Predicamental Upperclassmen || Luis Mendoza

Chapter 23

Around my second week of OSS, Luis returned back to school. I was worried he would tell me about any moments he had in class after telling me he would cut the silly shit out, but he didn't. He pretty much had a normal day.

After school he would come see me. One day, he had a sad look on his face.

"Coach says this was my last warning to do something misbehaving, or I'm off the team."

I gave him a look of sympathy, "but you promised no more stuff like that, right? Now, you see what being a school clown does to you."

"Yeah, I know. I told him no more. I also had a talk with Jared. He said that was cool and he was working on changing himself, too. WE just gotta accept that we're not as young and careless as we were."

"Exactly", I said agreeing, "and I need to start working my own personal things, too. Like my emotions."

"Yeah, that's a good idea", he mumbled, "if we want to make our junior year and senior year good for the rest of the semester, we gotta tone down a lot of habits."

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When my week was up, I went back to class. As I had foreseen, I was piled with lots of work that I had missed. I mentally growled in frustration as it kept getting handed to me. This week back was going to be a nightmare.

In music, Ms. Ferra wasn't happy with me. The backup person who had a chance for the solo got to perform it at the assembly.

Ms. Ferra looked at me with downcast face, "I was expecting to hear you up there, Kallie. I'm sorry you didn't get to be with us."

I looked down at my feet sheepishly, "I had gotten OSS that day when we talked. Sorry", I apologized.

"We all have our bad times in life", she said, "I'm not too mad for you not being able to sing. We had an alternate choice if you couldn't make it, so I had you covered. I know being a young adult can be tough, and that's why I wanted to let you know that if there is anything, anything at all you need to talk about, I'm right here," She stood from her chair putting an arm on my shoulder for comfort.

"Don't give up. You still have time to make things right with whatever mishaps you're going through, and I'm right here to support you, okay?"

I look up at her and she gave me a small smile. I grin back, "Okay. Thank you, Ms. Ferra. I appreciate it."

She then gave me a brief hug, patting my back, "You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great rest of your day."

"You too", I said before walking out. Her words really boosted some confidence in me. I needed to hear that. She was an amazing teacher.

Once at home, I lay out my big bunch of homework on my bed to complete. Before I got to it however, I went to my mom's room. She was getting dressed to head for work and when she saw me, she spoke casually.

"Hey, mootsie. How was school?"

"It was good", I replied before stopping, "I....want to talk to you about something?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Can....can we find some way to help me deal with my anger issues? They've been getting out of hand lately and it's one of the main reasons why I've been out of school a lot this semester."

She laughed, "I asked if you wanted to talk to somebody, but you said no, but yeah, I'll think about it. I know this center not far from here that deals with mental health and fighting with emotions and all that, and you can talk to them about stuff, okay?"

"Okay. Sounds like a plan", I smiled.

She left for work leaving me to go back to doing my homework. By the time I was done with it all, my hand was not liking me afterwards. Loss of feeling made it cramp bad as hell. OSS could really kill you in a way.

At lunch, the next day, I told Connie and the others what I was planning to do.

She gave me a mini smile, "That's great, Kallz. I'm glad you're willing to find what you need to heal yourself from internal struggles."

"I should've listened to you in the first place a long time ago", I said, "sorry if I didn't. You were right all along."

She waved it off, "No, it's okay. You were just thinking on other ways to cope and sort things out if you didn't agree with my choice, that's all. Some advice that's given to people is ignored because the person being given advice wants to try something else on their own."

"Don't be afraid to find some help though, Kallz", said Dwayne, "Life is too short to not do anything about the things that are going wrong in it. People out there are willing to do cures for that."

"Yeah", said Adam, "it happens to me, too. I've been through low self esteem as well, but my friends were all there to back me up and have faith in me." Ken Wu patted his back and smiled at him after he said that.

I smiled at all of them. I was happy for all of their belief and hope in me. They were right about everything and if they had my back, then I was forever grateful.

"And hey", continued Dwayne, "don't let no one else get in your way. You don't have to waste your time targeting on them. You have more important things to look to then all of those nobodies."

"Yeah", said Ken, "Let's not put yourself in anymore fights. Besides, I don't feel like hearing that another person got their butt kicked from you."

I chuckled, "Don't worry. I won't. From this point on, things are going to change about my attitude. You'll see."

After school, I met up with Luis. He came to me and wrapped me in our daily embrace. He kissed the top of my head gently, which speaking of which, had some more time before hair could grow back on that one spot.

"So, when are you going to that center or whatever?", he asked.

"I don't know yet. We might go down there this weekend to see if she can schedule me for next weekend or something. I don't know."

"Oh. Well, I hope it'll do you some good. There's good people out there that can help with anger issues such as yours. I don't want them to creep on you for next semester, so it's good you're settling on them, now."

I shake my head, knowing he was right. That's when someone from in front of us called out his name. It was Portman as he walked with some of the ducks to the arena.

"Luis! Come on!"

Luis waved at him and then gave me a quick kiss on the lips before running off.

"See you after 4:30", he smiled and went after the group.

I sent him a wink and got into my car. Just before I did, some girls nearby pointed and laughed at me. I glance at them, but then I kept in mind that they were nothing but some more snooty jealous girls. I ignore them and hop into my car, driving off.

Soon, all of my make-up work was complete. I had breezed through it quite quickly, seeing how my focus was growing more back on school and not other outside distractions. I turn it in and my task schedule went back to normal. I was glad because I could not take another incomplete worksheet. I explained to my other teachers why I had been missing out, too and they also had courage in me and were counting on me to finish the remainder of this semester.

That weekend, mom and I went to the aforementioned center and talked to one of the officials there. One counselor, who looked very friendly, assured me that she could take me in that next Saturday morning for a session. I went along with her saying that was a good date and told her I'd be there. I could've never felt so pleased.

Something in me told me that things were at the starting point to working out after all and I couldn't wait to see what happens next.