imagines | miniminter

Pride.

'Do not be ashamed of who you are, because in the end, you're beautiful no matter your race, religion, gender, size or sexuality.'

🏳️‍🌈

~

It was no surprise to me when I got a phone call from the school, asking me whether I'd be available to attend a meeting with the headmaster. Unfortunately these meetings happened regularly and they were always due to something happening during school hours. It seemed to be like these fights would happen on a regular basis and the thought of my son being the person always involved was enough to make my blood boil.

However getting these phone calls which seemed to happen at least a few times a month meant that I had to postpone working , which basically consisted of making videos for YouTube. I was luckily enough to be in a job where there weren't any set schedules and essentially I was self employed, therefore when the secretary of the school called to inform me of another mishap I was able to drop what I was doing and drive to the school.

I knocked a couple of times on the office door, mumbled talking on the other side, before I heard a clear 'come in.'

Opening the door, I saw the headmaster, Mr Thornton sat on the edge of his desk, a concerned look spread across his slightly aged face. His office was a place I'd learned to familiarise myself with. Same old filing cabinets against the wall, certificates for teaching standing proudly on a shelf and potted plants in every corner. In front of the large wooden desk were a set of two armchairs, one of which was occupied by a slouching teenager with a grey hoodie pulled over his head.

"Mrs Minter, glad you could come on such short notice." Mr Thornton sighed, gesturing for me to sit in the seat beside the boy.

I remained standing, looking down at the slumped figure who didn't resemble the lanky tall build of my son, Alex. I found it strange because the reason I was always called to school was because Alex was regularly fighting with other students, yet strangely it wasn't him sat in the armchair.

"Nathan?" I spoke, the figure shrugging further into his hoodie. I could tell by the hoodie itself and the the bright yellow backpack which was slumped on the floor by his feet.
"I'm afraid Nathan was in an incident with another student at break time today." Mr Thornton informed me, as I slipped into the seat beside my son. The hood was covering his face and I couldn't see any sign of him trying to look or speak to me.

Nathan was a quiet and mature boy who was never in any trouble or attracted any attention. No, that was always his older brother, Alex. It was definitely out of character for him to be this quiet or even be involved in a situation that the headmaster would call me in for.