"Wake up, Parker!" Tiger's shrill voice pierces through my sleep, causing me to bolt upright.

"What! What is it?" I tumble out of my bed, then scramble to my feet, ready for action.
"Happy birthday!" She yells, and I groan, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"For Christ's sake-" I'm about to backhand her for waking me, when I spot Laci and Levi, who are seated on the bay window, stiffing laughs."What the bloody hell is this?" I spit, grabbing my blankets and wrapping myself in them, feeling under dressed.
"It's your surprise party!" Laci cheers, handing me a coffee.
"It couldn't wait until I was up?" I grumble, sniffing the takeaway cup.
"Nope, this was necessary." Levi grins, enjoying my discomfort, I'm about to ask what he means when I'm interrupted.
"Anyway, I texted Dylan, I figured you would want him here." Tiger informs me.

"Despite the fact I don't approve." Levi butts in, I give him a dirty look, but he just chuckles.
"Alright, well, what's the plan then?" I set the coffee down, untouched, and open my phone, seeing I have a notification, an email, from the school.
"Cake!" Laci yells, she sounds like she's already on a sugar high.
"At eight in the morning?"
"Yes, god Margie, live a little!" Levi teases.
"We wanted to gte it out of the way before school." Laci says matter-of-factly. I just roll my eyes at them both, before returning to the email, I read it, probably gaining a frown.

"What's up? Oh, Dylan say's he'll be late." Tiger asks, noticing my expression.
"It's from the school, I have to see Mrs. Roux, like now." I fling off the blankets, rushing to my closet and grabbing random clothes.
"What the hell? No you aren't. It's your birthday, they can't do that. Tell her that I'll pull my funding." Tiger protests, grabbing my phone off of the bed where I discarded it, only to stare at it in disbelief.
"Don't worry, it's probably just about... I don't know, maybe she wants to say happy birthday!" I speculate cheerfully, but there's a rock of dread in my abdomen.
"That's ridiculous, I'll sue!" Laci protests. I just smile at her.
"It can't be helped, I'm sure it'll be quick anyway."

"At least eat this cake first, I worked hard on it." She opens a container on my desk, revealing a spectacular rainbow sponge cake.

"You made this?" I question in shock. It's truly exquisite, I can only imagine how long each layer took, how difficult the iced writing must have been.
"I helped!" Levi beams, "I did your name."
"Levi helped." Laci winks. I look again, and I can see that the 'Happy Birthday' writing is immaculate, but my name is loopy and messy.

"It's beautiful, thank you." I hug her, slapping Levi's bicep.

"Yes, yes, it's lovely, can we eat it now?" Tiger prods us, getting impatient. Laci breaks away and stabs some candles in before lighting them, then they all sing the birthday song, loudly and off key, but I can't help laughing, there's this warm feeling spreading in my chest, I think it's called belonging.

..................................................................

"Mrs. Roux will see you now." The reception lady nods to me, giving me permission to pass through the smoky glass door to Roux's office. Is this Fifty Shades of Grey? I push open the door, the coolness shocking my fingers. Killing the good mood I was in.
"Ah, Miss. Parker, take a seat." Mrs. Roux gestures to the one chair in front of her desk, I perch on the edge like a bird, ready to take flight. "Just a moment." She holds up one blood red nail, and continues to speak to someone on the office phone, as I wait I look around the room, everything is perfectly minimalist, stainless steel and sterile white, not a single loose paper or impractical object, and it occurs to me that I don't even know who the principal is, Mrs. Roux runs the show. She hangs up the line and turns to me, hands folded on her clean blotter.

"Now, Margaret, do you remember our little chat the other day? The one where you promised to conform?" The corners of her mouth turn up in a sinister smile, sending a chill through me.

"Yes, I remember."
"Were you planning on directly disobeying me, or did it just, happen?"

"I don't think-"
She takes out a manila folder, which upon closer inspection, is my file. "I don't appreciate having promises broken, Miss. Parker." She slaps the folder down in front of my ominously. "Since our last conversation, it appears you have gone out of your way to specifically do the opposite of what I asked, you snorted cocaine at an illegal party on school grounds, you still break curfew, you encourage other students to become truant, and you were also the cause of a fight that marked the reputation of one of our high profile students."
"That's not true-"
"But it is, I'm not sure if you're aware, but it went viral, TMZ was right on top of it, the vultures." She turns her desktop screen to face me, and lo and behold, it's the DylanxEvan fight, the last of it, when I finally intervened. She pulls up a new tab, which is playing a TMZ news story.

"Breaking news! Son of hotshot director Sean Kelly, Evan, is caught in fist cuffs with other boy at Vidre Secondary College over mystery girl. Who is she? Intel just in says she goes by Maggie Parker and is a Junior at the same school, a recent migrant from Australia, apparently. He certainly got over ex-girlfriend, Hollywood sweetheart, Nova Hansen, fast, what do you think Jason?-"
Mrs Roux closes the tab there. "Damage control could take weeks." She mutters.
"Look, I'm really sorry-" I begin, why didn't Evan tell me about this?
"I could fire your Dad right now, your family are more trouble than you're worth." She picks up the phone again.

"No! Please don't, Dad needs this job, and Levi has done nothing, just leave them be!"
"Why should I?" She smirks, dialing a number.
"Because..." I begin angrily, my mind flashes back to my first day, where Tiger told me she could basically do what she wanted, and Mrs. Roux had to let her. "Because, Tiger will pull her funding." I threaten triumphantly, she freezes.

"No she wouldn't." Her eyes widen, oh, how the tables have turned.

"Are you willing to take that chance?" I rest my chin on my hand, trying to look as confident as I can, because this is complete bullshit.

"Alright, don't get carried away there, let's make a deal." Looks like I'm in charge here. "Brian can keep his job, and your brother can stay too." She says bitterly, I can't help but grin in relief. "But I want you out."
"You really hate me don't you." I comment dryly.
"I detest your kind."

"My kind?"
"The unsophisticated, lower class, hierarchy avoiders, rulebreakers, those that go against the grain, I could go on if you like."

"That's not elitist or anything." I roll my eyes sarcastically, not fazed by her anymore.

"Not really, I don't hate the poor, I hate ungrateful freeloaders."
I sigh, not bothered to argue with her in case she calls me on my bluff. "Okay, whatever. I'll be gone by the end of the week." I get up from the uncomfortable curved seat, the kind to fix your posture, and make my way to the exit. I guess she got what she wanted, and I probably deserve this, she did warn me. At least this way Dad keeps his job, I'll just live with him.
"Oh, Margaret?"
"What?" I turn around, not caring to appease her with my manners anymore.
A demented grin creeps onto her face, catching me off guard. "Happy birthday."