Second Chance

Chapter 7

"This is an incredibly stupid idea. You know that, right?" Riley observed, as we sat in the middle of math class casually drawing up a blueprint of the school.

"I'm aware, but I have nowhere else to go." I pointed out, hating the idea of staying here any longer than I needed to.

"I really wish you could stay with me, but my parents hate your guts. Plus, they're probably going to be really pissed at me once I tell them I got arrested." He said regretfully.

"You haven't told them yet?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Justin, we had a sleepover with your cousin last night, I took your stupid advice and asked her out on a date, she said yes, and the next morning she drove us here in her fancy car. I was a little preoccupied to text my parents, that and the fact that I'm trying to delay the enviable." Riley ranted, but the only part I picked up on was the fact that he had a date with Morgan.

I grinned at him, then said. "A date? When did you have time to plan that?"

Riley suddenly looked very uncomfortable and alarmed, as if he just realized he blurted out his deepest darkest secret. "Uhhh....while you were asleep. Neither of us could sleep, so we....caught up. And then I asked her if she wanted to go on a date with me....and she said yes."

"Hell yeah, man. That's great." I said, feeling genuinely happy for my best friend.

"So, uh, anyway....what if you asked someone else from our gang to crash at their places for a while." Riley suggested, abruptly changing the topic because that's just how awkward he is about relationships.

I sighed and shook my head. "No. Apparently things have gotten too dangerous. All three of them have completely ghosted me. How about you? Have you heard anything from them?"

"I don't know, I'm refusing to turn my phone back on until I get home tonight. I don't want to deal with my parents right now, so I'm not getting any texts from anyone right now. I don't think they're going to though. None of them have ever been as tight as us." He said, a slight smile flickering across his face.

"We don't need them." I said confidently. "It's Justin and Riley, against the world."

—-

So, the plan originally was to make it through math, gym and history like any other day. I didn't have anything going on second period anymore because that was Science, and I have officially dropped the course. That gave me time to finish planning everything out. Riley even skipped his class to help me, so together we finished the blueprints of the school, from everything we could remember at least.

In gym we talked it through as much as we could without seeming suspicious or getting in trouble for not running laps or something. It was now finally history, and everything seemed to be running smoothly. Just another twenty minutes and I'd be able to put our plan in action. Apparently it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought though, as the intercom system in our class went off, and some lady demanded that I had to go to the principal's office.

Shit. That wasn't good. Not because I was going to get in trouble, because I couldn't care less about that. It was a problem because I had a very carefully planned plan, and I could not fuck it up because some old guy who kind of looked like Santa decided to lecture me on how the be a good student. I didn't exactly have a choice though, so I reluctantly got out of my seat and walked out of the class, with a dismayed Riley staring after me.

—-

"What is it, Charles? I was kind of in the middle of something." I sighed as I sat down in a squashy armchair across from the principal, who was sitting in an equally squashy armchair as well.

"Mr, Blok. Although I assume I can call you Justin, since you have no problem using my first name." Charles said, and I was pretty sure he sounded almost amused.

"Yeah, I would appreciate that actually." I said, since I really highly dislike being addressed by my last name.

"So, let's get into why you're here again, shall we?" He asked, but I knew it was rhetorical, so I just glanced up at the clock, which was ticking closer to ten minutes. "I was informed that there was a situation in your science class last week."

"Yeah, about that, I've dropped out of science, so there will be no more situations, I promise." I said quickly, getting out of the chair, hoping he would just let me off the hook.

"Now hold on there, Justin. We haven't talked about your academic outcome. If you drop that course you are going to be in high risk of failing the entire year." Charles said firmly, but in an agonizingly slow voice.

"I was in danger of failing the entire year from the very beginning. And honestly, I really don't care if I graduate or not. I'll be a high school dropout, I'm cool with that." I said, lacing my voice in exasperation to get the point across that I did not want to be there.

"Justin, wait. Let's discuss this, I don't want you to be a dropout." Charles reasoned, but I wasn't listening, all I could hear was the clock ticking closer and closer to three o'clock.

"Look Charles, I don't give a shit about this school, my future or even my life, okay? I don't care. I do have somewhere to be very soon though, so I have to go." I said, then without waiting for his response I whirled around and raced out of the room with less than ten minutes on the clock.

Tick....tick....tick....