Strong

Chapter 13

"What?" I responded.

"You heard correctly. Liam got into a fight at school," he said.

"What happened?" 

"He told me some "punk" was pissing him off and he shoved him into a locker. The kid retaliated back and a fight broke out between him and some more guys. Before it could get too out of hand, the fight was broken up by some teachers."

I was completely taken aback by what my dad had said. My brother has always been known as a guy who doesn't let his anger get the best of him. Now things seem to be different. After our talk last night I thought that he was starting to move forward. Instead he took one giant step back.

My dad slumped down into the love-seat and put his head into his hand. You could see the look of disappointment and frustration on his face. 

"I don't know what to do with him anymore. First he skips school, then he gets into this fight. I feel like he's loosing control of himself."

"Maybe...I should talk to him," I say, breaking the silence.

"I don't know if that is a good idea," he says back.

"Look, you tried talking to him and so has mom. So far you haven't gotten much out of him. Maybe I could try?"

"I still don't think its a good idea but, if you have the opportunity, take it. If you need me, I will be in my office."

Just then Mom walks through the door with some bags in her hands. Must have ran some errands.

"What's my mother's car doing in the driveway?" she asks.

Dad was just about to go into his office to try and make sense of what happened, but now he has to explain it all again.

"Liam got into some trouble today at school," he says.

"What did he do?" she asks.

"He got into a fight at school," I say.

"What? He did what?!?" she says back.

She drops all of her bags on the floor and whips off her coat and shoes.

"Where is he? I need to give that boy a piece of my mind," she says.

"Woah Mom! Slow down! I think doing that will only make things worse," I say.

"I can't believe this! This morning he seemed pretty happy. I guess it was too good to be true," she says.

"Look, Lindy suggested that she talk to him. I thought it was a bad idea," says my dad.

"It's worth a try," she says. 

She takes a seat next to me on the couch. I can see in her eyes how disappointed she is, just how Dad was. I hate seeing this look on their faces. 

"What did the school say?" she asked my dad.

"He's suspended for the rest of the week. He has detention for a week when he comes back to school, which will be Monday," he says back.

"Wonderful," she says.

"I know, but it could be a lot worse. The principal said they were going easy on him since he has a clean record and hasn't done anything like this before," he says.

"What about the others involved?" I ask.

"Lynn Marie! Why would you ask such a question like that? That's being nosy!" says my mom.

"I want to know! What if they are getting off a lot easier than him?" I say.

"Well I do know that the one he picked a fight with is suspended for two days and all other involved are only one day. Some how Liam found out," he said.