The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Forty Eight

It wasn't a huge punch and I'm pretty sure it didn't even give Damien as much as a scratch. I mean, this was me - the weakest person on the planet - that was punching him. I couldn't even make a fist correctly.

That didn't stop the commotion that happened afterwards though. It all happened so fast that I didn't know where to look or what to do.

Even though I barely hurt him, Damien stumbled back, a look of shock on his face. It was clear that he didn't expect me of all people to do that to him. I guess I could see where he was coming from since six months ago, I wouldn't have expected myself to do the same too.

In the distance, I could hear and see a range of things - Zander's screams, Alicia's cheers, the flash of phone lights going off, tons of whispering and chattering. It seemed to be all background noise for me right now. Background noise that was a little too loud and left my ears ringing.

I needed to escape.

Luckily, just as the thoughts were making my way into my head, someone grabbed my arm and started to pull me away from the crowd. Thinking it was Zander or Alicia or even someone else, I turned to look at the person. However, I was met with the eyes of Mrs Schuster. The same Mrs Schuster who Zander got sent to a few weeks ago.

Oh god, I knew where this was going to go.

"P-Please let me g-go!" I cried, trying to pry her arms off me. There was no way this was going to end well, no matter what punishment I was going to get. The last thing I needed right now, after all this drama, was to see the disappointed look on Dad's face once he sees what his son has become.

"You have to go, Mr Barlowe." Mrs Schuster told me and I whined, trying to pull my arm out of her grip. She was dragging me towards the office, away from the crowd. If this was for any other reason, I would've been happy to escape the screaming and the whispering but now that I knew what was waiting for me on the other side, I would've stuck to the crowd anyday.

"N-No!" I protested as she opened the door, "I c-can ex-explain-n!"

"You'll be doing just that when I call your dad." Mrs Schuster told me and even though her voice wasn't particularly mean sounding, I couldn't help but sob.

"I-I'm sorry!" I whined as we entered her office. She nodded at me like she accepted it and I sat down in the chair in front of her desk.

"I'll make a phone call to your dad in a few minutes so he can come here and we can discuss." she told me, "For now, I would like you to sit here and think about what you have done."

I didn't say anything in response, not even when she shut her office door and left me sitting there. How could I when she was going to call Dad? He didn't even know any of the things that were happening to me at school so who knows how he was going to react when he found out his son "punched" someone in the face?

Sighing softly to myself, I fiddled with the sleeve of my sweater. Is this what getting sent up to the principal's office felt like? I've never been the one to get in trouble at school before since I usually stayed out of the drama.

However, here I was, sitting in a chair, awaiting my fate. I internally debated throwing up the small amount of cocoa puffs I had for breakfast today but decided against it since I didn't want to make a mess on the ground.

How the hell did Zander seem so chill about his suspension over the phone? He barely even shed a tear and I shouldn't have been surprised since that was Zander and I rarely see him cry. He even seemed a bit chill about it like it was no big deal.

Zander.

Instantly my thoughts went elsewhere as soon as I thought of him. What happened to him and Alicia after I got dragged away? What about Damien? Were they going to get punished like I'm about to?