The next few weeks were like cave diving with a perfectly good parachute that I refused to use. School, my mother, Jax, my friends—they were all around for me to grab onto, but the only thing that got me out of the house every day was the promise of trouble.
I dragged my irritable, pissed off ass into English III, trying to figure out why the hell I still came to school. It was the last goddamn place I wanted to be anymore. The hallways were always crammed with people but still seemed empty.
My appearance was shit, too. My left eye was purple, and I had a cut across my nose from a fight that I didn’t remember. Plus, I’d torn the sleeves off of my T-shirt this morning, because I couldn’t breathe.
Not really sure what I was thinking, but it seemed to make sense at the time.
“Mr. Trent, don’t sit down,” Mrs. Penley ordered as I strolled into class late. Everyone was already seated, and I stopped to look at her.
I liked Penley about as much as I liked anyone, but I couldn’t hide the boredom that I was sure was all over my face.
“Excuse me?” I asked as she scrawled on a pink slip.
I sighed, knowing exactly what that color meant.
She handed me the paper. “You heard me. Go to the Dean,” she ordered as she stuck her pen into her high bun.
And I perked up, noticing the bite to her bark.
Being tardy or truant had become a habit, and Penley was pissed. It had taken her long enough, too. Most of the other teachers had already sent me out the first week.
I smiled, euphoria washing over my body at any possibility of mayhem. “No, ‘please’ with that request?” I taunted, snatching the paper out of her hands.
Hushed laughter and snorts broke out around the classroom, and Penley narrowed her dark brown eyes on me.
She didn’t falter, though. I’d give her that.
Turning around, I tossed the pink slip into the trash and threw open the wooden door, not caring if it closed behind me as I left.
A few gasps and whispers filled the air, but it was nothing new. Most people veered away from me these days, but my defiance was getting old. At least to me. My heart didn’t race anymore when I acted like a dick. I was thirsty to up the stakes.
“Mr. Caruthers!” I heard Penley calling, and I turned around to see Madoc walking out of her classroom, too.
“It’s that time of the month, Mrs. Penley.” He sounded serious. “I’ll be right back.”
The outright laughter roared from Penley’s classroom pretty clearly this time.
Madoc wasn’t like me. He was a people person. He could serve you a pile of shit, and you’d ask for ketchup.
“You know?” He ran up beside me and jerked his thumb in the opposite direction. “The Dean’s that way.”
I raised my eyebrows at him.
“Alright, alright.” He shook his head as if to clear away the brainfart that I’d actually go sweat up in the Dean’s office for who knows how long. “So where are we going?”
I dug my keys out of my jeans pocket and slipped on my sunglasses. “Does it matter?”