one Year in America Mari & Mason 1

chapter 4

I found myself in front of the principal's office again. Yes, really. On my first day. Aylin put on a fabulous performance, almost crying as she reported how I insulted Yoshua and was about to go after her. So here I was now, staring at the wall, a light blue wall with posters and bulletin boards. The door opened, and I was about to jump up when Mason came out. He looked surprised to see me too. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Pulling a stunt with a rubber doll from your fan club while I defended Yoshua." He frowned. "Aylin?" he asked. I nodded. "Aylin is known for that. If you explain it to Professor Saltberg, nothing will happen."

Relief washed over me. "And what are you doing here?" He shrugged. "I didn't wear the school uniform properly." I looked him up and down, no tie and his shirt untucked. He sat down next to me. "You still don't." He shrugged again. "My parents are pouring an incredible amount of money into the school. I could kill someone, and I wouldn't face any consequences." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe it himself. "They would risk losing one of their main sponsors. Money rules the world." He stood up with a sigh and walked away. He turned back to me. "Thanks for helping Yoshi. He has a hard time here, and the guys are all I've got left." He walked away again. "Wait!" I called out, and he stopped without looking at me. "The money, the world ruling, that's not true!"

He turned his head and laughed bitterly. "You're naive, kid." He kept walking.

I stared after him.

I opened the door again and stepped outside. "Professor Saltberg, it wasn't like that—" Emily stood at the door, and Yoshua was silently leaning against the wall. "Calm down, Emily," said the little principal. "It's known how Aylin is. Mari just had the misfortune of having a new teacher on the very first day. She didn't receive any punishment at all and is now allowed to go to PE."

He didn't miss the fact that I grimaced. I saw in the last moment, as he closed his door, that he was grinning. After all, a principal who didn't have a stick up his butt. "We have sports with Strike and Mason," Emily said to clarify for me. As I heard Mason, something struck me. "Mason said that the guys are all he has left. What's that about?" I asked.

Emily smiled at me sadly. "You probably don't know the famous opera couple Chaplin," she said, and I naturally shook my head. "Mason's parents are world-famous if you're into opera. Anyway, he doesn't have the best relationship with them. Especially his mother is a real beast. Mason has had a terrible childhood. His mother is only out to make him famous."

Oh dear, that sounds incredibly sad. I have an incredibly good bond with my mother, and I can never understand how a mother can be like that to her child. "That's something we guys all have in common," Yoshi said. "We all have parents who would run away.”

I sat on the bench, waiting for our gym teacher and all the other students to come in. My hair was tied up, but it was already loosening. I was considering for the umpteenth time cutting all my hair off. A bald head seemed incredibly appealing to me right now. Emily sat down next to me, her hair was as always. I felt uncomfortable; it was my first day, and I was sitting in shabby clothes in a gymnasium. There was nothing worse than sports. Strike was the first to come in; he smiled at me and jogged over, his hair bouncing with each step, just as much as mine. "I heard you’ve chosen Aylin as your girlfriend?" he asked, amused, and I sighed. "I wasn't keen on that," I replied. "We'll keep an eye on you," he reassured me. I was just about to laugh when Mason walked in.

He was wearing black sweatpants and a black T-shirt, tossing a basketball back and forth in his hands. The hair that usually fell into his forehead was pulled back. All the piercings from his face were gone, and it looked really strange. Additionally, his ear was taped up in several places. I hadn't noticed that he even had rings in his ears. Not that I had particularly paid attention to anything.