Sisters - a preview, part 1

I've been away for too long.
So here's a short preview of my next story.
The working title is "Sisters".

Catholic School + Nuns + Drugs + A Totally Corrupt Teacher

... what could ever go wrong?

Here's how it starts...





The two girls stood in the corner of the room while Sister Marie went through their wardrobe and drawers.
“You can’t do this!” Michaela hissed. She was the dominant of the pair. While her blond roommate kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other, looking at the floor, Michaela was staring straight at me, eyes burning, her jaw set.
“I think we can,” I said.
I hoped it was clear to her I did not like this whole room-searching business more than she did. We were supposed to be teachers, not cops. And the fact that the whole thing was based on “an anonymous note” delivered to the Director, as in, on somebody playing the snitch, did not make it more pleasant.
“I will tell my father,” Michaela said.
“Yes, do,” I said. She stared at me, like she wanted to set me on fire with her fury.
“The Director will certainly inform your families,” I explained. “So it is good if your parents hear your version too. And they should hear it first.”
Michaela snorted as Sister Marie pulled another drawer. “But I repeat you have no right—”
Marie turned. Tall, broad-shouldered but willowy, she did not have the sort of grim set to her of many among her other sisters. She was holding a large Ziploc bag, filled with spongy pot buds and half a dozen tightly rolled spliffs.
“As professor Barin told you,” the nun said, “the Mother Superior will certainly call your parents.”
She was barely older than the two girls, or at least she looked that way, in her white cowl and black habit. Her pale face conveyed nothing more than sincere concern.
“We will file a report,” I said. The blonde, Christine, looked like she was on the point of shattering. “That will take about one hour.” I glanced at Marie, that nodded. “You should call home, and break the news gently before the Director does.”
“What—” Christine gulped. “What will happen to us?”
I could not repress a smile. “You will have to face the consequences,” I said, as softly as I could. “But if I were the Director, I’d leave your families to deal with you, and just condemn you to reciting fifteen Hail Marys.”
Michaela chuckled despite herself, and Sister Marie gave me a hard look. But at least the tension had broken. I patted Christine on the shoulder.
“You won’t face a firing squad just for some weed,” I told her. “But call your parents.”
She looked at Marie, and the nun nodded. “Do as professor Barin says.”
We left them there, and retreated to the corridor.
Two girls in school uniform passed us by, and wished us a good day.
“You are most disrespectful,” Sister Marie said. But she was grinning.
The corridor was deserted, warm and smelling of soap and schoolgirls. Classes over, the girls of Saint Catharine College were either in the library, working on their assignments, or in the gym, working off pent-up hormones.
“You should refer to Mother Veronica as Mother Superior, not as Director,” the nun continued.
“She’s not my mother,” I replied. “I already have one, and she’s more than enough. I am an employee here. I never took the habit, or your vows.”
She nodded. The College employed a handful of secular teachers and assistants.
Back in the Teacher’s room we were alone. Sister Marie went to see the Director while I wrote down a quick report on our drug bust. After all, I was Literature, she was Calculus, right? Writing was my business.
I lit a cigarette and got to work.

[end of part 1]