I'll Be Alright (boyxboy)

Chapter 14

WARNING: Intense themes of depression. Proceed with caution.

Chapter 14

Despite how often I'd visited the administration office, I'd never actually been to the vice principal's office until then. I sat in the cold, plastic seat, holding an ice pack to my eye. Jordan sat beside me, glaring daggers into the side of my head, though it didn't have the same terrifying effect with the tissues the nurse had given him to plug up his bloody nose. My eyes were trained on the nameplate on the desk in front of us, fighting the urge to adjust it from its crooked placement. VICE PRINCIPAL BLEQ, it read in all capital, bronze laced letters. I'd heard people joke about him in class, cleverly replacing his last name with a hacking sound instead, as if they were dry heaving.

The walls behind his desk were painted an ill shade of yellow and covered with newspaper clippings, waxing poetics about the basketball team he coaches after school. I read the headlines in my head, lips mouthing the words until the man himself cleared his throat loudly. We both turned our attention to him reluctantly. The vice principal leveled us with a stern look before turning his attention to Jordan first, who stiffened and looked away.

"I just suspended you." He said pointedly, his eyebrows raised. "Why am I seeing you again?"

Jordan didn't answer and the vice principal looked at me. His eyes softened slightly when they landed on my face. "You I've never seen before."

I ducked my head and shrugged, sinking into the cold pack. He heaved out a long sigh, folding his hands on the desk in front of him.

"You guys want to tell me what this is about?" Jordan turned to look at me and sneered.

"Yeah, Oliver, tell him all about it. Tell him how you love to play victim and made up a sad sob story so senpai would notice you. We all know he drops his panties for that shit-

"Alright, enough!" The vice principal raised his voice, drowning out Jordan. "So this about the other fight."

Our silence confirmed his guess.

"Jordan, we didn't suspend you for the alleged fight at prom. Though it was reported, we can't actually suspend you without any proof. You got suspended for what happened at lunch, and it was only for one day. Principal Marlin made that very clear."

"Yeah, and she also made it clear that if there's one more problem I can't graduate!" He hissed.

"She said you wouldn't attend graduation, not that you won't graduate."

That took some wind out of Jordan's sail and he paused with this dumb look on his face as he realized that he'd fought me for no reason. I sighed and continued staring at a fixed point on the wall as the vice principal when on to explain the situation of his last suspension. The newspaper clippings grew bleary as my eyes unfocused and the black ink swam like little fish in a sea of white waves. My mind wandered, as I found it often did lately. I gripped my thighs and somehow it made me feel a little more grounded.

"Oliver." The vice principal was waving a hand in front of my face. I flinched backwards a little and Jordan snickered. "Did you hear me?"

"Oh...um, sorry. What did you say?"

"I said I'm going to have to call your parents."

My world came crashing down. At least what little was left of it. I expected my day getting worse. It gets worse every day. I imagined that, after getting in trouble, I'd be sent home and get hit or see Tobias and be ignored. Or maybe he'd tell me we couldn't be friends anymore and go off with Carla. I saw myself going over to Jamie's and realizing how temporary and insignificant my presence always is when we hang out. In my head, he'd tell me how I'm like talking to a wall and why don't I say anything interesting and are you even listening to me, Oliver? Oliver?