Chapter 13: What's Up With That?
603 Words
"You should be alright as long as you keep ice on it." The school nurse said, exacerbating her foreign accent.
"Thank you, ma'am," I said in a nasal voice.
I hopped down from the table and headed out the door with Alicia, who was still looking concerned about me. She put a hand on my shoulder as we walked down to the front office together.
"Are you gonna be okay, Max?" She asked worryingly.
Not saying a word, I just continued walking down the hallway holding the bloody tissue up to my nose.
We came up to the front office, where I saw my family waiting for me. There was Grandma, Dad, and Uncle William. Now he was one family member that I wish wasn't here right now. God, how I hated him. Like Aunt Helen, they were both superstitious and condescending about everything.
Along with being curious about everything that I did, there always had to be something that he needed to point out. That I wasn't doing this or I wasn't doing that. And the same was with Aunt Helen. Good thing that she wasn't here. But I knew that she'd be at the house waiting to talk to me.
"Don't worry, I'll call you later," I told Alicia, my hands gripped onto the glass door handle as I prepared to enter.
She hugged me and walked away. As I walked inside the office, I took a seat in between my grandmother and uncle.
"Max," Mr. Clark, the school principal began. "It's come to my understanding that you got into a fight. Is that correct?"
I nodded slightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I could sense Uncle William crossing his arm and taking quick scoffs toward me. I just looked down at my feet while Mr. Clark continued on about the fight.
A while later, we walked out of the school and got into the car. Mr. Clark told me that I was to go to detention first thing Monday next week. I didn't blame him. I mean, I did get into a fight after all. Well, it wasn't a fight since all that happened was just me getting punched.
The car ride home was silent. Grandma sat in the passenger seat while dad sat beside me. I didn't feel like looking or talking to him, but I couldn't help but not ignore the quick yet subtle glances that Uncle William gave me in the rearview mirror. His dark eyes were staring right into my mind, piercing my thoughts of his intimidation.
As we pulled up to the house, grandma and dad got out of the car and went into the house except for me. Uncle William had kept me in the car, the doors locked. He turned to me in his seat and showed a look of no empathy. I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears as we made eye contact.
"Why didn't you fight back?" He said.
"What?" I asked him, partly confused about what he was asking me.
"Boy, you heard me." He replied. "Why didn't you fight back? Were you too sissy to stand up for yourself? Huh?"
I just kept my mouth shut and looked at him.
"Let me tell you something, boy. Stop letting people hassle you so much. For god sakes, stand up for yourself and stop being such a sissy!" He shouted at me. His eyes darted away from me as he got unlocked the car door and got out.
I stayed inside for a few minutes, trying to calm down my heartbeat.
Why was I afraid of him?
- Writer
