Peace in a Storm

8 - Max

To some miracle, I managed to stay true to my word. I was on his best behavior for a few weeks. I didn't talk back to teachers, retaliate against my enemies, or instigate fights with my siblings. Instead, I tried to stay quiet and ignore the burning fire in my bones whenever someone ticked me off.

The only three people who actually got more than two words out of me were Jordan, Audrey and Mr. Connors. I had to talk to Jordan; we were best friends. I couldn't brush him off the same way I did to everyone else. With Audrey, I just liked messing with her. I continued participating in their playful banter at work and light wrestling whenever we were alone. I did my best to avoid getting into real arguments with her. God knew I wanted to at times when she was really getting on my last nerve. Sometimes, I felt like she was doing it on purpose just to get a rise out of me. But, I bit his tongue and settled for putting her in a headlock and making her beg to be released.

My conversations with Mr. Connors were much different. Since it was the second half of my senior year, my counselor wanted to start preparing me for college. During my usual study hall, I would go down to Mr. Connors' office or meet him in one of the computer labs for college prep.

In the beginning, we'd started with the simple question of which college I wanted to go to. Mr. Connors helped me research the schools I'd been accepted to and weigh my options. I settled on committing to the University of Illinois. It was a state school, and I couldn't imagine myself going anywhere else. Besides, the Chicago campus wasn't too far away. I could still live at home, keep my job at Benny's, and save money throughout my four years of college.

With my decision made, Mr. Connors helped me find scholarship applications

and fill them out. He also taught me about loans and grants and other ways to pay for college.

Once the question of where and how was answered, Mr. Connors moved on to the topic of what I wanted to study. For a solid week, Mr. Connors had me take a million different personality and career tests, so we could get a sense of possible future careers. All of them were bullshit, though. I didn't take them seriously, so half of them spit out inaccurate results. Mr. Connors must've caught on to my carelessness in taking them, since he told me to meet him in his office today.

I waltzed into his office with a bag of Hot Cheetos I'd brought from the vending machine during lunch. I tossed the extra bag of sour cream and onion chips on his desk.

"Oh, thank you," he said. "How did you know those were my favorite?"

"I listen sometimes," I replied, ripping open my bag of chips. I dug my hand in and popped a chip into my mouth. "So, what's on the agenda for the day?"

"Well, since you obviously didn't like the computer questionnaires, I thought we could do an in-person one? What do you think?"

I shrugged, crunching on another chip.

"Alright, first question: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?" He asked with a soft smile.

"I don't remember."

"Okay, well what can you imagine yourself doing in the future?"

"I don't know."

"What kind of lifestyle do you want for yourself?"

I shrugged. I really wasn't in the mood for this shit right now. I had at least two years of general education classes before I moved into my specialized classes. I had time to think about what I wanted to do. At least, I thought I did.

Mr. Connors sighed. "What are you passionate about, Max?"

I hesitated. "I like fighting," I replied with a shrug. "I know that's not what you want to hear, but I do." A smile tugged at my lips. "Maybe I can be a professional mixed martial arts fighter. I can be in the UFC."