The school was a new campus with brick buildings, and some extra mobile houses set up for classes as the school had grown quickly struggling trying to accommodate the large student population. By eight in the morning classes started, with students excitedly rushing to class while still trying to catch up over everything that had happened over the summer.

Ardwyn carried his backpack on one shoulder to act cool, straightening his back to show off his summer muscle gains. He walked into his first class, English, and found a seat at the back, putting his backpack down.

As the teacher, Mr. Robinson entered the class, the loud commotion of students talking quieted down. Mr. Robinson was an older man, with glasses shifted down on his nose, so that he could stare out above them.

Without an introduction, Mr. Robinson began going through roll call, calling out the student’s names one by one, with no apparent emotion in his tone.

When he got to Ardwyn he looked up.

“Here,” Ardwyn said.

“Sir,” the teacher said, “Between you and the rest of the class are two empty rows of seats. I need you to move up and sit in the first row since you don’t seem to want to pay attention.”

Ardwyn’s face flushed with red. He felt a sting of embarrassment as the rest of the class looked back at him, some laughing loudly at the comment.

“Quiet,” the teacher said to calm the class down.

Ardwyn grabbed his backpack, and trying to avoid the stares of the other students, moved to the front row. Being all the way up in the front he couldn’t see the rest of his classmates, still hearing a few snickers and muted laughs.

A great start to the day, Ardwyn thought.

Mr. Robinson began teaching. In moments when the teacher turned to write on the board Ardwyn would sneak glances at the clock. Time moved so slow it seemed to have frozen.

All in all, Ardwyn was an average student. He wasn’t a good student, but he also wasn’t a bad student. He managed to pass classes, and that was enough for him. He had the capabilities to study and do well on exams but he just couldn’t bring himself to care.

School felt like a prison. Having to wake up early in the morning and get ready, and then by the time school was done, and he had been dropped off by the bus, he was left with just a few hours of freedom in the day to do what he wanted.

Two years ago he had failed math class. His mother was furious when she found out. Luckily, he didn’t have to stay back a year because he repeated the math class over the summer. That’s why last year he had made sure to at least pass his classes so that he could have the summer to himself, free from school.

And that was the plan this year. Pass the classes, and save up for a car. The next summer then would be glorious, having his own car, freedom, a job where he could earn money to buy things.

The class bell rang to signal the end of the first period, waking up Ardwyn from his daydream. He walked out of the class without saying anything to the teacher, even though Mr. Robinson’s stare seemed to be still fixated on him.

Outside of the class doors, in the hallway Ardwyn ran into Michael.

“You’re also in Building A?” Michael said excitedly.

“Yeah, first period English,” Ardwyn said.

“Nice,” Michael said. He often said nice regardless of the context of the conversation.

“How about you?”

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“Math,” Michael said. “The teacher is kind of hot.”

What did the lucky stars have against Ardwyn? He wondered. Better teachers, more money, better life, Michael had it all. But for some reason Ardwyn wasn’t envious for Michael. Michael was a genuine person who seemed to care for others. Ardwyn had never seen Michael get upset once or talk bad about someone.

“Hey, man, I gotta say,” Michael said, “You’ve been lifting weights or something? You got swole over the summer!”

Ardwyn found himself smiling and looking down at his black t-shirt. “Oh, really? You can tell?”

“Oh, yeah, totally bro,” Michael said. “Nice! We gotta work out sometime together.”

A voice came down the hallway. “Look who it is!” It was Jonny, a student they both had the unfortunate chance of knowing. Jonny had been held back for two years already for failing his classes, which made him two years older than the rest of his classmates, and significantly taller.

Jonny used that advantage to act like a king of the hallways, smilingly stupidly at the girls who passed by even though they showed faces of disgust in return.

“If it isn’t Mr. Rich Boy!” Jonny said after walking up to them. “And dork accomplice.” Jonny smiled tauntingly at Ardwyn.

“How was your summer break?” Michael said, trying to be polite.

“Better than yours,” Jonny said. “At least I didn’t have my rich daddy babysitting me all day.”

Michael snapped back. “Hey, at least my dad's around to babysit me.” It was the first time Ardwyn had noticed Michael get even remotely upset.

“Hey, screw you!” Jonny yelled and shoved Michael. Michael lost his balance and fell on the floor backwards, catching himself with both hands behind his back. Jonny then kicked Michael as hard as he could in the stomach. Michael closed his eyes, wincing in pain.

The students ran in their direction and surrounded them in a circle. “There’s a fight!” Someone excitedly shouted in the background.

Jonny was angry now. He gritted his teeth. The comment must have touched a nerve. Sweat poured down his brow.

He turned to Ardwyn. “And you dork, what are you looking at?”

Ardwyn lost the sensation of himself in the next moment. He felt himself pulling back his arm, like a spring, and with full force punching Jonny right in the nose, toppling him instantly over to the floor.

“Hey! Hey!” A voice came shouting from the crowd. Mr. Robinson cut through the crowd and stepped in front of them.

Other teachers who taught class in the hallway came running. “I’ll call security,” one teacher said. “Someone make sure they’re okay,” another teacher said.

Mr. Robinson bent over Jonny, who seemed to be passed out asleep. “Are you alright? Can you hear me?”

Michael seemed to be okay, recovering and standing up, leaning up on the side of the locker.

Mr. Robinson turned to Ardwyn. “Sir, come with me,” he said with clenched fists without trying to hide his anger.

Outside of the administrator’s office Ardwyn waited for what felt like eternity in the waiting room. Behind closed doors Mr. Robinson, in a low voice, was discussing what happened with an another administrator so that Ardwyn couldn’t hear them.

Finally, the door opened and without bothering to look at Ardwyn, Mr. Robinson said, “We’ve called your mother. She said she will be here as fast as possible.”

They called his mother? Ardwyn felt a sharp pain in his stomach. His mother would have probably been severely embarrassed getting a call from his school. And on the first day on top of that.

“I witnessed the entire thing,” Mr. Robison said. “You laid out that kid flat. We simply cannot have that kind of violence at this school. I understand that you might have felt provoked, but there are better ways of handling this kind of situation.”

“But he hurt my friend!” Ardwyn said in protest.

"I know. And Jonny will face consequences for his actions too. But right now, we're discussing your situation.”

Your situation. What did they mean by his situation, Ardwyn wondered. He felt cornered. No choice to do anything nor to understand his side. All of a sudden he felt stuck down a deep black hole with no one to help him out. He wished for the whole thing to go away, and wake up from this bad dream.

But he knew that wasn’t possible, so he just sat there in silence, on the cold metal bench in the hallway, while the rest of the students resumed their classes, his situation being just passing entertainment for others.

Moments later his mother stormed like a hurricane into the office. Turning overdramatic at the smallest of things, her tone escalated to a high pitch as she found him sitting on the bench with Mr. Robinson at the desk next to him.

“What happened?!” she yelled. “They told me you got into a fight!?”

“Yes, he did get into a fight,” Mr. Robinson said, not waiting to let Ardwyn speak. “In fairness, he was defending his friend, but Ardwyn ended up breaking the kid’s nose. They are rushing him to the hospital right now.”

Tears immediately poured down his mother’s face. She buried her face in her hands.

“I work so hard everyday, so that you can have a good life, and a good education, and this is what you do!” she sobbed, “don’t you care about anything?!”

Ardwyn felt himself at a loss for words. He frowned, looked down on the floor and in a low tone, said, “I’m sorry, mom.”

“What’s going to happen now?” his mother said to Mr. Robinson, wiping back her tears. “Is he going to be sent home for the rest of the day?”

“I’m sorry to say, but we are expelling your son from the school,” Mr. Robinson said, and looked at Ardwyn with a graveyard stare.