jace

February: Forgotten Assignments and Broken Noses

saturday

According to Alana, "things got serious between us" when we kissed, so we needed to go on more dates. I wanted to point out that the kiss had been something that I didn't even want, but I held my tongue.

My mom made sure that I looked presentable in a shirt and tie and gel that smelled absolutely terrible. I wasn't nervous like I had been on our very first date, I was more annoyed than anything. I would've preferred to spend my time studying rather than courting a girl I didn't even like. Annoyance wasn't something that I felt often, so I just assumed that the soft ticking sound ringing through my ears was normal.

I walked up to her house, my steps echoing the rhythm of the ticking and rang the doorbell.

Alana answered after the second knock, she was wearing dull pink pajamas and I was beginning to think that I was extremely overdressed.

"...Hi jace."

"Is that what you're wearing?"

"I...I'm not going."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"But, why?"

And then the door opened wider and Seth was staring at me, a sly smile on his face. He explained that he didn't give permission for Alana to go out with me anymore and that without his permission, she couldn't do anything.

The ticking started to grow in my ears as I nodded along to Seth's ridiculous spiel. "Are you her father?" And then he asked if I was being funny, and I told him that I was just genuinely curious about whether or not the roles in their house were mixed up because there was no scientific way that he could be her biological father.

He said, "I'm her cousin, so get off of my property."

"I don't understand." Alana had never mentioned Seth, I'd never seen them talking to each other. It was as if they existed in two different worlds and those worlds had decided to crash together.

He stepped out of the house then and the ticking had become more of a systematic ear shattering boom. I heard the car door slam and my mom's voice ask, "What's wrong?"

And I hadn't noticed how much I'd grown until then, because Seth and I were eye to eye. And I couldn't help but think of the saying, "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind." Because Seth wasn't blind, he hit me in the nose with amazing precision and the sound of the crunch was enough to make me faint for about a minute and a half. And then my mom was helping me to the car and pressing a stained tissue to my face. She was yelling at Seth--who was laughing--and Alana--who wasn't saying anything at all.

She drove me to the hospital and I couldn't help but scold myself for not listening to Eli and for getting my nose broken a second time and for wearing all white. And right then I'd decided, that I was never letting Jacob set me up with a girl again.

monday

Seeing both of my parents, dr. carmichael and Principal Duvall in the same room was strange. This was probably because of the underlying tension between my mom and dr. carmichael that I had to pretend not to notice.

"Your mom told me what happened," Principal Duvall said. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, completely calm. "But in order to discipline Seth, I have to hear it from you."

I frowned, "You have to hear what from me?"

"jace, was Seth Newsome bullying you?"

I shook my head, "No."

My mom gasped, "jace!"

"Yes?"

"jace," dr. carmichael began, sitting straighter in his chair. "Has Seth ever said or done things that you find questionable?"