I rattled off every name I could think of, including the Princes. Then I pulled out my phone and showed her some screenshots I’d taken.
“These are some of the messages I get sent on a daily basis,” I explained. “Everyone sends them on the Messenger app, which has this ‘secret’ option to make messages disappear just a few seconds after the recipient reads them. But sometimes I’m quick enough to get a screenshot before they vanish.”
Ms. Flores nodded slowly as she typed some notes on her keyboard. “This is good. There are quite a few names attached to those messages,” she said. “I can haul every one of those students in here and discipline them right away. I’ll just need you to send me the screenshots for the official records.”
“Okay. But what about Hunter and his friends? Or Jessica? Or Talia?” I asked. “They’re the worst ones.”
She frowned. “Do you have any proof? More screenshots with their names, perhaps?” she asked. Before I could respond, she held up one palm. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I do. I just need some sort of evidence before I can discipline the students in question. Otherwise they could try to claim I’m unfairly targeting them for no reason. Unfortunately, that could then count against me as—”
“Misconduct,” I cut in.
She nodded. “That’s right.”
My shoulders slumped. “Damn,” I muttered. “What about my friends? They know what’s going on. Will their word count for anything?”
Ms. Flores twisted her lips. “Probably not. It would be nice if it were that easy, though.”
“Well, I don’t have any other proof. So what can I do?”
“For now, do your best to gather any evidence that you can bring to me. If you can get enough, I might be able to nail them all.”
I sighed. “Okay. I’ll try.”
“I’m sorry. I really wish I could do more, Laney.”
“I know,” I replied, giving her a small smile. “I’m just glad you’re helping me at all. I wasn’t sure if you would. Or if you’d even believe me.”
“Don’t worry, I definitely believe you, and like I said before, I’m not even surprised,” she said, lips pulling into a grimace. She hesitated for a moment. Then she spoke again, voice lower than before. “Do you mind if I’m brutally honest and completely unprofessional for a minute?”
I smiled. “Not at all.”
“The students here are the children of some of the richest and most arrogant people in the country. You know what that means?”
“What?”
“It means a lot of them are taught to thrive on power and control over those they deem lesser than them, and they end up having no morals or remorse. They just do whatever they want and rule everyone around them with terror. Like mini dictators.” She paused and leaned forward. “If you ask me, extreme wealth is the main cause of it. A lot of the parents in these uber-rich families actually encourage the God-complex behavior in their kids so they can keep their place in the hierarchy. They end up creating entire dynasties of people who inflict their egocentric crap on everyone else with basically no checks from society, because they’re able to get away with everything due to their money. So basically, the kids usually turn out to be little assholes. Totally detached from the rest of humanity.”
“I’m starting to see why they fired you,” I said, eyes crinkling around the corners with amusement.
Ms. Flores laughed. “I guess you could say I’ve become a little disillusioned about this place in my time here.”
“I don’t blame you.”
Her laughter faded, and she sighed and went on. “Anyway, I know calling the children of the Royal Falls elite ‘little assholes’ isn’t exactly the most professional thing for someone in my position to do, and I never would have done it before they tried to get me fired… but it’s true. Some of them really are the brattiest little monsters in the world.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m living proof. Out of a job in a few months because some of them didn’t like getting detentions for viciously bullying an innocent girl,” she said. She leaned back in her chair and let out a deep sigh. “Anyway, Laney, you have to remember—they’re not better than you or me, like they believe. They’re just narcissists.”
“I know.”
She straightened her shoulders and cleared her throat. “I trust you won’t repeat this little rant of mine to anyone. That really would be grounds for misconduct, and Sanders would probably have me out of here within the hour.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” I said. “Believe me, I want to rant about the bullies just as much as you.”
“Understandable, given everything you’ve told me today.” She smiled thinly. “Just try to hang in there for now. I know you’ve probably heard that from your friends already, and you’re probably sick to death of it, but I really hope you keep at it. You earned your place at RFA fair and square.”
Something ticked over in my mind. “That reminds me,” I said slowly. “Can I ask you something about the RFA scholarships?”