Chapter Three: ❝ I like to think of myself as more of a Mickey than a Chuck ❞

The dean's office was one of the scariest places in the school.

Floor length, broad mahogany drapes hung perfectly statuesque in front of a large and wide arched window pane, its frame colored in a solid jet-black. Each square of glass polished till it was so immaculate that you could see your own reflection in it from twenty feet away. Especially the vast view of most of Whitney Hills High School in sight, and its particularly troublesome students.

The chipped, rusted up filing cabinets full of novel length discipline records, age old referrals, outdated school rules, and piles of suspension letters were so ancient you couldn't even tell what color it was or who had written what anymore. Not even lined up against the bland olive green walls, worn out brown carpeting, and dusty portraits of past deans. And that's either dead or retired and about to die.

But yet, with the blinding daylight that crept in through the window and poked out underneath the curtains, it was not enough to warm the icy stare that Dr. Nash gave Manny Lockwood. His arms folded together on his giant dark wooden desk while his fingers were interlaced gently on top of a fresh expulsion notice from the copy machine; an expensive black ink pen on his left side. The stapled papers were flipped upside down to face the student, and once signed, would get him a place off campus permanently while the papers got a nice little spot in the dean's filing cabinet comfortably.

"Do you have absolutely anything to say for yourself Mr. Lockwood?" Dr. Nash, or the Dean of Discipline, asked. He sat up a bit straighter in his creaky, dark brown leather chair and cleared his gruff voice.

"That rat doesn't need to defend himself since he's already guilty!" Deputy Jackson shouted from the other side of the room. "Destruction of school property and assault of a police officer!"

Manny rolled his eyes and wiped the corner of his lips with the flimsy rag he was given, splotches of dark blue paint still on the bulb of his nose and jawline. "I like to think of myself as more of a Mickey than a Chuck, but to each his own I guess. Wouldn't you agree Doc?"

"It's Dr. Nash to you, and deputy I think it's time to just let the boy speak," Dr. Nash said while the deputy shot daggers at the back of Manny's head. "You understand what's going to happen, don't you? Because this is just—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Expulsion, fines, paper work, juvie, permanent record, ya-da-ya-da..." Manny said, and tossed his rag on the desk. "But the thing is Doc, if I'm being completely honest with you, is that I had nothing to do with this. Whatsoever. Despite the extreme coincidence as it may seem."

Dr. Nash eyed the rag with a scrunched up face, picked it up with the tips of his fingers, and tossed it in the trash can besides his desk before he spoke. "Well that's not what the deputy or I saw at all—"

"Yeah, because he's a lying piece of shit!" the deputy yelled again, continuing to pace the room with one hand secured on his gun. "I saw you with the spray can in your hands and the paint all over you."

"And? That doesn't mean I fucking did it. You just so happened to stumble upon me being a good civilian and cleaning up a mess someone else did to try and frame me," Manny said, his leg bouncing up and down. "Even if I did do it, I wouldn't be dumbass about it and write my name on the side of the fucking school."

"Mr. Lockwood please, watch your mouth," Dr. Nash responded with a frown. "And if it wasn't you who did it, then who else? We all know the can didn't spray the wall itself."

Manny shrugged his broad shoulders. "Beats me because it wasn't me. And I would know because... I would know. Now could I please go home? My mother must be worried sick about me, you know with her heart disease and all. And then I got to start cooking dinner for my five other younger siblings. I just got my first paycheck, so we'll be able to have our first meal since last week. Then I also got to make sure I donate whatever is left of it to the animals at the shelter. I heard little Cindy got diagnosed with cancer, so I just—"

"Oh boo-hoo-hoo. Save the crap excuses for someone who would actually believe you," the deputy interrupted, stepping closer towards the chair Manny sat in. "Dr. Nash, I think the best thing to do would be to take this delinquent down to the station right now and call his parents immediately."

"Actually our phone service just got cut off because we couldn't afford to pay the bills—"

"Dr. Nash this boy is guilty! Guilty I say!" Deputy Jackson interrupted again. "Do you not hear the lies spewing out of his filthy mouth? Just say the word and we'll have him in cuffs in no time."

Manny blinked and looked at the seething deputy. "Um, sir, you do realize I am still seventeen?"

"All right, all right! That's enough from the both of you!" Dr. Nash exclaimed and shook his bald head. "Listen Mr. Lockwood, I went out there and saw the damage myself. There are many eye witnesses who say they saw you messing with a paint canister of some sort before the deputy approached you and you ran—"

"—But—" Manny started, but the dean held his finger up to signal him to wait.

"—But, I do know we have some security cameras near that area. If I am able to pull them up and they show some of what happened, then I might be able to compromise our discussion. Is that okay?"

"Uh, hell yes!" Manny exclaimed, the corners of his chocolate brown eyes crinkle as he smiled. "The quicker I can leave, the better."

"You're right. The juvenile detention center is only an hour away from here," the deputy said and glared down at Manny who glared right back.

Spoiler alert, but Manny actually didn't lie. In fact, everything that happened to him up to that point was by mere coincidence and pure, unfortunate bad luck. It was a coincidence that as soon the last period bell rang, he received a text message saying to head to the back side of the auditorium building for a surprise, only to find his name graffitied in giant dark blue paint, the words "was here" written right after that, and two large penises drawn on either side of the sentence.

It was terrible luck that when he found the seemingly empty cans of Kilz spray paint and tried desperately to at least cover his name up, the nozzle of the can broke and instead spritzed all over his face, hair, and clothes, making him look like an overgrown smurf.

But it got ten times worse when the deputy showed up after receiving a tip from a student about what happened, saw Manny at the scene of the crime trying to get the spray paint out of his nose, and started to run towards him. Which in turn made Manny drop everything and sprint like he was an Olympic track star.

After about eight laps around the school, Manny managed to shake the deputy off his tail until he crashed into a football player during their practice. He was fine of course, just a mild concussion, but they had to end the practice early because of it. And help the deputy drag the player and Manny off the field.

Now he was here, being accused of something he truly didn't do. Even though Manny had an idea about who would want to frame him like this, coughing up potential names would only make them angrier with him. But he was used to the trouble, probably spent more time in ISS than he did in his actual classes. A hundred days scrubbing off gum from underneath desks would be a better punishment than ever having to face their wrath.

Not again anyways.

The room had gone quiet once more, the only sounds being Dr. Nash's fingers typing rapidly against his keyboard, the drumming of Manny's heel on the carpet, and the monotonous ticking of the clock on the wall.

After a few seconds had passed, a faint beep sounded from the computer as Dr. Nash was able to gain access to the campus security cameras. He turned the monitor to the side so the eager Deputy Jackson and slightly nervous Manny could see what actually happened to the building.

The footage appeared rather pixelated and in black and white, but everyone could still make out the two hooded bodies emerge in the view of the camera and pull out multiple cans of paint Manny would find on the ground later on. They then proceed to shake the cans and spray the blue liquid onto the brick building, to which Manny sighed with joy and clapped his hands, while the deputy's dark eyebrows formed into a frown and he clenched his fists.

"Well gentlemen, what can I say? All's well that ends well," Manny said with a smug grin, a dimple popping up in his cheek. "Can't say this hasn't been fun, because, well, it hasn't. But it was nice seeing you Doc, loving the no-hair look by the way. Even you too fatso."

The deputy's fair skin started to turn red again as he faced the dean this time. "Dr. Nash, you aren't seriously going to let this thing go are you? I mean clearly those two in the footage must know who he is since they wrote his name on the building. He was probably an accomplice for them."

Dr. Nash turned the monitor back to its original position and took a deep breath, a placid look on his face. "Listen deputy Jackson, I understand your frustration with this, but clearly Mr. Lockwood is... innocent, by the looks of it. Unless he has any idea about who those two might be—"

"I can leave?!" Manny cut in. "I mean, I don't know who they are, but I can still leave right?"

"Not without consequences you can't," the deputy said. "Until we get to the bottom of this, you can think long and hard about who those two might be in ISS."

"What?! You're suspending me? In school?" Manny exclaimed, sitting on the edge of his seat. "But it obviously wasn't me, and I have no idea who those guys were, I swear. Why can't I just, go?"

"I don't like this as much as you do, trust me. But until we can figure this whole situation out—"

"—and the fact that you assaulted an officer—" the deputy added.

"—and that, as a form of punishment for now, I do have to give you ISS. I'm sorry," the dean finished.

Manny leaned back in his chair again and shook his head, his jaw tightened. "This is fucking bullshit. And the only 'assaulting' I ever did to him was make him run for the first time in the last decade. I never laid a hand on him."

"Tell that to my glasses!" the deputy said with a pointed finger in Manny's direction.

"They're not my rules, it's the school's," Dr. Nash said as he took the stapled papers and put them off to the side, replacing them with small pink slips he retrieved from a drawer in his desk. "It's either this, or you can take a ride with deputy Jackson down to the station to fill out some paperwork with your parents. We've been over this before Mr. Lockwood. Plus you refused to comply with his orders and displayed disruptive and disorderly conduct. Which also caused the injury of another student."

Manny shut his eyes for a second, the tips of his thick, dark lashes barely grazed his upper cheek bones. He knew that spending a few days in a dank classroom with his other miserable peers was better than going with the deputy. And with the footage they have, he couldn't be expelled and charged for damaging school property, which he figured was another bonus.

"Could you at least make it two days max?" Manny pleaded.

"Five days maximum," the deputy chimed in. "As reparations."

"What? No. Highest I'll go is three days."

"I can make it three if you agree to help clean the campus after school," the dean said as he filled out the pink slip with his black pen.

"As long as it's not on Friday, sounds good enough for me," Manny said, sarcasm laced in his voice as the deputy frowned.

Dr. Nash finished filling out the pink slip and tore it out for Manny, another yellow slip identical to it being his copy. "I'm sure you and your parents know where to sign the rest. You'll be starting tomorrow at first period, so bring it with you and don't be late. And please, just try to stay out of any more trouble until we can figure this out. But you're free to go now."

Manny grabbed the thin pink sheet from his hand as he stood up, some of his short dark brown curls falling in front of his face. "I make no promises Doc. And it's never going to be a pleasure Michael."

With a twist of his heel and a displeased look on his face, he quickly turned around and headed out of the stuffy room, deputy Jackson eyeing him with annoyance at his snarky nickname while Dr. Nash just shook his head in disappointment.

In a couple of long strides he was already out of the building and took in the crisp autumn air, but was almost knocked over by the strong gusts of wind. He pushed some of his tangled hair out of his face to see the completely deserted campus, pieces of paper with strange dark symbols on it rolled right past him like tumbleweed.

His eyes glossed over the In School Suspension sheet he would have to sign and crumpled it in is fists, shoving it into the back pocket of his jeans instead. Dr. Nash had probably sent the email to his parents by now, or better yet, the deputy did it himself. Luckily home wasn't the first place he was headed.

He started his journey to his car in the student parking lot before he stopped in his tracks. He shoved his hands down both the back pockets of his jeans again, his eyebrows creased deeper and deeper as his heart rate picked up and his pupils dilated.

Manny always kept it in the back pocket of his jeans, it was one of his few most prized possessions. So to feel the hollow space of where it used to reside on his left butt cheek made his breath quicken and eyes widen to the size of ping pong balls as he started to frantically check the area where he stood.

"Where the hell is my wallet?!" he exclaimed.

I don't know why, but this chapter was definitely one of my favorites to write so far. It just felt so fun and smooth, don't you think?

And if you haven't noticed already, this story is written in third person, and Hakeem and Rashaad aren't the only ones important to the plot! But don't worry, all the chapters connect in some way, shape, or form if you pay enough close attention.

Please do vote, comment, and share, if you'd like, and keep swiping up!

~ Robin ~