Society | A Evan Lennon Story

5 - Sleepover

"A fight?!" Mum shouts in a moment of disbelief. I look down because I am just as disappointed as she is.

"Laura, we should let him explain himself. I'm sure he didn't start a fight for the fun of it."

"Fine."

"Evan?" I look up at my parents. "Why did you start that fight?" Dad asks me.

I inhale deeply and look at each of them, obviously I'm not proud of what I did, I was blinded with rage that somebody would want to hurt someone so vulnerable and so in pain that I didn't even think of the consequences of my actions, but I speak for myself anyway. "I was talking with my friends when Ben came by and shoved Barrett's things out of his hands and he began to say some really nasty things about Barrett.. right in front of him, looked him right in the eyes and it.. it angered me." I say.

"What kind of things?"

"He mocked Barrett's attempt to.. to-" I inhale shakily. I couldn't say it. But I know that they knew what I meant, so I move on. "And called him all these nasty things and he just.. he used a really bad word and I lost it." It goes quiet. My parents look down. I look over at Kate, who stands behind me. She looks at me with a devastating look on her face. I look back at our parents and say, "Obviously, I'm not proud. I'm sorry for my actions, I really am, but I couldn't just stand there and listen to what Ben was saying." I pause. "I'd do it again." I say with a light nod. I know that's probably not the smartest thing to say if I was trying to avoid punishment, but I wasn't and I wanted to be honest and that was me being honest. "I stick up for my friends and that is something I am proud of. I will not be sorry for that."

Mum looks at me. "We're not mad about that, honey. We just wished you didn't handle it the way that you did. We would want you to go to a teacher or the headmaster or us." I look away. "You're not grounded, I believe suspension is punishment enough, but we want you to consider what we said and hope that you will take better action in the future." I just nod. "Go on. Up to your room." I walk past them and up the stairs. I sit at my desk after I shut the door. I lean back in my chair and stare up at the ceiling. I know I should've handled things differently, but what's done is done. I just hope Barrett's okay. I take my phone out of my jacket pocket and go to text Barrett, but my door opens and I look over.

Kate walks in and gestures a ice pack towards me. "Thought you might need it." She says.

"Thanks." I say. And I take it.

"..When you said Ben called Barrett a nasty word, did you mean-" I nod. "Ben Keller?" I nod again. She sighs and takes a defeated seat on my bed. "Dammit.."

I furrow my eyebrows and turn in my chair to look at her. "What is it?" I ask.

She looks at me. She doesn't say anything for a while, but eventually goes on to say, "It's nothing." She stands. "Don't worry about it." She goes to leave, but I grab her wrist.

"No, hey, what is it?"

She huffs and steps back and turns toward me. "Couple of days ago, Ben asked me out, I said yes because we're both in form together and I've liked him for ages. I thought he was nice, I don't know, I feel dumb."

I shake my head. "You're not dumb, Kate." I say. "You couldn't have known."

"Yeah, well, I'm glad that I know now than realizing a lot later." I nod. She smiles softly at me. "Thanks, Evan." She turns and leaves. I sigh and sit back again. I decide to carry on with my previous actions and I text Barrett.

You doing okay? 10:03am.

I sit there for what feels like forever until I get a response back.