Halo

My alarm clock going off on my phone woke me up for another day of School. I felt the sting on my cheek and sighed. I could already picture the bruise on my skin. I rolled out of my bed and looked through my closet for something to wear. I finally threw something together. I changed into them within minutes. I slung my backpack on my back and shoved my phone into my hoodie pocket. I ran across the hall real quick to brush my teeth and toss my hair into a messy pony tail. I saw the purple mark on my cheek and just tried to forget about it.

I headed downstairs to find my Dad right where I left him last night. I grabbed my converse out of the closet quietly and slipped them on. I headed off to my walk to School. Luckily it wasn't too cold and it seemed to of stopped snowing. There was still snow on the ground, however. Once I got to School, it started to snow really bad so, I was thankful I got there when I did. I got to my locker as soon as the final bell rang which made me frown. I must of taken a longer walk than usual.

The day drifted on slowly. I had just gotten out of Government and it felt like I already went through 2 hours. Finally after 3 long and dreadful hours, it was lunch time. I wasn't hungry really. My brain just hurt from trying to learn everything the past 4 hours. I headed to the Cafeteria to sit with Lacey at our usual spot.

She gave me a smile as I sat down across from her. That smile turned into a frown once she spotted the bruise on my cheek. "Carson, what happened?" She asked, concern dripping through her voice.

I opened my water bottle and shrugged. "Got home late. Dad got mad." I took a sip of my water letting the coldness soothe my dry throat. Lacey gave me a sympathetic look before sighing. "I'm sorry, Cars. You can come stay with me if you want?" She suggested like every time before.

"You know I can't, Lacey. He would think that I'm just like my Mom." I explained while capping my water bottle.

Lacey placed her hand on top of mine. "If this is who he really is then, I can see why your Mom left him." I removed my hand from her grip and shook my head. "You don't know who he is. He just has a drinking problem, that's all." I snapped before standing up from the table.

"Carson, wait." She protested but, I just shook my head. I walked out of the lunch room and headed to the front of the School. I ended up sitting on a bench in the lobby for the rest of the lunch period. I know Lacey means well and she's just looking out for me but, I can't leave my Dad. I promised him I never would. I promised myself that I'd never turn out like my Mother.

The end bell rang and I headed to Physics. That class seemed to drag on because Mr. Danielson was lecturing the whole hour while we took notes. I was getting so tired and worn out. My head hit the desk a couple times only to be brought back up because Mr. Danielson hated when kids slept in his classroom. Once the bell rang, I couldn't get out of that classroom fast enough.

I grabbed my books out of my locker for Algebra, now regretting not even attempting that 10 problem worksheet. Lacey made her way over to me with a sad smile planted on her face. "I'm sorry, Carson." I shut my locker door and sighed. "It's alright, Lacey. I'm just not in a good mood today." Which was true.

She pulled me into a quick hug, "I just care about you and I don't like you getting hurt."

"I know." I said while giving her back a couple pats.

Lacey let go of me and smirked, "I bet seeing Mr. Hot stuff will make everything better." She nudged me while winking. I couldn't help but, chuckle. I sighed knowing I was going to have detention today.

We entered the class room to find Mr. Baker writing on the board. He said a polite 'Hello' to us and I was beginning to hope that maybe he forgot about my homework. The bell rang and I took my seat next to Lacey.

Mr. Baker shut the door, "Alright guys. It's the last hour of the day, you can do it." He said with a chuckle, which made everyone else chuckle also. He grabbed a stack of papers. "We're going to be doing warm-ups every day just get your brains pumping. It won't be nothing hard just some simple math." He passed the papers around and pointed to the board. "Do these while I take attendance."

I pulled out a pencil and looked up at the board. As I examined the problems, I had realized that Mr. Baker's form of simple math was my worst nightmare. You had to solve for x and there was like 5 different set of numbers. Instead of attempting it, I just put my head down. I was way too tired to try.

"Carson, come on. Just try it." Lacey tried to change my mind but, I just shook my head in response. I heard Mr. Baker clear his throat. "Carson." My head raised up and my eyes widened to him standing right in front of my desk.

He narrowed his gaze and I took the time to check out what he was wearing. It was Friday so teachers got to dress down. "Did you have the homework?" He asked, making me look up in his green eyes. I noticed his eyes were on my cheek probably wondering about my bruise.

A sigh escaped my lips, "No." I bowed my head not wanting to see his reaction.

"Then you'll be staying after School with me." He said kind of disappointed and headed back over to his desk. Lacey nudged me and spoke quietly. "You could of just gave it to me at lunch, I would've done it for you."

I just shrugged in response wondering why I didn't think of that. I placed my arms on my desk and buried my head into them like I did previously. Mr. Baker didn't like that too much. "Miss Wheeler, head up." I rolled my eyes and I raised my head up.

He started to go over the warm up and I let my head go to the desk again. I just couldn't keep it up, no matter how hard I tried. Thankfully, Mr. Baker just let me be. The whole class went along in a blur. The bell rang which caused me to raise my head. Everyone filed out of the room and I remembered that I had a detention with him.

Mr. Baker walked over to me and pulled a chair up in front of my desk. "Alright, why didn't you do your homework?" He asked while crossing his arms over his chest and leaned back in the chair.

"I forgot." I said while shrugging my shoulders.

He rolled his eyes not believing me, "I see. How'd you get that bruise?" Mr. Baker's eyes were staring right at my right cheek. I started to bite on my lip as I placed a hand delicately on my cheek. "Oh, um.. I slipped on some ice this morning and my face broke the fall."

"I take it you're accident prone." Mr. Baker said with a light chuckle.

That made me laugh uneasily and nodded, "Got me."

He sat up in his chair, "Okay. I'm just going to give you another 10 problem worksheet and once you're finished with it, you can leave." I gritted my teeth refusing the let the groan that wanted to come out, escape. I watched Mr. Baker head over to his desk and grab a paper. He walked back over to me and placed it on my desk, "I'll be at my desk." I nodded and stared down at the paper.

It was 10 problems and I'm sure it was really easy to normal people. I just never was good at math in my life so, I quit trying to learn in it. It's biting me in the ass right now. I took out my pencil and wrote my name at the top of the paper. I placed my pencil on number 1 trying to think any possible way to know how to do this without actually knowing how.

30 minutes passed and I still was on number 1. Mr. Baker kept sending me confused looks probably wondering why the hell I was still doing this. Getting agitated with it, I decided just to write down random numbers. As soon as I was finished, I placed my pencil on the desk.

The noise made Mr. Baker look at me, "All done?"

"Yeah." I gave him a nod while leaning back in my chair.

He stood up from his seat and walked over to me. I watched him pick up the paper and scan it intently. He became confused and handed the paper back over to me. "You need to show work." I groaned a bit before looking down at the paper.

I could feel Mr. Baker's gaze on me so, I just kind of wrote something down. I finished number 10 and handed it back to him, "Can I leave now?" I asked, not wanting to be here any longer.

Mr. Baker put a finger up in the air as he examined my paper. He was trying to hide a smirk as he handed me back my paper. "You need to re-do number 7." I became surprised at this. I guessed on every single one and only got 1 wrong? I picked up my pencil and tried to think of what could be wrong with it. I just put a different number and handed it back to him.

He shook his head while handing it back to me. "Number 1 is wrong too."

A sigh escaped my lips as I changed the answer to that question too. I handed it to him for like the 4th time and I watched him skim it over. Mr. Baker placed the paper on my desk and pulled up a chair to sit in it. Once he did, he eyed me. "When did you plan on telling me that you don't know what the fuck you're doing."

I was shocked that he used foul language but, most teachers do when students aren't around. I started to bite my lip while looking at the desk. I didn't plan on telling him. Mr. Baker took a deep breath and exhaled. "Carson, how long have you been struggling?"

"Since elementary." I said while raising my gaze to his. He widened his eyes and scoffed, "Elementary?" His facial expressions softened a bit, "Why haven't you asked for help?"

That made me sigh, "It's a long story."

Mr. Baker shrugged his shoulders, "I got time."

"I don't. I need to get home." I said while glancing up at the clock. It was 3:23pm. My Dad was going to be pissed when I got home. Mr. Baker shook his head, "You need to pass this class." He was right, I needed to pass this class or I would have to repeat the 11th grade.

He continued on, "I looked at your records, you barely passed last semester. Carson, if you need help-" I cut him off, "I don't need your help. If I passed last semester without anyone's help then, I think I can do it this time." I said getting defensive. I hated when people wanted to help me. It made me feel like I was some dumb idiot that didn't know what they were doing.

Mr. Baker started to get upset by this, "You barely passed and I'm the one who gets to decide if you pass or not so, I would be asking for all the help you can get if I were you."

"Well, you're not me so, can I go now?" I snapped while pushed my chair back to stand to my feet.

He shrugged his shoulder, "Go but, just know that you're going to have a fun time trying to pass this class without any help." I rolled my eyes and grabbed my books. I walked out of his classroom without saying another word to him. This is going to be a long semester.