Brothers-ish

Bark is Worse than His Bite

*American name for literature/English class before high school

Nagging yapping droned on like a chihuahua on a downer. *Language arts was always Vik's most boring class. He much preferred the subjects of math and science because it was easier to simply follow the equation and get a straightforward answer. Unlike literature, where one has to go on an "Indian Jones" type quest through a temple (the book) to decipher some obscure meaning out of the writing on the wall just for a symbol to rise out of the floor like it's the treasure. The words on the page stared back at Vik in a jumbled mess. Every class, he would walk in having read the chapter only to discover none of the material had stuck with him. It bothered him that all his classmates were able to follow the plot with no issue.

"Vikram?"

"Yes?" he reflexively responded. He closed the book at hand. His eyes scattered to the whiteboard desperately trying to connect the random words written all over it in hopes for context clues to the imminent question he did not hear.

"Would you agree with Nick's assessment of Two-Bit's switchblade?" The teacher raised her eyebrow in an attempt to mask the smirk that glitched onto her face for a near second. Vik internally frowned at her for thinking she outsmarted him.

"Yes."

"Why? What's your interpretation of its symbolism?" she probed. A little prayer was said that the answer Vik would give was not what his classmate had just said.

"Uhh, it's Two-Bit's way of exerting his own power since he has no other power in society." he answered.

"That's different from my assessment. For the test, I would stick to the one I've given you as there's stronger support for it in the book."

"Well that's just your opinion."

"Excuse me?" she squawked out in her crackly old voice.

"My interpretation is still correct. Just because it doesn't match yours, doesn't make mine wrong. I should be able to write any answer for a subjective question." Vik protested. The rejection of his analysis irked him.

"I understand your frustration, Vikram." The student bit his tongue. It wanted to strike back with, "No, you clearly don't" but Vik let her finish her rebuttal. "But if you want to pass this class, I highly recommend you follow my instructions. No matter how irritating they may seem."

"That's stupid."

Vik chucked his pencil across the room at her. The projectile missed to the left.

"Principal's office. Now."

This was Vik's first time ever making the walk of shame to the dreaded office located at the front of the building. Regret for his outburst swelled in his chest. It was shocking to Vik that he even had the ability to behave in such a despicable manner. That wasn't the first time he's ever disagreed with his teacher either. It's just today, for some peculiar reason, her refusal to entertain any other opinion finally got under Vik's skin. Since it was Vik's first offense ever, the principal felt a stern talking-to was plenty. Although, it was decided to send Vik home for the remainder of the day in response to the physical portion of his misconduct. The principal handed his telephone to Vik and told him to call for a guardian to come pick him up.

This instruction put Vik in a tough spot. A kind of spot he has never been in before; therefore he was unsure how to make his next move. There was going to have to be a phone call regardless. The choice was between his dad, Tobi, or Simon. Tobi was automatically ruled out because he was at work and would tattle on Vik. Tattling would certainly be worse than facing the wrath of his father directly. He might as well get yelled at strictly for one count of misbehaving rather than make it two counts. There was a slight possibility that Josh would let this mishap slide since Vik never gets into any sort of trouble. However, there was a greater likelihood that the ride home would be a nightmare of scolding. Josh already spends too much of his energy chastising the troublemaker of the house every few days. Vik takes the responsibility upon himself to create peace and quiet. Without the balance, those brittle strings holding them together may snap. And no matter how good of a job Vik does, free-passes do not exist in Josh's house. That leaves the last option, Simon. He was Vik's only real choice if he wanted to get away with this scratch-free. Simon would never tell because that would involve talking to Josh. That is, if Simon was even there to pick up the phone. Unhappy, Vik dials the number. The phone rings. He waits for it to be answered...