Cam's Guide to Navigating Rock Bottom

4 - Aftermath

C H A P T E R 4

➺

My punishment began effective immediately. The school day typically ended the moment the clock struck four but I had stayed behind, holed up in one of the few open classrooms in an attempt to revise.

However, Kirchhoff's laws failed to make sense when the prospect of expulsion was hung over my head.

Well, that was one of the reasons.

The other?

The brutal verbal lashing. This time it was delivered in front of Hawkings no less. The man-child seemed to giggle when my mother found creative ways to describe her disappointment. This time, for the sake of the last bit of my sanity, I tuned out.

Yet my efforts, like everything in my life, were not enough. When I did tune in occasionally brutal words were accompanied by jarring imagery. Deep scowls etched into their lips. The defeated slumps of cashmere-clad shoulders were accompanied by the collective sigh that perpetually escaped them.

It was a sight I had grown used to seeing so many times and the effect of it had worn off over time. There were only so many times one could say the word disappointed before it lost meaning, and that had been the case with my parents.

This time it had been different. Their disappointment was not at a façade but rather who I felt I was deep down. They were upset at Cameron who was not putting on an act. At the Cameron who was trying to show a more authentic face.

That notion was enough to leave me with a wave of insecurities that I could not process. Raphael and the general Granite Hillside populous further amplified my insecurities.

My heart was raw, damn near bursting with the emotion it had continuously struggled to keep contained. My face was impassive as it had always been. In a way that seemed to infuriate Hawkings and my parents alike.

Throughout the day I continued to meet Hawkings in the hallways. There was usually a pep to his limp step and a sway of unnaturally wide hip. A smile, that exposed a serious underbite, lit up ugly eyes as he taunted me without so much as a word.

The broom was painfully clasped in gloved hands as I moved around the large cafeteria sweeping away remnants of the lunch that had been served. Fries and chicken nuggets had gathered into a pile along with dust and other unidentified objects. A chapstick here, a lone bobby pin there, and what seems to be fragments of my dignity.

I had been the only one it seemed this punishment was dished out to. Trust Hawkings to make sure every bit of this was made even more painful. This was normally a group project and I refused to believe with the high that came with starting a new school year, people were yet to get in trouble.

Iseul Ji-woo stood beside me, her manicured hands swiping dirt off the table despite my protests and me insisting it had been my punishment. Her eyes shone brightly as she offered, not a hint of disdain mingled within her gaze.

Red hair flowed down her back and straightened neatly and her pale skin contrasted heavily against the dark color. She was a natural beauty with pouty lips, porcelain skin, and the daintiest of features, it was no wonder she was loved by many and envied equally as much.

Iseul stood on the top of the social hierarchy and somehow within all of that she and I maintained a friendship over the years.   It was not without its issues but as of late it had been good.