Lenn and Stevie

Chapter 4: The Meeting

  "I'm going to ask you this one more time..." the vice principal said to me with a threatening tone. His tiny eyes squinted through his large, round glasses directly at me.

"What was that smell?" he asked me.

I tried to hold in a laugh, but it was in vain. I couldn't help myself. It was just too darn funny. Pretty soon I was in the vice principal's office laughing my socks off so hard someone outside could have said he actually told a joke. But it was quite the opposite, actually. He continued to stare at me with a serious glare. Eventually he said, "Answer the question, Lennard!" in such a way that he didn't shout, but his voice was still very firm. It was only after that that I calmed down a bit to tell him," It was a fart, couldn't you tell?" while still giggling. " Someone must've put one down and expected no one to smell it, and the opposite happened."

"Did you do it?" he asked me.

"Of course not," I said, still giggling. "My stomach's not that terrible."

"Oh?" he said. A tiny smirk suddenly came across his face. That got me a bit scared. "'Oh'? What does that mean?" I asked. He then stood up from his desk with an object in his hand. I looked closer to see that it was a TV remote, and watched as he pointed it towards the small monitor in the corner of the office. I never even noticed it before. I was beginning to get a bit alarmed. He switched it on, and up came multiple feeds of different areas from around the school, including the air vents and the auditorium's back door.....And then I realized.

He had cameras.

He had evidence.

"Take a look at feed #13, Lennard." He said smoothly, pointing towards the air vents, "If you look closely, you will see a rather small object. It looks as if it had discharged all of its contents. Let's look a little closer, shall we?" He zoomed in on the object. It was big enough for me to make out what it was. I was staring at a destroyed spray can, and a drop of sweat came down my face.It was one of my air fresheners. He turned and looked at me and saw how tense I was. His smirk widened. "What do you make of this, my boy?"

"Uhhh... well I... er... I think... Um..." I was stuttering like crazy, and I was sweating like crazy. I was at a brick wall, and I wasn't sure whether or not I would be able to climb over this one. Eventually, Mr. Daniels saved me the trouble of thinking my way around this. 

"Okay, calm down," he began,"I see you're little caught off guard by this, and it's fine. I understand." He walked around his desk and put his arm around my shoulder, intending to make me very uncomfortable, and succeeding. "So listen, Lennard. I'm a serious man, but I also believe in change. I believe people can change if they're given the opportunity. That's what I'm doing right now. It's a new semester, so I'm giving you a chance to change. Be aware, however, that this is the only chance I will be giving you..." He slapped his palm down on my shoulder and grasped it firmly to pull me closer. His smirk disappeared. "...and if you refuse it, don't expect mercy if I see you here again." He let go. " Is that clear?"

Aghast, i nodded.

"Good," he said. He went and sat back down at his desk. He pushed a button there. "Julia, would you mind bringing Lennard to his new homeroom for me please?" His door opened seconds afterward. 

"Good morning, sir," a soft voice mumbled through the door. "Lennard, are you ready to go?"

"Yes, ma'am," I replied. I got up and followed the woman outside. Just before the door closed, I glanced back at Mr. Daniels. He insinuated the words he said earlier, and gave a small grin, before the door shut.

That was terrifying, but also worrying.

How was I gonna get my things done with an eye watching my every move? The thing that kept me from his office was, no matter how much I did, I always made sure there was no way I could be traced. You can't press charges without evidence. But now what?