Thin Line- Charlie Dalton Love Story

Chapter 5: The Act of Kindness

It took me forever to get the dye out of my hair, and even longer to recover from the public humiliation that came with it. My father was angrier than ever about me 'acting out' and 'looking for attention' that he punished me in the most brutal way possible by inviting me to this business party thingy for his job. I hated those parties. It's like I was expected to be this perfect person that my parents were actually proud of. It wasn't the preppy outfit my mom puts me in that makes me uncomfortable, it's the small talk. Old ladies come up to kiss you on the cheek and old men make inappropriate jokes about you but they disguise it by adding "young girl" after every sentence. My father pinching me in the elbow whenever I said something wrong would always make me want to take the plate of appetizers and slam it right in his face.

We spent the day outside in English by yelling poetry and running around the field. These things would usually embarrass me but it proved therapeutic to be screaming.

"Awe, you changed your hair Chase. You were just starting to look attractive." Dalton whispered uncomfortably close to my ear behind me. I elbowed him really hard in the stomach before yelling Shakespeare and running again.

"To indeed be a God!" Screamed Dalton before catching up to me. "How'd your father take it? To hear that you have been dishonoring Welton."

I walked closer to Dalton so he could hear me clearly, "Listen here Dalton, if you ever do something like that again, I swear I will..." I paused for a second because even I didn't know what I was threatening him with.

Now he was the one that was stepping closer to me, "You'll what?" He asked, smirking.

I cleared my throat to gain back some power I didn't have, " Well, I- uhm I haven't made a plan but when I do I swear you will suffer. And stop talking to me!" I said repeatedly poking him in the shoulder. God, even I was embarrassed of myself.

Everyone sat in a circle, and Mr.Keating made us get up one by one to read aloud the Haiku's we were supposed to prepare. Before Charlie read his Haiku, he winked at me and everybody saw so now they're all giving me weird looks. I knew this was gonna be bad as soon as he began reading:

"Bright mean solar day

A poor, red clown well deserved

Beyond the circus"

"Very unusual! Thank you Mr.Dalton. I'm sure it has a very deep meaning to you" Mr.Keating said proudly as he and the rest of the class were clapping.

"It sure does!" He replied laughing.

"If you're in love with me, just say so, Dalton. You don't have to go writing poems about me like some obsessed fan." I said loud enough to make sure his friends heard as well. They all laughed and teased him about it.

"Oh yeah? Says the girl who literally broke into my locker!" He said smugly

"Hey, you did that too!" I yelled unintentionally. Suddenly everyone's eyes were on me again. Why does that keep happening?

"Ah, we have found a voice that needs to be heard. Come on up Chase!" Mr.Keating said encouragingly.

I got up to read my haiku. Unlike certain people my haiku actually had a deeper meaning, all my poems did.

"Darkening nighttime

A lower, tall figure trapped

on the silhouette"

Reading it out loud, it didn't make as much sense to me as it did last night when I wrote it. People weren't even listening. Charlie was explaining to them what the meaning of his haiku meant.