Johnny
After the smashing success of this year's Homecoming dance, we were finally able to rest. Everyone came back on a high even with all the shit that happened. Lyle was able to enjoy the dance with me by his side, Aria discovered that we sold the most tickets than any other year, and best of all...I wasn't as injured as I thought I'd be. On the other hand, I basically quit the team and found myself with shit plastered on my locker. How's that for irony?
"Oh no. It happened again?" Lyle asked as he walked past my locker. I had stared for a solid five minutes at the eggs smashed on it and the red spray-painted words such as loser, traitor, and for the win... retard.
"Yep." I nodded and turned away to see some of the guys snickering. I had my fist ready only to find Lyle stepping forward and confronting them himself. Now I had to admit, as awkward as it was, I really loved having a sidekick like him especially in my time of need.
"Do you really find this all that funny? I sure don't."
"Well nobody cares what you think, loser." Bruce fired back.
Lyle was about to give him a verbal smackdown only to shake his head and scoff. "Not worth it."
"What'd you say, you little bitch?" Gary scowled as him, Bruce, and Wes planned to gang up on Lyle. Probably make him into their own mincemeat sandwich. That would happen over my dead body.
I came right up to those guys and said, "How about you just go back to stroking each other's dicks?
"Oh you fags would like that, huh?" Wes responded in a mocking tone.
"Nah, this guy right here prefers real men," I said while confidently patting Lyle on the back.
"You can say that again."
The five of us were now at a standoff. Each of us exchanging death glares while remaining silent. I'd say it was the Wild West out here except we were in the middle of hallway and other people were talking, minding their own business. Bruce finally cracked as he grumbled. "Come on guys, let's go. I can't stand looking at them any longer."
"Yeah, the one dude creeps me out." Gary remarked.
"You're welcome." Lyle responded with a friendly wave. Once they were gone, both of us laughed.
"Damn, that was intense," I said once they were gone.
"I know." Lyle laughed. His face was so red, he could be a stop sign. "I almost forgot to breathe."
"Same here." I nodded.
We both walked down the hall and prepared to go our separate ways until someone came over panting like a dog.
"Are you okay?" I asked the guy who wiped off his sweaty forehead before handing us two pink slips.
"Normack wants to see you guys."
"Oh, it's probably about Homecoming." Lyle told me.
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be? What, did he get a new rug too?"
"He sure did." This unnamed kid forced a smile while we stared him down. "Alrighty then, I'll just go."
After he left as fast as he arrived, I turned to Lyle. "So, should we go see what's up this time?"
"Definitely."
Lyle and I walked up the stairs and made it to the office where Dominic sat on one end with Elise next to him. I tried sitting next to her but she put her hand smack down on the wooden seat. She must've been pissed about something. With her message received, I sat in the chair next to the opposite end while Lyle sat on the end. Our last member finally arrived in a jiffy as she sprinted inside and shut the door.
"Sorry about that." Aria apologized and sat herself down in the middle seat. "I got held up on my way here. What'd I miss?"
"Not much." Elise responded while reading a book.
"Yeah, we just got here." Lyle chimed in.
"Well that's nice."
"Indeed it is." Normack's booming voice drawn our attention toward him as he came out of his side office door and plopped himself down in his little throne. He then pulled out different colored sheets of paper and distributed them to us all. Lyle's was yellow, mine was Neptune blue, Aria's was pink, Elise's was green, and Dominic's was red.
"What the hell is this shit?" Dominic scoffed.
"Language, young man." He scolded Dominic. "And if you need to know, it's your performance report."
"Performance?" Everyone including myself, exclaimed at the same time.
"What performance?" Elise asked.
"They didn't tell you did they?" Normack responded.
"You mean the students from last year?" I deduced.
"Of course. Didn't any of you take notes?"
"I sort of did." Lyle admitted as he pulled out his black planner. "Except I wrote down more questions than answers."
"Let me see this." I snatched it from him.
"Hey..." he tried grabbing it back while I scanned through.
"Seriously dude?" I asked while stopping on a particular question.
"My curiosity is my own business." Lyle swiped his planner back and brushed it off.
"Right."
Lyle scoffed and to my surprise, Elise did too. I turned right toward her and returned the same attitude. "Uh, something funny there?"
"Nope."
"It sure sounds like it was."
"Well it's not as funny as the fact you're a walking cliché."
A walking what? The moment I heard that, my eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?"
Elise flipped the page of her book and then put it aside. She straightened up her body and sighed before checking out her evaluation. She was totally icing me out. Why?
I tried to ask her only for Normack to cut me off. "I must say for all it's worth, you five didn't do as bad as I predicted."
He sifted through his files and leaned back in his chair. "Though this shouldn't come as a surprise, in my notes you'll find my suggestions on how all of you could improve."
"Better attitude?" Elise groaned as she read hers aloud.
"Very scattered and tries too hard?" Lyle exclaimed. "But sir, I–"
"Hey look, he had all good things to say about me." Dominic bragged until Elise leaned in and flipped his paper before pointing out the truth.
"Was missing the first two weeks and showed little drive nor the finesse to thrive in his new learning environment–"
"Elise, he's not that dumb." I chimed in as her tone went from passive aggressive to downright condescending. "He can read on his own."
"I never said he was."
"Yeah, but you're suggesting–"
"Can you both just stop?" Aria exploded as she put her hands up in front of us. She took a moment to fix her hair before shaking her head. "I mean what is it with you two? Honestly? We're in the principal's office for god's sakes!"
"You're right." Normack nodded. "And for that, I'd like you all to take this outside. I'll be sure to send you copies of your evaluations in the mean time."
"Thank you sir." Aria smiled with gratitude.
As she gave back her paperwork, we all followed suit and left his office. Though once his door closed and we were far enough away, the gloves came off.
"How fucking dare you." Elise began with a biting remark right off the bat. "You-you think the world just bends for you? That you can keep doing all sorts of shit and expect everyone to forgive you for everything?"
"Oh my god." I recoiled at the sound of her word. "Where is coming from?"
"Uh, does sucking face with a certain redhead ring a bell?"
"You what?" Aria asked as she crossed her arms.
Dominic snickered while Lyle looked down and covered his mouth. He slowly inched away as I ran my fingers through my hair. Honestly this was the last thing I wanted to talk about, yet here we were. "So that's why you're pissed off? Because you're... jealous of something?"
"Jealous? God no." Elise denied. "I was literally going to apologize, maybe even offer, yeah offer you...a night out or something. Then I see you with your tongue down some ginger's throat and called it a night."
"Okay first off; her name's Melinda."
"Melinda..." Lyle repeated in a hollow tone to himself. "Where do I remember her from?"
I simply ignored him. "Secondly, why do you even care? You hate me."
"Nope, I'm just disappointed."
"Of course you are." I rolled my eyes at her expected response.
"But you know what? I guess you can't expect much from a stereotype on legs."
"Alright enough." I demanded and even sniffled a little as her second time referencing me as a caricature really struck a nerve. "I get that I've acted like an idiot. I also got that you were...adjusting your expectations of me but were let down. I'm sorry for that. I deserved some shit for what I said, but now you're just being ugly."
"Whoa." Dominic's jaw dropped as did the others, except Elise who stood there and took it.
To my own surprise, she didn't fire back which gave me the opportunity to continue on. "This might sound whiny to you, but I really hate when you label me as a living cliché or walking stereotype. You make it sound like I'm just a cartoon when I'm still real like everyone else. I'm a person too."
"I know."
"So please stop addressing me as that." I requested. Having to make that request in the first place made my stomach churn a bit, but it felt so good to say out loud.
Eventually Elise quietly nodded as I did too.
"Thank you." I mouthed to her before leaving her and the rest of the group. I let out a sigh and officially began my day.