n A minus.

She stared at the paper, willing it to change.

Charlotte Brown did not get A minuses. She received A pluses, sometimes higher than that if she threw enough trouble. This was not acceptable. This assignment was not worthy of a letter of her name. If her parents saw this, they would take care of things for her without her having to worry about it. Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t possible now. Now that she was overseas at Aurora Academy, she had to take matters into her own delicate hands.

And so here she was, marching down the school hallways on a bright Thursday morning. Her previous class had ended a few minutes prior, and she’d been directed by her professor to speak with a teacher aide a few classrooms down about any concerns she had about grades. She nearly scoffed at the word ‘concern’, but wisely held her tongue and gave her usual “Thanks so much!”, charming her way to that professor’s heart with her loving smile and innocent words. Turning on her heel, she left the classroom and began her way down the hall, intending to have a word with this so-called teacher aide.

Calm down, Charlotte. Deep breath. He’ll reason with you.

She whispered these words to herself as she made a sudden halt in the middle of the hallway, forcing other students to walk around her and grumble to themselves. That’s right. She had control of this situation. He would listen to her words and understand that she needed a perfect score. Charlotte Brown didn’t accept anything less than perfect.

Nodding to herself, she started her walk once more, most students having already disappeared from the hallway. As she neared the final door at the end of the hall, she took a peek inside to see a man hunched over a desk toward the front of the classroom, a pile of papers stacked neatly on the desk beside him. It’s showtime.

Gracefully opening the door, Charlotte made sure to close the wooden frame behind her as she took a few steps in the room, her face appearing hesitant. “Excuse me, sir? I was directed to come here about my grades.” Now in the room, she got a better look at the teacher aide. He had an appealing face, there was no denying that. She smiled her charming smile, grateful he was easy on the eyes. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she took a few steps closer till she stood in front of the desk, looking down at his sitting form.

“There seems to be a problem with my grade,” she explained softly, placing her assignment down on top of the paper he had placed in front of him. Pointing a slim finger toward the top of the paper, she poked lightly at the minus symbol beside the A, blinking wide innocent eyes in his direction. “I was hoping you could fix this.”

tag(s): @callumblaine ━ words: 490 ━ notes: LESSGO

he man removed his glasses, and Charlotte came face to face with his two-toned eyes. One eye blinked red, and the other a gold, honey-colored hue similar to her own. She’d never met someone with the same eye color as herself. It fascinated her. Part of her wondered if they were real, or if he had one of those colored contacts and was trying to be different. If so, he was doing a damn good job.

“I take it you’d like a better grade.”

She nodded her head softly, hands neatly clasped together in front of her. He seemed to be examining her paper while she kept a polite smile across her lips, waiting patiently for his reply and ultimate marking of her paper. All it would take is one vertical line through the minus to make it a plus. He’d apologize for the confusion, and she’d be on her merry way.

This was what she had expected, so she was shocked when things didn’t go her way as he tapped the paper, explaining how she needed to fix it herself and bring him the corrections. If he’d been paying attention, he would’ve noticed a twitch in her smile, faltering her expression for only a moment before she quickly fixed it. She felt a tick in her right brow and ignored it, choosing to take a deep breath and calm herself. People made mistakes. Maybe he was new. Yeah, that must’ve been it. This was still fixable.

Nodding to herself, she pushed the paper back in front of him, once again covering the paper he was trying to mark. “I don’t think you understand,” she whispered softly, her voice sweet as honey. Meeting his eyes, she pointed once more to her paper. “I can’t have an A minus. Won’t you please fix it for me?” Charlotte flashed her brightest smile his way, tapping the paper lightly. “The usual teacher understands I need a perfect score. Won’t you do the same?”

tag(s): @callumblaine ━ words: 330 ━ notes:

harlotte released a slow, deep breath, the air gradually exhaling from her lungs as she forced herself to keep it together. That’s right. He was simply a teacher’s aide, and a poor one at that if he didn’t understand her needs. Not like the usual teacher did – especially when she threatened to make a scene about said needs.

Her thoughts were once again interrupted by his smooth voice calling out her name, and she instantly perked up to face him attentively. She vaguely realized at that point she didn’t know his own name, about to bring that to attention when he continued on with his speech, her smile gradually ticking downward with every word he spoke. Clearly he was the one that didn’t understand the situation he was presented with. How could he not understand this wasn’t her fault, and that it needed to be fixed immediately?

And then he just dismissed her.

Just like that.

When they still had unresolved business.

Something in her snapped, and she began marching over around the desk to come face-to-face with the man behind her anger. Spinning his chair to face her, she gripped the handles of the chair tightly in her fists and stared him down, her once sweet and innocent expression wiped clean. Narrowing her eyes, she spoke low and slowly as if speaking to a child about something obvious. “Do. Not. Dismiss. Me.” Feeling her anger rising, she snapped in his face, “Clearly you don’t know who I am, for whatever reason, so allow me to introduce myself. I’m Charlotte Brown.”

Really it should’ve been as simple as saying her name. He would realize who she was, apologize, and they would both be on their merry way. At least, that’s the way it should’ve been. But she had an inkling of a feeling she’d have to spell things out for him, so she spoke up once more. “That name carries a lot of weight. My grades have to be as perfect as I am, so this error on my paper needs to be fixed immediately. I’m not leaving till it’s done.”

tag(s): @callumblaine ━ words: 350 ━ notes:

harlotte was mildly impressed with his manner of dealing with her for the time being – something she would never admit aloud. Most people crumbled under her name and attitude, yet he remained with a calm and collective face throughout the ordeal. So he thought he could handle her? That was his biggest mistake. No one handled Charlotte Brown. Charlotte Brown handled herself.

This thought rang through her mind as the teacher’s aide slowly stood, towering over her and offering a bow with his introduction. She raised a delicate brow, her mind still reeling with what kind of approach he was taking. Was he trying to befriend her now? That was a joke. And was his name supposed to mean something to her? Obviously not. She’d never heard of the Blaine family. He should’ve heard of hers, however. That should’ve been enough for him to realize his mistake of defying her, but clearly he was being stubborn about this. Regardless, this issue would be settled.

Just as that thought echoed, he picked up her paper and explained that she would get a grade as perfect as she was. Finally. It’s about time. Feeling a sense of relief wash over her, it was quickly short-lived as she watched with wide eyes while he crossed out her previous grade to replace it with a D.

Red flooded her vision. The next thing she knew, the two of them were on the ground with her straddling him. She vaguely realized she must’ve tackled him in that instance, but that was the last concern on her mind as she glared down at him with her golden eyes.

“M-my p-paper,” Charlotte heard herself stutter out. She was too angry to think properly, but she had to in this instance. She forced herself to take a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes before opening them once more in a slow blink. Her long hair fell around her shoulders and reached the teacher aide’s chest she was currently upon. If anyone were to look in at that moment, the scene would be assumed to be an entirely different matter.

Charlotte took another breath, trying to control her rising temper. The only thing stopping her from ringing his neck was the fact he was staff. At least her logic was still working, somewhat. Her body shook with her anger, and she tried speaking again. “F-fix it. Now.” She couldn’t get much else out without heating up her anger further, so she merely sat there waiting impatiently for a response, feeling her fingers flexing and twitching under her weight.

tag(s): @callumblaine ━ words: 430 ━ notes:

he didn’t have a chance to even retaliate.

All Charlotte saw was his two-toned eyes flash, and suddenly there was darkness. It was cold. She was alone. And all she knew was he was no longer under her. She wasn’t even sure where he was, or where she was for that matter. She felt isolated and alone, frozen forever in time. Charlotte let out a chilled breath, and at that moment it started.

Her weakness had always been her emotions. She’d never been able to keep them under control, especially when her state of mind was put into question, and so it started there at her weakest point. Charlotte had been reduced to the state of a child, forced to have her emotions ripped apart as she watched helplessly. Everything she’d strived to be – perfection at its finest – was brutally torn to pieces as each of her weak points were forcibly dragged out of the shadows and brought to life. Everything she wanted to be was turned to dust and crushed on still, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was helpless. She was nothing.

That thought plagued her mind for what seemed like hours, when in reality only a couple of seconds had ticked by.

She.

Was.

Nothing.

She hadn’t even registered when the torture finally ended, her mind still wrapped in turmoil over what had just taken place. Light vaguely registered in her eyes, and she blinked her tears away to realize she was back in the classroom, still perched on top of the teacher’s aide, shaking uncontrollably. Releasing her tight grip on his shirt, she let out a shaky gasp and collapsed on the floor beside him, her body still shaking as she cried out in pain. But pain of what? There were no wounds on her body. Nothing had been physically done to her. So what was she crying over?

Her mind was still a wreck from the emotional torture she’d endured for what seemed like hours – something she couldn’t comprehend at that moment. All she knew was she was cold, and alone, with the phrase ‘You are nothing’ continuing on a loop in the deepest corners of her brain.

tag(s): @callumblaine ━ words: 370 ━ notes:

h…gosh…so sorry…didn’t mean…so far.”

Charlotte’s brain registered there was a person speaking to her, but she couldn’t acknowledge this at the moment. She was still coming down from Callum’s penance stare – something she didn’t realize, herself, what had all actually taken place. Still recovering from being mentally and emotionally tortured, she didn’t move when a hand was placed on her shoulder, nor did she react when her entire body was picked up and placed on the same desk she’d been shoving her paper on moments before.

Everything seemed widely insignificant now. She couldn’t even remember why she’d been so mad before.

Then Callum spoke, and his words registered more clearly in her mind at this point. She stared numbly at the ceiling as he went on to lecture her, his words faintly sinking in to her skin. So he did want to help her? She let out a weak gasp of air, trying to get her oxygen flow back to normal – it occurred to her at that moment she hadn’t been breathing well.

Blinking her tired eyes, she struggled to move her head in his direction, waiting till the teacher’s aide came more into focus before trying to speak. “How does one…” she paused, struggling with her words. “Work for it?” Charlotte wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that, but he did agree to help her, so that was a start. Perhaps she’d have to give a little in return. While these thoughts would normally never cross her mind, Charlotte was too wrecked and tired from the penance stare to bother complaining about anything right now. She just wanted what she came for to be over with.

tag(s): @callumblaine ━ words: 280 ━ notes:

harlotte squinted her eyes in Callum’s direction, letting out a surprised huff when he lightly patted her head. The last time someone had done that was when she was little. It made her feel small again. She sighed, straining her neck against the awkward angle of the desk. The wooden structure was getting rather uncomfortable, and she was about to say something when he surprised her yet again, picking her up and leaning her against his back for support.

Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling over. It was a weak and shaky grip, but a grip nonetheless – if she were to fall, she’d simply blame him for it. Nothing was ever her fault, after all.

Nodding this thought in her head, she listened silently as he began talking, assuming he was taking her to the infirmary. She could use a cool pack of ice on her head right about now. Truth be told, she was still shaky from the incident, trying to calm her nervous limbs down to avoid Callum noticing.

Charlotte snorted at his words of attaining a perfect grade. “You could’ve…just given me…a perfect score,” she huffed, trying to catch her breath. Now that her mind was slowly coming out of its haze, she was starting to gradually get her fighting spirit back – something she couldn’t believe disappeared in the first place. That place, wherever she was sent, sure did a number on her.

“After that, we’ll work on perfecting that attitude of yours.”

Her grip around his neck tightened. “You know, I could choke you from here,” she grumbled, glaring daggers at the side of his head. At this rate, she’d be lucky if they made it to the nurse’s station.

tag(s): @callumblaine ━ words: 290 ━ notes: