Denim (Michael Clifford)

1. A bright Hello

'And don't come back!' The teacher yells at me with a red face and throbbing vain on his forehead. I shrug and hear the door slam behind me as I stumble out of the class room. I would swear I hear the man mutter something that sounds a lot like 'freak' after the door closes, but I chose to ignore the comment and keep walking. My hands disappear into the pockets of my denim jacket. Somewhere deep inside my left pocket I find a piece of gum. It's not wrapped anymore, but after a quick examination which includes turning it in my hand and smelling the thing I put it into my mouth.

Suddenly I remember why I got kicked out of class. I let go of the straps of my backpack and drop on my knees before opening the black zipper. Where did I put it? Within seconds I find my notebook. My hands go as fast as they can, searching for the drawing. When I find it I stare at it for a couple of seconds. I don't understand how I got kicked out of class for this. My knees start burning so I drop on my bum, sitting in the middle of the empty hall with my bag between my legs and my notebook in my hands.

Once again I look at the drawing, not staring, really looking. It's not a vulgar drawing, it's not offensive, not aggressive doesn't even suggest the slightest bit of indivudualism, one of the things I know the teachers at this school hate as much as I hate the school lunches. It's just a stupid doodle. I don't know why, but I get mad. The book flies through the hallway, making an awfully lot of noise for such a small object. It lands meters away, lying all alone on the floor.

One of the many doors opens, a head popping up from behind it. 'Who is making that-' Then the woman's eyes fall on me. She narrows her eyes as she recognizes me from the food fight I started in the cafeteria last week. 'You again, go to the principal's office! You're supposed to be in class and you're interrupting classes here!' Her high pitched voice yells at me.

'Well I was on my way to the principal's office but since you've just rudely interrupted my journey, I shall now rethink my entire existence in the middle of this hallway...' I'm not completely lying. I was planning on going to the principal's office, just not right now, but maybe one day. I take my sunglasses from the top of my head and put them on my nose. I pit my earbuds in my ear and press the button on the wire to continue a song I was listening to earlier today. I turn down the volume a but. My hands find their way into my pockets again and I lie down on the floor, looking at the ceiling. I close my eyes and hear more doors open, the soft whispering begins.

I try to focus on people's mouths, what do they say? Mostly just, 'what's happening?'s and 'Is that freak being a pain in the ass again?'s as far as I can see. My lip reading skills are actually pretty shit but I've heard those sentences si many times before I could lip read those from a mile away. I can't help but smirk and feel satisfied. Damn straight that freak is being a pain in the ass again, a massive pain in the ass I hope. One day this school is going to miss me. When I'm gone, who's going to raise a little hell every now and then? Sure they'll find another fuck up and turn him or her into their personal scapegoat.

'Go to the office, now!' The annoying woman screams again, a hint of desperation can be found in her hysterical voice even over the sound of the music pumping in my ears. The whispers are even louder now, impressed by the anger radiating from the teacher. I get up a little, leaning on one arm and using my other hand to move my sunglasses down my nose a bit, so I can make eye contact with the teacher. As I look up to face the woman I see a crowd forming behind her. Curious pupils everywhere. I smirk and look at the from head to toe dressed in pink woman.

'I'm sorry, did you just say something?' A chuckle escapes from my mouth as I pull out one of my earbuds and I think that did the trick for her. She starts storming towards me and grabs my arm, yanking me up and forcing my to stand on my feet. The second earbud falls out of my ear and drops to the shiny grey floor. I shake the pink womans hands off me and her perfectly polished nails leave the ripped denim sleeves of my jacked as I roll up the wire of my earbuds to lift them up. My hair is blocking our intense eye contact. With one smooth head movement the hair is shaken out of my face and back where it belongs.