Highschool Badass

Mason Michaels was slouched on a chair right outside the principal's office, holding his broken glasses in his right hand and tapping his bleeding nose with a tissue he had in his shaky left hand. He could hear the principal yelling at Asher Taylor, but he couldn't make out the words, as his head was still throbbing with pain and the adrenalin of the fight with the stupid jock was still wildly pumping through his veins.  The principal's door flung open and Asher, the stupid jock, walked out wobbling. He paused in front of Mason and, pointing to his swollen lip and the open wound on his chin, he whispered threateningly to Mason: "Look what you did to my face, you crazy weirdo!" Baffled that the narcissistic bastard was worried only about his face when there were so many other things to worry about, Mason stood up and squinted at Asher, somehow finding the composure to reply with a sarcastic snigger: "Yep, that's gonna leave a mark!" Mason walked away from his adversary and into the principal's office. It was his turn to suffer her wrath. "Well, here is a face I never thought I'd see in this office," she said, shaking her head in disapproval, "not in this state, at least!" It was clear she was trying not to lose her temper again. "I want to know what possessed you to lash out at Asher like that. You don't have a history of violence..." "Boys will be boys, I guess, Miss Thomas!" uttered Mason in a low voice as he kept staring at the floor.  He was partly embarrassed by the situation he was in, but he couldn't help feeling proud of the punches he, the nerd, had thrown at Asher. He knew there was no point in complicating things with a full confession of the tortures Asher had put him through since ninth grade,  as that would infuriate the jock even more, so he decided right there and then that, if it came to it, he would play the "damaged kid" card. After all, the principal was well aware his parents were getting a divorce.  "Look, I understand this must be a difficult time for you, with your parents' divorce and everything," Miss Thomas continued, while Mason thought to himself that the principal was a clever girl, even if somewhat blunt, "so I'm going to let you off easy this time. I recommend, no, I insist you go to counseling." "Sure, Miss Thomas, whatever you decide." said Mason, nodding in agreement.  He wasn't particularly happy that he was going to spend some of his afternoons talking about feelings with the school counselor, but at least he could still hope that the fight would not spoil his chances of applying for university the next year. Besides, it was already June, the school year was almost over, and he would keep a low profile till the summer vacay.  "I have nothing to worry about," thought Mason. "By September all of this will have been forgotten. Both I and Asher will be seniors then and we'll have other things on our minds: graduation, prom, SATs, university application..." Little did Mason know that a video of his once-in-a-lifetime boxing match with Asher had been uploaded and had become viral on YouTube, thanks to Mason's best friend, Zachary, or Zeke the geek, as he was known on campus. Everything was there for everyone to see: Asher's dissatisfaction with the C he had got on the essay Mason had written for him, the name-calling, the threats, Asher pushing Mason and holding him against the graffiti-covered wall, Mason's pent-up anger finally released after almost three full years of abuse...  Miss Thomas wasted no time: she gave Asher an ultimatum: either get a transfer, or get expelled. Apparently, she had had her suspicions about his being a bully, but she lacked proof. The minute she had it, Asher was out the door. Zeke was summoned to the principal's office and told to remove the incriminating video from YouTube or else! He did not wait to hear the second option, he obeyed the pricipal's order, but he kept the video for himself. As for Mason? Well, it was obvious Lynbrook, as a STEM high school, valued nerds above jocks...