Magnolia

"Ms. Tully… please call for Magnolia Riley to come to my office right away." Principal Sherwood hung up the phone and leaned back in her chair as she tapped her fingernails on her desk. A few moments passed before there was a knock on her door. "Come in."

The meek Ms. Tully, who worked in the front office and was the principal’s assistant, entered. "Magnolia Riley is here Ms. Sherwood." She announced softly.

"Send her in." Ms. Sherwood said.

Ms. Tully made a gesture just outside the door before opening it wider. "Thank you so much Ms. Tully. And can I just say how much I absolutely love your pearl earrings. They really make your eyes pop."

Ms. Tully giggled slightly. "Oh, little Maggie, you are too sweet. Just like your sister Mari."

"Thank you so much Ms. Tully." Magnolia got up on her tiptoes and hugged her. Ms. Tully lived next door to the Riley family and was practically a grandmother to Magnolia.

"Ehh-hem." Principal Sherwood cleared her throat to get their attention. "Thank you, Ms. Tully, but Magnolia and I have pressing matters to attend to."

Ms. Tully released Magnolia. "Of course, Principal Sherwood." She scurried out of the office, closing the door behind her.

"Please have a seat, Magnolia." Principal Sherwood sneered as she gestured to the chair in front of her desk.

Magnolia nodded and sat down. "Thank you so much Principal Sherwood… has anyone ever told you how stunning…"

"Save it Magnolia." Principal Sherwood cut her off. "You cannot charm your way out of this."

"I beg your pardon Principal Sherwood. I have no idea what you are talking about." Magnolia stated.

"I think I have been more than accommodating over this past year, but your pranks have gone too far, even for a Wiley Riley. Your sister was disruptive when she walked these halls, even your mother was a difficult student as I was starting out my teaching career. But you, Magnolia, are the worst of them all. My patience is gone as well as the leniency I had for you… so I have no choice but to suspend you."

"Come on Principal Sherwood, you cannot do that!" Magnolia said right before there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Principal Sherwood hollered.

Ms. Tully entered. "Ms. Riley is here."

A grin took over Principal Sherwood's face. "Perfect. Please send her in, Ms. Tully." She said with glee.

"Yes ma'am." Ms. Tully nodded before exiting the office and Ms. Riley entered.

"Good morning Ms. Riley. Please have a seat. Could I offer you something to drink? Coffee, water, tea?" Principal Sherwood inquired.

"No thank you." Ms. Riley said. "But I would appreciate knowing why I was called here today."

"Of course." Principal Sherwood said. "We have to talk about Magnolia. Over the past year she has gotten more rambunctious. She is constantly disrupting the school and is often found playing practical jokes on the faculty, myself included."

"You can't prove that." Magnolia interjected but was met with glares from both her mother and her principal.

“You are right Magnolia, I cannot ‘prove it’ but you have a history of stunts like this, and you are the only student, no person, in this entire school who could and would do something like that.” Principal Sherwood explained.

“You have no evidence to support these other ‘stunts’ either.” Magnolia remarked.

“Magnolia Dove Riley!” Ms. Riley scolded. “It would be wise of you to watch your mouth.”

“Yes ma’am.” Magnolia lowered her voice and her head.

“Now, Principal Sherwood, what exactly did my daughter, in theory, do?” Ms. Riley inquired.

“Excellent question, Ms. Riley. Please allow me to demonstrate.” Principal Sherwood said as she slowly tried to stand up but could not get out of the chair. “She put glue on my seat and now I am stuck in this chair.”

Magnolia had the slyest of smiles before she looked up with her big baby blue eyes and pleaded. “I promise you Principal Sherwood, it was not me and I had nothing to do with it.”

“Save it Magnolia.” Ms. Riley said sternly before turning back to Principal Sherwood. “So, what is our next course of action?”

“I cannot speak for what your next step is, but on my end, Magnolia is suspended for two weeks.” Principal Sherwood said all too cheerily. “I will have Ms. Tully drop off her schoolwork every day so she does not fall too far behind.” A grimacing smile grew on her face as she picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers. “Ms. Tully… Please escort the Rileys out of the building… Thank you.” She hung up the phone and turned to Magnolia and her mom. “You are dismissed.”

It was a long and silent ride home as Ms. Riley stewed in her anger at Principal Sherwood for being so dismissive and her disappointment in Magnolia. Magnolia could deny all she wanted, but Ms. Riley knew that Magnolia was the culprit.

Magnolia sat in silence waiting to get yelled at, but the yelling never came. That might have been worse.

Finally, the Rileys arrived home. Ms. Riley turned off the car engine and sighed before turning to Magnolia. “Did you really have to glue Sherwood to her chair?”

“First of all, I had nothing to do with it. Second, if hypothetically I was involved, of course I didn’t ‘have’ to, but it was more fun. Besides, she probably deserved it for saying something intolerant about people in wheelchairs… Hypothetically, I mean.” Magnolia rambled.

“Did she say something about people in wheelchairs, or Mari?” Ms. Riley asked as she put her hand on Magnolia’s back.

“Sherwood has had it out for our whole family since you were a student. She was absolutely vile when Mari was in school. And she has been nothing but rude and condescending to me since I got there because you two were apparently troublemakers. She has nothing nice to say about our family…” Magnolia paused. “So, every time she says something mean about your or Mari I may or may not... pull a prank on her.”

“What did she say about Mari?”

“She said she couldn’t decide if Mari was more useless to society before or after the accident. And that Mari being stuck in a wheelchair all day was the best news she ever heard.” Magnolia explained.

“So, you glued her to a chair.” Ms. Riley chuckled slightly and had a faint smile.

“So, are you mad?” Magnolia asked.

“Not at you Maggie.” Ms. Riley explained. “Tomorrow I will contact the school board and figure out what to do about Sherwood.”

Magnolia leaned over and hugged her mom. “So, can I go tell Mari about gluing Sherwood to her chair? She loves a good prank!”

“Yes, my little vigilante, you can. She is in the garden.” Ms. Riley said.

“Thanks Mom!” Magnolia said as she was half out of the car. She darted to the back yard and opened the gate. She ran into the flower garden to see her sister tending to her marigolds. “Marigold Swan Riley!” She shouted. “Guess what I did today… I got suspended!”