Chapter Five - Face the Consequences

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Alex arrived home on the bus, dreading his father's reaction to his punishment. He walked up to ther front porch, knees quivering with every step. As he approached the door, his heart beat harder and faster. His hand trembled, getting ready to grab the doorknob.

When Alex finally opened the door, he wasn't met with his father's furious face, but instead met with an empty living room. He knew this couldn't be a prank by Sam or Sarah, because Sam was at basketball practice and Sarah was still at school. He ruled out his father right away because he wasn't one to do something like that.

Alex took off his shoes and put them down along with his backpack. He then tiptoed down the hallway, creeping towards Christopher's room.

The boy snuck up to the door, and gave three pathetic knocks.

"Come in." his father from inside said.

Alex came into the room to see his father in bed, and presumably sick.

"Dad?" Alex said.

"What?"

"Why are you in bed?"

"I'm sick, dumbass. I have a fever so you might wanna stay there."

"Okay."

"Did you wanna talk about something?"

"Yeah. Um... I got three days of detention."

"Why?"

"I got in a fight."

"How'd you get in a fight?"

"A kid shoved my face in my lunch tray and called me a fag twice, and I stood up to him."

"Are you one?"

"...No?"

"Then don't say the slur. Anyways, who was the kid?"

"Daniel Matthews—"

"Stop right there. Did you win?"

"Not really."

"What do you mean?"

"We were pulled off of each other."

"Oh."

"And why did you wanna know if I won?"

"His father, Mark, and I were in the same grade in high school. He always seemed to have some kind of beef with every person there. You could have looked at him weird, you could have killed his mom. No matter what, he treated you the same. Both of his parents were alcoholics, so it was probably something at home that provoked him."

"What do you mean 'was?'"

"They both died."

"Is it insensitive to ask how?"

"No, of course not. You never show the Matthews family any sensitivity. And since you asked, they were both ironically sober and hit by a drunk driver in their front yard."

"Yikes."

"I know, right? They were even sunbathing at a family barbeque."

"Doesn't sound like them."

"Tell me about it."

"Should I go to my room?"

"Why?"

"Shouldn't I be punished?"

"For fighting a Mattews? No! If it wasn't fall, and I wasn't sick, I would take you out for ice cream!"

"Oh."

"But do go away."

"Why?"

"Have you forgotten that I'm sick?"

"Nevermind."

Alex scurried out of Christopher's room and headed for his room, ready for a good jerk. Even though Christopher was sick, he still tried to be quiet just in case he made a surprise visit.

A little while later, Sarah arrived home and Alex's freedom of the house pretty much to himself was over.

"Alex!" Sarah said as she barged into her brother's room.

"What?"

"Where's Dad?"

"He's in his room," Alex replied. "But don't go in there."

"Why not?"

"He's sick with a fever."

"Awww." Sarah groaned.

"Get out."

"Okay!"

Sarah skipped away cheerfully, leaving Alex's door open. So, Alex angrily got out of bed and shut the door.

When he go back to his bed, he went on his phone and opened the MyJournal app.

MyJournal Entry #9
It turns out Pasta wasn't at school again, so woohoo for me. And during lunch, DANIEL FUCKING MATTHEWS shoved my head into my tray and called me a fag! I actually stood up to him, which probably surprised him, and we got into a fight. The fight didn't last long though because Ethan and Kayla pulled us off of each other amd Mr. Moore took us to the office. Daniel was suspended for two weeks, and I got three days of after-school detention. Before the fight happened, I think Ethan had the idea to name our friend group, and we agreed on KAJE, an acronym of our names: Kayla, Alex (that's me), Josh, and Ethan. We would have gone with JAKE if it didn't sound like we were talking about some boy. Anyways, I gotta go now because my stomach is about to digest itself. Alex out 🤙

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