“You can’t leave now. We have something very special planned for you.” He brushed off her terrible acting and shuffled toward the office, pulling her alongside him. In the background, Mina heard the noise of lockers being shut and the excitement of students moving toward the gym. They loved any excuse to skip class.
Principal Hame guided Mina into his office and had her sit in one of the chairs facing his desk. His office was decorated with pigs, and lots of them. Ceramic pigs, plastic bobble heads, stuffed pigs, even a Hog Heaven monthly calendar. Everywhere you looked there were pigs, mostly because his secretary gifted him with a pig decoration for every occasion. Mina knew she had become a lost cause for tardiness when she began naming the pigs. She stared dejectedly at a ceramic pig with a red polka dot tie perched on Principal Hame’s desk. This one she had previously named Lucky, because he was the least stupid-looking of the collection.
Principal Hame slumped into his chair and had a moment of awkwardness as his chair slid back three feet from the desk. After a few grunts and pushes, he maneuvered the chair back to the desk. Mina did her best to keep a straight face. “As you may have heard, Channel 6 and the Herald Stadium are here to do an interview with you about your heroic efforts yesterday. What I need to know, Mina, is whether you love your school.”
“I don’t understand, Principal Hame.”
Principal Hame coughed. “Well, Mina, what I should be asking is maybe how much you like your fellow students and friends, like Nan Taylor. It would be a shame if our school lost funding and had to cut programs because of bad publicity.”
“How could this be bad publicity? I’m not sure I understand your question. Of course I love this school. I’m just terrified of giving an interview and would really prefer not to. So if you could find a way out for me, that would be incredible.”
“Mina, you have to do the interview. I just want to make sure that you don’t place blame on Mr. West for the incident that happened at Babushka’s. If it was publicized that he wasn’t there when the accident occurred, it could be seen as negligence, and we could lose our most valued supporters and be forced to cut funding or even, God forbid, fire Mr. West. The Carmichaels have a lot of powerful friends. I need to know whether you think Mr. West is to blame for the accident.”
Mina was at a loss for words. “Of course not! He wasn’t the one to blame. It was my—no one’s fault. Just an accident.” Mina had almost admitted the truth. How could she place blame on an absent teacher when she knew that even if Mr. West was there, the same events would have unfolded with the same outcome? It was just her bad luck that followed her everywhere.
Principal Hame smiled brightly. “Excellent! Glad to hear it. Well, we’d better get you to the gym.” He stood up and ushered Mina out the door, following close on her heels.
“No, really, I’m not feeling that well and would rather go home,” Mina pleaded. In retrospect, she wished she had used the time in his office to try to blackmail him into letting her go home, but it was too late now.
Again Principal Hame ignored her, “Make sure you tell the reporters how much you love our school. We would love to get a new pool installed, you know. Good publicity equals good funding.”
“But I…”
“Now’s your time to shine, Ms. Grime. Do your school proud.” Principal Hame escorted Mina down the corridor, and before she knew it, she was through the doors into the gym.
“There she is,” Nan yelled, waving at the reporters while pointing to Mina.
Yep, Mina thought to herself, she was definitely going to kill Nan.
Principal Hame sauntered proudly to the center and took the mic from Vice Principal Merris. “And here she is: Kennedy High School’s own real-life heroine. Wilhelmina Grime!” He started clapping into the microphone, which caused a chain reaction amongst the whole student body.
Mrs. Colbert, the music teacher, came forward and gently led a nervous Mina to the half-court line in the gym. Principal Hame heartily slapped her back as if she were a linebacker instead of a five-foot-four girl. Mina had just choked back a snappy retort when a bright flashing light blinded her. Photographers appeared from nowhere. The band started playing the school theme song, and the whole student body began stomping on the bleachers.