“The hardest part is starting.” The afternoon bell announced the end of the day’s classes, interrupting a teacher who, rising his voice, tried to make himself heard over the loud sound of bored teenagers leaving for home. “Once you have an outline ready, writing the rest will be a walk in the park!” He finished saying to an almost empty classroom.
With the exception of a girl who had forgotten his phone in her desk, only one student remained, a boy who, with his head buried inside his arms, slept soundly, unaware of all the fuzz happening around him.
“Lucas.” Said the teacher as he reached the kid’s desk. The teacher noted how his raven black hair had grown longer since the last time he had noticed, turning almost into something resembling a bird’s nest during Lucas’ nap. He gently pressed his hand onto his student’s shoulder and called for him again. “Buddy, the class ended already.”
Lucas opened his dark brown eyes, highlighted by the two dark circles underneath them, and looked at the teacher. “I… I was not sleeping, sir.”
The teacher smiled. “Tough night?” Lucas nodded as he looked around and began to put his things away. “Remember you need to finish your essay for next week.” He told the boy, placing a worksheet on his desk. “Today we talked about the overall structure and themes. You can find a summary of today’s class in the worksheet.”
Lucas didn’t seem to listen to him as he looked through his bag, pulling out a blue folder. “Won’t be needing that, sir.” He said. “I finished already.”
The teacher opened the folder Lucas handed him and took a quick look through the six pages he found inside. “Greek Cosmogony?” He said. “That’s quite the heavy topic, don’t you think?”
Lucas shook his head as he stood up. “Like you said… tough few nights…” He said, starting to move towards the door.
The teacher placed his hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “Try to get some sleep tonight.” He said.
Lucas smiled. “I’ll try,” He said, gently pushing the teacher’s hand off his shoulder. “But I can’t promise anything.”
He left, closing the door behind him and leaving David Garriga, alone on his classroom.
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“Won’t be needing that, sir” Said James, Lucas’ tall, brute of a classmate, doing a mockery of Lucas’ voice. A choir of laughter answered to the crude joke, coming from his coterie of followers.
Lucas looked at the center of the group and found a familiar face. Looking at the blond boy, he said. “You alright?”
The boy’s green eyes opened wide at the question, but before he could say anything, James interrupted. “Who are you talking to?” He said. “No one here speaks with freaks like you!”
Lucas stared back into his eyes. “Freaks like me?”
“Yes, like you.” He repeated. “I wouldn’t want any of your… How do they call it now? ‘Suicidal Ideation’ getting stuck to me when I’m not paying attention.”
Lucas gave one step towards James as the tall boy did the same. As they stood next to each other, others began to notice that Lucas wasn’t as short as he sometimes appeared. “What are you gonna do to me?” Dared James. “Huh? Go running to mommy’s skirt? Or tell that failure of a writer you call dad to write an essay about me?” He turned around to see the smiles and giggles coming from within his group of friends.
James noticed that the blond boy looked horrified, which was probably something they would have to talk about later. He looked back at Lucas, whose angry red face was almost about to explode.
He smiled as he placed the last nail in the coffin. “Oh, sorry, you can’t do either… because one is probably blackout drunk behind Walmart and the other one is dead.”
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Lucas’ fist hit him right between the eyes, sending him to the ground before he even realized what was happening. “You take my family out of your filthy fucking mouth!” Lucas screamed, attempting to throw himself on top of James as other kids intervened to stop him.
“What the fuck is going on here!” resounded a voice coming from down the hall. A huge, musclebound creature that at times called itself the school’s P.E. Teacher came barreling down the hall to stop the fight. He grabbed onto Lucas’ hand and pulled hard on it, pulling him away from the group that was trying to hold him. “Lucas Aranda! What the fuck are you doing!”
Jaime grabbed his nose trying to stop the flow of blood from pouring onto his white shirt. “Sir!” He said, still sitting on the ground. “He went crazy all of a sudden! I was talking with the team and he just came up and punched me!”
Lucas lunged once again, stopped only by the teachers strength. “That’s not true! He was…” He tried to say.
“You did what?” bellowed the teacher. “You hit a classmate? What kind of freak does that!”
A door opened close to the group and David Garriga came out of the classroom carrying a suitcase and a stack of paper. “I’m gonna have to stop you right there, Santiago.” He said, his voice as calm as a lake the day after a storm. “I’m sure there is no reason to grab a student as you are doing right now.”
“He punched one of his classmates,” He said. “Who knows what he might…”
“Sure, he did punch a boy, but I’m sure he is now calmer and has had time to think about what he did.” David looked at Lucas and smiled. “I’m sure he won’t do that again when you release him… right… Lucas?” He asked.
He wasn’t talking loudly, but for some reason everything seemed to calm down and go silent while he spoke. His voice seeming to reverberate with a strength not even Santiago’s loudest of bellows could muster.
Yet the giant refused to let go. “He punched a kid.” He said. “That’s serious enough to expel someone, specially knowing his previous record.” Lucas eyes opened wide at the mention of expulsion.
“Let’s not blame the kid for all of this situation.” Said David. “It’s true he punched James, but James himself isn’t completely innocent either.” He said as he directed a piercing stare towards James.
“What reason could someone have to…” Tried to say the P.E. Teacher, but was interrupted by David’s deep voice.
“I still remember when I was younger, blood ran hot back then and these dark hands of mine had quite a few less scars.” He said. “But I still remember how I felt each time someone disrespected my family, how my blood boiled every time someone talked bad about my mother, or how it felt when someone lied about my father in heaven…” He looked back to the P.E. teacher and smiled. “Violence was, I agree, not the answer in this situation, but wasn’t bullying also a reason for expulsion? And I don’t see you saying anything to your dear team’s captain, right?”
The giant scoffed, letting go of Lucas’ arm. “I’m gonna leave things here for now, I have other things to do.” He said. “But I’m keeping my eye on you! Aranda! One more thing I notice and you are out!” He finished as he turned around and began walking away.
David looked at the group of people and smiled. “I think it’s a good time for all of you to go home.” He said. “Parents worry when their sons don’t return home quickly.”
Someone helped James stand up and a girl handed him a napkin for his nose. He stuffed the paper towel up his nostril and walked quickly past David and Lucas.
Not before bumping into Lucas and whispering some choice words as he went, followed closely by his coterie of numskulls.
“Mister Gonzales!” Said David as the blond kid went past them, his head down with shame. “I needed to talk to you, there’s a few things I would like to say later, is Monday after school alright with you?”
The blond boy, Andres Gonzales, stopped for a second, thought and nodded in confirmation before he went back to walking behind the group in silence.
David turned around and placed his empty hand on Lucas’ shoulder. “Are you alright, boy?” He asked. “Sorry for not coming to your aid before, this bloody door keeps on locking me in at the most inconvenient of times.”
Lucas half slapped, half pushed his teacher’s hand off his shoulder with his own and stepped back. “I’m alright.”
David sighed. “You don’t look alright.”
“I’m just… tired, that’s all”
“Then get some sleep,” Said David. “I once slept for three whole days after a party, it felt great, and you still have Saturday and Sunday to get some shuteye.”
Lucas smiled a half smile. “See? You are still in there.” Said David. “Anything you need, boy, you know where my office is. See you on Monday.”
“See you soon, sir.” He said. “And… Thank you, really.”
David waved the blue folder above his head as he walked away. “No, thank you!” He said. “I feel like I’m gonna have a blast reading this during the weekend!”