• Nathon Power's Journal Entry #14
    March 24, 2010


    tab "Two days, two times you've visited me," the principal said, hands folded like the proper principal he was. But like before, I knew our conversation would hardly be "proper".
    tab "I'm already familiarizing myself with you far more than I want to," he went on, I assume with a hard, cold stare, but I'm not sure. I didn't look at him. I couldn't. "I took the oppurtunity, before you came in here," he bent over and reached for something in his drawer, "to look little bit at your background. And guess what I found?" He drew out a folder that was almost empty, just a couple pieces of paper sticking out of it.
    tab "You've hardly ever gotten in trouble in all your years, not only in high school, but in all of school, period." He put on his glasses, raising his eyebrows as he opened the folder and began to read outloud.
    tab "Let's see what we got...A detention for being tardy...Hmm, yes, another one for that...And here's one for back-talking at the teacher...Nothing serious..."
    tab "So?" I finally said, mustering the courage to look into his eyes. "What are you trying to prove?" I knew what he was trying to prove, but I had to ask anyway. He folded his hands up again, back to his proper pose, but his voice was far from that. He said then, punctuating every syllable with intensity,
    tab "You are not here twice in a row because of pure...coincidence. So. Speak to me. What's going on?" I said nothing, and went back to staring down at my knees.
    tab "You are not going to get off easy on this, you know," he went on then. "When your parents get word of this, you're probably going to be..." The moment I heard him mention my parents, I had to squeal.
    tab "Evan provoked me." That seemed to stop him in sentence, and he pressed,
    tab "For most students, it wouldn't be an excuse to be simply "provoked" with something like that. But for you...I'm curious. How did he provoke you?" I wondered why he was treating me differently then the other students. It was only later I realized all he was after was a story. And if that meant making an exception with me, he would make it.
    tab "She..." I bit my lower lip. Was it better to talk about Jenna? Or was it better to let the principal talk to my parents? The first, I concluded, offered less consequences.
    tab "Evan told the whole school."
    tab "Told the whole school what?"
    tab "He told the whole school..." I went on, my voice rising steadily until I suddenly leaped up. "He told the whole school that Jenna...I mean, my sister...He told everyone that she was a...a...a...a..." Tears began to stream down my face as the word rolled off my tongue.
    tab "--slut!" I sat myself back down, breathing hard with my fists curled up tight in a ball.
    tab "Hmph..." he grunted, hardly taken by my newsflash. "You know that doesn't change anything, right? You're still going to be suspended for the rest of the year. Not Evan. You." I couldn't believe he said that. How could he act so oblivious after what I said? How could he act like the whole school thinking you're a slut means nothing at all?
    tab "Do you understand how that feels?" I challenged. "Your reputation taking a fall like that? No one talking to you, an empty table at lunch?"
    tab "She made her choice. She has to deal with the consequences now. That's how the world works." My brow creased with a mixture of both anger and confusion.
    tab "You can't really mean tha...!"
    tab "I've been principal of this school for 11 years," he cut in, "and never, not once in my life, has any one person caused so much trouble as you three. You three...Tyler, Jenna, and you...I have a notion to punish you all the same." I had a notion myself to jump across the desk and sock him in the face. But I restrained myself, just barely.
    tab "Jenna?" I hissed. "Why punish Jenna? What has she done?!"
    tab "I think I told you yesterday," he replied, "but many students have come to me, complaining about Jenna. She's a bad influence, they all said. You said she was a slut, right?"
    tab "I didn't say that. I said people think that. Starting with Evan."
    tab "There's a reason why so many people think that, you know. They wouldn't come to me and tell me about it otherwise."
    tab "That's not...!"
    tab "A slut," he interrupted, once again, "is not the kind of influence I need in this school. Am I honestly supposed to pretend that there isn't a problem?"
    tab "She lives her own life. You can't punish her for doing that!"
    tab "I can punish her for swaying others. Like I said, she's been a poor influence to everyone at our school."
    tab "You don't know what she's been through..." He cocked his head to the side curiously, and asked
    tab "And would you like to enlighten me on what that is?" I opened my mouth, and I was just about to say it. I really was. But I couldn't. The words just never, and would never, come out. The principal, then, proceeded to take the phone from his desk, and asked me, readying to dial a number,
    tab "Are your parents home?"
    tab "No!" was my quick reply. "And my...and my dad's on a business trip." It was the best excuse I could think of at the moment. The principal sighed, but accepted my answer, going on then,
    tab "How about your mom?" I thought for a second. My mom was out there, somewhere. I wasn't sure where, but this brought up an oppurtunity to find out.
    tab "She's not home," I began hesitantly, "but...you can call her cell." I assumed she brought her cell to wherever she went. Why wouldn't she? So, I rattled off her number to him, and with every number he dialed, every beep the resonated across the room, I began to get more and more anxious to hear my mom's voice again. The principal put the phone to his ear, and said,
    tab "Hello?" I crossed my fingers, praying that this would work. Even if I had to tell her I was suspended, talking to her was worth it.
    tab And, to my joy, the principal handed me the phone, whispering to me,
    tab "Why don't you tell her?"
    tab "Hello?" I spoke into the phone, not quite believing that this was happening.
    tab "Nathon?" My mom's voice. A voice I thought I'd never hear again. Even if she was angry at me, even if she hated me or Jenna or anything like that, I loved her.
    tab And as I loved her more, I began to realize that I was starting hate Jenna, steadily, bit by bit.