“Good afternoon, students and teachers!... Oh, we can do better than that! Good afternoon, students and teachers! As you all know, I’m Principal Hayes and we’re here for an assembly to discuss bullying…”

I groan to myself, this beats class but it’s unbearable to watch Principal Hayes act like she gives a shit about bullying. I sink into the seat, preparing to take a nap when I notice Anderson. Well, it’s hard to miss him. He’s tall as shit, it’s annoying. I hope he suffers from back pain… 

He’s sitting a few rows down and blocking a few people’s views, though I doubt they are even paying attention. It doesn’t stop me from brewing up a way to annoy him. Once an idea hits me, I look over at the girl next to me. She notices my sudden stare and gives me a weird look, I don’t blame her. 

“Can I borrow a piece of paper and a pencil for a sec?" I ask. 

She continues to give me a weird look, finally speaking, “Uh, no.” 

I roll my eyes, “C’mon, it’s just a paper!” She furrowed her eyebrows, eventually reaching into her bag and handing me the said stuff. I eagerly take it from her as I write largely, “Move, dickhead. Your sasquatch ass is blocking my view.” The girl clicks her tongue as she observes my plan. I know, I’m quite the genius. 

 I hand back her pencil and crumble up the paper. With a swift throw, I managed to aim for his head. I watch as he’s confused, only to look back and see me flashing him a smug grin—

“Nikolaev, get over here right this instant.” I look to see my math teacher, Mrs. Donna….Shit. 

“Hendriks, you come with as well. I’d like to see what he wrote,” Mrs. Donna orders. I glance over to see the smallest smirk on his face. God, how I wish I could punch him right now. 

***

We were taken to my counselor, Ms. Smith. They called up our guardians, and Mom looked like she was about to rip me a new one. 

“I’m very sorry for his actions–" Mom says before being interrupted. 

"No, it’s alright, Mrs. Nikolaev. We’ll just simply have to suspend him for a day,” Ms. Smith tells her. 

I roll my eyes over Ms. Smith’s obvious act. She’s never this calm and collected. The only reason she’s holding this act is that…well, my parents earned quite the respect in this town. Mom’s a skilled surgeon and Dad’s both the mayor of North Elm and the CEO of some fancy shoe company. Despite this, they keep a “humble living” as they say. It’s got some pros and cons, I guess…

Suddenly, Ms. Rumine enters the room, slightly winded. She is Anderson’s guardian. A very nice lady, unlike him. 

“I’m so sorry for being late--” She says before Mom cuts her off.

“Don’t worry, I should be the one apologizing for Kian.” She states harshly while glaring at me. 

Nevertheless, Ms. Rumine apologizes again. Mom pinches my side, glaring at me again. I let out a sigh. 

“I’m sorry for throwing the paper,” I mumble, basically gritting my teeth. After that whole exchange was over, Mom decided to take me home. She marches to the car, her heels clicking aggressively. I get in, not uttering a single word because I’m terrified. A few moments into the drive, she explodes. 

“Why can’t you get along? Do you know how embarrassing it is for your Dad and me? You wasted my time, I’ll probably have to work overtime now!” I roll my eyes, she already works overtime every day. It’s nothing new. 

“He bothers me! What do you want me to do?” I tell her as we stop at a red light, 

Mom rubs the bridge of her nose, “Ignore him, maybe? And from what it sounded like, you started this shit.”

I groan while looking out the window. “He’s annoying, Mom.”

“You’re annoying as well, Kian…” 

What the hell! I thought she was supposed to be on my side! 

Mom pulls into the driveway and I’m about to get out when she grabs my face to kiss my cheek. “I’ll be heading back to work, sweetheart. Please stay out of any more trouble.” 

I rub where she kissed, seeing she’s wearing light nude lipstick. “Mom, now this won’t come off!” 

She furrowed her eyebrows, “Good, it’ll be your reminder to behave. And don't forget about your tutoring with the boy!” 

I roll my eyes and finally get out of the car. I haven’t even taken out my keys yet and Mom’s already gone. I’m surprised she even came to school, I figured she’d ignore it. 

With a sigh, I rummage through my bag, still trying to find the keys. “Please, don’t fucking tell me–” Great…I don’t have the keys. Can this day get any better? With another sigh, I head over to the backdoor. Locked. I attempt to open the garage but it’s still jammed from last week. 

I trudge over to the doorsteps, taking a seat as I grab my phone. “1:05 pm…guess I’ll be locked out for another two hours,” I mumble to myself…