"Well, Cadet Felix, it looks like it's time for you to plead your case."

Erika Felix wasn't ever one to tremble under pressure. Not when she'd been caught hacking Huffington Post, nor being called out on her scandalous behavior, or even by parents demanding she stop discriminating against their 'No-Don't-Even-Try,' daughters with her exclusive 7th grade sleepovers. But lately she was practically cracking under pressure - and as the principal of East Hampton Military Institute slowly swiveled around in his boring, black cushioned office chair, she felt exactly as she did when she'd opened the door to find the police waiting for her.

After being humiliated and dragged through the campus, the Dorm Supervisor had handed her directly to the office who'd handed her directly to the principal - although Erika had overheard in her Third Quarter that students referred to him as the Warden.

When she'd thought of the Warden, Erika had imagined some big, brawny guy who dressed in the same hideous camouflage attire and spit when he talked. However, the Warden was exactly the opposite. He was scrawny and wore Hart Schaffner suits that seemed far too large for his frame.

Instead of guns and boots shined to perfection decorating his office, the surprisingly light green walls were adorned by awards from schools like Princeton and Brown, a trophy cabinet, and exquisite pictures of gorgeous landscapes in frames from Neiman Marcus.

However, despite the cheerful demeanor, Erika still found herself skeptical of the creepy dimpled smile flashing across the principal's face as he clasped his hands together and rested them on the maple wooden desk before him. She shifted uneasily in her dark egg green leather armchair, turning slightly to make sure the Dorm Supervisor - who was writing idly in a manila folder - was still standing by the dark wooden emblazoned door. 'Why does every faculty member at this school seem crooked?'

"Um, well, I didn't do anything wrong," Erika tried to explain. However, the principal's transfixed smile was starting to freak her out and she had to stare at his gold-embellished desk tag instead. "Cash is trying to frame me-"

"Is she?" The Warden interjected rather pleasantly, his voice sounding like one of those eerie voices used to lure people into mind control.

Erika slowly nodded. "She was putting on makeup and..." She slowly trailed off, hazel eyes growing wide when she truly concentrated on the principal's desk tag. The shiny, gold tag read; 'Caldwell.' Just a quick glance at the framed pictures that were set upon the large bookcase behind him was a dead giveaway that the Warden was a Caldwell. The framed pictures were of Cash and her family.

Principal Caldwell's creepy smile grew so wide it looked as if it were about to tilt off of his bony - yet beautifully moisturized - face.

"Are you-are you Cash's-" Erika stammered and he held out a hand adorned by silver David Yurman rings on each finger.

"Cashmere's uncle, nice to meet you," He said cheerfully. "I have to say it truly is a pleasure to meet the daughter of Matthew Felix. Your father and I went to the same fraternity together at Princeton, I believe. Isn't this such a small world?"

Erika was practically gaping as she numbly shook the principal's hand. 'Uncle? You have got to be fucking kidding me.'

No wonder the school was kissing the girl's ass.

"Your father and I were merely acquaintances but I always loved hearing about his successful developments," Principal Caldwell went on, seeming cheeky with the bomb that had just dropped. He clasped his hands together again with another odd smile. "Anywho, what do you think of East Hampton Military Institute so far, Erika? I hope it's been treating you rather wondrously. Besides the little incident we're here to discuss tonight."

Erika frowned, studying the seemingly harmless man sitting across from her. From the looks of his half-smug/half-creepy smile, he wasn't going to listen to her. Even if she grabbed Cash by her ridiculously purple hair and rubbed off her makeup using the floor. It was time to do what she did best - or at least used to.

Lie, fake, lie and manipulate.

Erika forced her same old 'American Sweetheart,' smile and the voice that came along with it. "You know, Principal Caldwell, it certainly is a small world. My father's talked about his friends from Princeton before but he's never mentioned anything about a Caldwell."

Principal Caldwell's smile didn't falter, oddly reminding Erika of his niece. "Well, I'm sure he's never mentioned me. Why, like I said before, we were acquaintances."

It hit Erika at that moment that Principal Caldwell was probably the connection Matthew had used to get her enrolled so quickly. He had really planned down to the minutest detail exactly how to get rid of her - and it stung even more than just being there.

She couldn't help herself. Just the thought of her father destroyed any of the sugar-sweet facade she could pull off. "What did he do to get me here?" She found herself asking,  almost not even recognizing her own anxious voice. "Did he give you money or something because I'm pretty sure I could give you more!"

That wasn't true but Erika could practically feel tangible desperation rising up her throat.

The well-dressed Warden only chuckled. "Cadet, I'm not sure what you're implying but we're supposed to be discussing your account of what happened in the Girls bathroom-"

"Look, if you just let me leave this place, I'll-I'll pay you millions!" Erika slightly stuttered, voice raising. She wasn't sure what was coming over her but she just couldn't stop, hands gripping the edge of the desk. "Don't you hate working here? I mean, being principal of a military school is disgustingly low-class! If you get me out of here, I'm sure I could convince my father to let you work at his Real Estate Firm or his corp-"

"Cadet-"

"No, just listen to me!" Erika nearly shouted, startling even herself as she jumped up. Even the Dorm Supervisor had stopped her mindless scribbling into her manila folder with a gaping expression. "This is not where I belong! I'm supposed to be in one of those fancy rehabs in Beverly Hills that let you have free drug-cheat days and doesn't care whether or not you recover!"

"Cadet Felix, you're sounding-"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE! I'M ROTTING!" It was as if all the emotions Erika had been trying to keep in check for the last few days were boiling over like a volcano finally coming out of dormancy. She couldn't stay there another day longer, constantly having to put Trash Caldwell into check, dealing with Lakemond, and dying in every quarter. She didn't care if she was a gay delinquent. At least not at the moment.

This was far more worse than getting cut off - which Erika had always thought was a true Armageddon. This was pure Hell and just the thought of going back to it made Erika physically sick.

As if some kind of demon had possessed her, Erika thrust her hands down on the principal's desk, causing paperwork to topple on to the green carpeted floor. "Do whatever you have to do! Sign whatever you have to sign! Just get me the hell out of here!" She screeched, the principal simply staring at her with what was either amusement or horror - or both mixed into one grand expression.

Erika could feel hot, salty tears in her eyes, breathing more harder than she had during her strenuous quarters. However, the principal didn't seem the slightest bit moved by her heavy desperation. With another unsettling smile, he nodded towards the Dorm Supervisor near the door and before Erika knew what was happening, two camouflage-clad security guards - along with the frail supervisor - began ushering her out of the office which eventually turned into hauling her as Erika shrieked and flailed like a girl getting kicked out of Barneys after a credit card getting denied.

She tried to fight her way out of the staff's grips and when it was time to get through the open doorway, she held on to what she could with all her might, screaming, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" to the principal who only watched with a sweet smile.

ⓁⓊⓍⓊⓇⓎ

Despite all of the weight she was losing from purging, Erika still flailed around crazily as the school security tried to gently escort her down a long, unfamiliar grey hall that was so small that Erika felt like the walls were closing in on her. The only decor that added to the hall was plain, hanging light bulbs and grey, metal doors that reminded Erika of a prison. She'd been struggling so much that she didn't even know how she'd gotten there.

The Dorm Supervisor, looking as if she'd just went through World War Three with her disheveled appearance, gestured for them to come to a halt at one of the metal doors- although that didn't stop Erika from trying to break away and run.

However, like all her other attempts, she couldn't even get her feet on the ground as the security were practically carrying her.

"I'll sue you! I'll sue all of you! This is manhandling and cruel punishment!" She screamed to the top of her lungs. She didn't sound like herself. She sounded hoarse and dirty but Erika was too broken to care. "You're seriously fucking with the wrong girl!"

No one acknowledged her, the supervisor pulling open the metal door and revealing to Erika the complete opposite of every luxury she'd ever had.

The metal door lead to a low-class bedroom except it was nothing like her dorm with cotton sheets and boring, grey decor. It was completely bare. The room was awfully small and square with only one bed that had a metal-like mattress and a toilet and sink for a mini bathroom. Erika's heart sank to the pit of her stomach when she read the tiled words above her new bed; 'Solitary Confinement.'

If Erika hadn't been fighting like Hell before, she was practically having an exorcism then. She kicked, screamed, and tried to hold on to the door knob as the two burly security guards escorting her tried to usher her carefully into the room. She held on to the knob as if it were the last 2016 Gucci purse that had already been sold out.

However, with one simple tug on the arm, the Supervisor was able to pull her away and as Erika stumbled out of the security's grip and directly on top of the hard bed, the metal door shut before she could even get up.

But Erika wasn't finished yet. 

Huffing loudly, she stormed off the bed, practically throwing herself against the door. While her frail body suddenly felt like Hell, she banged her small fists on the door. "You can't do this to me! I'm Erika Felix! I could sue you!" She shouted, her voice cracking and she wasn't sure if it was cracking because of tears or because of how much she'd been screaming.

She peered into the small slit of light engraved in the door but all she could make out was the hall, quickly looking away when she spotted a brown eye staring back from the slit of the door across from her.

She banged and threw herself against the door some more until she nearly knocked herself out, sliding down to the cold, stone floor. Maybe it was from the screaming or just simply trying to put up with Trash Caldwell but Erika couldn't help but wrap her arms around her knees and cry. She cried in the most ugliest way possible; loud and snotty.

She felt like she'd been transported back to being eight. When her brother, Damon, had casually told her on Mother's Day that she technically didn't have a mother because the woman her father actually called his wife was never her mother to begin with. It was right after a ball at the Four Seasons Hotel and Erika had never felt so alone watching girls in designer dresses dancing with their mothers. It didn't help that Matthew had projected all his attention on Damon.

A long time ago, all Erika wanted was a mother because surely, if her father didn't love her, somebody had to.

So when Damon casually - and accidentally - spilled the family secret, Erika had lost it. She'd pulled at her hair, kicked and screamed when the nanny had tried to help, and even cut herself with a pair of scissors and tried to blame it on Damon to at least make him disappear. It hadn't worked but she'd tried.

And now she felt like the prissy eight year old who'd lost it. Just like she did back at the auction, standing on the red carpet feeling like the abomination her father regretted more than bad business investments.

'And you're the shortcoming,' Matthew had said and now the words were repeating over and over again like an annoying song and suddenly that was all Erika could hear. It was all she could understand and just like that, she was banging and throwing herself against the metal door again until she really did knock herself out.

ⓁⓊⓍⓊⓇⓎ

"RISE AND SHINE, CADET! FOOD IS HERE!"

Erika woke up to the metal door of her incredibly small room slamming into her back, waking up with a shriek that she was positive disturbed all her fellow interned cadets. She looked up to see the one person she absolutely dreaded when it came to the East Hampton hellhole - besides Trash Caldwell, of course.

Lakemond stood in the doorway, bowl-cut and all, and carrying a grey tray filled with things Erika was pretty sure wasn't even edible. Apparently, the institute had a menu similar to public school. 

Lakemond regarded her broken form with an almost bored expression, not even apologizing for slamming the door into her back and simply stepping over her to sit on the hard bed.

'Bitch.'

Erika stumbled on to her feet. Her entire body felt as if she'd slept on rickety train tracks and she grimaced as she reached out for her tray which Lakemond absentmindedly handed to her, producing a small, miniature notepad from the breast pocket of her  white turtleneck.

"Did you have a good sleep, Erika Audriana- I mean, Cadet Felix?" Lakemond asked, her voice always firm and hard like a trained robot whose only emotions were anger and annoyance.

Erika stared at the brown goo in her tray with disdain. Just the sight of the disgusting food sent an array of emotions through her. All she wanted was to go home and yet here she was in solitary confinement still eating inedible food. "What do you think?" was all she said to Lakemond, setting her tray in the sink and giving the teacher/torturer a haughty glare.

However, Lakemond didn't seem bothered. "Save the teenage angst. I'm here to ask you a few questions."

"What if I don't wanna answer any questions?"

"You don't really have a choice."

"And apparently I don't have a choice when it comes to my freedom either," Erika exclaimed. "What kind of place is this? You're violating my rights!"

Lakemond only gave an icy stare. "Your father signed away your freedom," She said blandly and Erika had to hold back a broken scowl. "But if you answer these questions, you might be able to go back to the dormitories. Which I'm sure are much better than your current accommodations."

With a begrudged sigh, Erika slowly eased on to the bed that she could have sworn felt harder than the floor. While going back to the dorms wasn't instant freedom, at least she'd be a tad bit comfortable and she'd also be able to take up Jared Hayward on the plan he had been raving about the day before. Hopefully, getting jailed didn't ruin her chances of breaking out.

"What is your name?" was the first question Lakemond asked, icy, blue eyes glancing at her intently as she looked over her notepad.

"Erika Felix." Erika answered numbly.

"Where are you from?"

"Beverly Hills."

"What school did you originally go to?"

"Alabaster Prep." Erika replied, just the memories of strutting down the outdoor halls in her favorite pair of Jimmy Choos making her painfully nostalgic.

"Do you have any siblings?"

Erika hesitated, a slight scowl on her face as she remembered Damon. She toyed with the thought of saying 'no,' before sighing disdainfully. "One brother. His name is Damon."

Lakemond raised an eyebrow, the gesture surprisingly elegant before looking down at her notepad again. "Why did your father send you here?"

"Because I'm...because I'm lesbian." Erika managed. She'd only outright said she was lesbian once and that was when confessing to Benny Costa and Jac Lexington. However, she still had to concentrate on the hard floor she'd used for a bed just to even get the words out around Lakemond.

Luckily, the hardened woman didn't have a reaction.

"And why did your mother send you here?"

Erika frowned. "My mother is dead." Wasn't that on her records?

An odd look crossed Lakemond's face but Erika wasn't able to pinpoint it. "Why are you here?"

"Because...my Dad sent me here. I'm lesbian."

"What's your favorite color?"

"I don't have one." Erika knew every color always looked good on her so there was no point in choosing.

"Why are you here?"

Erika studied Lakemond who was nonchalantly waiting for her answer. There was something about every faculty member she'd met so far that weirded Erika out, making her feel as if she were stuck in an American Horror Story. "Because I'm lesbian..."

"What's your favorite movie?"

"Breakfast At Tiffany's..."

"Why are you here?"

"Because I'm - wait, didn't you ask this already?" Erika queried but Lakemond only shook her head as if she were dealing with a child.

"Why are you here, Cadet?"

"You asked this already!"

"Why are you here, Cadet?" Lakemond asked again, a pinch of frustration in her strict voice.

Erika had had it. She jumped up, subconsciously pulling on her hair that was probably already dead from the school's lack of Aveda shampoo. "I told you! It's because I like girls! I kissed a girl and I liked it so my Dad sent me to this hellhole!" She cried, her voice cracking again and this time she knew it was because she was on the verge of tired tears.

However, Lakemond only stood up and gave her her own scowl. "I see you still have a lot of work to do, Cadet," She said harshly before slipping her notepad back in her breast pocket. "I'm afraid you haven't answered truthfully. I'll be back in the morning." She headed for the metal door then, not even glancing back and Erika couldn't bear to watch that door open and close without her leaving that horribly suffocating room.

She couldn't be alone with herself again. Not when her mind was taunting her with the very words she was trying to keep from creeping in. She didn't want to go to sleep with her own thoughts.

So, like the eight year old Erika, she started to scream, managing to grab Lakemond's arm just as she was about to slip out of the room. The stern woman usually always had a composed way to her. However, she actually gasped, icy, blue eyes wide in shock as she met Erika's own hazel ones. "Cadet, you need to-"

"Please don't make me stay here again!" Erika pleaded, not caring that her voice was turning raspy from her crying and that she was nowhere near the Queen she was supposed to be at the moment. "I can't be here! I'm- I'm gonna go crazy! Please get me out of here! Please!"

Her heart was practically beating in her ears as she watched Lakemond's expression that went from shocked to firm and serious again, causing her heart to fall from her ears down to her stomach. "Cadet, I..." She trailed off, glancing at the floor as if she were searching for words  - and then to Erika's surprise, she squeezed her hand, locking eyes with hers. "Erika...you're not here because you're gay."

"What do you mean? My father-"

"FALL BACK TO YOUR ROOM, CADET! YOU'RE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT NOT RECESS!" Lakemond shouted loudly, shaking off Erika's hand and closing the door with Erika on the wrong side once more.

--------------

A/N:  Uhh..I'm trying to come up with something to say but its midnight and I'm a little out of of it. Basically, Erika's hitting her breaking point cause there's only so much evil you can do before breaking yourself. I'll probably be back to edit this because all I wanna do is sleep right now. Thank you to all who read! I'd love to hear what you guys think! xx