Him

Separation

“Katie you may come in now.” Principal Renner calls.

Slowly I make my way back into his office. I peek my head in before I fully enter. I don’t need another awkward encounter. Seeing that the coast is clear I sit down. Detention was already going to be bad, but now? It’s just going to be awkward. Hopefully time will go fast.

With each tick of the clock, my fingertips hit the chair arm. After counting the ceiling tiles about ten times I sigh. This detention is not going by quick enough.

Beep Beep!

“Excuse me for a moment,” Principal Renner says.

I nod as he walks out of the office. After hearing the click from the door I reach for my phone. If he can leave to take a personal call, I can at least check my phone.

F – What happened with you and Owen? He was really angry when he came back after walking you to detention?

M – Can we talk Friday night? It’s really important.

J – Hey, I am getting to leave tomorrow night. I will be home Saturday morning. I really want to see you. I love you.

I smile as I read Jake’s message again. He gets to come home a day earlier than he was supposed too! This is amazing. I can’t even wait! What will I wear? I shouldn’t respond to him right now. I’ll wait till detention is over. I will respond to Maya though.

K – Of course we can talk!

I wonder what she wants to talk about. Hopefully it’s nothing bad. I hope Eli is okay! I don’t want them to be breaking up or something. That would be awful. I need to chill, stressing out about this is going to make me crazy.

I can’t believe Fiona is asking me about Owen. He crossed the line. I was in a good mood until he decided to interrogate me and jump to all those conclusions. I can’t even write her back about it because I’m so mad.

After putting my phone back in my bag I stand up. Principal Renner is taking forever to get back in here. Maybe I can take a peek at his desk. He’ll never know. I mean, just one little peek won’t hurt anything.

No Katie, no snooping! I scold myself.

I sit back down in my chair. My fingertips tap the chair a few times. The metal gets hotter after each tap. I glance at the clock and then the door. That’s it.

I jump out of my chair and circle to the other side of his desk. Taking a quick glance I notice his desk is messy. A tornado probably came in here and did this to his desk. It’s such a mess. How can someone even work like this?

Nothing seems interesting. Just a few photos on his desk. They look like his high school photos. One is him in a football jersey sitting on a car. Not very interesting, but it is kind of funny to see Principal Renner in his younger days. Not that he’s old, because he obviously not, just a bit younger.

I start to head back to my chair but stop. I notice a notepad on his desk. The reason it caught my eye is because it has my name at the top. All I can see is my name actually. It looks as if he covered it up with some papers before he walked out.

I shouldn’t look, but I will. I sit down in his desk chair and move the papers off the notepad. After my name it has simple stuff like my grade and parents’ names and phone numbers. It seems pretty harmless.

Wait! After all the normal things a principal should know about me, there is more. He has my friend’s names all written down. Hazel, Fiona, Emma, Riley, Jimmy, Johnny and Maya. Another weird thing was that he has Owen’s name on there but he has put a line through it. And he has added a name. Marisol. How would he know that? My friends don’t even know that I’m friends with her.

After all my friends it has Jake’s name and he even put a few traits Jake possesses. This list is weird, I’m not sure I even agree with any of it.

‘Jake Martin – Katie Holt’s boyfriend. He seems to be a good kid, well at first anyway. He has a few traits I’m not sure are good. Possessive, Controlling, and unstable emotions.’

“Ahem.”

Oops. I look up slowly and see Principal Renner standing with his arms crossed.

“Um, I was just. I didn’t… Hi,” I stutter.

“What are you doing at my desk?” He asks.

“I was uh, just…”

“I think you’ve been here long enough, you can leave now,” He commands.

I quickly get up from his chair and rush out. I take a glance back at him. He picks up the notepad I was reading and rubs his eyes. A few seconds later he throws the notepad down and looks up.

I move quickly away so he cannot see me.

---------------------

Maya should be here any minute. After her text on Tuesday I became worried. Hopefully it will all be okay. But how am I going to have a normal conversation with Maya? I still can’t quit thinking about what I read on Principal Renner’s notepad. It’s almost like he is spying on my life. I mean he has to be. Right? How else would he know that Marisol and I are friends? And all that about Jake. What is that about?

Knock Knock.

“Come in!” I yell.

“Hey Katie. Thank you for letting me come over. I could really use some advice,” Maya says as she enters my room and sits on my bed.

“No problem, what’s going on?”

“I think Eli… Something’s off about him,” She starts. “Ever since Tuesday night he’s been acting strange. Like he’s tired and irritable.”

“Oh, well I haven’t really noticed, last time I talked to him he was in a great mood!”

“Yeah, we had a great day on Tuesday but he overheard two people talking by the office and ever since then he’s been weird.”

I have no idea what could be wrong with him. I honestly haven’t seen him much. It’s almost like he’s avoiding me. Unless it was Owen and I that he overheard. Then he would of course be on Owen’s side. He might be worried about me now. This is just great, Owen is messing everything up.

“Okay, I have an idea. How about I try talking to him?” I suggest.

“Really? That’d be great! Thanks.”

“Of course!”

I walk Maya to the door. She gives me a quick hug and tells me to text her after Eli and I talk.

“Bye.”

Before I can shut the door Hazel walks in. I shut the door and turn around. Hazel is standing there with her arms crossed. She isn’t saying anything, just staring at me.

“Uh Hi?”

“So I was just talking to Owen, and he told me about your little conversation. And I don’t want to hear excuses but I know that’s all you’ll give, because you’ve become really good at that,” Hazel snaps.

“Wow, you think you can just walk in here and be rude like that. Owen is wrong about Jake. I thought you had gotten over that whole crazy theory you had?”

She rolls her eyes. “Honestly, I was over it! But Owen told me about a bruise you have. On your arm? Looks to me like someone was gripping it really hard.”

“Hazel you… No. You know what, I’m done with your accusations. If you can’t trust that I know what I’m doing, maybe we shouldn’t even be friends,” I yell.

“Fine. I guess I’ll let myself out.”

“Fine.”

I don’t even look as she leaves. Tears blur my vision as the door slams shut behind me. Today is just getting worse and worse. On top of everything I’m going through, I still have to talk to my brother.

I wipe away my tears and climb the stairs.

Knock Knock.

 “Eli can I come in?”

The door opens slowly and I am facing Eli. He actually isn’t looking very good. Maybe there is something going on. Maya was right. I need to find out what’s going on.

“Can I come in?” I ask.

“No.”

“Oh um, okay. Look Maya’s worried about you. Is something wrong?” I ask getting straight to the point.

“Yeah, actually there is something wrong. I need to beef up so I can fight someone. And when I fight this person, he’ll stop hurting people I love. Now go away. I have to go to bed,” Eli says slamming the door.

“But…”

I turn around and head to my room. I guess someone’s bothering Maya or something like that. I’m sure he’ll be okay. He probably just needs some time to himself. Everything will get better. I hope.

I change into my pajamas and get into bed. Today can’t get any worse. Can it?

Beep. Beep.

I reach for my phone and notice a few messages.

F – How can you be that way to Hazel? If this is how you are going to be acting from now on, I don’t think I can be your friend.

Em – Hazel came over crying. I don’t want to be the next of your “friends” to cry. I’m done being friends with you.

M – Eli just texted me. He told me everything that’s going on. I don’t think I can talk to you for a while. I’m sorry.

I cannot control the tears now. They are pouring out of my eyes like a waterfall. I’ve lost my friends. I know that Owen’s little group is going to be the same way. Especially with the girls all against me.

Why is this all happening to me? I haven’t done anything wrong to deserve this. I feel like I have nothing left. Jake is the only person I have left, and he isn’t even here. I just can’t believe all this is happening.

I just don’t know what to do.

“Dear God, I could really use your…”

I stop. There is a noise outside my door. It sounds like footsteps. I stand up and move towards my door. Slowly I crack it open. There is a guy I don’t recognize going to Eli’s room. He knocks once and Eli opens his door. Through the crack of my door I see Eli hand him money. The guy gives him something. It’s a piece of paper with a baggy stapled to it.

I gasp. Eli and the guy look towards my room. I turn towards the wall so that they can’t see me.

Is Eli taking drugs? Wait he did say something about trying to get stronger. Oh no. Is he taking steroids?