Victor, Victorious

Chapter Ten

In the Dean of Discipline's office, Colin sat in a large, heavy chair on one side of a messy desk. A burly man with silver hair sat across from him. This was Mr. Koontz, the guy with the job nobody else wanted. He had to deal with the worst kids at school, all day, every day.

Mr. Koontz had a sheet of paper in front of him. "What's your first name again?"

"Colin."

With a pen, the man recorded what the boy told him. "Last name...?"

"Cisneros."

The Dean popped some kind of pill from a plastic vial at the edge of the table. He washed it down with a gulp from a water bottle. "You have a sister?" asked the man. "A freshman?"

Colin nodded. "Yes. Courtney."

"Right. That's her. And you're a junior? Sophomore?"

"Sophomore."

"This your first year here?"

"No, sir. My second."

"I have never met you before, Colin. Not once."

"I know."

"So, what the heck are you doing here? Have you decided to stop being a good kid, or what?"

Colin shrugged his shoulders. "I was just getting some payback."

"On Victor Villa."

"Yes, sir."

"He's been bothering you awhile, then?"

"For years."

"I know how you feel."

"Since middle school."

"I see." The man gulped more water. "So, tell me what happened."

"He tried to beat me up in class yesterday."

"Oh, you're that kid."

"Yes, sir. So, today I made fun of him."

"Just now, in Ms. Todd's class?"

"Yes, sir."

"What did you say to him?"

"I kind of made fun of how he was dressed. Maybe I called him 'homeless'."

"Maybe you called him 'homeless,' or you did call him 'homeless'?"

"I did, sir."

"That wasn't right, Colin. That's bullying, just the same as Victor putting his hands on you."

The door flew open, slammed against the wall. A framed certificate crashed to the floor.

Victor limped into the room. "Koontz, don't listen to him!" He wore no backpack, no blanket.

The man stood, pointing. "Mr. Villa, I told you to wait out there."

"But he's not gonna tell you what really happened!"

The secretary stepped into the office behind Victor. She repositioned the fallen frame back onto the wall.

The frazzled woman said, "Sorry, he just stormed right past me. Want me to call for security?"

Mr. Koontz thought about it for a moment. "It's okay," he said. "You can leave the three of us alone. Keep the door open, I guess."

The secretary nodded and left.

The man told Victor to take a seat next to Colin. Victor sat, but he pulled his chair away from the other boy, creating space between them.

The Dean said, "I think I have Colin's side of it. Is that right?"

The smaller boy said, "Yes, sir."

Victor asked, "Did you leave out the stuff about Instagram?"

Mr. Koontz crossed his arms. "What about Insta—?"

To Colin, Victor spat, "You used my Instagram, sent Mikaela some message. She hates me now."

The other boy didn't speak, but he smirked just a little.

Victor continued, "And you went on Sergio and Bart's Twitters, and you wrote those things about them, too."

The Dean cut in. "If that's true, we could pull Instagram and Twitter up here on my computer and see it all, right?"

"Please, do," said Colin. "I don't even do social media. My mom won't let me."

The man chuckled. "Like that's ever stopped a kid before. I have a daughter your age who tries to get away with murder."

"I'm telling the truth, sir. Go ahead and check. I didn't put anything on there."

"He's lying!" Victor insisted. "He pretended he was us, and he put these things on there!"

The Dean scratched his head. "How did he get access to your accounts? Did you give him your passwords?"

"No." Victor shook his head. "Look, I don't know how he did it, okay? But it doesn't mean he didn't do it! Koontz, you gotta believe me, man!"

"I'll pull it up right now, and you'll show me what you're talking about, and—"

Victor wasn't finished. "And in Ms. Todd's class, he wrote this thing about me and Mikaela on Ms. Todd's computer, but Ms. Todd didn't see him do it, so when you ask her, she's gonna say it was me, but it wasn't me, and—"

Mr. Koontz held up a hand, silencing Victor. "Wait. Who's Mikaela? You keep mentioning this 'Mikaela'."

"Mikaela Martinez," Colin explained. "He's in loooooooooove with her."

Victor said, "No, I'm not."

Colin turned to Victor. "You stole a picture of her and put it in your wallet."

"I didn't steal it. I found it."

"Boys," said the man. "Let's stay on track."

Colin did not relent. "You probably sleep with it under your 'blankie'. Give it a kiss good night. I mean, everyone knows she's hot, but, come on, Victor. It's just a photo."

Victor could feel himself shaking, losing control again. "Shut up!"

"Boys!" The Dean tried to get their attention, to rein them in.

Colin ignored the man. "Don't papercut your lips when you do it, Victor. Or your tongue when you're trying to French kiss Mikaela's little face."

Victor broke apart, his anger no longer contained. He threw back his chair. He loomed over Colin like a dark cloud.

"Victor!" Mr. Koontz yelled. "No!"

The man rushed around his desk and pulled Victor back a couple of feet. The Dean now stood between the boys.

"Back off, Victor!" he ordered. "Be the bigger man!"

But Victor wasn't really there anymore. A furious animal was in his place, hungry for blood.

The beast lunged for Colin, attempting to shove Mr. Koontz aside.

Victor's hands zapped the man right above his heart.