Monster In My Mirror

by Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Huff

Chapter Six: Clue In a Memory

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Jules Bashir sat on the couch in Ms. Elizabeth Burke's office with his arms folded across his soccer uniform and his head turned down in very sulky manner that was uncharacteristic for the fifteen year old. He was an honor student at the head of his class. An over achiever and a top athlete who was on track for early graduation from one of the top schools in London. Yet here he was in the headmistresses office for brawling.

"Would you care to tell me what happened, Jules?" Ms. Burke asked in a calm voice.

Jules worried the blood stain on his shirt between his fingers as he considered the question. "No Ma'am, I would not." he still did not look up.

"You broke Timothy Andrus's nose, and you don't wish to explain yourself." Ms. Burke half sat back on the edge of her desk.

Jules thought back to the incident during practice. "I let my temper get the better of me Ma'am."

"What did Mr. Andrus do to deserve a broken nose?"

Julian sunk further into the couch. "It wasn't anything that he did."

"Then why did you hit him?"

Jules looked up for the first time since entering Ms. Burke's office with a frightened look in his eyes. "Could you please just suspend me for three days and leave it at that."

Ms. Burke took the seat across from Jules and tried to get a better look in his eyes. "When a student with a perfect record would rather take a suspension than try and explain himself I have to ask myself why."

Jules turned away from the headmistress again. "I fully intent to make a formal apology to Mr. Andrus and the rest of the team as well as coach Lukas." he closed his eyes and tried to make himself smaller. "I'd just rather not discuss what happened."

Jules was usually not bothered about anything, completely unflappable as far as Ms. Burke knew. The hardest possible test, facing an undefeated sports team or asking the most popular girl in school out didn't even faze him. Something was bothering him now, and it was just eating away at his insides.

"If something is bothering you Jules, then you need to talk about it to someone."

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Jules looked across the kitchen table at his father Richard Bashir. "So I wasn't good enough. Is that it?"

"No." Richard said in defense. "We just felt that you deserved a chance at a normal life."

"And you consider breaking the law every day of your life normal!" Jules stood up so quickly that he knocked his chair over.

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"I had a fight with my father last night." Jules said after several minutes of struggling with it in his head. "Just a bad argument really."

"Every young man has disagreements with his Father Jules." Ms. Burke said.

Jules looked at the Headmistress with more anger than she had ever thought could exist in the young man. "Not like this one." he said.

"How so Jules?"

"I found out for the first time in my life that my Father thinks I'm a mistake, and no matter what I do, I'll never be able to please him."

The straight face with which Jules delivered that statement took Ms. Burke by surprise. "You can't possibly mean that Jules?"

The young man looked away for a moment. "Yes I do mean that Ma'am, and would you please start calling me Julian. Jules is the nickname my Father uses, and I no longer wish to be know by it."

"Alright Julian," Ms. Burke said, "why do you think that your father feels that way about you?"

Julian thought of all the things his father had said and done as far back as he could remember, "Because he said so himself."

"You mean he actually said so in words Julian?"

"Not in his words Ma'am," Julian said, "in his actions since the day I was born. It just took the argument we had last night for me to finally relies it."

Ms. Burke was beginning to think that there was something rotten in the Bashir household, and it wasn't last weeks tripe. "Julian, has your Father ever hit you? I mean hard enough that you required medical attention."

There was shock in the young man's eyes. "No Ma'am." he denied the accusation.

"Has he ever touched you in an inappropriate manner?"

"It's not like that at all." Julian denied more strongly.

Elizabeth was use to dealing with teenagers caught in the middle of a lie, and she was certain that Julian was lying now. Which meant that he was in danger from his father somehow. "If you Father is hurting you somehow, then I need to know Julian."

Julian buried his face in his hands to try and clam himself, then looked back up at Ms. Burke. "My Father is not hurting me Ma'am."

For the first time since she'd met Julian, she didn't think she could believe him. "I can have the school nurse run a medical scan that will verify if you are telling the truth."

Julian felt himself grow pail, if they were looking hard enough they might find out what he really was. "No medical scans!"

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