"Easton Quincy to the principal's office. Easton Quincy to the principal's office." They called my name over the loudspeaker.
"What's that about?" Ashtyn asked me in government.
I shrugged and grabbed my things. I walked out of class and into the office. I met with the school secretary, Mrs. Gonzales.
"You can go right in, Easton," she informed me.
I opened the door to his office to find Ethan slouched in a chair with a black eye, staring grumpily at Mr. Creed.
"What the hell happened?" I asked, referring to Ethan's black eye.
"Easton, please take a seat," Mr. Creed said and motioned to the seat next to Ethan.
"I would like to know what happened and why I'm here," I snapped.
Mr. Creed folded his hands together and looked at the two of us. I looked over at Ethan for some sort of clue as to what was going on. Obviously, the kid got into a fight.
"Seeing as though your parents are out of town and no one else is picking up at the house, you have been called in for Ethan's unacceptable behavior." Mr. Creed stated. "Let's get this thing started shall we."
"What happened?" I asked calmly.
"Ethan got into a fight with another kid during gym class today," Creed started. Okay, that was pretty obvious.
"Okay and?" I asked.
Creed looked shocked at me. "That kind of behavior is unacceptable. I'm not sure how your parents run your house, but here, in my house. fighting is inappropriate no matter the circumstances."
"Circumstances? What sort of circumstances?" I asked.
"Well, he was defending a student who was...disturbed by the student he had an altercation with," He chose his words wisely. I could feel the anger bubbling up inside of me. If he was defending another student then why is he getting in trouble and not the other kid?
"When I asked what happened, I expected the whole story. Not the bits and pieces that make Ethan out to be the bad guy. I want to know what happened."
"It was reported that a student, let's just say, couldn't handle the rejection and made some bad decisions which led to Ethan picking a fight with him."
It was my turn to look shocked at Creed. Ethan was getting in trouble for another kid being a jackass. "Excuse me, Mr. Creed, are you saying that Ethan is getting in trouble for another kid's wrong actions? How is this fair?"
"Two wrongs don't make a right, Mr. Quincy. What Ethan did was against school policy. Since this has occurred twice this semester and he has already served detention for it, we have no choice but to suspend Ethan for three days. He will be able to return on Friday."
"Suspended?" I asked. "This is bullshit!" I raised my voice.
Creed leaned back in his chair, appalled by my language. "Excuse me, Mr. Quincy, that is highly inappropriate language and I will not have it thrown at me in that way."
"You're telling me that Ethan is being suspended because he did a good thing. He defended another student from a bully who couldn't handle it themselves."
"It doesn't matter. Ethan is getting suspended and can return on Friday morning. You have been well informed of this whether you agree with it or not, Mr. Quincy. I am not obliged to keep you here any longer. Please leave and take Ethan home for the remainder of the day," Mr. Creed said and turned to his computer with a particular pout.
I dragged Ethan's ass out to the car. He was silent the entire ride back to the house. He tried to go straight to his room, but I grabbed his collar and yanked him into the kitchen.
Silently I got him some ice as he sat up on the counter. I handed him the ice and leaned against the island counter across from Ethan. I crossed my arms and gave him the look. He scratched his neck nervously.
"What happened?" I asked solemnly.
"There's this guy named David in my gym class, he's a class-A asshole. He asked Erin out and she politely declined. It wasn't a problem until he wouldn't leave her alone. He didn't take no for an answer and he kept making gross jokes and making her uncomfortable. She told him to stop but he didn't. He grabbed her ass, East. He violated and disrespected her. I did what anyone would do. It just made it easier knowing it was Erin I was protecting." Ethan explained.
I nodded. "Was Erin hurt at all?"
"No just a little shaken up was all. She got sent home. I hope that asshole learned his fucking lesson. You don't touch a girl like that, it's not right" He growled and balled his fists up again.
"Easy cowboy. Go ice your eye and take a breather. We'll talk more about this later" I said.
He nodded and hopped off of the counter and ran up to his room.
I'm glad Ethan gave that punk what he deserved. That kid should be expelled for that sort of behavior. Talk about unacceptable. I truly hoped that her parents would do something about the situation.
***
"Hey Easton," Mason called from down the hallway. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He asked.
"Yeah Coach," I said and walked over to him. We walked into a classroom for more privacy.
"I heard something happened with Ethan yesterday. What happened? Is the kid okay?" Mason asked worriedly.
I nodded my head. "He got suspended for beating the shit out of another kid in gym class." Mason's eyes popped out of his head. "The kid had it coming; he was being disrespectful to Erin. He violated her and Ethan made him pay for it." I shrugged.
"Gym class you said. Who was the coach with them?" He asked.
"Ethan didn't say that. I don't know."
Mason sighed. "I bet it was Wesley, that guy has no authority over those kids whatsoever. I'll talk around and get some stuff sorted out. How long is he suspended for?" He asked.
"Three days, he can come back Friday," I answered.
"Okay, that's all I wanted to know. By the way, we can't have dinner tonight. How about Thursday at my place?" He asked.
I couldn't think of anything we had going on this week besides our movie night and that could be any day we want. "Yeah, that's good with us. I will let Demi know. Thanks, Mason."
I went to all my classes just like every other day. It wasn't until lunch that things started to feel a bit odd. Ethan wasn't there and for the first time in a while, it wasn't just me sitting alone. Ashtyn was sitting with me.
Of course, we talked about what happened to Ethan. It was a little bit awkward with just the two of us. I didn't have anyone to tease unless I started teasing Ashtyn which didn't seem that bad.
After lunch, I went to my next class. It was boring just like every other class I've had today. Apparently, all the teachers were tired and gave us a day to work on our homework or whatever else we had going on. A lot of my classes were online college credit classes anyway.
It was time for Government. I would've skipped it, but I had a feeling Ash wouldn't care for it too much. Besides she was good company. Classes weren't as boring when she was around.
"Hey East," She said as she sat down with a coke in her hand. It was the first time she called me that.
"Where'd you get the drink?" I asked. She didn't have it at lunch.
"Mase gave it to me. So I heard y'all are coming over to our house Thursday?"
I nodded my head. "Yep," I said popping the p.
"Okay class, today we are starting a project on elections and political parties. We are going to make a mock presidential election. I will assign each of you a part that you will play in the election. There will be three groups of political parties. Each group will have two people, the one running for office and the campaign manager. The rest of you will be the people and vote for your president." Mr. Hopkins explained.
Some kids looked intently at him while others were taking notes. I was barely listening to him.
"Keep in mind there is a lot that goes into an actual presidential election and this is just a mock-up. We will not do everything. We're going over each political party, the campaign, the speeches, and the voting process. The candidates will also vote, but it will not be counted in the final count. Any questions?"
A few kids asked a couple of questions, all of which Mr. Hopkins answered enthusiastically.
"Okay, now that's not all. There are two parts to this project. One is the actual election. Two is the essay that will explain the actual party you voted for. Now the party you vote for will not be based on actual parties. They will be named as such."
One kid raised their hand. "What do you mean by that?" They asked.
"For example, the "Republican" party could campaign for pizza in the cafeteria every day or the "Democratic" party could campaign for school getting out at noon every day. Whatever they choose. You will be informed which party is which before you vote," he explained.
The kid nodded and wrote it in their notebook.
Mr. Hopkins explained the rest of the project and what will happen each day and about the voters while the parties do all the work. It was all quite boring. It made me wonder why I came to class today at all.
Then came the assignments. I hoped I was a voter. I didn't want to go through all that shit.
"Okay candidates will be for the "democratic" party. Ashtyn Briggs and Easton Quincy."
I didn't even care about the rest of the stuff that came out of his mouth. Seriously I was a presidential candidate.
"You will get to choose who runs for president and who is the campaign manager," Mr. Hopkins said. "Happy campaigning," he said with a smile seconds before the bell rang.
I groaned and threw my bag over my shoulder. I didn't want to do this.
"So I was thinking I could be the campaign manager and you'll be the presidential candidate," Ashtyn said as she walked with me down the hall.
"Okay," I sighed. Not like I have another choice. I was just glad I was in a group with Ash and not anyone else. "Want to come over to my house after school?" I asked. It's better to get it started now. We did have something due tomorrow.
She nodded. "Sounds good to me. See you after school?" She asked as she walked back towards her class.
I nodded. "Yeah, meet me at my car."
It was only two more classes, then I was free of this place.
Those classes went by so slowly. I was tempted to skip, but I didn't. I don't even know why. The last bell rang and I basically sprinted out of my seat.
Ashtyn was already leaning against my car, waiting on me. How did she get out here before me?
"Hey, you ready? Took you long enough," She teased.
I rolled my eyes, got in the front seat, and waited for her to get on the passenger's side. She got in and I drove off to the house. As I pulled into the driveway I realized another car sitting in the driveway. That only meant one thing. They're back.