Perception

Part 47

Sang POV

As soon as I get to homeroom, the PA squawks to life and the infernal voice I've come to dread speaks through the battered grill in the classroom housing the speaker.

"Please send Sang Sorenson to the office" the female voice intones, sounding just as fed up as I am with the whole ordeal as I am.

I gather my bag, and turn to North to give him a look. He already has his phone out near his lap and is typing away. When he meets my eyes, I give him a nod, and mouth 'thank you'. The walk to the office provided sufficient evidence that there were plenty of people tardy to homeroom. Some looked harried, but most looked bored, and did nothing to speed up their journeys into the world or attendance-taking, and yawning classmates.

I enter the set of doors that house the inner office area, and the secretary gives a nod to the seats behind me to wait my turn. I heave a sigh, and turn to the chairs to see Jay sitting there. He gives me a short nod, and I take that as a sign that I can sit in one of the chairs on either side of him. Why he didn't take one of the outside chairs is beyond me.

"Hi Jay," I say quietly. He grunts his greeting but his eyes don't have their normal hardened glint. "Did you get called down too?" I ask, trying to make conversation.

"No," he says in a quietly gruff tone.

"Oh. Well, okay. If I forgot before, thanks for helping me out the other day...and that time in the cafeteria" I say and shrink back into myself, my head facing forward. He heaves a sigh, then clears his throat a little. Even with that warning, I'm surprised when he starts to talk.

"No problem. Those girls are all slutty bitches," he grumbles out.

"They're pretty crazy. I could only imagine if their ringleader was here," I whisper, then remember who I'm talking to and shut my trap.

"Yeah, my sister wouldn't have let them go that far," he says, "that's why I'm here. I come every morning to try and get Hendricks to let her back in when she's on parole. All of those trumped up charges are bullshit anyway," he grumbles and clenches his meaty fist. I have no time to register the fact that his hand is clenched like he's ready to fight. I feel my body seize into a fully upright seated position, and my mouth fill with saliva as bile tries to crawl up my throat.

"They aren't bull poop charges," I whisper, almost to myself.

"Yes they are! You don't understand! None of you assholes understand. She wouldn't go within ten feet of drugs," he says meeting my gaze with a maniacal glint shining through his dark eyes. "We grew up with that shit. That shit is part of the reason our stepfather turned into the abusive asshole he was--molesting her and beating the hell out of us until I put an end to his bullshit," he slides he thumb over the large scar on his face. "The last time he tried to put his dick in her, I stabbed him in the ass with a steak knife. He got put away for a couple decades after he got the knife and did this. Jade and I both testified against him," he says baring his teeth in a macabre smile.

"I sympathize, really I do, but that's no excuse for what she did," I say in a loud whisper. His eyes narrow on me, and harden like they were the first time we met.

"She didn't do shit, I tell you!" he whisper-shouts in my face, leaning closer than I was comfortable with.

"She did. I didn't imagine her busting into the bathroom stall and pinning me to the wall. I didn't imagine her forcing my mouth open, and shoving a pill down my throat with her tongue. I certainly didn't imagine her tearing my clothes off, twisting my breasts, and trying to...what do you crude kids call it? Pop my cherry? That!" I spit. "She did deal in drugs, and she's a psychotic b-word who molests the girls she thinks stand in the way of her hooking up with a guy that wants nothing to do with her," I whisper-shout back with tears streaming down my face.