I DON'T OWN DEGRASSI
The next few days passed in a haze. The cops were called to the school, but there was no mention of an attempted school shooting. Instead the official story was that An unknown student had brought the firearm to school & that I'd somehow gotten my hands on it & attempted suicide. Classes were suspended for 3 days while Raditch tried to do serious damage control. It didn't work however, Snake told the school board that Rick had gone to Raditch several times about the intense bullying & he had done nothing. Raditch was given the choice of resigning due to personal reasons or being fired for failing to do his duty as a principle. He chose to resign in order to save his career, or what was left of it. Ms. Hatzilakos ended up replacing him, She seems OK to me. During that time, Mrs. Murray took Rick to a psychiatrist after he told her where I'd gotten the gun. As for me, once my old ma heard what I'd done, he threw my ass out on the streets.
"You're a mistake." he said as he threw my shit out. "I wish she'd never head you!" he shouted, referring to my mom. A few days later, the brewery he worked at got him transferred to New Glarus in Wisconsin, so he moved away from Toronto, leaving me with no home & no family.
The day after my old man left, Ms. Hatzilakos contacted me to set up a meeting. I went back to Degrassi & I was called into her new office.
"Hello James, how are you doing?" She asked.
"What kind of question is that?" I asked. She got quiet at that remark.
"I was looking over your expulsion report. There was no evidence to pin you to what happened to Rick. Only Alex Nunez's testimony, but she was very biased against you & Rick. I believe that you were expelled unfairly & I'd like to let you come back." She said, assuming that i'd be happy, but how could I. They tortured Rick & I for months & got away with it. I looked back at Hatzilakos.
"I'm not interested." I said, looking her right in the eye. "This school is a horrible place & I don't want anything more to do with it." Ms. Hatzilakos looked back at me.
"If you truly think that, then I understand, but I think that you're making a big mistake." She said. I said nothing as I walked out.
I went into a downward spiral after that, I started drinking, just like my old man. I got drunk all the time, I got into bar fights, you name it. It all came to a head 1 night, when I'd left a bar that I was drinking at & I was trying to find someplace to sleep when all of the sudden, I heard someone call my name. I turned around & I saw Emma. She was standing behind me.
"Well look what we have here, it's Cause Girl. What are you doing here?" I said, drunk as Hell. Emma didn't say anything. She just stood there,tears running down her face.
"James, what are you doing with your life?" she asked softly. "Do you want to be life your dad?"
That stopped me cold. I looked at myself & I realized that I was turning into my old man. I broke down & started crying.
"I didn't want you to see me like this." I said through my tears. Emma came over & held me tight.
"Please James, get help, go to rehab or something." She said as she wiped my tears with her fingers. "I'll be here when you get back."
ONLY 2 MORE CHAPTERS LEFT OF PANTHER IN THE RYE, WE SEE A SURPRISE GUEST IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. REVIEWS APPRECIATED