Chapter Eleven

Alan was exhausted, mentally and physically as he roamed the halls to his very last class. Half of the school was off, already zooming to their cars as they raced away from the school. But not Alan, he had the one class he dreaded most; Spanish class. Since Alan had dropped into the school, halfway through the year. His classes were the leftovers. Since the school was so huge, most classes had two periods so all students fit all their studies in one day.

When Alan joined, he took the last remaining classes that could fit him in, this meant the latest Spanish class there was. He didn't mind Monday, but today after the whole day of school he had to go head to head with a fast-talking lady who wasn't even Spanish.

Alan dragged himself through the halls, not willing to care that while he was in his mind, he was wandering into her class very much late.

"Me alegro de que pudiera unirse a nosotros una vez más, Sr. Alan." The teacher had no mercy as she spoke with speed, making Alan only blink as he tried to translate what she had said. All he had understood was his name and Mr. but the rest was unknown as he just stood in the doorway, all his classmates staring at him as some snickered and others looked just as lost. Alan could tell who were the slackers, as one himself could always pick out people like himself.

"She said. 'Glad you could join us once again, Mr. Alan'." A female student scoffed as she looked at Alan with disbelief.

"Thank you, Lucy." The teacher, Miss Glen said as she sighed in defeat.

"Can I sit now?" Alan stared at the floor, nothing but squares as he let his eyes relax, no longer caring to be energetic. "Please?" Alan muttered in the silent pause of Miss Glen.

"Stay after class." Alan took Miss Glen's response as a yes to his question as he moved to the furthest open seat he could find, waiting the minutes before he could leave.

As time passed, Alan couldn't fight down the creeping fear of what Miss Glen had in store for him. He would be later than normal, leaving more time for Charlie to do things at his work rather than rush to pick Alan up. That didn't make Alan feel better, he was already walking on a thin line with Mrs. Hope and Charlie, now he is added to the school. Alan was tired, drained. And now, he was alone, once more.

Class ended in a haze for Alan, everything real but blurry. Like rain and smoke together, mixing the structure of his view. Even late in the day, the chatter of kids rushing the room was still loud. Eager to escape their last classes so they could sleep the rest of the day, most grabbed their stuff as they pushed towards the door. Alan took this as his queue to stand up and head towards Miss Glen's desk in the corner of the room for all to see.

"How are you doing Alan?" her English was cleaner than Ohio water as she sat down at her desk. "Has transferring schools been good to you?"

"Yeah, it's been good." Alan looked down at her desk as she stared at all the papers and desk stuff that was everywhere, organization in sight.

"That's good." She hummed as she leaned back into her chair. "Alan, I want to talk to you about your old grades from your old school." She began to surf through her pile of papers that filled her desk to the brim. "You have a chance to make them up this year, but you will need to work hard. You have a very low D, maybe by the end of this month you can have a low C. But I will need to see improvement" She stopped looking through her papers, giving up as she looked up at the slouching boy that lingered in front of her. "If I don't, you will have to take it again."

Alan didn't care, if he was failing in Spanish, he was failing in other subjects much worse. He couldn't say that though, she probably already knew that. All he could do was nod as he held his backpack tighter to him, no longer feeling the purpose of himself as a student or human. "Okay." His voice was uneven, almost raw. "I'll do my best." Miss Glen nodded as she stared at him longer, squinting slightly as he turned away from her and headed towards the door.

"Oh, and Alan," Alan turned his head and looked back at the teacher as he grabbed the classroom door. "Get some rest, you look exhausted." Alan looked down at his shoes as he nodded with a quiet okay before leaving the classroom in silence. He would love sleep, if only he could get it without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Alan started to head down the partly full hall as he walked like a party deceased human, unable to finally rest.

"Alan?" Alan looked up as the deep voice filled the hall. Anthony stood across the side hall in a group of boys wearing the same uniform with different numbers. "Alan, my man." Anthony caught the other boy's attention as Anthony waved Alan over. Alan didn't want to move, he was so close to leaving. But Anthony was one of his only friends, and if that meant suffering for a bit, Alan was going to suffer. Alan walked closer to Anthony as he chatted away with a bright smile. "Alan, my man." Anthony repeated as he patted Alan's back. "What ya doing at school so late?"

"I just finished my last class." Alan tried to smile, but it didn't feel right, so he stopped. "I don't think the teacher likes me." Alan slightly coughed as he stared at the other boys. Most he didn't recognize, but some faces he had seen around school.

"What are you doing?" Alan looked at the uniformed kids, Anthony not being one of them. "Do you have an after school sport?" Alan muttered as he leaned closer to Anthony then the boy who was pushing Alan with his shoulder.

"Yeah, I play basketball." Alan's mood darkened as if his brain had become a monsuming rainstorm that would not rest.

"Oh," Alan muttered.

"Hey," Anthony and Alan spun around as the new voice joined in. A large man stood behind them as he looked at Alan and Anthony with a raised eyebrow. "You must be the new student." The man smiled as he extended his arm out. "I'm principal Hayman. But everyone calls me Hay Hay." Hay Hay seemed genuinely happy as he shook hands with Alan.

"Nice to meet you sure, I'm Alan." Alan smile lightly as they shook hands.

"I actually came here to drop off your first and sort of your last report card and to welcome you." Principle Hay Hay handed Alan two pages of paper before giving Alan a pat. "I hope you will do great in this school." Alan smiled once more, but what he said seemed off as the Principal walked away with a nod. Even Anthony seemed confused as he peaked at Alan's papers.

"What does it say?" Anthony questioned. Alan looked through the report card, unable to look away. He felt traumatized, almost embarrassed as he read further. Subjects were titled with grades, but the grades that were on Alan's subjects were horrid. F's ran across the page like a banter for something, random D''s littered the page with one C in writing. Alan felt nothing, if it wasn't the day that made him feel this way, it was his grade. All Alan could wonder was if the Principal had dropped his report card as a sort of a warning, to get better grades or face his smiling wrath. Either way, nothing sounded good to Alan as he realized he would have to show Charlie his report cards. This would lead to questions that would lead to extreme stress for Alan.

Alan was distraught, almost angry at this point. Earlier this year was hard for him, but he didn't think his grades suffered the blow. But now as Alan thought about that time, he couldn't really remember what was suffering and what was not. Like a zombie state of mind through the months, even thinking of school at the time made his mind hurt.

"Damn, Alan." Anthony swore as he leeched over Alan's shoulder to look at the page. "I did not expect that." Anthony backed away as the group of boys got louder from their chatter, unaware of the failing student next to him.

"Me neither." Alan sighed as he let his hands drop. "I thought I was doing better. I guess I'm still the class failure." This time, Alan's smile was real. Almost like someone had lost their sanity to something they could not control.