Vixivo

Separate Lives (Part 2)

Mr. Brockney's office was anything but interesting. With the only furnitures being his wooden office desk, a large manito bookcase made of bleached wood, and two chairs for any visitors stopping by. The bookcase had nothing but business books and a vase with nothing in it. As for the chairs we sat in, they were run-of-mill classroom chairs.

"So, tell me what happened," Mr. Brockney said as he leaned over his desk.

Hendrix looked back at me-worried about saying the wrong thing.

"Go on," I whispered.

He took a big gulp, "I didn't do anything. Jeremiah accused me of telling this girl about something and he attacked me."

Mr. Brockney scratched his beard and hummed quietly at the information.

"Hendrix didn't do anything after that, Jeremiah was the one who got violent," I added.

The air became cold in the room. The quietness took over and an uneasy feeling roamed around. I don't know why, but I have a feeling we said something wrong.

Mr. Brockney was the type of principal to be "fair" to everyone. If two parties were involved with something, Mr. Brockney would punish both people in order to avoid conflict. But that's the problem, even if someone was innocent in the situation, he would still punish everyone. At the end of the day, something would still go wrong and he would make a mistake.

"Jeremiah was always a troubled student," Mr. Brockney finally spoke.

He turned to his computer and started typing something on his computer. The clicking sounds were ringing in our ears.

"I recently found out that he has some family issues going on at home," he continued, "it's a shame because I'm looking at his grades and they're impressive."

I looked at Hendrix, he was sweating and his throat was in constant motion because he was repeatedly gulping. Poor guy, this must be the first time he's been in the principal's office.

"Hendrix, Ciro; I'll be giving you both two weeks of detention," Mr. Brockney told us.

"That's not fair!" Hendrix exploded, "He was literally stomping on me for something I didn't do!"

Mr. Brockney held out his hand, "We don't know for certain if you told this girl anything or not."

Hendrix was right though, it doesn't make sense at all. Hendrix was getting beat up and I didn't land a finger on Jeremiah. We literally did nothing wrong.

Mr. Brockney turned to us, "besides, I'll be suspending Mr. Hanes for 2 weeks."

Jeremiah Hanes. Sounds weird to mentally say it.

"But why do we have to be punished when we-"

I grabbed Hendrix's arm to stop him. As much as I want to rag on Mr. Brockney's decision, it'll only make matters worse for us.

"Sorry," Hendrix hung his head and apologized.

Mr. Brockney looked at both of us and said, "With everything going on right now-I think it would be best this way."

"Yes sir," Me and Hendrix said in unison.

Mr. Brockney gave us a Hall Pass to get to our next class and finalized the decision.

We left the office with dread in our hearts. My mom isn't gonna take this lightly and think I did something wrong. I'm sure Hendrix will be in a lot of trouble too. Doesn't make sense.

"What an asshole," I said as we made our way down the hall, "I mean, who makes a decision like that?"

"I know right?" Hendrix agreed, "Why do people like him run schools?"