My Bad Boy's Diary

~Thirty-Four~ violence is never the answer

As soon as I got to school, I took off.

"Be good, come straight back home today!" My mom shouted after me, but I was on the hunt and barely registered her words.

Dalton's car was in the parking lot; that was good, that was real good.

I saw a few friends loitering on the sidewalk and headed towards them.

"Hi, Brooklyn, whoa, you okay?" My friend Thea asked me, huddled over her coffee thermos. "You look like you caught the bug that's been goin' round, no offense, girl."

"Have you seen Dalton?" I demanded flatly. I didn't give a flying crap how I looked today.

"Uhm, I think he's over by the tennis courts, smoking with Jordan and those other jockheads-?" Thea didn't even finish her sentence before I was striding away.

I rounded the school building like I was a woman intent on murder, and I just about was.

I saw Dalton, indeed smoking weed by the tennis courts with Jordan and his other lowlife, no good, scumbag friends.

"PATRICELLI!" I bellowed as I picked up my stride, headed straight for him.

Dalton glanced over at me and had the sheer temerity to smirk at me.

Jordan chuckled at the sight of my furious face, but the others had the good sense to ease back a couple steps.

"Where is it?!" I snarled, coming in at Dalton and shoving him hard in the chest.

He fell back a couple steps, still smirking. "What? Lost somethin', gumdrop?"

"You stole it! You know damn well what! Give it the f*ck back, you f*cking sicko!"

"I have no idea what you're talkin' about, Brooklyn." Dalton fixed me with a mockingly innocent smile. "Why don't we just settle down and take a big breath-?"

I punched him in the stomach.

He groaned and doubled over, dropping his cigarette. "Jesus," he wheezed, "I forgot you punch like a fuckin' middleweight, girl." He straightened up and still possessed the nerve and bad breeding to grin. "But you still punch like a girl."

I punched him again, harder this time, right in his smug, handsome face.

The kicker was, it probably still hurt me more than it hurt him. His jaw was like a cement block and I was no ninja.

"Brooklyn Martins!" Cried a scandalized voice and I inwardly winced.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the vice principal rushing over.

Things just kept getting better and better.

###

"You know, I'm really surprised by you, Miss Martins. You're a good kid, you get good grades, spotless attendance record, plenty of friends, and you never have a bad attitude. I see a lot of potential in you; I know you have aspirations of being a cop one day, am I right?"

I was slumped in the student counselor's office chair, nursing my hand with ice. I stared at the name plate on the desk.

Ms. Deborah Bernard.

She was a nice enough lady, but I wasn't in the mood.

"A detective." I corrected her quietly.

"A detective, yes, a very noble job with a lot of stress and responsibilities attached. But wherever you're headed, all I can say is that Dalton Patricelli will only help you get in the opposite direction. I know the two of you have a lot of history, but that's why I thought you knew better than to get involved with him-"

"I'm not-"

"In any way." She persisted calmly and I sighed, rolling my eyes over to the window.

It was a steamy, foggy morning after the rainfall last night.

"You don't understand." I growled softly in frustration.

"You're right, I'm sure I don't. Every relationship is unique and the two of you seem to have a powerful reaction to one another. Which is why I'm suspending you for the rest of the week."

"What?! A week?! But-"

"You can collect your homework and spend a few hours in detention every day, but then I want you to go home and really think about things; about what you really want and what kind of a future you want for yourself. Come back to school on Monday with a clear head and a fresh perspective, for your own sake. Okay? Can you promise to do that for me, Brooklyn?"

I nodded, picking at my nails, but I wasn't listening to her idiot adult logic.

All I could think about was how much of my diary Dalton had read by now.

###

Sept. 27th 2013

Dear Mr. Diary,

Today I saw D kissing another girl. It was like dying, over and over again, in a million horrible different ways and I had to just hold my head up and go about my day like everything was fine.

He doesn't even know I exist.

I wish he just wasn't so handsome, the jerk!

I wish I could just stop feeling this way; I swear my head doesn't even like him, but whenever he's near me...

I wonder if he feels it, too, if even just a little bit.

*~*~*~*

So what do ya'll think?

Violence (especially at school) is obviously never appropriate, but when the act of violence is towards another bully, then the lines blur a bit, no?

Controversial? Definitely. But it's also a very real issue that's not going to just go away if ignored. Girls particularly need to be careful not to act out violently against boys just because they can "get away with it", that's not exactly fair, either, is it? And I was guilty of this in High School myself.

But let's face it, ya'll, Dalton deserved to get punched! Hahahaaaa!

Also, his tally of all her violent acts towards him just went up by one sucker punch, eh? LOL

Stay in school!

HRH out