Senior Squad

37| "At Least They Acknowledge You."

Aria

"You cannot be serious." I scoffed and shook my head at the sheer idiocy otherwise known as Dominic Romano.

"Well who was I to stop him? That motherfucker's got balls." Dominic remarked much to my chagrin. "Seriously, if I could I'd do exactly what Johnny's doing right now."

"Then why aren't you?"

"I can't afford anymore truancies."

"Um, I don't think so." I raised an eyebrow at his bullshit lie. "Why are you really not over there saving your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Then who is he to you? Some boy to screw with both literally and figuratively?"

"Fuck no." Dominic winced with disdain. "Why would you even suggest that?"

"Maybe because you've shown a lack of commitment one minute, then are spiraling downwards the next."

"And what would you know about love?"

"Well for one, it's not that messy. Then again, I'm pretty sure that describes your whole life."

"Girl, ain't none of us be living without mess in our lives." Dominic responded with a chuckle in his voice. "Elise's got a kid on the way, Johnny's losing his shit, Lyle's gonna be fucked up, and you... your mess is somewhere inside. You just don't show it."

"Exactly."

Dominic scoffed and folded his arms. I could hear him snickering a little too. He definitely was an asshole yet somehow I was able to see beyond that. I didn't know how, but I could.

We continued waiting until the door swung open where Principal Normack walked in with a stack of papers. Dominic gulped as I let out a brief gasp as those papers could've been anything.

"I see that the five of you have now become two. Is that correct?" Normack asked.

"Well, that depends–"

"Not necessarily." I cut in before Dominic could blurt out anything else. I closed my eyes for a moment then spoke once again. "You see, Lyle's been out for some time, Elise is at her appointment today, and Johnny is–"

"Suspended?"

Whoa. That was fast, I paused for a second and then answered. "Yes sir."

"Ah. That's disappointing." Normack admitted in a surprisingly crass manner. "I always figured it would be you and Mister Calhoun who would remain in this little group. No offense, Mister Romano."

"None taken." Dominic casually waved him off.

Normack nodded and began speaking again. "You know, with everything that's happened in the last few years, I've somehow managed to believe. I believe that if I put enough faith into others, they can get through-no, we can get through anything that falls on us. Unfortunately, that's not realistic and the fact that none of you seem all that passionate to be a part of this planning committee simply breaks my heart."

"We know." I sighed while shaking my head. "I wish we could do more."

"And you can." Normack replied.

"What do you mean?"

Normack let out a heavy sigh and readjusted his papers as he delivered his news. "I've decided to retire this committee once the year ends. Until then, I'm giving you two and your peers one last chance to come up with something great for a holiday infused event."

"So no Christmas?" Dominic asked with a concerned glimmer in his eyes. "Or Thanksgiving for that matter?"

"Well for one, we are way too late to do anything Thanksgiving-related. As for Christmas, there can still be ties to that but for now we should aim to keep religious themes at a minimum."