K. C. A

TWENTY-ONE

Tyler and I walked out of the school building after a tortuous hour of detention. We were too busy picking spit balls out of our hair to make any conversation.

I had never been in detention before, but I was certain that it would have been much better if I didn't have to spend it in the same room with Jake Kellen, Allan Rey and Micheal Cole.

As we approached the parking lot, I could see Claire and Ashley standing beside a very familiar Audi. Ashley looked concerned, but Claire looked... angry. I tried to think of any possible reason why she would be upset, but I couldn't come up with anything.

“Hey, thanks for waiting guys.” Tyler said when we got to the girls.

“We really appreciate.” I added.

“What is wrong with you?” Claire asked in a stern voice, stepping forward. I preferred her scowl to the look she had on her face.

“What did I do?” I asked.

“You got into a fight!”

“I didn't get into a fight.”

“Really? That nasty cut a few inches away from your eye says different.” Claire retorted.

I was slowly but steadily getting angry. “I got beat up!”

“I see. So you were just minding your own business and then suddenly you got beat up?”

“Exactly! You are sounding as though you have forgotten who Jake Kellen is, maybe I should remind you, he is a famous and brutal bully who picks on specific people like me!”

“Oh please.” Claire waved off my comment. “You could have avoided him.”

“You don't think I did.”

“I understand that you care very little about upgrading your reputation, but the rest of us do, and if something like this happens again it may cause real damage to our plan!”

I stared at Claire long and hard. “Yeah, which is the only thing you care about.”

“Alright guys.” Tyler said coming closer to Claire and I. “Whatever you guys are doing makes no sense, so can you just stop, and then we can all go home, I've had a long day.”

“I can.” I replied and walked away.

*~*~*~
As I walked down the street, I thought about everything else but the little argument I just had with my chatty friend. I thought about my childhood when I was one of the cool kids because I had a famous dad. I thought about the hilarious pranks I played on Kim and the punishments I received later. I thought about Alex's high school senior days when numerous girls from his class who wanted to date him got me chocolate and video games so that I could put in a good word for them with Alex, and his college days when most girls thought he was gay because they never saw him with any lady that was anything more than a friend.

Finally, I thought about K. C. A, Keegan Contemporary Academy, the most prestigious school in the city. It was the only place where my dad being a famous movie director didn't matter and Tyler's mum owning one of the biggest fashion companies was of no importance, here every student's parent was either wealthy and well-connected, wealthy and famous, either of the three or all three. Then I thought about my first day in high school, the little accident that occurred, and how everything went downhill from there.

I had already gotten far away from the school building before Tyler finally caught up with me.

“Dude.” he breathed. “Did you not hear me yelling your name?”