What About Loyalty

Chapter 15

To be brutally honest, the only person I looked forward to seeing in school was Ali. Luckily, we had third period study hall together. So I walked towards where she usually sat and, unsurprisingly, she was delighted to see me.

"Harvey!" she shouted as I sat next to her. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"

"It's only been two weeks," I reassured.

Thankfully, our study hall monitor is usually asleep this period (and quite a heavy sleeper, too), so we were free to talk as long as it didn't wake him up.

"Did I miss anything?" I asked.

"Not much," Ali replied. "I trust you got the assignments sent from the school in your mailbox?"

(Oh yeah, I forgot to mention; during my suspension, I had been doing the assignments from my classes that would get mailed to me. So far, I handed in the essay on Biodiversity for second period science.)

"Yes I did. When I wasn't doing that stuff, I'd do some housework for the people in my neighborhood just to earn a little moola on the side."

"That's amazing! What'd your parents say about it?"

That's when I knew I had to go into lie mode. "Oh, my parents. Well, they're... on vacation in the Bahamas."

"Really? Wow."

"That's why you didn't see them when you visited last time. That's why I was bummed that day, that they left me without telling me, and during my suspension period too."

Call me a terrible friend if you want, but if Ali knew what really happened, her view of me might have changed.

"But how come you were banged up that day?"

I never expected her to remember seeing me all f****d up. Nevertheless, I was quick on my feet. "Y'know what, I got jumped the previous day as I walked home from school. Took a few days for me to heal."

And that's what Ali believed for the next few days. Believe me, I had to tell her the truth eventually, but that wasn't until the day I was least hopeful about staying in this world.