CHAPTER 12: REGRETS

I have never felt more rotten than I have at that moment in my life. Seeing all those booing me and throwing their refreshments at me. All for something that I never meant to happen. Now I could never show my face around Bullworth ever again.

After running away from the football field, I went straight to my room. I didn't bother changing into clean clothes; rather, I laid on my bed wearing my uniform, which was covered in some ketchup and mustard stains from some of the hot-dogs thrown at me. I didn't bother taking my shoes off either. In fact, I didn't bother doing anything. All I wanted to do was to lay in my bed and just lay there till I slowly die from starvation.

Probably about an hour has pass before I heard a knock on my door. After what happened, I did not want to answer it at all. After a few minutes of knocking, I finally heard who was at the door. "Greg, I know you're in there", she says to me from the other side of the door. "Please Greg, let me in. I'm not mad or ashamed, but I would like to know what happened". I still did not reply.

"Greg, please", Cameron continued. "I'm in the same boat right now. I know just how much Jake humiliated you. I want to help you like you helped me. But you must let me in. Please". After a while of convincing, I finally got up from my bed and opened the door for her.

"For the record, you don't know what it's like to be in the same boat as me right now", I then told her. She walked into the room while I closed the door behind me. "This is a nice room", she complimented. "I never thought that Dr. Kowalski would let anyone bunk in this room". "What is the deal with this room anyway?" I then asked her. John Maciel has once mentioned on my first day here that it housed "one of the heroes" around 20 years ago, and now Cameron says something about the headmaster not letting anyone bunk in this room. But rather than answer my question, she then tells me, "I'm sorry for what Jake has done".

"You shouldn't be. You broke up with him", I told her. "I never thought that he would sink so low. Had I known about the information he held, I would have tried to stop him. But I need to know something. What he said, is it true?" "Don't you got to get back to the field?" I asked, trying to change the subject. "Emily, Margaret, and Francine can handle it without me. Right now, I need answers. Is what Jake said true?" Cameron asked again. "Cameron, I can't….". "Greg. I want to help", she then tells me. Without any way to avoid this conversation, I finally broke down into tears.

Cameron slowly walked up to me and gave me a tight hug. "It's okay. It's okay", Cameron says, trying to comfort me. "I'm not mad. It's obviously clear that you're suffering for what you've done. But please, I have to know". I sat down on my bed, followed by Cameron who decided to sit down right next to me. I then took a deep break, and then I finally started to explain all that happened.

"I was going through a lot back when I lived in Liberty City with my family. My whole family consists of my dad, who's never around, as well as my uncle Roman, my aunt Mallorie, and cousin Kate. Believe it or not, I was a bad egg back at my old school, North Algonquin High. I did so much stuff that it would make the hair on the back of head stand. And because I didn't behave like my family wanted me to, I grew so distant from them. None of them wanted me around.

"It also didn't help that I was in a prank war against the Jocks. It all happened because I accidentally walked into the washroom while one of them hairy bastards was naked. When the rest of the Jocks learned about what I did, they begin to spread rumors about me being gay. No matter what prank I pulled on them, they always got me back. Finally, I had enough of their shit.

"Have you ever read the Stephen King novel Carrie?" I asked Cameron. "I have", she answers. "It's such a good read. I see where you got the pig's blood prank from". "It was meant for the Jocks. Nobody else; just the Jocks", I told her. "I had the prank all set up in the school's auditorium. All I had to do was lure the Jocks' leader into the trap, and he would never be able to get me back again. How could someone beat the classic pig's blood prank from that novel?

"So, I lured the Jocks' leader into the auditorium. Little did I know that there was this one in the same room as well. This kid, I guess he was an emo or something because he was always talking about how much he hated his life and was a cutter. He had a rough time fitting in with his peers. Everybody always made fun of him. No one respected him, and I felt sorry for the kid. He was standing in the marked area where I have planned for the Jock to stand. It was so dark in the room that I confused the kid for the Jock. I pulled the rope that was tied to the bucket, and I watched as the blood fell on the wrong person. I only found out it was the wrong person because someone turned the lights on for the auditorium. Apparently, someone saw me as well as the Jock enter the room, and they reported it to the principal.

"That kid, he walked out into the hall, covered in blood for the entire school to see. Everyone laughed, made period jokes, and even took pictures of him to put on the internet. At first, I was suspended for a month for pulling that prank, and for possibly bringing swine flu into the school. But then, the school caught wind of what happened to the kid. He took some painkillers, overdosed on them. His parents found him on the bathroom floor about a day later after he supposedly took the pills. I was immediately expelled once news hit the school, and that's how I ended up here".

For the entire time while I was telling Cameron my side of the story, I was mostly staring at the wall ahead of me. When I turned my head to look at her, I could see that she too was crying. "Greg, I'm so sorry", she began to say, "and I know deep down that you're sorry too". "Too bad the entire school won't believe that", I told her. "I do regret what I did, and now everybody is going to rub it in. People are going to treat me like I'm a criminal. I might as well move to a different school, which won't be possible now since this is the only school that will except me".

"Please don't think about leaving", Cameron tells me. "Things will get better eventually". "No, it won't", I told her. "As long as Jake keeps reminding people what I did, things won't get any better. I swear when I get the chance, I'm going to kill him". "Greg, Dr. Kowalski is actually handling Jake now. He'll give Jake a proper punishment soon enough", Cameron says. "I hope he gets expelled", I said out-loud. "I do too", Cameron says to me.

I probably gave her the stink-eye right before she said, "Jake did me wrong too if you remember. He went behind my back to date Debbie, and then he went as far as to announce to the entire school your dark secret. Greg, you're one of the best friends that I could ever have. I could tell you anything, and you would never judge me based on what I tell you. Jake knows that, and he did what he did just to get you back for helping me. I know that must be the reason for that stupid stunt he did. And you know what, I regret ever dating him".

"Cameron.", I tried to speak, only for her to interrupt me. "No, Greg. If he really cared about me, then he wouldn't have done all those things he did in the past week. He's shown little to no respect to me in the past months. He's shown Debbie more respect throughout a week than he has shown to me in months. Jake is dead to me. I really hope Kowalski does expel him. It will serve him right".

I got up from my spot on the bed, opened the door, and told her, "I need to be alone right now. Can you please give me some space?" "Greg", Cameron says in a soft tone. "I appreciate you coming over to comfort me, but I really need to think things through", I told her. "Okay then", she says before getting up from her spot. Just before she leaves the room though, she hugs me and tells me, "Call me if you need some company". "I will", I said to her. After she lets go of me, she walks out the room and closes the door behind her.

At least that's one person who I know hasn't changed her opinion about me. Of course, there's also her friends who probably still think highly of me due to my friendship with Cameron. Then there's Craig and a few Nerds who know how sorry I am for what I did. That's a handful of people who knows how sorry I am. And out of a thousand or two-thousand students, that would probably be 0.0001% who knows that I'm not a criminal. Man, are the odds against me here. The rest of the school year was going to get interesting for me real soon.