Hold You Down

16| Travis

"I can't believe prom is really coming up on Friday. It should be lit." Izzy beamed from her desk.

These last few weeks of high school were winding down, which meant the big day was coming. Our teachers had slowed down on giving us work at this point, so we were just chilling at our desks.

"Why is prom such a big deal though? The same folks show up and show out at every school function," I admitted.

"Real niggas ready for graduation anyway!" Anthony confessed with a nonchalant shrug.

"Agreed!" Brooklyn barked.

"I've been to prom every year and the shit is redundant at this point," she added, peering upward from her phone.

Izzy rolled her eyes and frowned at our overall consensus about prom. "So what y'all doing prom night then? Let's start with you Ant, choose your words wisely."

Anthony nervously chuckled, "I'll be wherever you are and if that's the prom, then I guess I'll suffer for you."

"Ha, nice save. Okay, and you?" she pointed toward me to speak.

"Sleeping, I suppose."

Izzy smacked her teeth. "So lame, Travis. And you, B?" she turned her attention to Brooklyn, who was attached to her phone.

"Um, I don't really have plans. Isaac did say that he would escort me to prom, but I doubt that we show up."

Izzy sighed deeply. "All y'all lame. High school is about to be over and you guys are taking it for granted. Guys, enjoy this ride."

"Babe, I think we're just ready to be out."

"Exactly!" I disrupted Ant's comment before he could go any further. "Four long ass years of Flintridge and we finally made it. No more dealing with Mr. Sewer and his shit." Just as I slandered his name, Mr. Sawyer walked into the classroom and approached my desk. It's like his spidey senses told him that I was talking mad shit about him.

"Mr. Thompson, please follow me to my office," he commanded with a pleasant expression on his face. My brow arched in confusion as to why he needed me in the his office, so I didn't move. Brooklyn nudged my foot for me to follow his order and I simply sighed.

"Mr. Thompson, come with me. You're not in any kind of trouble," he declared. I replied with a nod and collected my things so he could escort me to his office.

"What is this about, sir?" I asked Sawyer when we reached the hallway.

He never answered my question and continued to strut down the hall in silence as I put my headphones in my ear to blast my music. "Come on in," he signaled for me go inside first and, surprisingly, my father was seated in his office. 

"Um, what's going on?" I inquired as I sat down in the seat next to my dad.

"My guess is as good as yours, Trav. I hope it's something good because I could use some good news right now."

Principal Sawyer closed his office door and rested in his seat behind his desk before conversing, "Well, I'm sure you both know that the school year is coming to an end and that this was supposed to be Travis' last year of high school."

"Was?" I quickly snapped.

Sawyer nodded to confirm that I heard him correctly, handing a file to my father. "To graduate you need a certain amounts of credits and you're short on 3 of them right now."

I groaned at the sound of what I was hearing and I could see from the side of my eye that my father was frustrated. "I have a 2.5 GPA right now, that's a C average. What's the problem?" I argued back at him, trying to contain myself from really going off.