Young, Poor and Crazy

Chapter 4

Miss Jones was your typical just-about-to-crack teacher. As she stood before the classroom asking for silence in a quivering voice, Roger could only roll his eyes and turn back towards Mark to continue his conversation about what happened during lunch.

'What the hell man? You're supposed to have our backs, and you just walked out on us!' Mark hissed.

'Look, I just didn't feel good, okay?' Roger was trying to avoid the conversation.

'Aw, is someone growing soft?' George said sarcastically from behind them.

'That's not what this is about.' Roger span around.

'Oh, but I think it is.' Andrew said from next to George, his dark eyes narrowing.

Roger sighed. 'That kid was crying! Why do we have to act like that all the time?'

Mark groaned. 'So it is about that.'

-'I just don't see why we have to keep picking on the younger kids, we don't gain anything from it.'

-'Look Rog, are you on our side or aren't you? This isn't about those stupid kids, this is about our friendship.' Andrew placed his hands on Roger's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.

Roger looked unsure. 'But-'

Mark let out a frustrated groan. 'Look Roger, we pick on them because we can and because it's fun. We've let you hang out with us because you used to be fun, but now I'm not so sure.' Marks eyes searched Rogers and the blond boy swallowed thickly, feeling a sudden fear of abandonment creep up on him. His palms suddenly felt sweaty and he found that he couldn't look Mark in the eyes anymore.

'N-no, I didn't mean it like that, I-I just don't feel well today, y'know? I promise this won't happen again.'

Mark turned around to George and Andrew and seemed to be having a non-verbal conversation with them. After ten excruciating seconds or so, Andrew smirked and turned back to Roger.

'Alright, you may remain our friend for now, but only if you swear that you will never again screw us over like you did today...'

Roger nodded eagerly. 'I won't, I promise.'

Marks smile grew. 'You didn't let me finish. You have to prove it to us.'

Roger frowned, growing nervous again. 'Prove what?'

-'That we can trust you.'

Roger drew a shaky breath. 'Okay, how?'

Mark opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by miss Jones, who had actually brought up the courage to walk over to their table and somehow managed to say: 'Gentlemen, can-can you please be quiet I'm-'

Roger quickly snapped back: 'The real question is can you please be quiet, I'm trying to have a conversation here.' The whole class snickered and Mark clapped him on the shoulder. It didn't feel right though. Miss Jones had turned an almost impossible deep shade of red and it seemed to take all of her efforts not to just burst into tears right there and then. Instead she drew a deep breath to steady herself and spoke with surprising confidence: 'Well mister Taylor, if that's your attitude you can go to mister Smith after class.'

The whole class let out a groan of sympathy for Roger. Mister Smith was the principal and was known for making the lives of difficult students hell. He was also really creepy. He had a dead stuffed bird named Jonas, who he has been said to speak to when he thought no-one listened. While part of Roger just wanted to take back his words and apologize, he knew he just couldn't do that in front of his friends.

'If that's what it takes to make you leave me alone than fine! Go! Go tell him he should expect me.' Roger waved her away and miss Jones didn't know what else to do but walk quietly out of the classroom. The whole class took full opportunity of her absence. Some rummaged through miss Jones' stuff, some even left the classroom. George patted Roger on the back and Andrew said 'It's great to see the real Roger again.' Roger smiled, despite feeling awful.

Through the entire conversation with miss Jones, Mark had had a thoughtful look on his face. Now though, he grinned broadly at Roger and exclaimed: 'I know the perfect way for you to prove your loyalty.'

A feeling of dread came over Roger again. He had hoped that his snapping at miss Jones would have been proof enough. 'What do you want me to do?' Roger asked.

Mark looked around at the other three, building up tension. 'Today, while you're in Mister Smiths office...' Mark paused for a dramatic effect. 'I want you to steal Jonas from him.'

To be continued