Getting to Know You

Part XXIIX

When things fall apart…

It had been a week since the party and Theodore had been in a fuming rage since he saw Ellie kiss Brad. It had even carried over to his home life; he would snap at his brothers without provocation. He cussed out his track coach and earned a one week suspension from the team, and then he compounded it by getting in a fight with another junior that earned him a warning with the addendum that if he fought on campus again he would be suspended for a minimum of two weeks.

While all this was going on, his friends took notice and tried to get Eleanor to talk to him and calm him down. Every time they asked though, she said the same thing, "He won't listen so why should I waste my time?" it was reaching the point that those who were close to the two of them were considering such drastic measures an intervention. Finally, on Monday, one week and three days after the kiss…

Theo had come home from school earlier than he had in almost two whole years. He should have been at practice, or doing something with Ellie, but instead he had been told by Dave to come home immediately after classes were over to avoid any trouble. So here he was, in his room, listening to Metallica and raging at the world via the internet. Suddenly, someone knocked on his door and interrupted his irate solitude.

"What do you want?" he yelled over the sounds of St. Anger.

"It's Jeanette, can I come in?" she responded, aside from Eleanor, Jeanette was the person Theo got along with best.

"Sure, come in I guess…" Theo invited, even going so far as to turning down the music and facing the doorway where she now stood.

"Are you going to listen to what I have to say or are you going to blow up like you have been all week?" she asked bluntly.

"Depends on what you have to say." He admitted.

"Fair enough… I wanted to talk to you about Ellie, and about you." she started, "It seems like you guys had one big fight and instead of trying to fix it, you both decided to cut your losses."

"Well I can't help it if she's going to be stubborn and do stuff she knows piss me off… I mean, e were doing so well, I thought we were meant to be you know?" he admitted, his tone changing erratically from anger to sorrow to frustration and back to anger.

"Did you ever stop to ask her why she was going to other guys to talk about things?" Jeanette wondered aloud.

"No, as far as I know, she wasn't talking about much other than what time they were going to pick her up… I mean who the hell does that?" he bellowed, losing his cool and punching the headboard on his bed so hard that they heard the wood crack.

"Well, she was asking them about what she should do with your relationship." She informed him somberly, "She was asking other guys how to deal with your problems. If that doesn't say you two need to talk things out, I don't know what does."

Theo's anger faded almost instantly as he realized what he was hearing. Eleanor had felt more comfortable talking to other guys about what they were going through as a couple than just approaching him. Was he that off putting to talk things over with?

"Did she ever talk to you about what was bothering her?" he asked softly, his head still spinning from the news of what was really going on before.

"As a matter of fact, she did." Jeanette admitted getting a bit red in the face. "She told me that she felt like all you guys had in your relationship was…um, sex…" she answered awkwardly.

Now it was Theo's turn to blush. Talking about sex with his dad or brothers or even Ellie was different from talking about with her sister. "Like, did she say that we were doing it too often or what?" he asked.

"Well, as her sister, I'd say that you did it too often, but her words were that she felt like you always wanted to do it and she was worried that was the only reason you stayed with her… she felt used."

"That's stupid!" he exclaimed, shooting out of his seat, "we did it so much because I thought she wanted it. Besides, I loved her before we started having sex and I'd love her still if she wanted to stop. Did she really think all I wanted was that one thing? That I hadn't any other feelings for her other than lust?"

"I couldn't tell you Theo, but if you want my advice, try and talk to her again, but not right away, give it a little bit so she can see that you can back off when she needs you to. I have a feeling that she doesn't really like Brad as much as she puts on, she's just doing it to get under your skin. Kind of a bitchy move, but that's how she feels she needs to get your attention." Jeanette advised.

"Okay then, thanks for telling me all this Jeanette, but could you do me a favor?" he asked, "Could you tell her that I wasn't in the relationship just for the physical stuff, I genuinely love her and it hurts when I see her with other guys the way she is now with Brad…"

She nodded and smiled, "Sure thing Theo…" and with that, she left the room and shut to door to leave him alone with his thoughts.

The next day, in the locker room…

Theodore was changing out of his usual sweater and into his gym clothes. He had slept calmly for the first time in about a week. Knowing that there was still hope for him and Ellie to get back together had gone a long way to helping him. As he was about to leave, he passed by one of the small clusters of guys in the men's locker room talking about what they had done over the weekend, but one voice stood out above all the others. Over the rest of the guys bragging about the girls they had hooked up with, Theo distinctly heard Brad's voice talking in a proud tone about all the things he had done with Ellie…

"So we're driving along up to this overhang on the hill and when I park the car she's all over me right. I mean, she's been practically squirming for the last hour wanting to have some fun, so we park and the next thing I know, she's out of her seat and grinding into my leg as she straddles me and starts tearing at my shirt…" he bragged.

It was all Theo could do not to launch himself over the bystanders and kick him in his pompous, lying face, but he tried to remain calm lest he get in serious trouble. That's when Brad continued…

"And you should have heard her moan when I stuck it in… she was begging for it like a bitch in heat."

When he heard that, Theo's psyche snapped like a twig and he threw three guys out of the way by force and slammed into Brad so hard with his shoulder that he hit the lockers ten feet away. As Brad was struggling to his feet to see what had just hit him, Theo ran forward and hauled his fist back, slamming it into his face and following through. There was a crack and a spurt of blood as his nose shattered and he stumbled back even further. Theo didn't back off for an instant, he grabbed his hair in a clump and slammed Brads pretty boy face into the door of the locker so hard that he left a dent big enough to crumple the edges and render it unusable from then on after. The coaches that were in the room broke through the crowd of stunned bystanders who had not had any time to react, the whole thing having taken place in under five seconds.

Two of the coaches grabbed Theo by the shoulders and yanked him out of the locker room, though it was entirely unnecessary given the fact that he neither resisted nor wanted to continue, the fight having been won already. Nevertheless, when he was heading out of the locker room, he could hear the coach tending to Brad calling for someone to go call an ambulance. As soon as 911 had been dialed and the paramedics wheeled Brad out and off to the hospital for x-rays, Theo was sent to the office and told to wait until the coaches had finished telling her what had happened. After about a half hour in the office waiting area, he was finally called in to talk to the principal face to face.

"I'm not going to lie Theo, if what they said is true, then you're looking at a minimum of two to three weeks suspension and total extracurricular expulsion for the rest of the year." Dr. Ambrose said. "Now, why don't you tell me what happened…"

"It's probably what the coaches said, I broke Brad's nose and slammed his head into a locker hard enough to dent it." Theo admitted unashamedly.

"Yes, but why?" she asked, leaning forward in her seat. "Theo, you have been a model student and an excellent athlete… what would possess you to do something as stupid as this?"

"He was spreading lies about Ellie to get his rep up." He said matter-of-factly, "And you know what? I'd do it again without a second thought."

The principal sighed and got up out of her seat to pace for a little while. "You realize of course that by saying that last bit and showing no remorse, you have pretty much signed your own suspension… I could have let you off with a month's worth of detentions, but your behavior this past week has left that unusable."

"Then suspend me…" he invited. "I really don't care about it at this point."

"I'm going to suspend judgment on suspension until we can verify that Brad was in fact spreading lies and by definition, sexually harassing Eleanor." Dr. Ambrose finally said, "But I want to make this perfectly clear, you fought on school grounds. You are banned from any sports activity in which you participate in, and you are under in-school-suspension for the rest of week while I investigate further."

Theo couldn't believe his ears, he was getting off easy? He could live with the loss of the sports, but what he really dreaded was going home and telling his dad about it. "Can I use your phone?" he asked from his seat.

"Certainly, dial 9 then the number to get hold of your father" she answered, as if she knew who he was going to call.

Theo held his breath as the other end rang once, twice, finally, on the fourth ring, Dave picked up.

"Hello? Who is this?" Dave asked.

"Hey dad, it's Theo." He answered.

"What are you doing on the phone during school Theo?" Dave asked. "Did you forget something?"

"Uhhh, not exactly, no… I got in a fight." Theo said, cringing for the reaction.

His father was silent for a minute, then suddenly, "WHAT? Why were you fighting and are you expelled!"

"Uhhh, I wasn't expelled. And I only have a week's worth of ISS." He started, trying to calm his dad down before continuing. "And I was in a fight because this guy was talking about Eleanor."

"So?" Dave asked, "Was it worth almost getting in serious trouble?"

"You didn't hear what they were saying about her dad… this guy was talking about doing stuff with her that she would never do."

"Like what, drugs?" he guessed.

"No, he was talking about screwing her and made her sound like a slut…" Theo said, his voice cracking, the bravado from just minutes ago slipping away as quickly as the rage that had possessed him before had risen.

Dave grew silent again, but when he started to talk again, he no longer sounded angry. "Do you need me to come pick you up?" he asked.

Theo looked at the principal and asked if he was allowed to stay on campus. She told him that he was supposed to go home.

"Dr. Ambrose said that I have to leave campus, and I walked to school today, so could you pick me up dad?" he asked, totally surprised when Dave agreed to come get him.

"I'll be there to pick you up in ten minutes. Wait for me outside… and we'll talk about what happened when we get you home okay Theodore?" Dave continued.

"Yes sir." He responded, not quite sure what to make of what had just happened.

When he hung the phone up, Dr. Ambrose asked him how he was getting home. When she heard that Dave was coming to pick him up, she offered to wait with him outside the school entrance. As they walked down the hall for Theo to get his things from his locker, they passed Eleanor who shot him a dirty look and continued walking without so much as a hello.

"For what it's worth Theo," the principal said, "I think you did the right thing. Just in the wrong way… and I wouldn't worry about Eleanor, she'll hear what happened eventually and realize that you did what you thought was best for her."

"Thanks…" Theo answered, staring down at the floor tiles as they walked to what he was sure to be one pissed off Dave.

Surprisingly enough, when they got outside in the sun, they only had to wait about two minutes before Dave drove up to the parking lot and parked, getting out to greet Dr. Ambrose pleasantly.

"Good afternoon Doctor." He greeted.

"Good afternoon to you as well Mr. Seville." She replied, shaking his hand with a knowing smile.

"I'll wait in the car dad." Theo said dejectedly, throwing his stuff into the passenger seat and closing the door behind him.

"Are you really mad at him?" she asked, looking at Dave.

"Not really, I mean, I was obviously at first, but when I heard why he did it, I understood and to be honest, I would have done worse if it had been me…" Dave answered.

"I understand. But may I suggest that you tell him you're not really mad at him, he looks absolutely miserable." She advised.

"I know Doctor, don't worry." Dave replied smiling, "You have a nice day now."

"And the same to you Mr. Seville." She returned, spinning on her heels and heading back into the school.

Okay, that makes Ch. 28 complete. And that also means that there are only two more to go. They will be updated as soon as they are done, much like this one, so be sure to put this story on author alert if I should update on a weekday. Hope you liked this chapter, now review it. that means you…

As stated before, this will be the last story I write for AATC, after Getting to Know You is done, I will start writing a new batch of stories for Danny Phantom. Mostly romance or fun, though there is a multi-chapter tragedy in the works as well. As always,

Happy Reading (and Living)

Musicalreader