“Yeah, you have those elites. I swear, they’re still mad for me busting them for drugs a year ago,” he said.
Well yeah, but I wasn’t going to tell my dad to what extent they were taking this. I definitely didn’t want to get him worried.
“Yeah, sounds like it. What happened that night, anyways?” I asked.
I figured it was only fair to hear. My dad sighed.
“Well, I found out one of the girls OD’d on some prescription drugs. Turns out they were mixed into her food. It was a girl named Freya, and it seems that Luca was her ex. She is still not in the best shape, and another girl was with them too. A girl named Bailey,” he said.
“Yeah, I heard about that,” I told him.
“I see. Well, that night as well I was going to suspend all of them, but it turns out that Thorn’s mother died that night. I had to let Thorn go to pay his respects, but when he came back, all three of them had the power to override my mandate to expel all three of them. I’ve wanted them gone for a while,” he said.
“Yeah, I can tell they are bad news,” I said.
“Yes. Don’t get involved with them Jules. They’ll ruin your life. It’s all a game of them. That’s all they want from this. Please, if nothing else, be safe. They’re monsters,” he said.
I mean, I could tell they saw this as a game. They didn’t care about anyone else but themselves.
“I mean, I’ll try not to get involved, but I feel like they’re everywhere,” I said.
“They certainly are. As tenacious as a goddamn cockroach I’ll say,” he said with a laugh.
“Yeah, I get that,” I said.
The dinner soon became tense, and then, at the end my dad looked at me with a smile.
“This was nice. I would like to have more time together. If that’s fine with you,” he said.
On the one hand, I liked spending time with him. He was a good man, but on the other hand, I feared that the more I spent with him, the more likely I was to tell him everything.
And that would completely ruin my life here at Kingswood.
I nodded. “I’d like that too,” I said.
“How about three nights a week? I can cook too, so we can have dinner at my place,” he said.
“Sure, that’s fine,” I said.
We parted ways, and as I looked back at my dad, I could see the warm smile on his face. Despite all the shit I was going through, I felt better about this too, and I was definitely in a much better mindset than I was before. Maybe things would get easer with that extra bit of help on my side.
Maybe.
My dad barely talked to me still, even after meeting up with him for dinner. I felt both happy, but also a bit concerned. The jeers and taunts at the school didn’t stop, but I didn’t think they would. I mean, it’s not like me reconnecting with him would do me any good.
My dad only wanted what was best for me. I knew that. I felt like if I understood that better, it would be a bit easier for me. But still, I didn’t like that I was the talk of the school.
One night during dinner, my dad and I were sitting around, when finally, he spoke.
“By the way Jules, I’m going to be busy for the next couple of weeks. There’s a lot of projects happening on the administrative side of the school, and I’m going to need to spend most of my time working on those,” he explained.
“Okay dad. It’s not just for the principal, right?”
“Course not. Security needs to be tighter around here. I’ve been hearing of instances of bullying from whispers the kids made. I don’t tolerate that, and it makes me look bad if something isn’t done about it,” he said.
“Right. Well good luck,” I said to him.
I could tell he was doing his best, but the victim of bullying was me of course. But I didn’t know how to tell my dad anything, nor did I tell him the truth, that I was being harassed. I wondered if this was just another small step in fixing the school that wouldn’t change anything. I guess the only answer to that would be to wait and see.
Things didn’t get better, but deep down, I was just happy to at least have my dad on my side kind of.
Chapter 8
That night began the ritual of three nights a week of my dad and I meeting up and talking about things. Although they usually lasted about an hour, at first that hour felt like hell on earth. I mean, what do you talk about with the man who was basically a sperm donor until recently? The thing is though, I soon learned how to bond with him shortly after.
We soon started talking about little things, like what I did as a kid, aspirations I had, and the like. However, it was starting to become less awkward.
I soon learned that my dad wasn’t as bad of a person as I thought he was. He just took this job because of his military background, and that this experience as a security guard at a prestigious academy was harder than any battle, he was in.
“Taking the job here at the school wasn’t easy. I was surprised that the previous principal kept me around. But, most of the kids enjoy having me here. I try to make things as enjoyable as they can be,” he said.
“Yeah. I guess you were just doing your job,” I pointed out.
“I was. The truth is though, I felt bad that I couldn’t be there as a parent. When I would talk to your mom about coming back into your life, she was always hesitant on it. She told me she was fine on her own. I
