Strangers Paradise

Chapter 4.

~It was now my second day here at Evergreen High and I found that maybe it wasn’t so bad. Everybody seemed real nice and friendly so maybe it wouldn’t be such a horrible place to start over at. The classes weren’t too hard in fact kinda easy though I know that I have some long hours to put into catching up. The teachers also seemed to be impressed by my intellect. The second day was certainly better than the first. Entering first period I immediately noticed that the mysterious Shelby from yesterday was not present and so did the teacher. I saw he gave a worried look during the whole entire class period at the empty desk next to mine and wondered if something was wrong. Mr. Konoe I gathered from yesterday was a very reserved man, yet you could clearly see he had a good heart. He was the only teacher in all of my classes that I had with the boy who cared that he wasn’t there. It was then that I had first felt the cold tension whenever the blonde was brought up. It peaked my curiosity, but yet again as I always tell myself it’s not my business to worry about a complete stranger. Who I knew nothing about and in my opinion was totally rude yesterday to me. At lunch I was once again surrounded by a number of girls who just didn’t get the clue to leave me alone. Then this big burley of a guy approached sitting himself down directly across from me and sticking his hand out. He introduced himself as I shook his hand as Bruce Henderson and by the way the girls also hanging on him my guess was he was also a big man on campus. His hair was really short and the front stuck up with bleached ends. I politely listened to him welcome me to the school and tell me how great it was here. On and on and on he went until finally the bell rang ending lunch period. I quickly gathered my things and excused myself before he had time to ask me to hang out later and ran to my next class. When I entered my 3-D art class Mr. Smith was ushering to all sit down at our tables. He had to quickly explain our lesson then rushed out to a meeting in the main office. We had to sculpt a figure of landscaping how pathetic. That’s got to be the lamest thing to sculpt. After that and the next class were over I packed up my things and left to
head home
~ When I woke up Tuesday morning my body screamed in agony. It hurt like hell just to shift around to be comfortable. No way was I going to be able to get up for school. I know Mr. Konoe was going to give me shit for not being there, but at that moment I didn’t give a damn. It didn’t take long for me to fall back asleep either and I did not wake until the next day. Dragging my still slightly sore ass out of bed I grabbed my clothes and headed for the shower. Continuing my morning routine I dressed myself up in a long sleeved black shirt and my typical make up. Although my face was completely swollen and I couldn’t hide the fact that my cheek was badly bruised. I even had a limp in my walk due to the injuries to my legs and ribs. Finishing up I headed down stairs and to the kitchen. My mother as usual was sitting at the table and ignored my presence. Grabbing a piece of toast off the table I walked out the door and down the street. When finally approaching the gates I hesitated seriously thinking about just skipping and going to the park crossed my mind. I knew I couldn’t risk that though. If Mr. Hawkins called my parents wondering where I was I’d be in deep shit man and in for one hell of a rough night. So entering the grounds I made my way to the court yard and like usual sat myself down. It was so quiet and I loved it that way. Too bad in another hour I was shocked to see not a teacher walking around, but a fellow student. It was that new guy Andrew or something. Just great what a better way to ruin my day then having to see his face so early in the morning. I think he noticed me because he started to make his way over when he abruptly stopped. ‘Freak’ I thought, but not for long as I found then a tall shadow lingering over me. Looking up I saw ‘oh crap!’ I saw Mr. Konoe of all people. He had on his stern expression placing a fist upon his hips in an intimidating manner. “Hello Mr. Iverson how good of you to shoe up today.” He said to me and before I could answer him with a smart reply he grabbed my by the upper arm forcing me to my feet. “Lets head to my room I think you and I should have a nice heart to heart conversation.” Leading me to the class room he motioned for me to take a seat and placed his brief case down on his desk. “Listen old man if this is just another one of your lectures on my attendance don’t bother. We both know it’s just going to go in one ear and out the other.” “Not at all”, he answered me “well maybe just a little. It’s just that I’m genuinely concerned Shelby.” Oh please not this crap. “You show up when you feel like it, sleep
during my classes when you are here, never pat attention, and then are absent for a few days in between again.” “So what?” “So what? What is that when you show back up looking like hell. There’s something going on with you Shelby and I’m not entirely sure it’s good.” Yeah yeah liked you really care. Since when does a teacher ever offer help to the bad influences? “Shelby….”, “Yeah”, “I was wondering if everything at home was ok?” “What?!” my eyes widened at the question. “Its fine ya know a normal family a mom a dad that sort of stuff.” Don’t you dare start getting suspicious on me now? “Really? Because I think the school should call social services and report abuse.” “What why?!” He looked at me as if I were crazy. “Shelby look at you. You are absolutely covered in bruises and don’t go telling me that they were from a fight cause I know damn well it wasn’t. You’re all bone and no fat which is a sign oh malnutrition unless you want to tell me you’re anorexia? I’m worried about you you’re so reclusive it’s ridiculous I just want to know if you are ok?” If I’m ok…does it really show that I’m not? “I’m fine really I am Mr. Konoe there is nothing going on that you should concern yourself with. My families a bit poor so we don’t really have a whole lot of groceries in the house and I live in a bad neighborhood so I DO get into a lot of fights. That’s all I swear.” I lied I had to if my parents were ever under investigation for abuse there’s no telling what they would do to me. Not to mention if the charges were dropped for lack of evidence I don’t think I’d survive long after that. Mr. Konoe eyed me with an expression, which only one person had ever showed me…concern. “Are you really sure you’re alright?” I was shocked to say the least. He was really worried about me. “Yeah I am”, I now felt terrible for having to lie to him, but it couldn’t be helped. Usually every teacher I had ever had up until now never really cared about my well being, just ignoring me as a nuisance. Mr. Konoe had proven to be different though. I had heard some of his other students before talk about how caring he is to every student in his class. I had been on the receiving end of that a lot this year too. Rumor is he had grown up with a tough back round and by becoming a teacher he swore to always help though’s who needed it or so I had heard. I know now with him I might not be able to hold out the truth about my parents for much longer not with his instincts. I might however, be able to avoid it if I can just stay caught up in my work and avoid pissing off my father in any way. After our discussion and convincing him for now that I was fine I stayed in the classroom until the bell rang. Again I watched as the students spilled into the classroom like a herd of animals. When Andrew finally took his seat he looked over at me suddenly and smiled kindly before returning his attention to the teacher. It was then that I realized that this last four months of school were going to be the strangest period in my life.

__________________________________--

Sry it took so long to update but im having rather bad writers block so it might take awhile for the next chapter update.