Loving Crime

Pg. 6

*Trigger warning: Mention of suicidal actions*

Why the hell was Derek here? Well, I know why but...why did he have a black eye? Did I do that to him?? Impossible! I hit his nose, not his eye. 

"Hello everyone, I'm going to introduce myself, I am Mrs. Patricia, but you can call me Mrs. P for short or Mrs. Pat works fine too. I'm going to be your anger management teacher every Tuesday. Some of you are from other schools, and most of you are from the school down town. Now, we're all going to go in a circle and introduce ourselves, starting with you." She said pointing at a guy in a yellow shirt. 

Derek and I kept making awkward eye contact. I kept staring him down while he kept trying to avoid looking at me all together.

By the time it reached me to introduce myself, I froze, not exactly sure of what to say. Thanks to Derek being in the room, I lost track of every memory I just had. "Umm, I-I'm Rachel." I said silently. 

"Rachel? Can you speak up dear?" The teacher said. 

I sighed from frustration.

Why the hell am I here?

"I'm Rachel." I told her loud and clear. 

"Okay, and can you tell us why you're here?" She asked. 

"I'm here because I was being bullied and instead of telling someone I took actions into my own hands." I told her. 

She smiled as she pointed to Kelly. "And you?" 

"Hi!! I'm Kelly. I'm here because I punched my teacher in the face, called her a b***h and almost cut her." She smiled.

I gave Kelly an odd look. 

Well damn. She's a lot more darker than I am.

Mrs. Patricia then looked at Derek, waiting for him to introduce himself. "I'm uh...I'm Derek. I'm here because I have an issue with bullying...people." He said, as he shifted his head down. 

The circle continued. But my main focus was on Derek. 

"Okay now that we've all got that out of the way and you're all comfortable enough with each other, I'd like to know what got you in here. Now, you can include details, names, anything you want if it helps. You can even write it down. We also have stress balls if you start feeling angry." She smiled.

"Can I start?" Kelly asked excitedly raising her hand. 

"Oooh I like you already! Sure!" Mrs. Patricia told her. 

"Okay, this might be a bit dark, but I don't mind if you guys don't. So, what got me in here was the fact that my mom got with this new guy, I mean she literally brings guys to the house every night, but...him, I hate him. He always tries to touch me every chance he gets and when I try to tell my mother, she doesn't believe me, so instead of reporting it, I decided to threaten him. I didn't touch him, but I hope my words did. I told him, if he tries to lay another god damn finger on me I'll chop his d**k off with a kitchen kn-"

"Okay, that's enough." Mrs. Patricia laughed. "We'll get someone to look into that after this, okay?"

"Okay!" Kelly smiled. 

I love her already.

"Anymore volunteers?" She asked. 

Derek suddenly raised his hand. "I'll go..." He said, sitting up.

"Okay!"  She said. 

"I'm here because...I once thought this guy I use to hang out with was my friend. And everyone looks at him like he's perfect. He's got the good grades, the looks and...the girl." He said looking over at me. "He even got the whole school to believe that I'm actually a bully when in reality it's him. I actually got transferred to a new school, a private school. My family thought it'd be safe, because we've been receiving death threats from him and his gang, he even did this to my eye...I-" Derek suddenly started crying. 

My heart dropped.

Was he talking about Xiaojun...? 

"Here you go." Mrs. Patricia said, handing him a tissue box. 

"Thank you. I'm not a bully. I'm nothing like this, it's him, I swear...he's the real bully..." He said. 

"Are the police involved?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No. They told me since I transferred schools and moved back with my mom and dad, I should be safe. I was staying with my older brother at first, before his place got vandalized...he said I was nothing but trouble, so he wants nothing to do with me anymore..." 

Now I know why he's been missing, he didn't disappear, he transferred schools. I couldn't do anything besides feel bad for Derek. I felt a tear slide down my cheek..

After class ended, I tried my best to catch up with Derek, but he was trying his best to get away from me. "Hey Derek." I said as I tried to get his attention. I needed answers by any means necessary, even if that consisted of me talking to an asshole I wanted dead, I needed to know who xiaojun really was. 

"Please get away from me, I'm in enough trouble as is." He said with a very shaky voice.

"Were you talking about Xiaojun, in there?" I asked him. "Derek please I need to know." I said in a low tone. 

"Just...get away from me." He said, walking faster. 

"Hey Rachel!" I heard. I turned around to see Kelly catching up beside me as Derek rushed out of the building. 

"Hey." I told her. 

She suddenly crosses arms with mines. "We should hang out some time." She said. 

"Ummm-"

"Oh! Let me guess, you hate people?" 

"Is it that obvious?" I smirked. 

"Yes, your outfits are quite convincing." She said sarcastically, making me laugh. 

I suddenly thought about the crazy adventurous night Michael, Kun, Xiaojun and I all had..."I'll have to think about it honestly, I'm more of a home body. " I told her. 

"Awh. That's okay. I'll be a home body with you." She smiled, making me chuckle.

We arrived back to school in one piece, unfortunately. At this point I just wanted to end it all.

But what's more greater than a suicidal teen with a mom who's also a doctor? Anything besides that...

If I did go through with it, she'd bring me back to life and kill me herself...

"Hey Teen Titan." I turned around to see Michael, wearing his original and famous black hoodie he'd always wear. 

"Hey." I smiled, hugging him. "How have you been?" I asked. 

He shrugged. "Funeral shit." 

"Sorry to hear that." I told him. 

"Nah, I'm straight, it just means I took a s**t at a funeral." He laughed. 

I laughed while playfully shoving him.

"Where'd you go?" He asked. 

I looked back at the van as we both walked to our classes. "Umm, just anger management class, I've been assigned every Tuesday." I told him. 

"Anger management? For what?!" 

"Throwing at book at Brittany Fletcher's head." 

"Brittany Fletcher? Isn't that Derek's girlfriend?" 

Was...

"Umm, I think so." I told him. 

I wanted to mention Derek, and how I saw him in detention today as well, but I just couldn't, especially after what him and his gang did to Michael that day in the boy's locker room...

"Oh! Hey, have you seen my phone? My friend Tyler said he was going to leave it in Kun's car. I guess I had left it in detention the other day." He said. 

"Oh wait, that was your phone?! We thought it was xiaojun's." I told him. 

"Yea, we got the same phone. Now, where is it?" He asked, stopping in his tracks. 

"I think it's still in Kun's car, I don't think either of us touched it." I explained. 

Why didn't he ask about Xiaojun? 

"Oh okay, thanks!" He said rushing back to Kun's car. 

I would've waited for him, but the tardy bell started ringing, making me rush to class. 

After school, I caught the bus to avoid awkward conversations with Kun about what happened in anger management class today, because I'm sure he was going to ask. Then I'd have to make up a lie or tell him the truth, and that was that I saw Derek. 

"Hey Rache, how was school?" My mom asked as I walked through the door. 

My heart dropped, hoping they didn't actually email her. 

"Oh hi mom, it was umm, it was great." I said rushing upstairs.

"Hey wait." She called. 

Oh s**t.