• tab "Sit down, Nathon." The principal tapped on the desk urgently, and I sat down, right on one of those leather, spinny-chairs that are so fun to twirl around. I made the most of it, because whatever the principal had to say to me, I was sure wasn't going to be good. The principal himself had called me into his office to "show me something". Obviously, I knew he wasn't showing me a lolly-pop or something. And of course, I was right. He pulled out a couple of pieces of paper, set the on the table, and folded his hands, all proper like.
    tab "Tell me what you see," he asked, gesturing to the papers. I looked down at them. Seven progress reports; six D's and one F.
    tab "Some bad grades."
    tab "Do you want to explain what happened?" I shook my head "no".
    tab "Your A's and B's from a couple weeks ago have made a dramatic drop to D's and F's. Is there something I should know? Maybe...Something's going on at home?" I shook my head again.
    tab "If that's the case..." he began, but of course, it wasn't, "then you need to get back on track. I'm sure you don't want to repeat this grade, right?" I nodded agreeingly, even though, at that point, I didn't care what happened to me as far as education went. There were far bigger concerns for me.
    tab "Do your parents know about this?" I quickly nodded my head. If he called home and there was no answer, there was no telling what would happen next.
    tab "I'll email them, just in case." I breathed a sigh of relief. Email was something I could deal with. An email you didn't have to reply to. A telephone call you did. I watched as he clacked at the keys, watching as he wrote his email.

    tab Dear Mr. and Mrs. Powers,
    tab Please check your son's grades online, as he is failing one of his classes. Make sure to ask him questions and try to get him on track.
    Sincerely, Principal Brown


    tab Any time before now, I would've cared. But now, this seemed relatively small compared to my much, much bigger problems.
    tab "Can I go now?"
    tab "One more thing," he said, drawing himself away from his computer. "Jenna Powers...is your sister, right?" I shrugged.
    tab "More or less, I guess."
    tab "Can you tell me...more about her?" I was a taken by surprise at that statement, for more than one reason.
    tab "Why...do you want me to do that?"
    tab "Kids come to me every day talking about her. Can you tell me what she does after school? Because I've heard she..."
    tab "I don't know what you've heard," I interrupted, "but Jenna is like any other kid at this school. She's got her own problems. But they're private problems."
    tab "I see..." he conceded, though I saw he wasn't exactly satisfied. "Well, if there's anything you want to tell me, don't feel restricted."
    tab "I won't." I got up, but not with out him saying one last thing.
    tab "How about Tyler Woods?" I stopped before I even reached the door. Tyler Woods...Jenna Powers...The principal talked about them like they were the same deal.
    tab "Why are you asking me?"
    tab "I thought you might know...Tyler and Jenna came on the same day, right? And they both have been stirring rumors around the school. Perhaps you could shed some light on the situation?"
    tab "Mr. Brown," I said, not even turning around. "I don't know anymore than you do. Period." And for once, I could go on with out having the guilt of lying.

    tab "Hey, Nathon," I heard a voice behind me say. I turned around, and there Evan was. This time, not as a friend.
    tab "Your sis hasn't screwed you yet, huh?" I snarled at him.
    tab "Get the hell out of my face, Evan!"
    tab "Why are you still defending her, Nathon?" he asked. "She's caused you nothing but trouble."
    tab "Because..."
    tab "I'm starting to think you like the fact that she's a whore." He snickered, and then went further,
    tab "Maybe you actually want to get screwed by her?" I walked away, not even bothering to comment on such a stupidly flippant thing. The whole world, it seemed, was now against me.