im not my brother

march 15 (cont.) 1st period

Of course the day Ms. Cafferty comes back, we have her first period. And she teaches math, my worst subject.
"Good morning, class. It's good to see you all again."
"But is it really?", Tyler whispered. Most of us laughed, but Ms. Cafferty didn't appreciate the comment.
"I'd like it if you refrained from saying anything else during this class period, Mr. Scott." Tyler blushed and the girls all laughed, but she didn't say anything to them. "Everyone open your books to page 124 and get your notebooks out", she said as she started to teach a new lesson.
"Told you she favors the girls." I whispered to Caroline.
"Oh please. Tyler deserved that. What he said was rude."
"But she didn't tell anyone else to stop talking."
"Maybe Tyler was louder."
"It still proves my point."
Ms. Cafferty cleared her throat. "Is there something more important to discuss than my math lesson, Mr. Douglas?"
"No Ms. Cafferty. I, uh-"
"He couldn't see the board, so he asked me if he could see my notes", Caroline said.
"Well, Mr. Douglas, I'd like you to stay after class today."
"Yes, ma'am." I sighed.
Soon enough, class was over and I watched everyone shuffle out of the room, while I remained in my seat. Ms. Cafferty sat down at her desk and motioned for me to come over. I gathered my books and walked up to the front of the room.
"Mr. Douglas, you know I do not tolerate talking when I'm teaching."
"I know. I apologize for disrupting the lesson, but Caroline was talking too."
"Hm. Well, I didn't notice her."
"See, that's just it. You never seem to notice when Caroline, or any of the other girls, do anything wrong, but you always call out the guys."
"I see."
"It makes us think you only like the girls in this class, which isn't fair."
"I understand that you don't like this class very much, Thomas, but you can't accuse me of unfair treatment."
"But it's true."
"Your brother never would have said anything like this to me." I hate being compared to Mike.
"Well I'm not Mike."
"I don't like this attitude."
"I don't like that you have favorites." That comment resulted in me spending forty-five minutes in the office.

********
"Thomas, I thought we agreed on avoiding these meetings for a while", Mr. Trent, principle of the middle school and high school, said.
"It's not like I wanted to have another one, sir."
His phone rang. "Wait outside, while I take this. We'll talk later." I got up and closed the door as I left the room. I went to sit in one of the chairs in the hall when I saw familiar face.
"Mom?"
"Thomas-"
"What're you doing here? Did Ms. Cafferty call you?"
"Why would Ms. Cafferty have to call me?" Once again, fuck.
"Uh, no reason."
"Then why would you-"
"Hey mom." I turned around and saw Mike walking towards us. "Tommy? What're you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? This is my school." Well, it's my section of the school.
"I got citizen of the month and they called me down to take pictures with the faculty and mom."
"Oh." Of course he had to win something. His accomplishments never fail to make my mistakes worse.
"So why are you here?"
"Why am I in school? Because I have to be." Whenever I panic, I make smart comments.
"Thomas, what did you do?", mom asked in a disappointed tone.
"I, um-" I was cut off by the click of the door opening.
"Sorry about that Thomas. I-oh. Hello Mrs. Douglas, Michael. Here for the photo already?"
"Yes we are, Mr. Trent. It's good to see you.", mom said. "For once, I thought I'd come here and not see Thomas, though."
"I'm afraid Ms. Cafferty had to send him down after they got into a little argument during class."
"Thomas!"