Connected To Him (ManxMan)

Part 1: Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Mopping Duty

Ethan jaw began to ache with how tightly he had his two rows of teeth clenched together. Mr. Rodriguez was drilling him and his classmates for not having perfected their newest technique when they had only learned it a couple of days prior. These things took time, and Mr. Rodriguez wasn’t a very good teacher if Ethan was being frank. 

And what right did he have to judge when his example hadn’t looked much better than the piece he had blown up over? This, on top of his teacher believing that their students had to copy their art style, was starting to get on Ethan’s last nerve.

“This is the third unit that you all have been lacking in.” He complained, a frustrated scowl on his lips. “I have tried and tried again to show you how to get his right, and instead of learning, you just go off and do your own thing. And now this?! Do any of you even know how to do art?!”

Ethan’s hands made a thundering noise as they hit the table in front of him. He rose, not even realizing what he had planned until the words started leaving his lips.

“Isn’t art supposed to be a form of expression? An outlet where one’s thoughts, feelings, or visions-”

“Quiet!” He screeched, eyes narrowing at Ethan’s defiance.

“. . . can be shared?” Ethan didn’t stop, and instead, let his voice grow steadily louder. The opportunity to finally share his thoughts was getting to him, and he pushed on. “Who told you that you could start screaming at us for using art as it is supposed to be used?!”

“I said quiet! Or you are going to end up ‘expressing your feelings’ in detention.” Mr. Rodrigeuz walked through the rows of tables, coming up to where Ethan sat near the back. He leaned down, his sour breath falling on to Ethan’s poor nose. Mr. Rodrigeuz grinned. “Do you want to test me?”

Ethan didn’t lean back, despite the putrid stench, and sent Mr. Rodrigeuz a smile of his own.

“Sure. Then we’ll see if you pass it.”

—————

Ethan huffed loudly, taking the mop harshly and rolling it along with the cleaning tray away from the Assistant Principal. He didn’t want another look at their smug face knowing they were so happy to see him going to clean some smelly bathrooms.

He kept his head ducked down, not meeting the eyes of any students who walked past him in the halls. After he passed by the third person in less than thirty seconds, he sped up to reach the first bathroom even faster. 

When he stepped in, he cringed when he saw a Grade 9 kid standing at the urinal to piss. Although Ethan had wanted to start quickly to get the whole ordeal over with, he was forced to lean against the wall, turning so that he wasn’t looking anywhere near the still peeing man.

Gosh, how much water did he drink? Ethan wondered when the stream was still going. The 9th grader finally tucked himself away and washed his hands before leaving in a hurry. As Ethan saw the boys’ bleached locks move further away, he chuckled.

“I guess he didn’t enjoy peeing in front of me either.” Ethan muttered with a smile. After listening for a second and not hearing any noise, he pulled out the yellow sign to keep other students from entering the bathroom.

The loud splat from the mop hitting the tiled floor was disgusting, but Ethan found himself grinning slightly from the noise. So what Mr. Rodrieguz was still able to get him punished, he managed to talk himself out of detention and talk the AP principal into giving Mr. Rodrigeuz an evaluation to see if he was still a good fit for the job.