Here in this Sorrow Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The speakers tolled four electronic ‘pings’ to mark the end of the day. Christian glanced up at the speaker and down at his back-pack. He zipped it and tossed it on the desk in front of him, stretched and leaned back. He glanced around the room, watching the other eight people rise and file slowly out of their prison. As Shannon indecisively started to rise out of her chair, he motioned for her to sit again. Christian nodded as she sat and turned back to the door.

The young, sporty-looking man at the desk tapped a stack of papers on the table to straighten them and placed them on a stack of grade-books. He glanced up at the four of them and furrowed his brow. “You all have after-school?” He slid the stack of papers and books into his briefcase and stood up.

Christian smiled. “No, Mr. Holowinski, we just like the atmosphere.”

“What did you all do?” He walked over and leaned on Christian’s desk. “Must have been serious.”

Clark chuckled. “Mr. Henry,” he said. “Each of us got in a separate fight with him.”

Mr. Holowinski shook his head. “You have to watch out for people like him.” he said. “Take it from someone who used to be just like you. It was Mr. Henry that used to harass me all the time when I went to school here. As long as you look and act differently than what people consider the norm, there will always be someone who will be eager to step on you. Until you grow out of this, you’ll have to get used to being treated like that.”

Christian smiled mockingly and looked up at him. “Mr. Holowinski, I hate to say this, but some of us don’t plan on growing out of this. Some of us are in it for real.”

Mr. Holowinski shook his head. “You think you’ll always be like this? How many people stay like this, Christian?” He got off the desk and sat down in the chair next to Christian. “You won’t stay like this. People like Mark Dorals stay like this. That guy was in the scene when I was in it, and I wasn’t surprised when you told me he was still around. People like him cling to their ‘integrity’ forever. He’s a great guy. I loved him back when I knew him too. He won’t progress though, he will always be the old punk guy. People like you and me, Christian, people like everyone in this room, we grow up. We move on and make something out of ourselves. All of you are smart kids, this is just a phase you’re going through.”

Christian shook his head. “I know I won’t stay ‘punk-rock’ forever. I don’t plan on giving in though,” he said, putting his feet up on the desk Holowinski now occupied. “Some of us are real outlaws. Some of us are going to make a real mark.”

“I hope you do,” Mr. Holowinski said. “The world needs people to make a mark.”

Mr. Henry pushed the door open. He looked around the room and his eyes fixed on Christian. “Mr. Duke, I’m glad to see you decided to join me tonight. How are you Mr. Holowinski?”

Mr. Holowinski gave Mr. Henry a half-hearted smile and nodded. He turned back to Christian. “I’m not going to have this argument with you, because I know where it will go. I used to think the same thing, that I would never change, but you do. It’s that simple. You grow out of this.” He sighed and stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow. You’re going to have to tell me about the show.” He got out of the chair and walked out of the room, looking over his shoulder as he exited.

Mr. Henry fell into the seat behind the desk. “I hope it isn’t just the four of us here tonight.” He paused and his eyes fell on Shannon as the bell rang again. He picked up the list in front of him and scanned it. He looked back up at her and said, “Miss Donahue, you don’t have detention this period, you may leave.”

“You’re damn right she can leave,” Christian said harshly.

Mr. Henry pondered Christian for a moment and said, “I didn’t ask for your opinion, sir.”

Christian smiled. “She can leave, and so can the rest of us.”

Mr. Henry shook his head. “Actually, you have to stay. You have detention.” He smiled smugly. “You’re on my turf here, Mr. Duke. So I suggest that your mouth doesn’t open for the next thirty-nine minutes.” He picked up the list again and scanned it. “We have a couple of late arrivals, it appears,” he said without looking up. “Shannon, please leave my detention room. You can wait for your harem elsewhere, I’ll send them your way when I’m done with them.”

“You want to watch your fucking mouth?” Christian said, rising out of his seat.

Mr. Henry put down the paper and stared blank-faced at Christian. “Mr. Duke, are you insinuating that you’d like a physical altercation? I think we should avoid that. From what I heard, you had your fill last night.”

Christian stared, his eyes ablaze. “I wouldn’t waste the time,” he snarled.

“Then why are you standing up? I didn’t give you permission to do so.” His eyes narrowed. “Have a seat.”

Christian shook his head. “I told you earlier, I can’t stay. We have prior engagements.”

“You should have thought of that before you opened your mouth yesterday, or before you saw fit to skip four classes in a row. Now, you’re on my time, take a seat.”

Christian waved for the others to join him as he started to walk away from his desk. They looked on nervously, but didn’t start to rise until he looked at them expectantly. “We have to go.”

Mr. Henry got up swiftly and crossed the room to stand in front of the door. “Now look,” he said sternly. “I’ve had about enough of this attitude. This is bad for even you, Mr. Duke, and it ends right here. I want you to get back there and put your ass in that chair and not give me any more trouble for the rest of the afternoon. Do you understand me? I’m even going to be merciful, and am not going to give you any detention tomorrow for this outburst.” He pointed to the desk. “Now get back there and sit down.”

Christian continued to walk, bringing his face within inches of Mr. Henry’s. “No,” he said, almost whispering. “You listen to me. I’m going to walk out of that door, and the three of them are going with me. If you try to stop any of us, I’ll knock you out of the way, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. Do you understand me?” He jabbed a finger at Mr. Henry, nearly poking him in the nose. “I have someplace to be, so you will move now.” He looked back at the other three. “I’m leaving now, with or without you, so you’d best come along.”

Shannon was the first to rise, followed almost immediately by Clark. Andy hesitated as the others watched, and finally got out of his chair. The three of them stood behind Christian, nervously looking at each other.

Christian kept his eyes locked with Mr. Henry’s, and neither paid any attention to the other three. “Move,” Christian demanded.

“This kind of insubordination will earn you an entire day in detention tomorrow too,” Mr. Henry said. “That goes for all of you.” His eyes broke away from Christian’s for the first time and look at the other three. “All of your parents will be notified of this disgusting behavior.”

Christian brushed the singular long black lock of hair out of his face. “Be sure to tell them it was all me. I perpetrated the whole thing, and the three of them were victims just like you. I didn’t give them any option. Now move.”

Mr. Henry shook his head and sighed. After a moment, he exhaled hard through his nose and stepped out of the way. “You’ll be here tomorrow,” he said. “All of you, even you, Miss Donahue.”

“Like hell,” Shannon said.

Christian threw open the door and the four of them exited, just as Mr. Henry picked up the phone next to the door. It slammed closed, cutting off his words as he started to speak.

“I don’t think you have time to put on your make-up here,” Andy said, looking back at Mr. Henry’s face peering through the window.

“I have plenty of time,” Christian said. “It’s not like there going to search the whole school for us. Once we’re out of his sight, they’re done with us until tomorrow. “

Shannon laughed. “That was beautiful, Chris. I couldn’t have done better myself.”

Christian smiled. “What can I say. I’m the best.” He led them into the stairway at the end of the hall and they went down to the basement. “I’ll just stop into the bathroom and put it on. You’d better come with me to make sure we don’t get seen.”

“How racy,” Shannon said. “I get to go in the boy’s bathroom!”

“Excited?” Clark asked.

“Nothing you haven’t seen quite often,” Andy said with a smile. She punched him hard, and he cried out and recoiled, rubbing his injured arm. “Let’s just hurry.”

“What are you scared of?” Christian asked. “It’s not like they’re going to put us in jail. It’s not like there’s an APB out on us. They’re done. They’ve done everything they can do, and the worst thing they can do now is put us in detention on Monday.” They exited the stairway on the bottom floor and ducked into the deserted bathroom right next to it.

“Tomorrow,” Andy said. “I’m coming in tomorrow, remember.”

“So you get to sleep all day,” Clark said. “Big deal.”

“My Mom is going to kill me,” Andy said. “Would you like to explain to her why I walked out of detention, blatantly disobeying a teacher’s orders? She’s going to blame it all on you guys. She doesn’t like you as it is...”

“To hell with your mom,” Christian said. “Besides, it was all our fault. Blame the whole thing on me, I don’t care. It’s time to stop being mommy-whipped, Andy.” He put his backpack on one of the sinks and opened it up. He pulled out a white plastic tube and opened it up. He squirted the contents on his finger and began to smear it on his face.

Shannon sat down on one of the sinks and pointed at Clark. “Kick that door closed, will you?”
Clark did as ordered and sat on one of the toilets.

Christian covered his whole face and most of his neck, and then began to run the rest of the make-up through his hair. He carefully drew a grinning skull over his features with a stick of black makeup and filled it in with a stick of white makeup. When it was done, he filled in the rest of his face and ran the rest of the tube through his hair. He pulled his front lock down over his face, twisting it around, so it looked like a limp string of dough.

“Hurry the hell up, will you,” Clark said. “I want to hit the road. We’re not saving any time by leaving detention early, you know.”

“Hey shut the fuck up,” Christian said, pulling his hair forward.

“You’re worse than a woman,” Clark mumbled.

“You want to see what a woman can do?” Shannon asked, raising her fist menacingly.

Clark smiled.

“I’m almost done,” Christian said, voiding the last of the make-up in his hair and running it through. “Blood,” he said, holding out a pasty-white hand to Shannon. She dug the vial out of her back-pack and slapped it into his hand like an operating tool. “Mind if I finish it?” he asked.

“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ve got another one, plus the capsules.”

He opened the vial and splattered the thick, crimson liquid on his face, down his neck and on his arms. He tossed the empty container in the trash and examined himself in the mirror. “Damn, I’m good,” he said.

“You’re the best,” Shannon said, hopping off the sink.

He turned around to face Clark and Andy. He smiled and said, “I have to stop and get my coat looking like this. That should be a hoot.”

“A hoot?” Clark asked.

“The same,” Christian said with a wry smile.

“Let’s just skip the coat,” Andy said. “It’s not like you’re going to be cold tonight.”

Christian shook his head. “I’m not going to have time tomorrow. I need to get it tonight.” He led them out of the school through the doors in the locker room stairway. They circled around behind the school to the side parking lot, where Christian’s car was parked in the corner. There was a note jammed under the windshield wiper. Christian pulled it out and read it aloud. “Tomorrow, you get yours–Jim.” Christian shook his head and crumpled the note. “We’ll see,” he said, dropping it on the ground. “We’ll see.”