Chapter 20: Caleb Johnson

It was almost Friday and I still hadn't talk to Darrius. I had skipped chemistry class just so I could avoid any interaction with him. It was childish I know but I just couldn't face him. I knew if I ended up talking to him again I would just outright forgive him and I don't think that right now is the best time. I sat down by the lockers in the gym just listening to music and thinking about how I am going to explain to my brother why I've been skipping chemistry.


The headphones were snatched from my ears as I was just getting into the song that was playing. I stood up ready to fight when I saw Mr. Gonzalez looking at me with his hazel eyes burning into my skull.


"So this how you repay me for taking you home the other night," He started crossing his arms over his chest, "You skip my class just to come into the locker room to listen to music?"


I didn't know what to say. He looked ready to pop a blood vessel waiting for me to answer. When he realized that I was speechless, he wiped his eyebrow frustrated.


"What is going on with you?" He asked shaking his head, "First you show up to my house crying your tripas out and now you're not showing up to class."


"Huh?" I said confused as to what tripas meant but then I left it alone as he stared back at me.


"The point is there is something wrong with you and if you don't want to try to defend why you have been acting strangely, I am going to have to get the principal on this."


I had never gotten in trouble to the point I had to go the principal's office. Even when I had the regular fights with Darrius someone was always there to break it up before we even laid hands on each other. As he begins to walk away I yelled out, "Wait Mr. Gonzales."


He turned towards me with his eyes still burning with irritation. As I fixed my mouth to say something, a lump formed within my throat.


"I...I...I can't," I stumbled over the correct words to use, "You-you-you see I."


"Caleb just spit it out!"


"I can't be next to him!"


"Who Darrius? Why? You guys were doing fine and-"


"Because he hurt me," I cried, "He broke my heart and now I have no friends because they hate me for always spending time with him and now I can't even be in the same room with him because all I could think about was him and that God awful bitch-"


"Caleb calm down"


"And now he wants to show some affection because he is about to lose me? Fuck him!"


I was shouting and crying by this point. I was angry and hurt all over again. The shocked expression on Mr. Gonzalez's face showed that I may have gone off the deep end. I plopped down on the bench and cried some more.


"Wow Caleb," Mr. Gonzalez said sitting down next to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and then said, "Let me get this straight. You and Mr. Mitchell were having a little love affair and you believed that you were putting in more than he was correct?"


I nodded, "Yea."


"And one day, which is the night I took you home, he had done something with some...bitch," I grinned as he tried not to cuss, "and now you won't forgive him for it. Can you further explain this girl to me?"


"They use to date before she whored herself out to the basketball team."


"Language Mr. Johnson," He sternly expressed, "Anyway if they had already had history it's a high chance that they would do this together. Were you exclusive with him?"


"No but see that's the thing he was always saying he wasn't ready for it, which pissed me off because I was. I had nothing else to lose at this point and he hadn't sacrificed anything."


Turning towards me with curious eyes staring down at me and said, "So tell me this...what did you do wrong?"


"Excuse me?" I asked him shocked as to why he would ask me that, "You must not have heard my entire rant."


"I'm pretty sure that you gave me the jist of everything he has done wrong. However, it takes a bigger person to realize what they have done wrong as well. So think back."


I was too stubborn to even think I was wrong but I thought back to all the disagreements we had. Most of the time it was me starting the fights because I felt he wasn't listening to me or that I was jealous. Then I remember me walking out on him because he told me he wasn't ready to come out to his friends and then he hurt me again. Then I just remember a lot of crying mainly because things didn't go my way and I was pushing him to do the things I felt without even trying to listen.


"Oh my God," I shouted in realization, "I was forcing him to do things he didn't want to do right away. Now, everything he has done is not okay but what I was doing was not either."


Mr. Gonzalez patted my shoulder again and asked, "Now Caleb...I am not making you think that you are wrong. I am trying to put you in his shoes. Do you honestly think that you guys will get the same treatment if you were to come out?"


I thought back to what Darrius had said about if he came out it would cause a lot of backlash on his part. In a perfect world, I would love to think that we would get treated the same way but in reality, the world would come down on him more then it will on me. I shook my head to answer his question.


"So now you know what to do correct?" He asked me and I turned to him confused to ask, "No that is what you are supposed to help me do."


"I can't help you figure out everything," Mr. Gonzalez said standing up, "That's a part of growing up Mr. Johnson. You have to place different pieces together in order to make that puzzle we call life worth living but in order to find the right pieces you have to ask yourself "Is this what I really want?". You think about that Mr. Johnson and I will see you in my class Friday."


He turned to walk away, leaving me still confused as to what I should do. It did help me realize how big of a child I had been acting for not getting my way. I gathered up my things and begin making my way to lunch. I could already smell the school chicken nuggets and rolls coming through the hallways. Then all at once my mesmerizing came to a halt as I was slammed into the lockers with a heavy force.


"I told you I was going to get yo ass," I heard a voice say before being thrown onto the ground. As I looked up I saw a crowd of boys standing over me but I saw a familiar one as well. It was the guy that was by the water fountain and Marcus had told me to stay away from him.


"Deonte?" I said and he smiled before one of his friends pulled me back up so that we were eye level to each other. He looked at me with those menacing dark eyes before backing out of the crowd. Then I heard him say, "Fuck his ass up!"


The first hit came from a guy with a long ponytail and a large shirt. He punched me in the stomach making me almost vomit. Then the next guy punch connected to my face and the person that was holding me had let me go but I stumbled towards the locker. Since I was free, I landed my first punch onto one of the guys knocking him down but then all of them piled up on me. Every hit they would send my way landed. I was fighting back pushing one or two off of me but it was too many of them. My body was getting weak as every hit felt like heavy rocks were being thrown my way. My vision became blurry as one guy repeatedly kept punching me in my right eye.


I knew there were people in the hallway just watching. I had even caught a glimpse of Michael and Evan watching. I just didn't understand why Evan wouldn't help. I guess the heavy weight of peer pressure. By this point my body wanted to just stop fighting, I was tired and no matter what I did it wasn't going to stop. It felt like they were hitting me for hours when in reality it had only been a few minutes. With blood dripping down my face and my body becoming weaker by the minute I waited for the guy who had been hitting me in the face to send one final blow to knock me out. But it never came.


I didn't see who pulled him off because my body begin to fall to the ground as the weight of every guy on me disappeared. I could barely see out of my right eye but I saw very clearly out of my left. I lifted myself up against the lockers to see first Gerald beating the shit out of one of the guys that was attacking then I saw Jace holding another against the lockers so that he wouldn't try to help. Then I saw Chris on the ground punching the guy that was hitting me in the face. I looked to the other side to see the crowd opening for Tre to fight two more guys and he was clearly winning against both. Then looking towards the other wall of lockers, I saw Darrius and Deonte. Darrius looked like the prodigy of Floyd Mayweather as he dodged every hit and connected every single jab with a quick speed. When Deonte hit the floor, Darrius furiously kicked him and stomped him until he was begging for him to stop.


My feet moved faster than my brain as I rushed over there to stop him. He pushed me off a couple of times but I ended up turning him around to look at me. When he saw me he stopped and apparently everyone else did too but that was because it was Mr. Gonzalez with the security staff.


***


"What happened out there?" Mr. Jefferson yelled at everyone standing in his office. He was a rather round man that wore suits that were too tight for him. He wasn't really a walk around get to know the student's principle. He stayed in his office most of the time and only came around when the board came to evaluate the school. He was clueless of everything else. There was a security officer keeping everyone separated from one another. He then continued to speak, "I have never seen a fight like that since I been here."


"You have only been here for 3 years," Mr. Gonzalez whispered under his breath making me grin. However, everyone stayed silent as he continued to rant about the school reputation and how if this gets out the school board will have him on a platter. Then Mr. Gonzalez spoke, "Sir even though the school is very important, wouldn't you like to hear what actually happened outside?"


"Gonzalez with all due respect this is my school and I will handle it in the fashion that I would like to," He stated. I could see Mr. Gonzalez hazel eyes burn as he stated, "It's part of the S.O.P to know what happened. Are you going to go against them...Sir?"


I grinned again watching Mr. Jefferson almost sweat his face off before asking me first as to why I believed they jumped me. I turned to look at Darrius and then at the guys that jumped me. I looked around the room to see that none of my "real" friends were there. It was all of Darrius's friends that saved me. I cleared my sore throat and begin to tell the principle why everything occurred. Of course there were objection from the other guys but Marcus stepped through the door and said that he saw everything that happened. The principle then begins to issue out punishments. The guys that attacked me were suspended except for Deonte who had gotten expelled. Apparently he had one more time to get kick out of school before they sent him to an alternative one. I was sent home for a week to recover from the possible injuries I may have but Darrius offered to bring me my homework even though he was sent to 3 days of in school suspension with his friends.


After we left the office, Mr. Gonzalez stopped me and Darrius before we left to go home for the day.


"So now you guys understand why I don't always take you to the principal's office," He stated making us grin, "You could have been expelled by now. The guy is an idiot."


"You should ask to be principle," I said, "You already know how students are and you aren't afraid to stick it to us."


He smiled at me and said, "Maybe but for now you get home and put some ice on your eye. Why didn't you go to the nurse after?"


"He is stubborn," Darrius stated looking at me, "But that's okay somebody loves him."


My heart bounced as I heard him say that. I looked at Mr. Gonzalez who had a perplex look on his face before saying, "O-Oh kay! Well you guys have a safe trip home and don't do bad things."


With that being said he walked away and smiled at the principle's doorway before asking a kid does he have a hallway pass. The kid ran off in different direction making Mr. Gonzalez chase him.


"So-," I said before Darrius took my face in his hands and kissed me. Even though I wanted to enjoy the kiss I started crying. He stopped and asked, "Hey what's wrong?"


"My face hurts so bad and your hands are smashing my bruised cheeks in," I cried out and he immediately remove his hands from my face. He grinned, "I am so sorry! How about I take you home and ice you down?"


Wiping my eyes, I nodded at him. He took my hand in his as we walked down the hallway to meet up with his friends. They all cooed as they saw us with Tre saying, "Yes! Finally, D can get some decent shots in practice."


"What?" I said as all of us exited the school.


"Yea," Jace begin, "He has been terrible at practice and then he wouldn't stop talkin' about you."


"I was ready to chase you down and make you talk to him," Chris said making everyone laugh, "But this worked out fine too."


"Next time can you not piss off some thugs when you're mad at him," Gerald said rubbing his cheek," Dude almost made my jaw cave in."


"Alright you assholes I have to get him home," Darrius stated as we made it to the car. His friend oohed and whistled. Then Tre being Tre said, "Use a condom, I don't want to be an uncle yet."


"You obviously need to go back to bio," Gerald said making Tre frown as everyone laughed.

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