Chapter 1
The office was quiet except for the obnoxiously loud ticking of the clock mounted on the wall and the hard tapping of the keyboard. Both, of which were about to give Eric a one-way ticket to a psychiatric ward. Other than that no other noise was being made and this sent a wave of dread through Eric. The quiet bothered Eric because of what it entailed. It meant focus, the light tapping on the keyboard had been going on for five minutes and Eric could only imagine what it said. Well no, he wouldn’t have to imagine he would get to see it in the file at the office. Another dissertation on Eric’s ward. One of many other dissertations to go along with it.
Eric shuffled in his chair crossing his legs and sighed causing the tapping to stop, but the annoying ticking to continue. Sunken brown eyes met his as he looked at Mrs. Detrat who only glared before going back to typing.
Eric mentally sighed only to have Mrs. Detrat glance at him quickly and raise an eyebrow questioning if this was a bother for him.
Eric had been through this process a lot more so recently than ever. It was like this all the time either at an office, one of the group homes, or a police station. It had become like a routine and sadly Eric had gotten used to it.
The silence was broken by the boy in black sitting next to Eric with a busted lip and an uninterested look on his face. “Can I leave now, this is a just waste of time.”
Mrs. Detrat stopped typing and began drilling her eyes at Damien, looking more uninterested than Damien did.
“Mr. McHall, do you know why you were called into my office today?” she said curtly her eyes peering over her thick-rimmed glasses which had an odd leopard print on them.
Damien stayed silent; he knew why he was called and why Eric was here too. Something like another student couldn’t keep their mouth shut and Damien gave them a reason to.
“I can guess.” Damien spat back before slouching in his seat and crossing his arms.
“Care to elaborate for Mr. Yang here?” She asked turning back to her computer.
Eric glanced at Damien out the side of his eye and watched as Damien just sunk deeper into the seat, any further and the boy would be on the ground. Eric could already guess what had happened it was usually always the same thing. And the busted lip Damien was sporting only proved that fact. The boy had gotten into another fight. This would be the tenth one in the three months that Eric had been assigned Damien and his file fell on Eric’s desk.
“That kid kept talking shit, so I taught him a lesson to keep his mouth shut,” Damien said flippantly with a slight smile.
Eric sighed again. Exactly what I thought.
“Mr. McHall you will not disrespect me and Mr. Yang with that language in this office!” Mrs. Detrat scorned wagging an awfully wrinkled finger at Damien. He scoffed.
Eric looked at the boy. Damien was seventeen and had been a ward of the state for fourteen of those years. His life was never easy with his mother selling him for drugs at three and then joining a gang at seven and going to a juvenile detention center for joyriding in a stolen car at thirteen. Damien’s life was full of disappointments and stupid decisions.
Damien was a handsome young man standing at an amazing height of 6′4 with dark brown hair and hazel eyes and a light dusting of freckles along his cheeks and nose. If it weren’t for Damien’s past he would’ve become a very fine young man. But that was why Eric was there in the first place. Damien had been abandoned more than once in his life and Eric didn’t want to do that. His job was to help kids get on the right path and follow their dreams. Damien was just misunderstood and felt alone something Eric related to perfectly.
Surprisingly, however, was that even though Damien’s non-hesitation for getting into fights or stealing some poor sod’s car he was incredibly intelligent. Academically out of all the children assigned to him Eric had never seen a kid as smart as Damien. His IQ soared well above Eric’s own and not once throughout any of the report cards in his file did Damien let his grades drop below an ‘B’. If it were not for his reputation proceeding him Damien would have been considered a prodigy rather than a delinquent.
Even with his smarts Damien still made poorly thought out decisions. Never thinking about the consequences of his actions clearly Damien had hit the mark with book-smarts but missed entirely with street-smarts.
“Can you tell me exactly what happened, Damien?” This time Eric spoke causing Damien to tense slightly and look at the older man side-eyed.
Damien cautiously glanced Eric up and down a look of disbelief on his face. Eric always knew that Damien didn’t like him, hell Damien had told Eric he didn’t like him the first day they met. But it wasn’t his job to be liked, just to help.
“Like I said in the report Mrs. Detrat had me fill out, I was eating lunch when this kid and his friends came over and started talking shi-”
“Mr. McHall! One more curse word and you’ll wait in the hallway.” Mrs. Detrat said astonished. Probably because Damien did what she had told him not to and something about her told Eric that she was very used to getting her way. But then again she’s never met a boy like Damien, he’ll do whatever he wants.
“Whatever,” Damien rolled his eyes. “This kid and his friends show up and start talking mess about me they thought I wasn’t going to do anything until I punched one of them in the face. His friend ended up hitting me on the lip then I punched him too.” Damien lamented turning away from an angry looking Eric in his chair with a smirk on his face. “Last I saw he was still knocked out in the nurse’s office.”
Mrs. Detrat nodded along with Damien’s recounting of the events before turning her gaze towards Eric. The man shivered in his chair as Mrs. Detrat looked at him her gaze unnerving. Eric could tell the years of being a disciplinary advisor had turned Mrs. Detrat into a stone-cold bitch.
“Mr. Yang we agreed to let Mr. Mchall here come to our school as a second chance and as a favor to your boss.” Mrs. Detrat said slowly while pulling out a file from her cabinet and placing it on the desk in front of Damien and Eric. Eric mentally groaned he knew what that file was he had one just like it in one of the file cabinet drawers by itself because it was so thick.
Mrs. Detrat looked at both men in front of her and opened the file which was almost as thick as the Bible with a smile. That file was filled with every document concerning Damien birthdate, social security number, and any other paperwork relating to his identity. But the bulk of the papers in that file were reports; police reports, tickets, restraining orders. Everything that Damien did and got caught for was documented down and placed in this file. It contained his entire life for the past fourteen years.
“Damien, now I know you’ve had a troubled past. However, your test results and grades rival some of our top students.”
Damien huffed with a wave of his hand. Eric sighed. Damien would never admit that he was actually an amazing student and maybe -not all that deep down- inside he cared about his education. It was something he definitely should be taking pride in, but he just brushed it off like nothing.
“But that won’t excuse the fact that you injured both Jared O’Brien and Cameron Jenkins. Unfortunately, both boys will be missing the game tonight due to their injuries.” Mrs. Detrat said with a slight trace of venom in her tone. “So as a consequence of your actions I am sending a claim for expulsion to the board.”
Both men jumped in their seats in shock, “What!”
Expulsion was the last thing Damien needed right now. If Damien got kicked out of this school both he and Eric would be screwed. This was the only school that would take Damien in albeit by Eric’s superior asking a favor of the principal. Damien had to stay.
“Mrs. Detrat, wait come on expulsion? Really? That’s a little serious for just a petty fight.” Eric said trying to get the old hag to understand logical reasoning.
“I’m sorry Mr. Yang, but with Damien’s previous expressions of aggression I take this petty fight very seriously.” Mrs. Detrat looked at Eric over the brim of her glasses her eyes were cloudy and the bags under them were dark and Eric all but prayed that it was a sign of death approaching.
Eric stood firm and shook his head, it was always like this. At every school, Damien went to he got into a fight and somehow ended up with all the blame. In the short time that Eric had known Damien, he already knew the boy wouldn’t fight without a reason. Self-defense or whatever the reason it was good enough for Eric to stop this shameful bullying that society had been doing to Damien. He was dealt a bad hand in life and Eric was fed up with people taking advantage of that.
“What about the other two? I expect claims to be going to the board for them as well.” Eric began tapping his foot where he stood and matched Mrs. Detrat’s glare. He was quickly becoming tired of the old hags antics, he clearly knew that favoritism was happening.
“I think those boys have suffered enough-” Eric held up his hand cutting Mrs. Detrat off. If looks could kill Eric would have died where he stood.
“All three boys were apart of this fight and like Damien told me as well as written on the report which you signed off on he wasn’t the one to start it. So all three of them should have claims for expulsion or none of them.” He said placing both hands on his hips. Out of the corner of his eye, Damien had sat back down but was watching Eric intently.
“This isn’t kindergarten Mr. Yang it doesn’t matter who started the fight or not what matters is that Damien has a history of acting violently. We took him in as a favor. I told Mr. Wilson that bringing a child like him to this school would be a mistake and this situation proves it.” Mrs. Detrat said with a tone that irked Eric like never before.
Eric had seen this before, with all of the kids he was assigned his kids were always put down and forced to face all the consequences because that’s what people always thought of them. They’ve already been through bad things so what’s one more? That attitude is what made Eric passionate about his job he was sick of people judging these kids like they were lowlifes and that somehow their existence meant little compared to others.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Detrat but it’s obvious you’re playing favorites here and trying to demonize Damien. I would like to speak with Mr. Wilson, please, because you clearly can’t do your job without prejudice.” Mrs. Detrat gasped in shock and stood up from her chair. The look of disbelief turned into one of anger as she began slightly shaking.
Eric heard Damien stifle a laugh next to him and Mrs. Detrat’ eyes went to him and Eric knew mentally Damien was giving her the finger.
“Eric, I will not be disrespected by you or your ward.” Eric raised his eyebrows now. He never remembered telling the old bitch to call him by his first name. “Now surely you understand, those boys who Damien attacked-”
“They provoked him,” Eric said interrupting her and once more getting a glare from the old harpy.
“Even so, those boys will be missing the biggest game of the season and that will be a huge blow to our reputation.” Eric’s lips tilted down into a scowl which was something he wasn’t known for doing. Eric was usually all smiles and laughs always looking for the bright sides of situations. However, this situation definitely called for a scowl. The only smile in the room was Damien’s which was just as unusual for him as it was for Eric to be scowling.
“So what you’re telling us is that those boys are being abdicated for being involved in a fight that they started and lost I might add and Damien is forced to deal with all of the responsibility?” Eric couldn’t believe that just because the other boys were athletes they weren’t going to be held accountable for a fight they started. God, Eric couldn’t stand kids like that who thought just because they were a little more well off- or insanely well off- they could do whatever they wanted without consequences.
Oh no, not if Eric had anything to do with it. He quickly turned to the brightly smiling Damien who was sitting straight up in his chair following along with the commotion intently. Eric could only believe that Damien wished he had popcorn. “Go to your locker and get your stuff.”
Damien blew out his lips in dismissal, “And miss the old bat here have a heart attack, hell no.” Eric crossed his arms and gave Damien a stern look- as stern as he could muster which wasn’t much since again Eric was always smiling. Seeing Eric’s face scrunched up like that almost made Damien laugh at the effort Eric was putting into it. But because Eric was putting so much effort into it and Damien could see it was clearly straining the older man he conceded and stood up from his chair. “Fine, I’ll get my stuff and meet you by the car.”
Eric nodded as the boy walked out of the room and just as the door shut he turned around to it and yelled down the hallway at the quickly fleeing boy. “Come back here when you’re done! Don’t go to the parking lot by yourself.” His last sentence falling short as the boy was already gone from sight. Eric hoped that Damien heard him they both couldn’t afford having Damien’s pension for car stealing and joy rides happen right now.
Eric pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed his gaze slowly landing on death herself watching him over tacky cheetah print glasses.
“You can send your claim to the school board but rest assured that the other two boys who started the fight will also get reprimanded for not only starting the fight but as well as bullying and we both know how the superintendent feels about bullying,” Eric’s stomach lurched as he even mentioned is father and it left a sour taste in his mouth. “And I can also assure you that those boys haven’t been through ten times as much as Damien.”
Eric quickly grabbed his jacket that was resting on the back of his chair and walked out of Mrs. Detrat office sure that he had won that battle for Damien albeit by mentioning his father but a victory was a victory. Once in the hallway, Eric looked down both directions of the hall for a tall blonde figure which surprisingly wasn’t there. Another heavy sigh left Eric’s lips before he darted out of the school’s front doors and into the parking lot and standing there by his little grey Prius was Damien leaning against the vehicle nodding his head against whatever music was blaring into his ears.
Eric pushed the headphones off of Damien’s head making them fall around his neck, “Hey, got all your stuff?”
Damien nodded before smiling.
“So, new school?” He asked hopefully. Eric knew Damien didn’t like this school hell Eric wasn’t particularly fond of it either with its students whose heads are so far up their asses driving around in their shiny cars that cost at least quadruple what Eric made in a year. Eric had never met so many kids out of touch with reality.
But this school was the only school within a hundred miles from Damien’s group home that would take him in and even that was accomplished without dropping his father’s name.
“Not if I can help it. I at least got you out of being expelled but I’m sure Mrs. Detrat will try her best to get you suspended. In the car we need to go to the office now and fill out the paperwork, you know the deal.” Eric quickly unlocked the car and walked around as Damien pushed his much too tall frame into it.
“I fucking hate paperwork,” Damien said with a huff putting his headphones back on.
Eric sighed once more something he’s gotten accustomed too since he was assigned to Damien’s case, “Me too.”
The office was just like any other government building a place full of the color gray with the occasional U.S. flag here and there. Even though it was a CPS building it looked as if a child had never entered this place void of all color and filled with the sound of copy machines whirring to life and constantly beeping for maintenance.
Eric walked briskly with Damien on his heels to his office once inside Eric shut the door and Damien fell into the chair comfortably.
“Hit me,” Damien smiled something that Eric was too oblivious to know started around the same time Eric was assigned to his case. They’ve been through this routine countless of times now.
Eric sat behind his desk and moved his computer mouse bringing his computer out of rest mode. He pulled a file out of a locked cabinet and placed it on his desk in front of him with a loud thud.
“Alright so, fill this out with what happened everything you told me in Mrs. Detrat’s office,” Eric pulled out a single piece of paper and handed it to Damien along with a pen, “And I mean everything Damien. As many details as you can remember to build up a case for you if Mrs. Detrat tries anything else.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Damien lifted his head and grinned at Eric. “I’m thirsty.”
