Undateable

Twenty-Nine

Cade's POV – Fifty-Nine days Remaining

The moment dad arrives, my heart stops. I avoid looking at him, knowing completely well what his expression is saying. I know I'm a disappointment but I don't want to hear it again. Doesn't he know I already know what he thinks? I hear Howard talking to dad, greeting each other as though they're close. Why does he have to be friends with the enemy? I dare myself to look and instead of looking at dad and Howard, I see Kaia enter the room looking confused. What is she doing here?

I sit up straight in my seat and look at her confused. Kaia eyes finally land on me and she gives me a quizzical look. She approaches the front desk, "Hi, I was told the Principal wanted to see me," Kaia says. What is happening?

"Yes, Kaia. Come in," he greets. Kaia approaches Howard with a kind greeting. "Sorry to disturb you but I believe you are involved in this conflict between Cade and Mike. I just needed you to come in to prove some things to figure out what really happened," Howard explains. She looks at me again and I notice shock. I haven't been in a proper fight with anyone since we started dating. The only fight she saw me in was with Ashton and that wasn't even a heated fight.

"Of course," she replies, turning her attention back to Howard. "How are you, Mr Pearson?" she greets dad.

"I'm well, thank you, Kaia. How are you and your mother?" he asks.

"They're well too," she replies. Once Mike's mom arrives, Mike's mom, dad and Howard enter Howard's office while Kaia waits out here in the administration room. Kaia looks at me, but the look in her eyes tell me she's arguing with herself on whether she should speak to me. One side of me wants her to say something to me instead of this long silence, but the other side doesn't want her to say anything. I don't know how I can explain myself to her. I hit a guy because he claims that I don't like her and wants her to himself. That he bad mouthed her and said she's unfaithful.

"What's happening?" she finally asks, after a few minutes.

"What do you think?" I mutter, avoiding eye contact.

I can't help but think that she went to Ashton's house and a party without telling me. I know she doesn't need to but for some reason, it hurts my pride that she didn't. Mike made it feel like she doesn't even like me and I didn't like the thought of that. I don't know why, but I just didn't like hearing it. It made me angry to think Kaia doesn't like me, even though I don't even have feelings for her.

"I want to hear it from you," she says.

"We got in a fight, over you," Mike interrupts.

"Shut the fuck up, Mike. No one was talking to you," I growl at him.

Mike rolls his eyes and looks back at the wall. Kaia frowns. "Over me?" she asks, as though it's the strangest thing she has ever heard.

"Yeah, whatever," I mutter.

"About what?" she pushes the conversation.

Before I could say anything, Howard calls her name. She glances at me one last time before she enters the room. She enters the room and Howard closes the door behind her. I don't really know why they need Kaia but I guess it's because Howard doesn't believe it that we're dating. I wait for another fifteen minutes until the door opens again.

Only Kaia leaves the room. Kaia avoids eye contact and I worry what she was told. "Mike, they want you to go inside," Kaia says. Mike nods, giving her a kind smile and I prevent myself from punching his face. Once Mike walks in the room, Kaia finally looks at me.

"I don't know what happened, but whatever the fight was about, you should've controlled yourself," she says.

"Controlled myself?" I scoff.

"I have to go back to class," she says.

I don't look at her. It feels like she thinks I'm the one who started it all for no reason. Like everyone else, I'm the one who starts trouble. "Whatever," I mutter. She leaves the office, leaving me alone with the receptionist.

By the time Mike finishes, I was called into the office. I take a seat at the centre. Dad at my right and Mike's mom on my left. I can see the disappointment in dad's eyes the moment I walked into the room. I hated it, but how would they trust me.

"Cade, please explain what happened," Howard says.

I explain everything, from the start to finish. I wasn't at wrong this time, I did what any reasonable headed guy would do. The first time I'm finally telling the truth and I already knew that no one would believe me. I lie too much to be believed in. After my questioning about what happened, I was asked to leave the room. By the time it all finished, dad finally comes out and orders me to follow him and I do so.

It's the final period of class. Dad walks to the school entrance and I knew what that means. I must've been suspended. "What happened?" I dare myself to ask.

He ignores me. He continues to walk to the front entrance. He's been here so many times, he already knows the ins and out of the school. Which hallway leads where and which hallways are always the busiest.

"So, what? You're going to ignore me from now on?" I ask, feeling irritated by the silence. This is the first time dad has ever been so quiet around me after getting in trouble. We reach outside and he now heads to the parking lot where I see his black Mercedes-Benz. "Aren't you going to say anything? Yell at me? Lecture me? Anything?" my voice starts to rise.

"I don't have anything to say," he mutters.

"Why? Because you can't stand repeating the same thing over and over again? That I'm a disappointment and you can't believe I'm your child? That I'm exactly like your brother?" I ask.

He stops walking and takes a deep breath. "This is the first time you ever claimed you had a fight with someone else; that you were defending someone else. I don't know if this is another great lie that you came up with or if you are telling the truth," dad says. He turns around and faces me. This time his eyes were soft. "Whatever the true reason was, I don't and never will approve of you resulting in violence. You are better than that and you must learn that violence is never the solution," he says.

"Am I suspended?" I ask.

"No. There isn't enough evidence to prove who's telling the truth. You will be going back to school tomorrow," he says. "If they find you were telling the truth, you will only have three weeks of detention."

"What if they decide Mike was telling the truth because of my past?" I ask, for the first time, worried about leaving school.

"You'll be expelled." I don't say anything. I don't want to be expelled from this stupid school – I know that I hate school and always seek trouble, but I don't want to be expelled. I want to finish senior year and go to college. Try to figure out what I want to be when I grow up and have a normal college experience away from home. "I hope you were telling the truth, Cade," he says before entering his car.

Hearing those words made me realise something. For the first time, after all the trouble I made in school, all the suspensions and detentions I got, and all the yelling from dad, this is the first time I am legitimately sad for getting in trouble. Dad wants to believe me but he can't because of my past. What makes it worse, the expression on Kaia's face tells me that she doesn't know if she should believe. If anything, Kaia can't help but believe I'm the one who punched Mike for no reason. I disappointed Kaia, the one person who wanted to be my friend before the stupid bet. The person who gave me something I never had before in High School... friends. But now, it feels like it was all just an act. It was all a lie. Because judging her face, she doesn't believe me and one thing I learnt from nearly everyone else in school, friends believe in each other. 

[a/n: Yes, this is a very short chapter. But next chapter will be posted next year (in a week :P). I hope you all have an amazing New Year! I'm surely excited and nervous about 2018. Got so much planned for next year.]