the talk about why you can't use violence to make yourself feel better when you were six!"
"You weren't half as angry then..." India said, knowing it was a stupid defence.
Declan groaned in exasperation. "Because, India, there is quite a difference between you emptying a bucket of building blocks over a boy saying your nose looked funny when you were six and chucking a calculator at a boy who hurt your feelings when you are twelve!"
"I'm not sorry," India mumbled, not meaning it. "He deserved it."
"I know he upset you, but for heaven's sake, you can't go round throwing things at people whenever they hurt your feelings!"
India bit her lip. "I shouldn't have thrown it. I didn't mean to..."
"That's not the point! You did!"
India felt angry with herself and then angry that her dad wasn't making her feel better.
"It was only a calculator," she snapped. "At least I wasn't breaking into people's houses, like you did when you were my age, or drag-racing with Mum!"
"This isn't about me, it's about you!" Declan said, hardly believing his ears. "And don't you
dare bring your mother into it."
"Well, she wasn't perfect!" shouted India. "Not if she was drag-racing! You just don't understand!"
Only a saint could have stood so much and Declan certainly wasn't a candidate for one of those.
"Oh for God's sake Indy, not this 'you don't understand me' line again! Did you ever think that the
reason I don't understand you, or at least you think I don't, is because you never tell me anything at the moment? And I think I do understand you. You were hurt and upset so you chucked your calculator at that boy and now you're feeling guilty so you're taking it out on me and using my mess-ups and your mum's to excuse you. Well, it's not good enough! We messed up! But this isn't about my mistake, it's about what you did today. Now go to your room and calm down and we'll talk about it later!"
India didn't know what to do or say. It was all true, she couldn't deny it, but she didn't know how to tell her dad that she wasn't trying to make her mum look bad, she was trying to say that she knew she'd been only human and she just didn't feel understood. She slammed herslf into her room, wishing there was a lock on it, and kicked her desk in frustration, something she instantly regretted as pain went through it. How could she have been so stupid? She was sorry, she just didn't know how to say it. And to rub salt in the wound, she thought, she'd have to buy a brand new calculator with her own money. She wondered how she was going to make it up to her dad and how she'd face school tomorrow.
. 
