Rising Star: Book 3 of The Orion Series

Ugly Parents and Innocence

**TRIGGER WARNING** Implied physical abuse.

This is not a drill, this is not a test

Don't mind me, I'm just trying my best

You can't cry for something that's been spent

There's just this hole, an irrevocable dent

If I could count the times I was sorry

I'd have twelves hands all over my body

Why don't you just go around

While I'm standing here, staking my ground

What I'm doing isn't for show

I'm not some innocent wide-eyed doe

This is for all the timid folk

Who never raised up their voice and spoke

I'm sorry for the things I said

I'm sorry they got locked up in your head

Forever filled with all this sorrow

I sometimes wish there wasn't tomorrow

So lets cross this bridge and blow it up

I'll drag you across like my scorned pup

Lets watch the pieces sink to the floor

Like the memories I did so adore

Watch out, here lies a murky pit

Filled with rage and pent up shit

Lets scrape ourselves up off the ground

And leap back on this merry-go-round

--The song Merry-Go-Round, Lyrics by Orion Bauwens

"We need to call all parents of the parties involved."

"No, no, it's fine, really--"

"Orion," Mr. Dickerson says strictly, glaring at Orion who had jumped to his feet. "All parents. Not just yours."

Orion does his nervous chirp-laugh and sits back down.

"Given the severity of this," the principal continues, "the authorities will have to be notified."

"You know what," Orion gets to his feet again, "just forget I said anything--we. Forget we said anything--"

I yank him back into his seat. He whimpers.

About an hour later everyone's parents are crammed into the principal's office. We have to move out into the main office once the cops show up. The entire situation is...weird. I can honestly say I never imagined my Freshman year of High School would end in the principal's office with the cops, bloodied, while they took statements about how a fellow Freshman tried to shank my best friend. (Little did I know at the time this was just the event horizon.)

After statements are given, the cops leave. We're still all expected to stay.

"This has been an ongoing issue," Mr. Dickerson says to everyone, crossing their arms. "It has escalated well beyond acceptable parameters. Both Orion and Daryl have remained rather tight lipped about the reason behind this feud. That ends right here, right now."

Daryl is nowhere to be found. Between the three of us we figured out who the other four boys were. Daryl appears to have fled with three others, and only one returned to school with his parents. So instead I look at Orion's parents; this is my first time seeing them.