Can You Hear Me?

“My mom will be expecting me. Can you at least call her and tell her what happened?”

Mr. Abraham looked at Tony with pity in his eyes. He pushed the phone to Tony and allowed him to call one of his parents. When Tony delivered his message, the Principal pushed a hall pass to Tony’s side of the desk and told him to go to study hall to report for detention.

Tony waited at the door as Mr. Abraham said to Mr. Aston, “If he disrupts your class again, he will be suspended. Will that suffice?”

Mr. Aston nodded, “I have to get back to class. Hopefully they have not torn the place apart.”

Mr. Abraham dismissed both of them, “You may have a copy of the Incident Report when it’s complete.”

Tony walked down the hall with Mr. Aston just to irritate him. At the side hall, he parted ways with the teacher by mumbling under his breath, “See you in class, Mr. Assinine.”

Tony smirked when he heard Mr. Aston’s footsteps falter and then resume their steady clipped military style step down the hall.

Twenty minutes after school let out, the air in the detention center shifted. Tony could feel the eyes of his mom on him as she commanded his attention. He continued to stare at his book. She sat at the desk in front of his, pulled the book from him to read the title. “Catcher in the Rye? Eh-hm. I already spoke to Mr. Aston and Mr. Abraham. What’s your side? Don’t bother to lie, you can’t fool me. You think this is anything new? That you are doing something that your dad has not done? He wrote the book on bucking the system.”

Tony spoke. Mom Listened.





[word count: 293/without title]