Last Day

“Expel that white trash!”

The cuts on my knuckles ripped open as I balled my fist. Fresh blood soaked the bandages while Justin’s mom screamed herself hoarse in Principal Marshall’s office. I almost felt sorry for the prick, but he earned it.

“Ma’am, please.” His voice wavered on the edge of begging.

“Don’t ma’am me.” She shrieked in reply.

Connor and Elliot smirked at me from across the room, their smug faces as bruised and swollen as Justin’s. You two wanna go again? With a flick of my head, I tossed my bangs out of my eyes. Everyone at this prep school deserved the same.

“Fine. You’ll hear from my husband later.”

Stomping preceded the door flying open, and out stormed Justin’s mom, with him in tow. Her ice-blue eyes met mine, and she paused in the doorway long enough to sniff and point her thin nose in the air before strutting away. You too, bitch.

“Max Carter, come here.” Principal Marshall bellowed.

As Justin reached the exit, he gave me a bloody grin over his shoulder, made more malicious by his broken braces and missing tooth. The other two left with him, glowering through the glass door as it closed.

Behind his large wooden desk, Marshall appeared extra frail, and after Justin’s mom accosted him, he seemed pale. Scowling over the desk, he redirected his humiliation and anger at the outsider, me. You’re just like her, dick.

“Sit.” He pointed with authority at the low chair before his desk, his watery eyes desperate to harm me in any way possible. I hesitated and glared back, Try me, baby man.

“Now!” His face glowed scarlet, threatening to burst a capillary.

The chair screeched on the floor as I slumped into it with a sigh. Marshall clasped his hands behind his back and stared out his window at the courtyard below. The back of his neck faded back to its natural, waxy appearance.

“We have a zero tolerance policy for theft and violence at this school.” He held up a hand to stop me as I tried to protest and refused to face me. My blood boiled beneath the surface. “I don’t want to hear it. I already know what happened. The students you attacked all—”

“I didn’t—”

“SILENCE.” He whirled around and slammed his hands on the desk, knocking over a cup of pens. I met his glare with equal fury, no doubt interpreted as just adolescent obstinance. “You stole a silver necklace from Justin and when confronted, you attacked him. Even when his friends intervened, you lashed out at them.”

“Bullshit.” I shouted as I jumped to my feet. “That necklace was—”

“SIT. DOWN.” Spittle sprayed from his fleshless lips, but I refused. “You never belonged here in the first place.”

My knuckles ached from splitting the cuts further, and my heart burned with the desire to knock his teeth out. Reading my expression, he chuckled and leaned forward over the desk.

“Go ahead. You’re eighteen. I’d have no regrets hitting back. Is it worth it?”

Oh, it’s worth it alright.

A knock on the door did little to neutralize the energy in the air. “Mr. Marshall?”

“Yes, Mary?” The secretary stepped aside and the last person I wanted to see in that moment walked into the office.

“Max?” My dad disarmed me with his compassionate eyes and stared until all my fury dissipated. I couldn’t look at him and dropped into the chair, pissed off and ashamed.

“Mr. Carter.” Marshall checked himself and held out his hand, palm down, showing a very large class ring from some overrated college. My dad took his hand like a servant would his master’s and nodded with his eyes lowered. Marshall smirked and watched me from the corner of his eye as I bristled at the show of superiority.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, but there was an incident today that requires you immediate attention.” He motioned for my dad to sit beside me as he returned to his own seat.

I recoiled from my dad’s touch as he placed a hand on my arm and refused to face him. The chair exhaled as he sat beside me, peering up at Marshall meekly, no doubt.

“Max stole another student’s possessions, particularly a valuable heirloom, and upon confrontation, assaulted the rightful owner and his friends.” He assessed our reactions with a strained face, trying to hide his glee. He could hardly wait for what came next. From the corner of my eye, I saw my dad turn to me, but I kept my face toward my bloody fist.

“As you know, we have a zero tolerance policy for theft and violence here, so as a result we have no choice but to expel Max.” Marshall struggled to keep his voice steady, but I could hear the smile behind his words. Fine by me.

My dad sighed and nodded his head in understanding. Don’t do that.

“Seeing we’re all in agreement, this probably isn’t necessary, but let me show you.” He turned his computer around for us to watch the security footage. I scoffed. The camera only showed the hallway outside the boys’ locker room, where the fight actually started.

“You’ll see them come out after a few seconds.” The key click echoed in the silence as he hit play, and we watched for a moment before I sat up with a jolt. Marshall seemed pleased by my surprise, but he didn’t see the silver chain in Tanner’s fist as he ran from the locker room just before the rest of us spilled into the hall.

Marshall narrated the fabricated story he’d been given and explained his reason for ‘having’ to expel me. I didn’t care about this school or anyone in it, just getting my mom’s necklace back, and now I knew who had it.

“So, as of today, Max is no longer welcome at Citrus Prep.” Marshall turned the monitor back around and sat in his chair with his fingers peaked before his smug face. Fine, I hate it here. Screw all of you.

“I’m so sorry for my son’s behavior.” My dad lowered his head and spoke to the floor. “I know he is, too. Please, is there any way you could make an exception?”

Don’t even. . . . Rage rose from the depths of my scarred heart and seethed under my thick skin.

Marshall smirked over my dad and shrugged. “Under normal circumstances that would be quite a big ask, but due to your—background — and the concerns of other parents at this school,” he indulged in a sidelong glance at me, “I’m afraid that is impossible.”

My dad clasped his hands over his head in supplication. “Please, is there anything we can do? He’s a good student.” Stand up. Where is your pride?

“Despite his academic merit and the scholarship we extended, his behavior is reprehensible. His inclusion at this school would be in absolute opposition to what we stand for and would tarnish the school’s reputation. An exception is impossible.” Marshall’s expensively white teeth gleamed in a hideously wide smile.

My dad stayed low in his chair, pissing me off. He couldn’t see the ecstasy on Marshall’s face, lording their elitism over us. Stop it. Stand up.

“Please, his mother—”

“SHUT UP!” I lurched to my feet in outrage.

He looked at me in shock while I stood over him, fuming. Tears burned behind my eyes as I stared into the hurt in his own, cutting me to the core. Time froze in the office as he and Marshall stared at me, the latter with devilish pleasure.

The door inched open as the secretary peeked in with wide eyes. My skin burned under their looks and when the bell rang for the end of the day, I rushed out of the room for the parking lot.

Disapproving eyes followed me as I brushed past the next generation of elite, my disheveled uniform standing out amid the pristine jackets and skirts. A wake of hushed murmurs rolled through the after school clamor until it seemed the entire school watched in silence as I left them for good.

Tanner stood by his mustang laughing with Dean and Amanda, who sat on the trunk biting her lip. When he saw me stalking forward, he tossed the necklace through the open door and locked it. He pushed off his car and stuck his hands deep in his pockets with a nonchalant nod in my direction. Dean crossed his wiry arms and glared, trying to look intimidating, while Amanda lifted her lip in disgust.

“What?” Tanner shrugged as I stepped into his face.

“Give it back.” Our eyes locked in an unwavering challenge. Amanda checked her nails, pretending not to care while watching intently from under her lashes. Tanner chuckled and looked at Dean as he spoke.

“Did you hear? Our class just got smaller.”

They chuckled in unison until I tried the locked door, and Tanner shoved me back. “Hands of the car.”

“Open it.” I spoke through clenched teeth at the pavement.

He furrowed his brow in amusement and smiled smugly. “No. What are you gonna do?”

My pulse beat heavily in my ears as I unclenched and re-clenched my jaw repeatedly. “I’m taking back what’s mine and leaving.”

Tanner chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t have anything, trailer trash. You couldn’t even afford to be here.”

Amanda snorted, but I only paid attention to the necklace glinting from the passenger seat. Tanner smirked at me as I rolled my shoulders and sighed. “Open the door, or I’ll open it myself. And trust me,” I glared from under my brow, “you don’t want that.”

He sneered and snatched at my shirt. In a flash, I caught his wrist, twisted his arm, and spun him into the car, smashing his head through the driver’s window. Amanda yelped as Tanner staggered to his knee.

“Thanks.” I unlocked the door and froze Dean with a look before he could take a step forward for backup.

“Bastard.” Tanner rubbed his head and glowered up at me. He kissed the door as I smashed it into his face and retrieved the necklace.

The door thumped closed behind me and glass crunched underfoot as I walked passed Amanda still on the trunk.

“You’re an asshole, Max.”

“And you ride too many cars.” She blushed scarlet and stuttered before shouting at my back every insult she could think of in her overpriced but limited vocabulary.

My fist curled around the silver chain in my pocket as I weaved to the back of the parking lot, ignoring the judgmental stares. The creaky door to my car clanked shut behind me and the engine grinded to life. Several single finger salutes rose in my wake out of the parking lot.

At the entrance, I parked, took off my shoes, and slapped them together outside my window. Filth flaked onto the pavement. Where it belongs.