The Unlikely Daddy

• 34 •

As Alfie waited in the classroom for Mr Preston to return he felt conflicted. He didn't want to forgive Blake. He had hurt his so badly and the reasons he had given for doing that just weren't Alfie's fault at all. He knew it would make him the bigger person to move on, but he didn't feel like he was at all ready for that.

"How do you feel that went?" Mr Preston asked coming back into the classroom.

Alfie shrugged his shoulders. His mind was a total mess at the moment so he couldn't think of how to answer the question.

"He genuinely is sorry for what he did" Mr Preston seemed to be favouring Blake over Alfie and Alfie wasn't impressed by that.

"You can't just do horrible things then say sorry and expect everybody to forgive you" Alfie rolled his eyes.

"I know, kiddo. But, just think about what he said and try to understand" Mr Preston wanted Alfie to simply just get over all of the pain Blake had caused him.

"But I don't understand. Why didn't he hit Logan, not me. It wasn't my fault that Logan cut him off as a friend. Nothing was my fault but I was the one who ended up in hospital" Alfie was beginning to get frustrated.

"I know, I know. Don't go getting yourself upset about it" Mr Preston tried to calm the situation down.

"But you don't know! You want me to forgive Blake for beating me up so badly that I needed an operation to fix it. You really have no idea what it's like to piss yourself every single day!" Alfie shouted, completely losing his patience with Mr Preston.

"Kiddo, calm down. If you don't want to forgive Blake that's absolutely fine. It's your choice" Mr Preston remained composed.

"If I punched you in the face you wouldn't turn around and forgive me straight away, so don't expect me to forgive Blake when he's done nothing but treat me like shit. I thought you, being the student support teacher, of all people would understand. But, you don't" Alfie's voice was still raised.

"Alfie, just sit down and take a moment to calm yourself down, please" Mr Preston knew the situation was quickly becoming out of his control.

"Fuck this" Alfie swore, before picking his backpack up and heading for the door.

"Alfie, come back" Mr Preston shouted after him.

Alfie ignored him. He was in no headspace for learning and he felt like he was about to explode in anger, so he had to leave.

"Alfie, you need to come back into class and calm down" Mr Preston followed Alfie out into the hallway.

"Leave me alone" Alfie shouted, striding in the direction of the entrance to the school.

"Alfie Cooper, stop!" Mr Preston yelled as Alfie made his way to leave school.

Alfie spun around, evident rage in his eyes that Mr Preston had never seen before.

"What're you going to do? Are you going to hit me too? I didn't think so!" Alfie growled.

The school receptionist watched horrified at Alfie's aggressive confrontation. Quickly she picked up the phone and called Mr Bentley for some sort of support.

"Alfie, that's enough" Mr Preston spoke firmly.

"People think they can do what they want to me, but not anymore. This school sucks and so do you, so I'm not staying" Alfie shouted, before turning back around and storming out of the door.

Mr Preston ran his hands through his hair dramatically, unsure of what the appropriate thing to do next was.

Then, Mr Bentley arrived, panting slightly as he had ran as quickly as he could to the scene.