Desolation Row [MxM]

Chapter 03

Unless something happened that threw that down the drain as well.

The sound of the bathroom door opening made me hold my breath and listen, hearing even footsteps. They stopped after a minute, and I waited for the person to either leave or find a stall.

“Can't skip lunch, kid. Come on out, we're gonna take a little walk down to the office.”

I shut my eyes and exhaled the breath I was holding. That sounded like an authoritative voice. Maybe if I didn't move, he would think the bathroom was empty. I just had to be silent, and he'd go away.

“Don't make me ask again. Let's go, now.”

Of course not. I hung my head and picked my stuff up, carefully unlocking the stall door and peeking out into the room. I assumed the man was one of the assistant principles, going by the radio attached to his belt and the clipboard in his hand. He raised an eyebrow at me and gestured impatiently for me to come out, so I stepped forward and kept my head down. “What, just because it's lunch you think you can hang out in here? Nice try. Come on.”

He started walking back for the door, and I followed silently, all the way to the office I hated. The man lead me down the hall that was between the two desks, and into one of the doors on the right. An older man sat behind a desk there, and looked up when we entered. “Caught this one trying to skip lunch in the bathroom,” the man who found me explained, and the one behind the desk sighed and shook his head.

“Thanks, Fred,” he said. The first man nodded and stepped past me to leave the room, and the one behind the desk gestured to one of the chairs across from him. I sat down carefully, my eyes darting to the nameplate that sat to the left side.

Principal Knight. Oh, that's just perfect. Second day and I'm seeing the principle.

“What were you doing in the bathroom? You can't skip a class,” he said. I hesitated and gave a slight shrug as a response. Principal Knight sighed heavily, shaking his head again and turning to his computer. “Name.”

“Victor Halcomb.”

“Junior, Ms. Perry's homeroom?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

I'd never had to go see a principal before. Of course I'd never skipped anything before either.

“Victor, your first day here was yesterday, wasn't it?” he asked suddenly, making me glance over at him.

“Yes.”

“This isn't looking too good for you, son. Second day here and already seeing me? You've gotta get it together.”

I had it together. I don't get in trouble. I'm a good kid. Those were things I wanted to tell principal Knight, but instead, I settled for shifting in my seat a little.

“You'll never acclimate here if you don't interact with the student body. Go out, make some friends. I know moving to a new school is hard, but you're only making it harder on yourself.”

I didn't respond to that, and I wound up with a detention for the following day after school. I'd never had a detention before, either.

I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, for the rest of the day. I walked off to the side in the halls, stayed quiet in classes, and sat up front with that girl again on the bus, the same guys from yesterday pretending to grab me again and making me flinch. They just laughed as they continued on to the back, and I released a shaky breath.

When I got off at my spot, I couldn't help but notice a very familiar Accord in one of the parking spots. It even had the little scratch on the passenger door like mine did, and one look at the license plate confirmed that it was mine. I'd have to thank Charlie tomorrow morning for it.

What I liked even more though was walking into my room and seeing all the furniture from my old bedroom. My bed was completely made, sheets and everything, the little cubbies in the headboard were filled with my books—there were a few that shouldn't belong there, but I would take the attempt for what it was worth—my dresser, my shelves, everything was there. I'd gone out to the kitchen to get a drink, but the note on the fridge made me pause, taking it down and reading it over.

Sorry it took so long to get your things. Everything's there, and there's a 20 on the counter for dinner.

-Charlie

I set the note down by the twenty, not even bothering with the drink after that. I was too tired, and more than anything I just wanted to fall onto my bed.

So, that was what I did. I locked my door behind me and fell into a heap on the middle of the mattress, collected the blankets and pillows around myself before I fell asleep.