Mister Fischbach

Chapter 4 - Apology

Jack stood out in the hallway, just like during every passing period. Recently, most of Jack's students and co-workers had noticed a small change in Jack. He made less childish jokes and wasn't as joyful as he used to be. Jack tried his hardest to stay the same, but there were always those nagging thoughts in the back of his mind.

At first, Mark felt bad for him. But then the other teachers would nonstop talk about Jack and how bad they felt, and it made Mark hate him even more. All guilt was pushed out of his head and was replaced with resentment.

"Apparently it was because some people said some bad things about him. I feel awful, he really doesn't deserve that. He's a nice guy." Melissa continued to talk about Jack. "Some people said that you said some mean stuff, but I'm sure the story's been twisted." She shrugged.

"Melissa, I couldn't care less right now." Mark snapped. Melissa glared at him and opened her mouth to speak, but Mark interrupted her. "He's being selfish and seeking attention! No one will shut up about it, and it's incredibly annoying. Yes, I said that he was childish and irresponsible, and I won't take it back because that's exactly how he is!" Mark huffed and leaned back against the wall.

"Mark, if anyone is being childish right now, it's you." Melissa retorted.

"How am I being childish?!" Mark threw his arms out to his sides.

"You need to apologize." Melissa crossed her arms.

"You're being ridiculous." Mark huffed.

"You're the one being ridiculous! All I asked for you to do is apologize!" Melissa shooed students back into her room.

"Please stop." Jack said quietly. Mark and Melissa both looked over to see him leaning against the wall across from them. "There shouldn't be this much drama over this." Jack only looked at Melissa. He refused to look at Mark.

"Apologize." Melissa commanded Mark as she walked back into her classroom and shut the door. Jack looked down at his feet as a long silence consumed the hallway.

"You don't have to apologize." Jack muttered. "I know you're not going to."

"No, I'm not going to apologize." Mark snapped. "What I said is true. I'm not going to say it's not true just because you're trying to make me feel guilty." Mark sneered with disgust. Jack sat there, enduring the wrenching pain in his gut.

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty." Jack sighed.

"Good. Because I don't feel guilty." Mark stood up straight. "You are childish, irresponsible, and I don't have a single doubt that almost every student you have is failing your class! You have absolutely no attention span, and you couldn't care less about what you're teaching! You only try to be funny to make up for your lack of skill as a teacher!" Mark spat, raising his voice.

"O-Okay, that wasn't necessary." Jack's voice cracked.

"Somebody needs to get it into your thick skull! You will never be a successful teacher because you baby your students and you are incredibly childish!" Mark didn't even stop to think about what he was saying.

"I-I'm not... I-I'm not going to s-stoop down to your level..." Jack tried to fight back tears.

"Stoop down to my level?" Mark scoffed. "You have the literal mentality of a seven year old! You're practically the definition of rock bottom!"

"Well, most of your students are failing! And it's because all you do is yell at people!" Jack finally looked up at Mark.

"At least my students go on to be successful. I have students that are at Harvard right now. What about you? Your students will amount to nothing because of you. You sit and hold their hand and hope that they'll grow up." Mark lowered his voice. "I feel sorry for them. You just keep dancing around in your fantasy land, pretending that life is okay and that nothing is difficult. You're despicable."