One weird bastard

Prologue

Okay, let's start with the day it happened in public.

Afterward, as I sat in the hallway outside the principal's office awaiting judgment, I couldn't be sure how many times I had been sent there that month alone.

Was it three or four? I asked myself.

I tried to remember each. First one was when I was caught trying to cut class and sneak out of school. It was the groundskeeper that found me. When he told me to return with him in peace, I laughed confidently and gave him the middle finger. Then some back and forth between us, and out of no where, he smacked me with a backhand.

I almost fainted.

He had never been that angry before, I mean students were always pulling all manner of pranks on him, but he always shrugged it off with a smile. I guess, spitting on his face wasn't as funny.

He then dragged my delirious self and laid me on principal Teferi's feet, who looked down at me with a thick frown, shaking his head.

I flashed him a brilliant grin.

The groundskeeper didn't even get into trouble, because you see where I'm from, a school is almost a free-for-all. Even the teachers beat you if they felt like it.

The second time was when I tried to steal a book from the library. I had finally snuck into the restricted section when the librarian wasn't looking. I rummaged the place and collected several books, all of which were, of course, erotica. I hid them in my jacket, then when I turned, the librarian was looming right behind me. I was tall even at that age, but he was something else.

All of the books slipped from my cloth at once, and fell on the ground. We both looked down at them, then at each other.

"Whoopsy," I said with an innocent smile. He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and shoved me into the principal's office.

The third time wasn't really much my fault. You see the school had no locker room, meaning whenever we had a gym class, we would come to school wearing our uniform over our gym shorts. But there were some that liked to change in the classrooms once everyone left. And it was at one of those moments that I happened to be returning to class to retrieve some item. I barged in, and immediately froze gawking. Hawi, she was standing there topless. We stared at each other for a brief moment, then when my look turned into a leer and I started to lick my lips hungrily, she screamed.

A teacher from the next class came rushing in. He first looked at me, then followed my gaze and saw her as she tried to cover herself.

"What're you doing?" he yelled at me.

"Shhh," I said absently, my eyes still fixed on her. "Just watch," I whispered.

He was so repulsed by that, he dragged me off to the principal's office himself. I actually got into a lot of trouble for that one. But I was able to weasel my way out of it, blaming the school itself for its lack of service.

I laughed remembering the look on Hawi's face. I've always had an odd sense of humor, even as a child my father would tell me jokes and nothing, but our neighbor's cat gets squashed by an RV and I would laugh for days.

"Weirdo," a feminine voice said from my left, probably in response to the way I'd been laughing by myself. It was Melena Alemayew, the bitch. There's always one. And she was always there whenever my crazy slipped out.

She was sat beside me at about an arm's length. I turned to her and simply stared. "What're you looking at, freak?" she said as if her words could damage me. Stupid girl. I kept on staring, then slowly, my lips parted and broadened into a maniac grin. Her eyes started to widen, and her haughty look was replaced by fear.

Of course, she was afraid. After seeing what I'd done earlier that day, I was certain half of the school would fear me now.

Then, for a lasting effect, I showed her my hands, my knuckles still covered in spots of dried blood. She stood and shuffled backward, panting like she saw a ghost.

I laughed and dived back into my mind searching for the fourth incident. It came to me.

It was during another gym class, our teacher had lined us facing each other, and we were told to pass the basketball to the person on the opposite line. The guy facing me was a bit of a prick. He threw the ball at me hard, and I yelped when I caught it. Everyone laughed at me, including the teacher. So I smashed the guy on the face, throwing the basketball harder. I laughed as he turned about on the ground, holding his bloodied nose. The school informed my mother about that one. She beat me.

"Melaku," the principal called me, poking his head out of his office door. I snapped out of my trance, got up and followed him in. The principal sat on a chair behind the table, and gestured for me to sit, I did. Next to me was Biruk Eyasu. Tears were leaking out from his bruised eyes, and blood slipping from under his cotton stuffed nose. I could feel the side of my lip twitching, about to curve into a smile, but I controlled it.

"Explain yourself, Melaku?" the principal shouted. Like always, I said nothing, my eyes wandering around his office. He continued, "He has a broken nose, a broken jaw, shattered teeth. What were you thinking?"

I actually wanted an answer to that for myself, 'casue all I could remember was waking up with blood in my hands and screaming all around me.