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anterocash · 1 year

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Mr. street pt. 3

part one. / part two.

The semester was basically over, with summer around the corner. Min knew if he confronted Mr. Street as he wanted, he would ultimately be expelled right before graduation; that felt like letting that geriatric bastard win again, and Min refused to leave Hotchkiss like that. He didn’t apply to many schools, but the ones he did apply to accepted him. Minkyu did an exuberant amount of extra credit in different classes to try and compensate for the dip Mr. Street put in his GPA. It worked. Min didn’t want to spend his last semester doing random assignments. He pushed through it; he would have rather died in heavy traffic than have his unweighted GPA ruined by some decrepit piece of shit.

His method of confrontation didn’t matter; once he had seen his grade, Min began to formulate his next move. Everyone at Hotchkiss has super-rich white people/ old money waspy names. ‘Huck’ ‘Tripp’, well, there was a computer genius named Fletcher Allen Jr; his parents were low-budget Hiltons, own a hotel chain he’s set to take over when he’s older. But to bide his time until he moved into his dorm room at Harvard, for the right price, he did things for people on the computer. He and Min were sort of business partners. Min wrote the essays, and Fletch, as he was affectionately called, did the more technical stuff, grade changes, and pranks on other students. He was air-dropping things before AirDrop was a thing.

Fueled by humiliation and rage, Min shoved a few hundred dollar bills into the wannabe Mark Zuckerberg’s hand, asking him to ruin everything for Mr.Street. Fletcher was apprehensive at first — why Mr. Street? Everyone liked him, even when he was a hardass.

“He fucked with my GPA,” Min explained as if that should be a sufficient answer. “Do your worst, or we’re both going down,” because if Min were to rat Fletcher out about his grade-changing gig, he’d have to confess to the essay writing he did for three and a half years, which simply couldn’t happen. The underclassmen ruined the poker nights; they didn’t need any more run-ins with the administration. “Are you threatening me, Min?” Fletcher asked, unsure whether he wanted to fight the guy or not. In the end, money was money, and Fletcher liked a challenge. Minkyu looked at the tech wiz expectantly; it wasn’t a threat but a promise.

“Fine.”

—

Two days after Fletcher agreed to help Minkyu, he cornered Minkyu in the library. Minkyu was writing another essay for another jock for money to spend in the city that upcoming weekend.

“You want me to do what?” Minkyu stage whispered from behind a bookcase in the non-fiction section, away from the other studying students. That didn’t stop Fletcher from looking around cautiously before leaning back in. “I can’t do it from my dorm; his laptop is too far, I need you to get it closer, or I can’t do anything.”

Minkyu sighed deeply, lulling his head side to side in consideration. He wanted Mr.Street to suffer for what he did, but he didn’t need the opportunity of trouble to walk in his way. Minkyu already gave Fletcher the money. He wanted to get what he had paid for. “Okay, okay. I’ll see what I can do this week. Time is ticking, Fletch.”

Minkyu decided the best time to try and get the laptop would be near the end of the school day, when the faculty stood in the hallway, monitoring students as they went to their various after-school activities. Earlier that day, Minkyu laid down the foundation, and once the bell chimed, he decided to strike. He felt like James Bond, a very tall James Bond, as he waded through the throng of his peers. It was easy; Mr. Street kept his room unlocked, eliminating one thing Min would have to do. Everything seemed ten times louder in his ears in the quiet classroom as he walked between the rows of desks until he reached the back where Minkyu sat.

It was a notebook Minkyu left on top of the AP Chemistry textbook stored underneath; he quickly shoved it into his messenger bag. While he walked out, he stopped by the teacher’s desk and snatched his laptop, charger, and all, pushing it into his bag before high-tailing it out of there. Heart pounding in his ears, panic ran through him at the sound of his name being called out.

“Minkyu, come here for a second.” Mr. Street called out, forcing the teenager to turn around and walk over, holding his bag against him protectively as he stood in front of the teacher. The older man sized him up with a look. “Did Yale get back to you yet?” Oh, right. In a way to ‘bond’ with Minkyu or something, Mr. Street had suggested he apply to the man’s alma mater, something the teenager found laughable since the old bastard tried to ruin his GPA and still expected Minyu to be the exemplary student (he was, he couldn’t help it.) Minkyu shrugged, “I haven’t checked yet.” They accepted him, and Minkyu didn’t want to give the chemistry teacher the satisfaction that they would have something in common.

“You’re a bright young man, Mr. Lee. But don’t let that be the only thing about you. You’re more than just your grades, don’t forget that.”

Minkyu didn’t know what to say. To be honest, it was too late. He and the other adults around him had already made him ‘gifted’ his whole personality. It didn’t matter that he also played sports, liked to watch war movies and wrote poetry. Min was the kid going into his first year of university, technically a sophomore from all the college courses ( Mr. Street’s included) he had been taking since 10th grade, he was soooo smart, and that was the only way Minkyu could get anyone to pay attention to him.

(Ten-plus years later, Cash wonders what life would have been like if he had taken the man’s words to heart, it probably would have helped him a lot.)

“Thanks,” Minkyu muttered awkwardly before taking off to meet with Gideon.

—

It’s mid-lesson when the head of the school walks into Mr.Street’s classroom, and the room goes silent as he’s taken out into the hallway, “what do you think happened?” Anderson asks Minkyu as he taps away on his phone, no doubt texting their mutual friend. Min merely shrugs, playing unaffected; Fletcher had texted him the week prior, saying he got the job done. After the run-in, Minkyu snuck back into the classroom to put the laptop back once it was within range, and Fletcher did his thing. All Min had to do was leave an ‘anonymous’ tip and let the dominoes lay how they wanted. Min didn’t know precisely what Fletcher did, just that he had some outside help from his dark web friends; the less Minkyu knew, the boys couldn’t incriminate themselves, technology works in mysterious ways, and they didn’t need it to get back to them.

The voices in the hallway began to grow in volume, Mr. Street yelling and shaking his arm out of the police officer’s grasp. Indeed this had to be a mistake; he wasn’t into that stuff. It takes three cops to escort him off campus; the school head awkwardly stayed and played substitute after handing the laptop over to a detective. Quickly the word got around how he was arrested during the middle of class for having kiddie stuff on his computer, a concerned informant made to Litchfield County Police, and they took him in for questioning.

“Yo… that’s insane,” Gideon said as he sat with Min and Anderson after school as they retold the event from earlier that day.

“I…” Min’s voice trailed off as he shrugged. Now that Mr.Street’s life and reputation were finally ruined, the teenager wasn’t sure how he felt. The immediate dopamine rush as he heard the cops escort Mr.Street off campus had finally waned, and Minkyu wasn’t sure what would happen next. The C was forever on his transcript, and Mr.Street wouldn’t be able to teach again, something Min thought was a fair trade. The contents planted were a bit much, and he even texted Fletcher saying so, who said it wasn’t his idea; but his dark web friend’s. Minkyu was somewhat amazed and dropped the subject.

“So close to graduation too….” Anderson lamented. He never had an issue with the chemistry teacher. Minkyu never thought this would happen. Gideon squeezed Anderson’s knee in an attempt to bring the boy some sort of comfort, and Minkyu rolled his eyes, not in the mood for the couple’s affection (if Minkyu was single, he wanted his friends to be single as well, which he couldn’t control and hated that.) “Oh well…” Minkyu sighed and stood, stretching out, “see you guys at dinner? When you’re done sucking each other’s dicks.”

Min swatted at the paper balls that were tossed at him with a laugh, giving the couple the finger before taking off.

–

“We need to talk.” Was the first thing Fletcher said to Min a few days later. For the millionth time, he found himself sighing and rolling his eyes as he followed him to the courtyard where students weren’t because it had just rained the night before. “What is it? The bell can ring at any moment, now.” Minkyu looked at his watch; he didn’t like being the last person to walk into the classroom, nor did he like being the very first. Min was weird, and he knew it. “Why did you want to set up Mr.Street?” He asked Minkyu demandingly, whose eyes narrowed, and he stood up straighter. “Why does that matter? I didn’t ask you about what you did, which was….” Minkyu shook his head in disgust.

“This isn’t about me, Min. Answer the question. Mr. Street do something to you?”

“Why does that matter?” Min snapped, growing impatient.

“Because I feel bad!” Fletcher exclaimed in a growing voice. “You don’t feel bad? I thought it was just a prank. I didn’t know you wanted to get him fired –”

Minkyu slapped his hand over Fletcher’s mouth, “Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Have you lost your goddamn mind? Lower your voice.” He hissed in Fletcher’s face, who shoved at Min, which prompted him to shove the other boy back. They went back and forth like this. A crowd gathering at the doorway caught a teacher's attention. Who had pushed her way through the crowd just in time; Minkyu had his fist thrown back when she got in between them.

“Enough! All of you! Go to class now!”

The teacher doesn’t discipline the pair since graduation is so close. Fletcher and Minkyu are usually well-mannered boys (or so she thought.) This had to be a simple misunderstanding, and she hoped they could make up without it getting physical again.

–

The senior activities go as planned, even with the Mr.Street scandal looming over the school like a stormy cloud. Word spread, and the administration didn’t want the image of the esteemed prep school tarnished by a beloved teacher with an apparent dark side he kept very well hidden. It was the world’s quietest investigation known to man. The last thing they wanted was to lose the endowment money and the potential for more with bright new students with very wealthy parents.

–

Minkyu knew his parents would be in the crowd, bragging about his academic achievements. As if they helped him through it all these past years. Minkyu was letting it slide. He was not going to let those grifters ruin his day.

They had finally got to the L’s – the whole row of teens moving towards the stage in anticipation; it’s all white noise until it’s not.

“Minkyu Lee…” he could hear his friends cheering for him just like he did for them, and if he listened hard enough, he could hear his parent as well. This is what he wanted, right? For everyone to be cheering, his parents acknowledging his existence – proud of him. He was so happy he could have cried, and his eyes grew hot behind his glasses, and he quickly shook that off – the last thing Minkyu needed was someone to see him showing some sort of emotion to be used against him later on. His scholastic achievements were listed like a grocery list, and Minkyu couldn’t help the pride he felt.

Yet, in the back of his mind, Minkyu knew this was all temporary and the happiness wouldn’t last.

Only a matter of time before the bubble bursts, and he lands back in reality.

#drabble #fin.#technically i wanna write 1 more ting b4 i close this arc completely

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