Ours To Tell

It's not like I ask for trouble- far from it actually. I'm the typical stereotyped Asian. I do my homework every night, I pray to Buddha, and I ride my bike to school everyday. I am a perfect GPA student- and I've never had a boyfriend. My parents have accents that only I can understand. And many generations of my family are probably rolling in their graves right now- seriously. I mean, if I ever have to play a game called, 'Never Have I Ever', I'd say, “Never have I ever...got sent to the office because I did something bad.” I'm guessing that's changing. I rubbed a hand on my face. Oh come on, it's not like I'm going to Hell- I'm just taking the blame for someone! I thought. This visit to the principal's office changed my life. Without this visit, I wouldn't have met Ty and I wouldn't have become who I am now.

The door swung open and the Principal and my parents strode in.

“AIYAH."

I looked at my hands. Sure, I could lie pretty well, but well...I wouldn't be able to do it to my mother's face. “No, mom, it's just uh...I, uh, wanted to, uh, bring attention...to, uh, myself, uh.” I stuttered. My mother spoke first, an accent marking her words. “Are you stoop-it! You bring diz-grice to this family. Understand, momma?” I nodded. “Aiyah! Just when your grandmomma come home this week you cause trouble!” I almost recoiled at the thought. Grandmother was coming from Vietnam? I almost collapsed at the thought. Grandmother spoke both Vietnamese and English, so...if I had friends over, she'd be able to speak indirect insults to their face.

The principal spoke up. “Now, since your daughter is an exceptional student, no, this will not go onto her record. She will, however, have to tutor a student here at this school. Aspen, sweetheart, I expect nothing less from you. This is leniency on my part. I expect no more bad behavior from you.” I nodded, biting back a laugh. As Principal Newman had stood there and wagged his finger at me, his comb over was jumping up and down on his head. He nodded towards the door and my parents pulled it open. I walked out first, and then scowled, seeing the person that I had to risk my pristine record for.

“Aspen!” He yelped, jumping up. He ran over to me, hugging me and kissing my cheeks and my forehead. “Why are you kissing my daughter?” My dad bellowed. I didn't turn my head, my eyes were trained on Arlen, whose cheeks were going red. Arlen stuttered something incoherent and my dad...well, I could feel his eyes on my back, and thats all I could say. “Aspen, we leave go home. We not be here for dinner. Grandmomma at JFK and we go pick her up.” I nodded and I heard my parents walk around me, my mother cursing in vietnamese.

“Aspen, oh gosh, I'm so so so sorry! You shouldn't have covered-” “And had you expelled?” “But-” “No, that's the least I could do for you, Arlen.” Arlen sighed and ran a hand through his light brown hair. “Well. Everyone's been talking- so, just saying, Asp, be careful, kay?” I nodded.

Nothing could've prepared me for what happened that day. No, no one threw me in trash can and called me a loser. No, no one wrote skank on my locker. Nope. None of that. Which is why, at the end of the day everything scared me even more. I was at my locker, which was empty of threats, clear of degrading words. I bit my lip and turned around, and bumped into something- someone. I held back a scream. The guy before me was none other than Ty Larsen, the school's notorious bad boy. Not because he slept with all the 'easy' girls, no, it was because he rode a Harley and, apparently, always came to school with a hangover. Sure, I guess he was pretty popular, but I guess that's because everyone is frickin' scared of him. I looked up. His brown hair was toussled, looking like he got out of bed, his perfect blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

Then, I was slammed against the locker. “You, Aspen Quinn, you're the girl that stole the janitor's keys, threw them into the school's mystery meat batter and started a food fight? You? You're Asian.” He said, his voice colored with disbelief. After the inital shock that came with being slammed into lockers cleared, I spoke. My voice was clear. Not even high pitched at all. “Yeah, I'm Asian. Eyes and everything. And you're, what, white? So?” He stared at me, stunned. When he finally spoke, a growl escaped his lips. “Well...uh, yeah, but, uh.” I cut him off. “Listen here, Larsen. I took the blame for that stupid prank, but don't think that I can't ruin your life. I am a 3rd degree black belt and this palm can easily break your pretty-ass nose.” I said slowly, emphasizing on the word easily.