Daydream Believer

xxxix. going to the office and mom getting mad

xxxix. going to the office and mom getting mad

"YOU WHAT?!?" Mom shouted.

I sighed. I really didn't want to tell Mom about the food fight and my trip to the principal's office, but I had to. She would find out even if I didn't. "I went to the principal's office today," I told her.

"Do you even realize what this means?" Mom asked.

"Not really," I said.

"When you go to middle school, they won't put you in the good classes because they think you're a troublemaker. Do you want that?"

"Mom, middle school is really far away."

"It's only a few more years."

"You don't even know what happened!" I shouted.

"Okay. Tell me what happened then."

"It was all Aaron's fault," I said. "Aaron wanted to do something for April Fool's Day, so he put the salt in Mrs. Brown's coffee. Then he threw his mac and cheese on this really mean big kid. That started the food fight."

"So why did you go to the principal's office?"

"Because I was there for most of it, but I didn't really do anything."

"Aaron seems to be a bad influence," Mom said.

"No he's not!" I shouted. "He's one of my best friends! He always plays with me!"

"Maybe you should stop seeing him if he does things like this."

"NO!" I screamed. Aaron was my friend. I couldn't just stop playing with him.

"Yes. You have to choose your friends in life, McKenna. Don't associate with people who do things like this."

"But Mom..." I felt tears fall down my face. No Aaron. I would take any other punishment. He was one of the few people at school who wasn't a stranger. I felt good around him.

"I know you don't like the punishment, but you'll make new friends."

Mom made it sound easy, but it wasn't. Everyone else just scared me. I stormed off to my room and kept crying.

No Aaron.

Nothing could be worse.