Signs Of Love

I groaned as I sat in in front of the principal. I always hated being here. It was like…a torture chamber or something.

“Now, you know why you’re here. Come on Aaron, this is the first day of school.” The principal leaned forward, fingers crossed in front of him.

“Yeah, I know.” I responded, watching a dust speck float around the room.

“Is there something causing you to act out like this? Is something wrong at home, or is there peer pressure? I am here to help.”

“There’s nothing wrong.” I said, looking at him for the first time. He sighed, sitting back.

“I didn’t want to do this, especially on the first day, but you now have detention. Maybe you just need to learn a little lesson. And, I’m pretty sure your teacher didn’t like your acting out in class like that. I want you to apologize to her.”

“Okay, okay. Can I go back to study hall now?”

The principal narrowed his eyes at me, but nodded. “And, if you don’t apologize to her, I will give you another detention.”

I rolled my eyes and picked up my backpack. Forget him. I walked out to the secretary and she handed me a pass. Walking down the hall, I caught a few glances from other students. I didn’t say anything, I just walked on quietly. Stupid ASL class…I only took it as a blow off. Now look at where it got me!

I kicked a locker in anger, then cursed, realizing that maybe that wasn’t the smartest idea. “God he’s right.” I murmured, putting my head in my hand. Deciding that this totally wasn’t the place for a mental breakdown, I spent the rest of my study hall in the library. When school was out, I felt like there was a black cloud over my head. When I saw a kid writing in his journal, I pounced on the opportunity to make him miserable too.

“What? Is this like your diary or something?” I spat, laughing as I ripped the pages and threw t
he debris at him. After I walked away, I realized that I actually felt worse. I heard the snickers, and though, poor kid. He certainly didn’t deserve it. I sat in the back of the bus with some friends, feigning happiness and laughter. Only one of the them, my best friend (who’s a girl). She frowned at me the whole time. When her and I got to our stop, the bus driver stopped me from getting off.

“Please refrain from that sort of behavior on my bus, Mr. Johanson.” He said. “This is the first day. Don’t make me give you a warning.” And then he signaled for me to get off. I heard people laugh as I got off.

“Those jerks.” I mumbled.

“Serves you right.”

“Come on Rachel, I didn’t mean-” I began.

“Don’t even start. You have changed and become a bully. I saw what you did today.”

“But Rachel, you don’t understand…”

“I think I do.” She huffed, heading off the sidewalk toward her house.

“This means you won’t talk to me for the next week.” I said, continuing toward my house. “Serves me right.” I mocked. I unlocked my door and shoved it open. “So what if I did it?” I slammed the door shut and sat against it. A hyper Dalmatian ran toward me, tail wagging.

“Hey there Charlie.” I cooed, scratching his muzzle.”Want to go for a walk?” His tail began to thump on the floor and I laughed. “Come on, let’s go. Maybe we’ll get some ground beef and make hamburgers for dinner tonight.” I ran into the kitchen, grabbing his leash and ignoring the green note on the refrigerator. I already knew that it said my parents wouldn’t be home until late. It was typical, and, admittedly, repetitive. The only time I really saw them was on the weekends. “Come on Charlie.” I hooked the leash to his collar and opened the door. “Let’s take a nice walk.”