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"Strike here, you bloody his nose. Strike here, you break his teeth. Strike here, you could severely damage his trachea. Obviously, that's only for extreme situations," Johnny Lawernce relaxed his fists at his sides as he took a step back, motioning to the boy behind him. "All right, line up. Focus. I want you to practice."
"Hyah," the tanned young boy took a step forward, jabbing the prototype weakly.
"Keep practicing. Punch through the dummy," he ordered before realizing his phone was ringing, and he answered it while letting the boy continue throwing punches. "Hello?"
"Is this Mr. Lawrence?"
"Yes."
"This is Carla Jenkins, the vice principal at North Hills High. I have you listed as an emergency contact for Robby and Gwen Keene."
"Uh, yeah, I'm their father. But you're supposed to call their mom."
"I already called her. She's not picking up."
Johnny sighed, he knew all too well where this was going. "Right, big surprise. All right, what did he do this time?"
Carla Jenkins also sighed, an unspoken agreement that Robby was always the one landing himself in trouble — if not with the principal, then with someone else — and Gwen was always the one who was quiet and kept to herself. She wasn't a saint, but at least she didn't have problems with her teachers, for the most part.
"We found him with Molly."
"Who's Molly?" Johnny asked. "Is that some chick he's hooking up with?"
"It's an illegal drug, Mr. Lawrence," Carla Jenkins said calmly.
Johnny licked his lips. "All right, put my kid on the phone."
She did as she was told, handing over the corded telephone to the other side of the desk and allowing Robby to grab it with his hands. Robby looked no happier to be talking to him. "What do you want?" he grumbled into the phone.
"Robby, what the hell? You're doing drugs? You want to flush your life down the toilet? What about your sister? What the hell kind of example are you setting for her?"
"Like you're one to talk," Robby spat. "Don't try to play dad now. You're a pathetic loser. And Gwen is a lot better off without you anyway," he said before handing the telephone back over to his principal.
