To say the least, this was the first time I had ever pulled a girl's hair, and had all of it come with my hand. At first I was startled, and then the realization had kicked in. I could tell by the distressed expression on Marina's face that she wanted to do nothing more than smack me hard across the face, but she held better restraint than I ever could have. Instead, she, with eyes full of tears, grabbed the wig from my hand, and huddled in the corner between a group of other girls who just comforted her.
"You're such a jerk" one of my female classmates shouted at me, her name was Jillian, she'd been best friends with Marina since probably kindergarten, and they hung out after school at least three times a week. They were on the same dance team as each other, and always came to school in their dance team jackets, matching black leggings, and the biggest most ridiculous giant diamond earrings anyone had ever seen.
The voice of my teacher brought me back to reality. English was my last class of the day, so everyone was rushing to get out before the buses left without them. Which, unfortunately meant I had to endure the wrath of Mr. Coles all alone, but I had deserved it anyway. Broden smacked my back as he walked past me towards the front of our row, leaving without any signs of guilt for what he had me do.
"Julian, get over here, now. Marco, can you shut the door on your way out? Thank you."
As I stood from my seat, Mr. Coles watched the last student leave the class, and shut the door as he had been asked to do.
"Sit." He started, waiting for me to do what he said, before continuing with the rest of his sentence, "what were you thinking?" He said, raising his voice. He peered down at me with his glasses half way down his nose.
Something about getting yelled at by men triggered a fight or flight response in me. I knew all too well how these conversations usually ended, and yet I never seemed to learn from them. Mr. Coles was an old man, probably 60 or something. I don't know how much money teachers make, but it must have been enough for him to be able to retire before reaching the grave. Every day, he wore a buttoned down shirt, with a nice pair of oversized brown or black slacks, that would have fallen off if it wasn't for the belt that kept them up.
"I wasn't."
Hell, if I had known she was wearing a wig, obviously I wouldn't have done it. I probably shouldn't have done it anyways, I shouldn't have done it.
Making eye contact when getting yelled at was also difficult, sometimes I tried to find something funny to think about just to avoid accidentally crying or something. For example, Mr. Coles had a massive black hair poking far out of his nose, and in his ears he had gray hairs that were growing like a bush. By doing so, I still look at the face but avoid the eyes, with nothing more than a quick glance every now and then.
"Marina's mom has asked all of her teacher's to keep this private, but seeing how you'd just exposed the entire class to it," Mr. Coles took in a deep, annoyed breath, "Marina found out she has cancer. She found out at the end of junior year, last year, and wanted to keep this on the downlow. Julian, what you did was very wrong and inappropriate, and you owe her the most heartfelt apology you could ever muster."
"I know"
"Why did you do that?"
"I don't know" My eyes shifted around, landing on the overflowing trash can of old school papers and destroyed literature books that Mr. Coles was clearing out during the reading. At this point I was just waiting to find out if I was going to get a detention, suspension, or an expulsion.
"Well, you know, I have to email your father about this."
"Yeah."
"I will be including the assistant principal on the email-" He added,
"Okay"
"He is not in school today, so don't be shocked if he calls you down to his office tomorrow..." Mr. Coles continued. I wasn't sure if he was trying to see if I was going to beg him not to do it, or if he was just trying to make sure I knew what he was doing- but, whatever the reason was, I knew I deserved any punishment I got.
"Alright."
"Go catch your bus." He ended, to which I stood up from the metal chair that he kept at the front of the room, probably for situations like this. "I mean it Julian, you apologize to that girl."
"I will" I nodded, opening the door to the classroom, shutting it behind myself as I left.
The hallways were long and empty now. It was only a matter of seconds before the buses left, so I would probably have to walk home by myself if they weren't still outside. I opened my locker, the combination always being pre-set so I didn't have to bother struggling to open it between passing time, and began to grab what I needed, and unload what I didn't.
It was only the second day of school but some teachers were stupid enough to give actual homework already. They made the excuse of well, welcome to adulthood, as a senior you get homework on the second day of school, which is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
From down the hallway, a figure emerged from behind the white cinderblock walls, Broden.
"So, what happened, detention? Suspension?" He questioned, pretending like he was about to violently throw a football helmet at me, but the face guard never untangled his fingers. He did this a lot, so I didn't bother to flinch at his actions, at least not like I used to do.
Broden was in football practice attire now, so he must've just come from the school locker rooms. The football team spent a good chunk of the summer and after school practicing, and the first football game was already next Friday. The sweat that had already dripped down his face from his blonde hair let me know that it must've been hot as hell outside.
"I don't know, I have to meet with Mr. Kochanski tomorrow." The assistant principal was far scarier than the actual principal, I almost wish I had to deal with her instead.
I don't know why, but I feel like all principals or assistant principals have a last name that ends in ski, even my middle school principal, Mrs. Mowinski, had a ski last name.
"You're screwed, could you imagine getting suspended the first week of senior year."
"Yeah, well I wonder who made that happen." An annoyance filled my voice, Broden was acting as though he wasn't the one who had told me to do it, "Did you know she had cancer?" I asked.
"Duh, Julian, why else do you think I had you do it. Her mom posts about it online like 30 times a week. Her mom went to high school with my mom, and my mom told me about it like two months ago."
I closed my locker and we began to walk down the hallways. There were still teachers in the building, doing last minute preparation for tomorrow and grading papers. Who knew how long they decided to stay after school, but I would've hated being a teacher. Dealing with kids like me, managing hundreds of grades, and needing to know information about everything you teach so you could respond to stupid questions just seemed like too much work.
"I wouldn't have done it if I knew."
"Yeah you would have, you do everything I tell you to do." Broden gave a smirk before he continued anyways, "I could tell you to get on your knees right now. All I would have to do is threaten to tell your dad, and you'd do it. Stop being so obedient all the time, show your old man whose boss."
He didn't even have to tell me what he was referencing when he mentioned getting on my knees. I knew what he meant, but I didn't know how to respond to it. All I knew is that I couldn't stand up to my dad like how he encouraged me to do.
"I'll see you tomorrow. I already have science homework."
"That sucks, see you." Broden brought his helmet to the back of my head, giving me a light smack with it, as he walked away towards the gymnasium so he could head back to the locker room.
I, on the other hand, walked out the front doors to the school, and was blasted with the hundred degree Arizona heat that I was now forced to walk home in. Though, I wasn't even sure that I could properly feel bad for myself after what I had done to Marina, who most likely cried her entire way home.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
