The Other Side

Chapter Three

    Nothing has been easy. Most days it is hard to get out of bed. My curtains haven't been open in weeks, and I haven't been out of the house in almost 5 days. I've missed nearly an entire month of school and I refuse to go back. Everybody has been wondering what happened to me and Emma and making up rumors; but they have probably already suspected the truth by now.

    My mom brings me up my food on trays and leaves it outside my door, knocks, and then walks away. She hasn't really tried talking to me about it, but she's never been good at communicating. She was a drug addict from the time I was 2 until I was six. I stayed with my Nana for those years and I've never met my biological dad. My mom has been bringing home abusive boyfriends ever since I was seven, so I have basically raised myself to be a respectable young man. But apparently I wasn't respectable enough for Emma's parents.

    I hear a knock on the door and open my curtains to see who is at the door. I'm nearly blinded by the light but am shocked to see my principal standing at our front door. I hear my mom get out of bed and my heart starts pounding. She doesn't like being woken up.

"Noah, who the hell is at my front door?"

    I stay silent because I don't want to let Ms. Miller know I'm home. My mom slams open her bedroom door and storms out as Miller knocks again, but louder.

"I'm coming, god damn it!"

    Mom opens the door and her entire personality changes.

"I'm so sorry about that! Noah and I have been under an extreme amount of stress lately, what can I do for you? Would you like to come in?"

    My mom hasn't been through shit. Ms. Miller doesn't know what to think of my mom, but then again, neither would I.

"Oh-um-I-I would love to! I need to speak with both you and Noah about his ongoing number of absences."

    I feel like I could start crying again. My mom calls me out of my room and I throw a different pair of sweatpants on. I walk out of my room and rub my eyes.

"Hello, Noah."

"Hi, Ms. Miller."

    The three of us awkwardly stand there for a few seconds before mom offers her something to drink. She politely declines. We all sit in our poorly furnished living room and Ms. Miller takes a long, deep breath in before she begins speaking.

"As of right now, Noah has 19 unexcused absences from school, and it is completely unacceptable. I need one of you-or-both of you to clarify the reasoning behind his absences."

     My mom looks at me and expects me to do the talking. She sees my eyes starting to fill up with tears, and quickly takes that expectation away.

"Before his absences began, he found out that his gir- his ex girlfriend was pregnant with his baby. The same night of receiving this news, she also told him that she would be getting an abortion and broke up with him. It's been really hard on Noah, as they were just a week away from their one year anniversary."

    My principal is shocked at what the real problem was. She probably thought I had a bad case of the flu, or something. She explains that I have a very supportive group of counselors at the school and that our student body is very supportive and won't judge me about anything. Bullshit. She doesn't get it. Has she even ever went to high school?

    I think she finally realizes that this conversation isn't going anywhere so she wraps it up by telling us that I can either start going to school or the school can take my mom to court for 'unfit parenting.' She leaves and as soon as she pulls out of the driveway my mom starts screaming at me.

"You just HAD to go and get your girlfriend pregnant, didn't you?! Did you do it to make me look like a shitty parent? Did you do it because you're a selfish little man whore?"

    I sit and stare at the wall. I tune her out and go into my own world. In moments like these, I like to block her out and think only happy thoughts even though at the moment, those are hard to find. I really couldn't care less about what she has to tell me.

    They say the first three years of your life are the most important. That must be why it feels like my mom doesn't play a big part in my life. She wasn't there for me. Not then, not now.