Chapter 34

Monday, I was back at school, and it felt weird. I’d been gone for so long, it almost felt foreign. Weirder than that was that no one really paid attention to me. I guess I should have expected that, since most high school students really only have the energy and time to think about themselves, but I guess I felt my absence would have been noticed. At least it kept my ego in check.

Kat was still doing early practices, so just like the day I was expelled, I was all by myself. Also like that day, I needed to check in with the office. Not because they required me to, but because I wanted to make sure I didn’t run into any problems returning to class. I’d been blindsided the last time and, even with the superintendent’s assurances, I just didn’t trust the school district to not screw me again. If it happened, I didn’t want it to happen while I was in class, where others would be watching.

I was mostly looking around at the other kids standing around talking or walking to class and didn’t look into the office until I pulled the glass door open to go inside, almost running right into Mr. Packer, who was carrying a cardboard box full of picture frames and papers. I silently cursed myself for not paying more attention, but in my defense, I really thought this was what the rest of last week was for. They knew I was starting back today, so it seemed crazy that Mr. Packer would be here at the same time, since he had to know I was the reason he was suspended and being investigated.

For a moment, we both just stared at each other.

Finally, he broke the silence, saying, “Looks like you got what you wanted, didn’t you, Nelson?”

“Me? All I wanted was to come to school and get an education. You were the one who took Aaron’s dad’s money and went out of your way to harass me.”

“You don’t know anything. Everyone in this town knows you’re a punk, and the only reason you’ve stayed out of jail is by dating the sheriff’s daughter. Mark my words, Mr. Nelson, I’ve seen a lot of troublemakers over the years, and those consequences are going to catch up to you eventually. You’re just lucky your mother died before she had to see what you’ve become.”

He had a smirk on his face with those last words, and I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me. Two months ago that probably would have sent me into a seething rage, but with everything I’d been through recently, it was going to take more than that to rile me up. I saw him for what he was: a sad man in his forties who just got fired from his job for gross incompetence.

“Speaking as someone whose consequences caught up with him, huh, Mr. Packer?” I said calmly.

“You little shit,” he snarled, not holding on to his emotions nearly as well. “I’ll be back, and when I am I’ll make sure you never finish at Carr.”

“You’re joking, right?” I asked, smiling in his face. “This suspension is just a step required by the rules. The superintendent has already decided you’re done. You’re never going to teach in this district ever again. Hopefully, you’ll take that as a sign and get out of education altogether. You have no business working with kids anywhere, let alone here. You’re a sad, little man who only feels big when he’s wielding power over children. You’re pathetic.”

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the box, the sides denting in where his fingers clawed into the cardboard.

“You piece of...”

“Mr. Packer,” a voice came from behind him. “I believe it’s best if you just leave.”

Mr. Packer didn’t look back at the man I assumed was the temporary administrator. I stepped back, holding the door open for him as he walked past, glaring at me. I just grinned back, although I made sure to turn my head away from the administrator. It was a petty move, and I was sure they wouldn’t approve of me provoking him like that, but after what he put me through over the last almost two years, I couldn’t help but feel vindicated.

“Mr. Nelson, come here please,” the man said.

He wasn’t yelling or angry, so it was already a step up from what I was used to.

“We’re happy to see you back in school,” he said when I stopped in front of him. “But I’d appreciate it if you would refrain from speaking to any of the former administration, should you run into them. I understand the urge, but you will make your life and the lives of the rest of us a little easier if you resist, and I hope you can see there’s little benefit to such a confrontation.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll just walk away next time.”

“Good. I was told you were a reasonable young man, and I’m glad to see that was accurate. Until the end of the year, unless we send for you, you don’t have to come to the office any longer. We’ve held conferences with each of your teachers, and they’re aware of your situation. They have each prepared a plan for you to catch up with your classmates and finish the year on schedule. I don’t know if Superintendent Jennings said this to you, but we’re expecting you to work hard to catch up. I know that’s not fair, considering the situation, but I think it’s within your ability, yes?”

“Yes, sir. I’m willing to do whatever you need me to do. I just want to finish this year and graduate next year with everyone else.”

“Excellent. With that kind of attitude, I’m sure you will. If you run into any problems, my door is always open. Although I don’t expect to see you in here very much since I’m sure you’re going to be too busy getting back up to speed.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said.

“Good. Then head to class.”

I gave him a nod and hustled out the door. I was happy he seemed more reasonable than Mr. Packer or Mr. Little. Of course, they seemed reasonable the first time I’d met them, too. It was only afterward they became difficult. Of course, those were different circumstances, and I assumed he wasn’t going to start getting paid off to screw me over like Mr. Packer was.

I was happy I’d stopped in the office. I know it’s petty, but seeing Mr. Packer leaving, with a box of his personal stuff, felt good. I liked to think I wasn’t a vindictive person, but it was nice, for once, to see some real proof that people got what they deserved.

I was a little less happy once I started getting the work from my teachers that I needed to complete to catch up. When they said it was going to take a lot of work to get up to speed, they weren’t kidding. Especially considering that the assignments that were happening while I played catch up were going to pile up at the end of my workload, so I could literally see the load of stuff still to do increasing as I worked on it.

At least spring break had happened while I was suspended, so it wasn’t quite as bad as it otherwise would have been. Still, I needed to figure out more time to do some homework, so my first stop was to go see Coach Dean in conditioning class about the practice schedule for the rest of the year.

“Hey, Coach,” I said, knocking on his door.

“Charlie,” he said, smiling. “They told me you were back.”

“Yep. I’m guessing there isn’t much in the way of makeup homework for this class,” I said.

“Nope. There was the performance test, to see if your reps increased, but we can do that later this week and you’ll be all caught up.”

“Good. I did get a lot of work from my other teachers, so I wanted to see what our practice schedule was now, because I’m going to need some extra time to get caught up.”

When he glanced away and looked nervous I knew something was off. Especially when he didn’t reply right away.

“What?”

“We’ve had a lot of games since you stopped being able to attend and were forced to move someone up from junior varsity to fill your space. I know it’s not your fault you were taken out of school, but it also wasn’t this kid’s fault, and I really can’t move him back down now. That wouldn’t be fair to him.”

“Oh,” I said.

It hadn’t even occurred to me that I was going to be replaced. It should have. A month was more than a third of the season and they would have played about ten games since my whole ordeal started. Coach Dean had been one of the more fair teachers I’d had, and I knew he wouldn’t purposefully do something that would cause me problems, and he also had a bunch of other kids to deal with at the same time.

“I’m so sorry, Charlie. I even talked to the administration to try and get an idea of how long you were going to be gone, and we were told you were removed from school permanently, otherwise I would have just held that spot open. I could move you to the junior varsity team if you want. I know it’s a step-down and would be a little disappointing, but you’d almost certainly make varsity again next year, and you always said you just wanted to be able to play ball. Again, I know this sucks and none of this is your fault. I really am very sorry.”

“No, I get it. You had to make the best call you could for the team, and even I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get back into school before the end of the year. Yeah, you can’t take the guy you moved up and bump him back down. I couldn’t do that to anyone.”

“So will moving to junior varsity work for you?” he asked, almost hopefully.

“No. I appreciate you trying to find a place for me, and I know that you had no choice in how things played out, but honestly, now that I’m thinking about it, this might be for the best. I was just coming in here to find out how to open up some time in my schedule, and this does just that. I have so much catch-up work to do. Besides, I’ve honestly lost most of my school spirit. This school has gone out of its way to tell me how much I’m not wanted, and I’m starting to get the message.”

“Charlie, it’s not like that,” he said, sitting up in his chair. “I know you’ve had problems with some of the staff and the administration, but you have a lot of teachers here who know you’re an asset, and I most certainly do. You’ve been a great player this season and if there was a way I could put you on the team without bumping anyone else, I would. In a heartbeat. You’ve got real talent and you could almost certainly play in college if you wanted to.”

“I appreciate that, and I wasn’t trying to blame you. You’ve always been really fair, and I know none of this was your fault. At the same time, I think I’m going to take this as a sign I that should stop playing school sports. My long-term goal has always been my music, and besides getting caught up on my school work, I have a lot to do to get my music career back where it needs to be. Since I’m not currently on any team roster, I think it’s best if we leave it that way. Maybe I’ll feel differently next year and try out again, but right now, honestly, I seriously doubt it.”

“I won’t say it’s not disappointing since you’re an excellent player and we’re going to miss your talent on the team, but I understand. Again, I’m really sorry how this has gone for you, and I’m glad the district has started to work to fix some of the things the administration did to you. If I was in your place, I’d probably have made the exact same decision. What I can do is keep you in conditioning class. Normally, if you aren’t on one of the teams, we’d have to move you out of the class, but we’re this far into the semester it also wouldn’t be fair to force you to switch to a new PE class, especially since it wasn’t your decision to get pulled off the team.”

“That works for me, Coach,” I said, sticking out my hand.

“No problem,” he said, shaking it. “If you change your mind or need anything, even next year, my door’s always open.”

And just like that, my short foray into sports was over. I was a little disappointed because I really did love playing the game, but it was probably for the best. I’d been serious that I needed to focus on my music. With my contract canceled, I needed to put all my efforts into figuring out how to get my career started again. Which wasn’t going to be easy.

A week passed, and things were slowly settling into a new normal. With Seth back in the band, we were starting to sound like we had it together, again. We’d had to do some work to get the melodies Marco was carrying back into my parts, but it was doable. Functionally, not having a keyboard wasn’t that big of a problem since a lot of bands used the guitar, bass, and drums setup.

If we added anything else later, it would end up being a second guitar part to allow for more complex melodies, but I liked the idea of keeping it small, with just the three of us. We were still only playing at the Blue Ridge. However, I hoped the meeting Mr. Eaves and myself were going to attend, would change that.