Superheroes Suck

Chapter 9: We've Got a Comedian on Our Hands

"He started taunting me about giving me detention and how my parents wouldn't come because they were far too busy for me. Murphy told him to stop, that a grown man shouldn't be bullying a teenage girl, but Mr. Thresher just told him that he shouldn't get in the middle of it because he likes Murphy and defending me might ruin that."

Principal Rogers suddenly looked even more unsure of himself. "Would other kids in the class back your side of the story up?"

"Definitely." Murphy intervened. "I know some other people have been wanting to speak up but, they were too afraid of what Mr. Thresher would do to them if they did."

Principal Rogers sighed and messed around with one of the glass orbs on his desk. I'm really hoping that means he believes us and that this isn't going to be in vain. No, I shouldn't say in vain. I'm really hoping this doesn't do more bad than good.

"Alright, I believe it would be the fairest to bring in one of our guidance counselors and to interview a few students from the class because if what you have explained is true, then we have a very serious situation on our hands. We will not condone any such interaction between a teacher and student."

Principal Rogers stood up and pushed his seat back. His face seemed calmer, much more neutral than it had been when we first set foot in his office. He waited for us to stand, and once we did, he held out a hand and shook both of ours. "I would like to thank you both for approaching this in a mature way and allowing me to try to see this from your side of the altercation. I will meet with the guidance counselors and we will discuss this further with other students and Ian-I mean Mr. Thresher. We will get back to you bothas soon as we can. Have a nice day and you two are free until your next class. Have one of the women at the front desk write you a note excusing you from class. I'd prefer to keep you two out of there until this has been settled."

We nodded our heads and did as he said. The women writing our note seemed to be a little surprised about the outcome but it only took a nod from behind us to convince her. She even seemed rather pleasant as we left the office.

The hallway was dead. There were bathrooms by the office but no one uses them, there just seems to be some unspoken rule regarding that. It worked in our favor; there wasn't a single person outside to bother us.

Once we were far enough from the office, I turned to Murphy. "Thank you Murphy."

I caught him by surprise. I noticed a subtle red tint to his cheeks as he tried to play it off, "It wasn't a-"

"No Murphy, it was a big deal. Thank you."

We just sat in silence after that, shoulder to shoulder, in a small little alcove until the bell rang and we went our separate ways.

Penn was waiting at my locker when the last bell rang. He ran his hand through his blonde hair, leaning against the lockers. It took a few moments, during which I made a fool of myself trying to get his attention, but eventually, he noticed me walking towards him.

"Hey, are you ready for tonight?" Penn pushed up off the lockers and took a step towards me. "Mom made me get a brand new tux especially for tonight. I look pretty spiffy if I do say so myself, and it fits too."

"Wow, a tux that fits." I pushed past him and grabbed a few books out of my locker. "You are going to need a bat to keep all the eligible bachelorettes off of you tonight."

"You got that right. I'm newly single and looking good." Penn winked at a pair of freshmen that passed us.

They giggled, and turned away nervously; their hushed words could barely be heard over the stragglers who were leaving the building. It was so strange to see Penn act that way, so unlike Penn.