Chapter 35 The Letter

• The principal’s office had never been very large, but at the moment it felt as if it were narrowing in on me, as the walls seemed to be slowly inching in with each pained inhalation that I drew. Principal Reeves looked at me and waved me toward a chair, her expression invariably professionally serene. The two police officers stood next to her desk. The fact that they had accompanied her to the door made her allergic to such type of school meeting.
• “Miss Brianne,” said Principal Reeves, and her tone was something close to gentle, not at all characteristic. That is, unfortunately, a nice way of saying we have what the Americans call a ‘situation. ’ ”
• There was a sudden burst of heat and my breath, which felt as if each rise and fall of my chest were a symphony of pain, told of how afraid I was. Suddenly I had to speak, to shout at her, to ask why she was doing this to me but fear had rendered me incapable of speaking.