I Got A Grade For This

Chapter Five

Maggie Thatcher
3/8/17
Period 4
Topic #17

Behaving Badly

A heavy silence hung over the room, and nobody moved for a good few minutes. After that time had passed, Allen walked up to Alfred and socked him right in the jaw, shocking the rest of us into motion. For once, Matt was actually trying to hold his coworker back, and I dashed out from behind the counter and towards Alfred, who was holding the side of his face. No blood had been drawn, but a nasty bruise was quickly forming. "It's nice to see you too, Allen." He muttered. "You got some nerve showing up here, Alfred!" The other American snarled.
"So there's a bad history between you two, I get that, but you know better than to just walk up and punch someone, Allen" I said, giving him a glare. He's always had some anger issues, and I thought that they were getting better, but apparently not. "Why don't we all calm down a bit and you two explain yourselves?" Oliver added, and the rest of us agreed. A few minutes later and a quick run to the freezer to grab an ice pack, we were all seated around a table, ready to hear why those two disliked each other so much.
Arthur was seated on Alfred's lap, and I swore I saw him glaring at Allen every few minutes. "I think it happened about, three or four years ago." Alfred started, taking off his glasses and rubbing the lenses with the hem of his shirt. "We used to be friends, back in high school. Man, the teachers used to hate us." Allen added. "We made it a sort of hobby to try and irritate them as much as possible without technically breaking school rules. There were a few others who were in our little circle of mischief, but that's not important." Alfred said. "Anyways, one of said friends came up with the most insane idea that had a very small chance of us actually getting away with, but we decided to go with it anyway."
"It didn't go well, and our entire group got suspended. I say we were just lucky that we didn't get expelled. Now, it was what happened during that suspension that makes me hate this guy. We'd gotten suspended before, and usually we just viewed it as an enforced break from school, and we'd spend those days slacking off and doing whatever the hell teenagers did. But this time, he didn't even answer the door when I came over. I didnt see him at all, not even when our suspension was over. You were avoiding me, and I didn't see you again until I nearly graduated." Allen explained, staring angrily at the floor. "Wait, you thought I was avoiding you? Dude, I moved to a different state when we got suspended. I told you like, a week in advance. I wasn't even there, dude." Alfred said suddenly, a look of confusion on his face.
"So it was a misunderstanding. They happen, but you need to learn to move on, buddy." I said to Allen. I turned to Alfred, sighing. "Well now that you've got Arthur back, I'm assuming that you've got somewhere else to be?" I asked, and he nodded, lifting the small feline off his lap. As he walked out the door, he waved goodbye, and disappeared down the street. "I hope you two make up with each other." I said to Allen as I walked back behind the cashier desk. I knew it sounded a bit far-fetched, but it almost seemed like this was all laid out, expected to happen. Well, I'm glad it did. I thought, smiling as I got ready to greet the next customer.

The End