Allegra couldn’t believe she was doing this. Sneaking out of the school like a teenager on a school night. Well, yes, she was a teenage sneaking out on a school night but it still felt solt so strange. Allegra’s mother never set a curfew so she never experienced the rebellious thrill of blending into the night in search of forbidden adventures. To be honest, she didn’t enjoy it much.

It started with a text from her friend, Rayna. Rayna was staying in the city for another night and would love it if Allegra could join her tonight at an exclusive club Kristii was getting them into.

To say Allegra couldn’t stand Kristii was an understatement. When the two got together it usually ended with a fight and one of them stomping off. But Rayna was apologetic and said that she really wanted to see Allegra. So Allegra agreed.

Allegra had made the acquaintance of a fellow student at Xavier’s named Lilly who clued her in on the way to get past all the mansion’s sensors. It involved climbing down a ladder from the third floor then sneaking through some of the wooded area and then around the hedge maze. A bit scary especially at night, but it was a guaranteed escape route that had been used by the students for months.

What Lilly didn’t mention was that she was a shapeshifter mutant with an even shiftier personality. Everything she said was a total lie. There was no way to evade the mansion sensors but it would be fun to see this sweet little cheerleader jump through hoops trying. Maybe Allegra would break her neck falling off the ladder. At the very least, Chief was sure to get her. Everything Lilly heard about Allegra was that she was terrified of mutants so this should be awesome. Lilly rubbed the clawed hands of her true form together. Lilly would have cackled in an evil, maniac laugh if her true form had a mouth.

Allegra wore one of her favorite dresses, a strapless black lace number. She held her stilettos in one hand as she cautiously made her way down the ladder. She wasn’t afraid of heights but descending down three stories on a wobbly ladder was nerve wracking. The damn thing would shake with each cautious step she took. Lilly had assured her it was sturdy. Take it slow. One step. Good. Two steps.

Allegra’s foot slipped. Her free hand clutched the rung and she felt sick as the ladder wobbled. She let go of her shoes so she could have two hands to clutch on to the ladder. Looking down wasn’t a good idea. Allegra watched her shoes crash to the ground and almost lost her grip afraid that she would plummet down as well.

For endless seconds Allegra breathed heavily as her hands gripped the cold rung and she forced her eyes closed. She could have sworn that rung was slippery like someone had poured oil on it. She was tempted just to climb back up but that would mean going even higher. No, she’d have to continue her descent and hope she didn’t crack her neck in the process.

She didn’t know how long it took her to reach the bottom but she finally made it. She was definitely going to be late meeting up with her friends. Allegra retrieved her shoes from the ground. The straps of the shoes were lined with real diamonds and some of them had come loose when they crashed to the ground. Allegra cursed the loss of a $700 pair of shoes as they were basically ruined. But she was still going to wear them tonight. She was not climbing back up to change.

She moved away from the mansion towards the wooded area as Lilly had instructed. Under the cover of the trees, it was almost pitch dark. Allegra thought she heard some animal howling. There were coyotes even in the city weren’t there? The howls seemed to be coming closer.

Allegra pushed her way through the woods batting away the bugs flying in her face. God, she hated bugs! She had to keep going. She felt her dress catch on something and because she was in such a hurry, she was sure she ripped it.

“No!” she shouted. This was a disaster. She loved this dress so much and it was ruined. Well, maybe she could text Rayna and borrow something from her.

Allegra pulled her phone out of her purse only to find that this night was destined to get even worse. She had forgotten to charge it!

She cursed to herself. The night was a bust. She just wanted to get out of these woods. When she did, she’d walk right up to the front door of the mansion and admit to anyone who asked that she had broken curfew and would gladly take detention or whatever punishment they saw fit. She just wanted to get home to her nice safe bed.

Wait. What was that? Allegra was sure she heard something in the woods. She felt like she was being watched. She pursed her lips to say ‘hello’ but only a wisp of breath came out. She was too afraid to say anything. She glanced back into the darkness one more time then took off running. That’s when she felt something sticky wrap around her face.

A spider web! Allegra screamed. She was fairly brave, but when she encountered spiders, bugs or any other kind of creepy crawly thing, she just lost it. She clawed at her face trying to get the sticky webbing off and just barrelled forward.

She was convinced something was still following her. Probably enjoying all this. She just hoped they weren’t dangerous. She just ran. It was difficult in her four inch heels but by running on her toes she was able to keep from tumbling down to the ground. She just hoped she was running fast enough to get away.

She veered off the path and just pushed her way through the tangle of trees and bushes. If something was after her, she’d be less of a sitting duck than on the path. Branches cut into her arms as she brushed against them but she didn’t care anymore. She just wanted out. But by running off the path, all she had done was get herself more lost. She didn’t even know where she was going was anymore. All she could do was fight through the angry foliage until she couldn’t go on anymore. Then she would just collapse and die in the woods where her body wouldn’t be found for days.

Okay, that was a little over dramatic. There really wasn’t that much forest to cut though. Seconds later, Allegra cut through the last of the wooded area to find herself on the perfectly manicured lawn. And less than a two minute walk away, she could see the hedge maze.

Allegra ran towards the maze then collapsed on the cool ground. She laughed, mostly to keep from crying. No one had been following her. She was just yards away from the school the whole time and she had imagined everything. Okay, not everything. Her outfit was ruined but she was never in danger.

She forced herself to get up. What she needed was a nice hot bath just to wash this evening away like it never happened. She took her shoes off and shambled around the maze and to the the sidewalk that would take her to the front door of the mansion.

That’s when she saw…..it!

Allegra didn’t know what it was. It’s silhouette was illuminated by the light from the mansion but it looked like a giant bug. It’s antennae were waving in the breeze as though they were sensing prey. Looking down its oversized arms she saw spikes leading down to claw like hands. She figured that thing could rip her head off with no effort at all.

The thing came closer. It was almost as though it were walking on tentacles for feet. She could almost hear the squishing sound with each footstep. And the things didn’t have a mouth but rather a series of freaky alien like things that no doubt would be shredding her brain after it had torn off her head.

None of her nightmares about insects (and she had a lot) could compare to the horror of this insectoid creature. It was all her worst fears come true.

Sure it was a prawn and not a bug but Allegra really wasn’t noticing any difference. She was just convinced this insect monster was going to kill her. She took off running into the maze. Maybe she could hide in there.

Once she ran inside, Allegra realized what an awful idea it was. She had never been in this maze in her life and this creature probably lived in there. Perhaps it’s clawing, snarling carnivorous little baby grubs were waiting impatiently for the creature to deliver living flesh for them to devour.

Allegra was completely exhausted but adrenaline kept her going. She rushed around the corners of the maze certain that at the next turn was certain doom. The creature was probably just inches behind her, ready to decapitate her pretty little head.

At least things couldn't get any worse.

Jack was patrolling the halls when her walkie fizzled to life.

<<Jack, you there?>>

Jack unclipped the walkie talkie from her waistband, fumbling to press the button. When the walkie finally managed to hit the "TALK" button, she mumbled, "Dis Jack, go ahead."

It fell silent, before the next report crackled in, <<Some kid is rappelling down a ladder in formalwear? East side of the building, by the dorms. Could you go check it out? Will is on the other side of the grounds.>>

"Sure."

The prawn padded down the labyrinthine halls, running a hand over her antennae. What in God's name were they doing, clambering down the ladder, in formalwear? As a part-time bouncer, Jack could hazard a guess, but for f**k's sake, whatever happened to slinking out doors or first-story windows? Did they really think a ladder would attract less attention?

Stupid kids. Jack pushed open a side door, and then pressed it shut behind her. Most of the doors were kept locked during the nighttime, to prevent access from the outside. She was on the opposite side of the building, so would have to circle around the front to get to where the ladder was. Then she would work from there. A cold breeze kicked-up, causing her antennaes to sway. Jack hugged her hoodie closer, a shaking breath ghosting out past the surgical mask that concealed her mouthparts.

It was then that she came face-to-face with a rather bedraggled looking blond, formalwear and all. This had to be the kid.

"Duh Hell are y-"

Nyoom, she was off like a shot, running down the grassy knoll and into the hedgemaze.

What the f**k. Jack patiently unhooked her walkie again, "Did you see dat?"

The walkie was silent for a moment, when the response came, Jack could hear the convulisons of laughter on the other end, <<We'll keep an eye on her, see where she comes out.>>

Jack trudged down the hill, the damp grass cold against the soles of her feet. Of all the rotten luck. She stopped at the mouth of the hedgemaze, a hand upon her hip. She was seven-and-a-half feet tall, but these hedges were easily eight feet tall... there was no easy way out, if she went in there. That idiot kid had to come out eventually though, right? And there was only one entrance and one exit, unless she decided to lunge through a wall.

She had a dull inkling that perhaps she startled the kid-- there were a handful of students that were afraid of her. The wee hours of the night likely increased these numbers exponentially.

Jack paged again, "Will, don't su'ose I could get your hel' at the hedgemaze?"

Momentary silence, before, <<It'll take me about fifteen minutes to get there, at least.>>

Jack groaned. No way was she going in there. Not alone. She'd have to wait.

"Hey, kid!" she yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth, "I'n not gonna hurt you. I'n on security. Duh nor uzz ny tine you waste, duh nore trou'le you're in!!"

“I’m going to die! I’m going to die!” Allegra gasped as she stumbled through the hedge maze. Dare she look behind her or should she keep running in vain. She always wondered what the last thing she’d ever hear right before she died would be. She certainly didn’t expect it to be.....

"I'n not gonna hurt you. I'n on security. Duh nor uzz ny tine you waste, duh nore trou'le you're in!!"

What would happen if you crossed Charlie Brown’s teacher with a shrimp? It might have sounded something like that. Considering that Jack didn't have any lips or tongue, she did a rather admirable job of enunciating. Allegra wasn't quite sure how to interpret 'bug-speak.' It might have been a warning advising her that she wasn’t going to be hurt but she better turn herself into security before she got in more trouble. Allegra was more convinced that it meant ‘I don’t need any ketchup. I’ll just eat your gizzards raw!’

That second one was a bit of a stretch but Allegra’s imagination was running in overdrive. Her Entomophobia (fear of insects) wasn’t helping any. Since she was sure she was going to die anyway, she cautiously retraced her steps. When she got close to the entrance of the hedge maze, she quickly peered around the corner to see…. "Nooooooo!"

Allegra screamed. Those pincers or mandibles or claws or whatever you call them looked even scarier up close. So did the rest of it.

Allegra took off running but she had used the last reserves of energy and only managed to round one corner of the maze before collapsing on the ground.

Her mind raced trying to think of a way out of this. She leaned against the ivy wall and pulled her phone and her charger out of her purse. Maybe she could charge her phone enough that she could make a phone call. Then maybe she’d have a chance to make that call before the giant killer bug could get to her. Then maybe help would come before the bug chopped her head off.

Not very likely. The bug only had to walk around the corner.

“I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die!”

The blonde poked her head out of the maze, and oh-so theatrically yowled at the sight of Jack. The prawn dragged a massive primary hand down one side of her face, exasperation tangible in the sigh she breathed. Really? You go to school for mutants and you can’t even look an inhuman mutant in the face. She was shrieking again, she was running again, the prawn was lumbering after her when she heard the heavy “whoomphf” of someone getting a face full of grass.

Jack peeked around the corner, antennae raised inquiringly. The girl was shakily fumbling with her phone, chanting something about how she was going to die, blah blah blah. Jack kept her distance, but she was visible at the corner of the hedge. She sank on her haunches, to a less-intimidating four feet.

“Hey, Einstein,” the prawn greeted, “Are ya done yet? Did ya hear a word I said?”

It was always the underage twerps in the skimpy outfits that were the biggest messes that Jack had to clean-up after in Chrysalis, and as such her patience was worn thin with people the prawn lumped in that category. Given the girl’s mode of dress and her… well… theatrical disposition, made her the pinnacle of this category.

“Not gonna die,” the prawn reiterated, “I work security. Understand? Se-cu-ri-ty. Wiss duh school. Security. And you ‘reaking duh rules.”

Oh my god! That....thing is standing right there. I'm really going to die, aren't I?

Those were the thoughts batting around Allegra's head but she was too afraid to actually speak them. She looked around for a weapon and clutched onto one of her ruined $700 diamond laced shoes. She held the heel up to show she meant business.

"Se-cu-ri-ty?" Allegra asked in a trembling voice. She wasn't quite ready to put her 'weapon' down but she thought about it. Only Xavier's would hire someone for security that made you feel far less secure. It made perfect sense. Maybe this creature was telling the truth.

"Rules?" Allegra asked. "I'm not breaking any rules. I just got lost in the maze. Can I go home now?"



Her mind raced fear as she tried to reason with this security person/mutant/thing. She was speaking half coherently but what she really wanted to say was Please don't kill me. Please don't eat me. Please don't kill me. Please don't eat me. Please don't kill me. I don't want to die. etc. etc. etc.

With a groan, Jack fished-out her phone. She didn’t have patience to mumble her way through explanations. It’d be better to let the text-to-talk app do the speaking for her, especially with how profoundly clueless the young blonde was behaving.

Hey, be nice, Jack chastised herself while typing, You were a blonde once.

The prawn finished typing her response, and hit play, dialing up the volume on her phone. A crisp, albeit synthetic, British voice flatly began to clue the young woman in.

<<You are breaking curfew,>> the voice recited, <<Which is breaking the rules. If you’ll come with me, we’re going to write you up and send you back to bed.>>

Jack nodded towards the building emphatically, adding-on, “Diss year, iss you could.”

When Jack grabbed her phone, Allegra was afraid the security guard was going to call someone. Maybe some scary buggy friends. But instead it was a way for her to communicate since Allegra didn't really understand prawn-speak. It was easier to understand, but the flat robotic voice just creeped Allegra out even more. Allegra was evidently in some kind of trouble. She had to think fast.

“I wasn’t breaking curfew. I was lost in the maze,” she insisted. Maybe she could say her face got cut and her dress got ruined while in the maze even though it did seem pretty immaculately maintained. There was no way Allegra would have gotten as scratched up as she was just walking through the maze.

“I never left the mansion grounds so I can’t be breaking curfew, can I?” she argued. Allegra never had a curfew in her life and she wasn’t going to put up with one now. And she sure wasn’t going to be lectured by a giant shrimp with a speech impediment. Who did Jack think she was talking to?

“I also had no intention of leaving the mansion grounds so I did nothing wrong,” Allegra insisted.

At that moment, the charger did it’s job and charged the phone. The last voice mail Allegra received played loud and clear. “Hey, A! This is Rayna. We are having so much fun! Have you snuck out of that freaky school yet? Get over here. I am so wasted!” In the background a bunch of other girls were shouting and encouraging Allegra to join them.

“Um……I can explain that,” the underaged girl said as she shut off her phone. She couldn’t think of anything right now. This seemed pretty incriminating. Lies weren't working very well. Time to try a different tack.

“Look, I ruined my favorite dress,” she pleaded. “And these shoes. Look at them. They're Mui Muis and some of the diamonds fell off. They're ruined! And my face and legs got scratched up. I’d say that’s punishment enough, wouldn’t you? Let’s just call it a night, huh?”

She gave Jack her saddest puppy dog eyes. Only a heartless inhuman monster would punish Allegra after the awful experience she had.

The prawn's expression deadpanned as the girl tried to work the mental gymnastics of getting out of trouble. Jack began typing as she sputtered protests-- she didn't break curfew, she was in a maze, she was still on the grounds, had no intention of leaving, bla bla bla. Crossly, Jack deigned to begin typing a response, but there she was, explaining the rules to a quintessential blonde stereotype. She wasn't paid enough for this. The prawn pointedly clicked the button that recited what she wrote.

<<Breaking curfew means leaving the residential area, and you are outside of the residential area, not to mention the building itself. You need to face the same consequences as everyone else.>>

The prawn pointed to the girl, to herself, and to the building. They were going to go to the security office, she was getting written-up, and that was the end of the discussion.

Or so Jack had hoped. The girl went from crafting excuses to pleading. The prawn continued with her flat, disinterested expression. God, sometimes bouncing at the club was so much easier. She could've just hauled a girl like her out, no questions asked. If the girl wasn't endangering herself or others, however, she wasn't allowed to lay a hand on her. Xavier's rules. There were steps to calming a situation before physical force.

The prawn rolled her eyes, and shook her head. She didn't even know what "moo-moos" were, and it was the girl's own damn fault for sneaking out, and in the outfit she wanted to go out in, no less! Hadn't she even heard of "changing clothes off campus".

"Don't care," prawn grunted, nodding her head towards the building, "Gotta write you utt. Tine to go."

Allegra couldn’t believe she had to face the same consequences as everybody else. This place had an annoying way of stressing this. She wasn’t allowed to have a bigger room. She couldn’t choose not to go to the classes she didn’t like. She had to cook and clean for herself. JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. God, that was so annoying.

Jack was certainly cruel and uncaring. Whatever kind of bug or shrimp she was supposed to be, she was obviously cold blooded. The guard didn’t care about how this was possibly the worst night of Allegra’s whole life. Allegra was going to get written up anyway.

But you really couldn’t argue with a heartless giant shrimp. Allegra sighed dramatically and stood up clutching her poor damaged shoes. She followed Jack back to the mansion but that didn’t mean she couldn’t complain while she did it.

“Look Mr. Security,” she said assuming Jack was male. “I had no way of knowing that I was breaking curfew in the maze. This school should have been more clear about it. I know you guys gave us a booklet with the rules and then you sent us an email with the rules and when I signed up to come here they asked if I understood all the rules, but that’s not really fair. Maybe you guys should put on a musical explaining all the rules. I remember stuff way better if I can hum it.”

“And what does being written up mean exactly?” she asked. “Is it like getting a ticket but the first one’s a warning and I can go? It’s not fair that I get in trouble. My mom knows congressmen and actors and all kinds of people and you do not want to get on her bad side.”

Allegra sighed loudly as they approached the mansion. “My other school wasn’t like this at all,” she explained. “I could discuss things with the school administration and they felt harsh punishment would squash my individuality and lower my self esteem. You don’t want to be responsible for any of that, do you?”

Most kids had the good sense to know when they weren't winning their battles and back the f*** down. This child, however, seemed to think that she could talk her way out of it. Or, at the very least, drive Jack so close to insanity that the prawn would somehow come to her side. What the f*** was she even talking about now? The prawn dragged a hand over her face, groaning audibly. She was like the thing that wouldn't shut up.

"Listen," the prawn said, placing her hands together, as if the gesture would somehow bestow infininte amounts of patience unto her, "I... really... really... don't care. At all."

She was inches away from throwing this airhead over her shoulder and hauling her *ss inside, or at the very least, losing her cool, "You sign a contract aster enrolling, dat says you read duh rules, and'll so-llow den. It's not duh school's sault dat you didn't actually read duh rules and essentially lied on a contractural agree-nent."

"Duh rules also ex'lain what hat-tens when you don't so-llow duh rules, such as-- getting written-utt neans getting detention," Jack explained. Her voice was tight in a way that demonstrated how done with this girl's sh** she truly was, "And dat sail-ure to do what your teachers or adults say-" the prawn gestured to herself, lest the girl not know who the "teacher or adult" was in this situation, "-can incur higher 'unish-nent."

The prawn did not even broach the subject of how she didn't care about the girl's mom, her old school, or whatever "individuality or low self esteem" she was referencing. The child very obviously had plenty of esteem and individuality, particularly given her... chattiness. At least she was walking towards the Mansion. That was a plus.

"Now," the prawn said, her eyes pinching in a smile. Her smile betrayed no friendliness, and was much like when a chimp or a dog bared its teeth in aggression. "We can go inside, now, and you get one detention. Or, you can argue dis nore, and try sore anuzzer detention. Your call. I has all night, and dere a lot uzz Saturday's dat we can hold detentions on."

Allegra couldn’t believe it when Jack told her that she didn’t care. At all!

Allegra attended the Beau Lake School for Exceptional Students. Detractors called it the 'Snowflake School for Exceptionally Spoiled Brats' and mentioned that the only exceptional thing about the students was that their parents could afford to send them there. At Allegra’s old school, discipline was considered to be an impediment to the student growing to become the special person they were meant to be. The students’ ideas were held in the highest regard and the staff would never say they didn’t care what a student had to say. Allegra always had a great deal to say and all of it was extremely important.

“I can’t believe you just said that to me,” Allegra protested. The prawn then explained about the rules. “That’s the problem with firm, hard rules,” Allegra said knowingly. “There is no way they could ever cover every situation.” She learned this at her old school. “And I’ve never had detention in my life. Detention detains individuality and self-expression. What am I going to learn just sitting in a room? Absolutely nothing. I would be wasting my time and the staff’s time. I can’t believe the teaching methods at this school are so outdated. Wouldn’t it be better for you to listen to why I broke your rules and use that as a growing experience for both of us?”

As they got to the mansion doors, Jack gave Allegra a look that reminded her of Shark Week. Allegra never liked Shark Week because the sharks were scary. Having an aquatic predator smiling at you was even scarier.

“Okay! Okay!” Allegra relented as she walked into the mansion. “But if you expect my mom to donate to your school, you might want to treat me differently.”

Allegra thought about how Lilly had told her that climbing down the ladder would be a guaranteed way to avoid security. “How did you even catch me?” she asked. “I almost killed myself climbing three stories and running through the forest because I was told I wouldn’t be seen. It’s not fair that you found me!”

Jack looked drolly after the young woman as she finally, finally went inside. Five f**king years later. Jack closed the door behind her, and gestured up the hall, towards the front office. There was a quiet grinding sound as the prawn clenched her mandibles, biting back her words. She wasn't going to debate this. This girl got caught, she was getting detention, and no amount of whining was going to change that. End of story.

"Security can-eras," the prawn said simply, "Saw you. Sent nee to get you."

Honestly, this girl had to be daft to think that a school-full of mutants wouldn't have extensive security measures.

Allegra stomped her feet as she followed Jack to the office. She was not happy at all.

"I know you have security cameras. I'm not stupid," Allegra said. "It's just that I was told that I could avoid them by climbing out of that window and going through the woods. If I knew you were going to catch me then I would have just walked out the front door. Do you see now why this isn't fair? I should at least get a warning because now that I know I can't sneak out, then I'm not going to try. So detention isn't really necessary, right?"

Just then Lilly, the girl who told Allegra how to sneak out without getting caught walked by. She enjoyed seeing people suffer and had been waiting for Jack to catch Allegra but hadn't counted on  her suffering being so delicious.

"Good evening, Ms. Chief," Lilly said in as sweet a voice as she could muster. She then glanced at Allegra's torn dress and had to stick it to her a bit more. "Allegra, I just love your outfit. And what you've done with it. Not sure what kind of look you're going for but the twig in your hair just adds to the caveman vibe you're trying to pull off."

Allegra was floored. She thought Lilly was her friend. "Lilly was the one that told me about sneaking out," Allegra insisted.

"Sarcasm, dear," Lilly laughed. "When I suggested that you climb down three stories and then run through the woods, I didn't think you'd take me seriously. You really aren't very bright are you."

Lilly turned to Jack. "I'd never tell anyone to break the rules," she insisted.

Great. This was the perfect end to an awful evening . Allegra was now resigned to whatever punishment Jack had in store when Lilly's phone flashed in her face.

"Just had to get a picture of that dress," Lilly laughed. "I bet it costed a fortune. Night, all."

Okay, that was enough! Allegra balled up her fists and was ready to take Lilly down. Allegra wasn't the type of girl that got into fights but tonight might be a good time to start. 

Jack said nothing in response to Allegra's plea, only offering a churlish harumph in response. It wasn't open to discussion. If she made an exception for one student, she'd have to make exceptions for them all, and she wasn't about to open that can of worms.

Someone else was approaching up the hallway-- technically speaking, these halls weren't open to students after curfew. They were supposed to stay in the residential wing, only leaving their rooms to go to the restroom, or get a drink or snack from the kitchenette. The only ones not subject to these rules were the nocturnal kiddos.

Jack knew Lilly well-- she knew all the kids, but Lilly was especially... kiss-*ss. There wasn't much of a better way to put it. Really hammed it up with the staff. Most were completely charmed, but Jack was not so easily fooled.

"E'ening Lilly," was the droll response. Like that, the girl flipped a switch. Cloyingly sweet to the adult, an absolute right little sh*t to her peer. Absently, Jack freed the twig from Allegra's hair.

The prawn interjected frostily, "You aren't su'osed to 'e out dis late, Lilly-- so I suggest you get 'ack to duh dorn's 'e'sore I has you join... Allegra... in detention."

The other girl insisted she would never tell someone to sneak out, shortly prior to snapping a photo of the disheveled blonde. Okay, enough-

"Sure, alright," the prawn remarked, unconvinced. Lilly was starting to make her escape-- without a second thought, Jack plucked the phone out of Lilly's hand. When students had things confiscated, security was often called to take the belongings to the front office. As such, Jack was perfectly within her rights to take the phone... right?

First things first, Jack deleted the picture. Then she powered-down the phone. Allegra deserved the punishment for sneaking-out... but she didn't deserve to be bullied by her friends, particularly over something they framed her for. Jack handed the shut-down phone back to Lilly.

"You can ex'ect to hear s'run Head-naster Ki'erling to-norrow," the prawn said simply, "Goodnight, Lilly. Allegra?"

The prawn gestured up the hall. This little sh*t had to choose better friends.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ms. Chief,” Lilly said sweetly. “I just saw Allegra almost kill herself going down the ladder and I was looking for you so you could help her and make sure she doesn’t get hurt. I’m heading to my room now that I know she’s safe and you have everything under control.”

“Hey! What the fu….” Lilly shouted when Jack took away her phone. She almost cursed at the giant prawn but caught herself and smiled innocently with puppy dog eyes.

“Why would Headmaster Kipperling want to see me for?” Lilly asked. “He really doesn’t need to congratulate me for helping out. I don't need thanks. When I saw Allegra put that ladder up, I just knew something was wrong and I had to step in.”

“I didn’t put there ladder there,” Allegra protested. “I couldn’t even lift it anyway.”

“Now stop lying, rich girl,” Lilly reprimanded. “You forget that there are cameras everywhere. I’m sure they got one of you putting the ladder by that window so you could sneak out later tonight.” It was of course Lilly using her mutant power to take Allegra’s form so she could get the girl into even more trouble.

“I didn’t do anything,” Allegra cried. “Honest.”

“Lying again?” Lilly said staring at Allegra as if she was something she had just scraped off her shoe. “Just like you didn't try to sneak out, hmmm? Do yourself a favor and just shut up and listen to Ms. Chief.”

Lilly then looked up at Jack and smiled. “My work is done here. I see you have this completely taken care of like always. I feel so much safer with you here. I’ll go to my room now. Good night.”

Allegra’s shoulders slumped in defeat and she just stared down at the ground. “Okay, let’s go. Sign me up for detention. Or burn me at the stake. I don’t care. I’m done arguing.”

Allegra followed Chief. “Why is everyone so mean to me here,” she cried. “All I wanted to do was to be Lilly’s friend. It seems like half this school hates me. I was so popular at my other school. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.”

Allegra sighed. “But thank you for deleting that picture. I couldn’t live with myself if that got around the school. I know I’ve kind of been a brat and you didn’t have to do that, so thank you.”