Not That Bad #Wattys2018

Chapter Four

There's a crowd looking down and pointing to the shards of glass on the ground, just underneath the window. 

"Clear the way." a short man says, carrying a long ladder, even though the window is low. 

The crowd parts and he leans the ladder against the wall and climbs up until he's at the window ledge. There's another man with him and he's holding a big window in his arms. At the same time he's trying to scratch his leg with his foot and if he wasn't careful, the window was going to break. 

I see Mr Terv standing there, looking at them with his arms crossed and his eyebrows knitted together in the middle. My chest swells with pride knowing that I was the one who caused  him to be so distressed. The crowd gasps and I turn, to see the little man wobbling on the rung of the ladder, before grabbing onto the window ledge and steadying himself. He grins and the crowd claps.

"It isn't a movie people." I say, rolling my eyes at how dramatic everyone was being,"Get.A. Li..." 

Then there's a hand on my shoulder and I'm being pulled into the school, down the hall and into Mr Terv's office. 

I should have known. 

Unfortunately, his office is cleaned up and I don't get the satisfaction of seeing my work in broad daylight.

"Good morning to you, Mr Terv." I say when I'm shoved into a chair and he takes his seat on the other side of the desk."You know, I love it when you whisk me away to your office like that. I like it when you're rough."

Mr Terv's face looks like he's constipated. He turns red and refuses to hold eye contact with me for a long time. I stare at him, pleased that I'm getting him all flustered. He clicks around on his computer and opens a folder. 

"You're in big trouble, Rori. I know you broke the window."

I put my hand on my chest and gasp."I'm flabbergasted." I say, using the word I heard on TV yesterday. The fancy lady said she was flabbergasted when she caught her husband in bed with the neighbor." I know I may not be an A..."

"You are NOT an A." Mr Terv interrupts, looking at me for a second before blushing again.

"I MAY NOT be an A, but I would never break the window. That window," I say, pointing, "I was in love with it. Besides, I thought you knew better than to make an accusation, without proof. You know what they say, to assume is to make an ass of you and me..."

I'm shushed by the video playing on Mr Terv's computer. It's me sitting at his desk, smoking and then I go into a frenzy and smash the window. I have to think fast.

"OH. Yeah. That's a common mistake. You see, that girl looks just like me." I say, trying to be clever,"I've seen her around."

"Of course. In your mirror." Mr Terv says. I don't look at him, because I'm embarrassed. Instead, I stick my tongue out at the little man fixing the window and he frowns at me.

"Rori Villan."Mr Terv snaps his fingers in my face, "I'm not going to expel you. But I am going to suspend you for two weeks. To teach you a lesson."

I didn't even realize I had been holding my breath. I don't get the big deal about suspension. It was like a free, and  much needed vacation. I clasp my hands.

"Please,please,please,Mr Terv." I beg. He's smirking, pleased to see me plead."Can you please, please, please make it three weeks?"

I watch Mr Terv's face get cloudy. He seems to realize that suspension thing wasn't going to work for me.

"NO. One week, then." he says, looking puzzled. I grab the bobble head from his desk and throw it at the newly installed window and it cracks.

"Does that make it two again?" I ask, hopeful.

"That makes it three days." Mr Terv says, picking up his bobble head. I slouch in my chair, defeated. We sit in silence for a moment and then Mr Terv tells me to go home."Wait." he says stopping me by the door.

"What?"

"Were you using reverse psychology on me?"

***

Mr Terv gave me a note for my parents and there's the dotted lines on the bottom where they're supposed to sign. So when I get home to an empty house, I get Dad's black felt pen and Mom's inky blue gel pen and sign the paper myself. 

Dad's signature is easy to forge. It's just H.V with some squiggly lines. But MOM. Mom's signature is all fancy. It's M.A.Villan with lines and curves and squiggles and hearts. That's why 'Dad' always signs my report card.

I spend most of my time watching TV or on my computer, looking for tattoo ideas. I want to get one at the back of my neck. Jaq told me to get his name but, Who's Jaq? Fuck Jaq.

When it's 3:30, someone rings the doorbell. 

"Come in!" I shout from the couch. 

But the person keeps ringing and ringing the bell, so I drag myself to the door, ready to shout at the neighbour's kids who clearly forgot that we're in January and not October. This wasn't the month for trick or treat. I open the door and lo and behold, it's the girl Eli was kissing. 

"Hi." she says, looking at me with her brown eyes. She looks so sweet and innocent and I can tell why a guy like Eli liked a girl like her.

"Why are you here?" I say, eying the books in her arms.

"Well," she flips her brown hair over her shoulder,"I'm your tutor." 

That's when I slam the door in her face. I definitely did NOT want her to tutor me. HELL NO. I go to the fridge to steal a few of Mom's baby carrots and grab the humus. I turn around and there she is unpacking her enormous back pack on MY KITCHEN TABLE. Hell no.

"What. In. The. World. Are. You. Doing?" I say when she slams her gigantic dictionary on the table. She flips her hair over her shoulder again,"Well. To be frank, you can't spell, so I though we'd start with English." 

"Listen, darling." I say slowly so I don't slap her,"I know I'm supposed to be tutored or whatever, but I won't start today and to be frank, I do NOT want YOU, of all people, to help me."

"Honestly, Rori, I don't want to help you either. Actually the only reason I'm here is because Eli begged me and I felt sorry for an F like you." the girl snaps, revealing her inner bitch. 

I feel the rage build inside of me. I break a carrot in half and chomp on it to distract myself. If I don't, I'm going to hurt that girl. I swear.

"Then do both of us a favor. GO HOME. I'm on suspension and if I'm not at school, I don't have to be tutored." I narrow my eyes, then widen them suddenly.

She pulls a paper out of her pink folder, unfazed.

"Not according to the contract. As you can see, that is, if you can read, I have to tutor you everyday for a month. And you're also supposed to offer me something to eat."

I walk up to her and grab the paper from her hands. I do a quick scan of the fine printed words. My eyes fall on the word weekend and I grit my teeth. Hell no. I can't believe I was stupid enough to sign something without reading it. Dad talks about that all the time. I hold the paper up.

"You can eat my arse." I say and rip it to shreds.

"You're so vulgar." the girl says frowning at me,"Can you spell that?"

"Yes." I say, getting so close to her face I can see the golden specks in her eyes."v-u-l-F-U-C-K Y-O-U. Get OUT!" 

I push her books off the table and watch as she scrambles to pick them up. For a moment she looks scared, but then, as she walks out the door she gives me the finger, behind her back. I would return the favor but she wasn't looking at me. I watch as she walks slowly down the driveway nose held high, like the snob that she is, the pine trees casting shadows on her. 

Mom loves those pine trees. She used to water them everyday, but now she doesn't have the time so she... Suddenly I get an idea. I run outside an turn on the sprinklers. The sound of her scream is music to my ears.