To the point of disgust-

Part 1

I've developed a deep hatred for a boy in my class.

Ugh, I don't know where to start.

Have you ever met anyone that is just so triggering that it's hard to look at them? I have, and his name is Aaron Diaz.

I have no idea what boys do to keep their hair tidy, but neither does he. His haircut alone is enough to make me squirm in my seat. 

Moving down the face, we have his beady black eyes. Not dark brown, black. Whenever we make eye contact I feel as though an oversized cockroach is staring at me.

But it's not his appearance that pisses me off, it's his attitude. This kid is the most entitled person I've ever met in my life.

He struts around the classroom, peeking over people's shoulders. If someone isn't doing what they're supposed to be doing, he not only snitches on the teacher, but he makes sure to confront them about it after class.

He's never confronted me about anything, until now at least, I'd just heard a lot about it from other people. My friend Sasha told me a few days ago that Aaron took the time to wait for her after class and then asked her to meet with him.

He told Sasha that if she didn't start paying attention in class, she would never get into college.

"Seriously?" Sasha had said to me after. "We're in the 5th grade! Why is he thinking about college?"

And honestly, I have no idea. The kid is weird, we've already established that.

My other friend Miriam also once talked with him. She told me that he had approached her at recess asking her about the art project. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Wrong. He wasn't asking about the project, he was asking about her project.

"He asked me how I expected to get a good grade with the project I was submitting. I told him because I worked hard on it, when we go inside he spilled chocolate milk all over it. What a jerk." -Miriam

I told my Mom about him a few days ago. She was absolutely no help. She just told me to be kind to him, that maybe he has a tough life at home.

I don't care if he has a tough life at home, that is no excuse for walking around and criticizing everyone around you.

Anyway, this story isn't about Miriam or Sasha's time with him. This is about his confrontation with me, which happened to me yesterday.

It was directly after math class, and right before lunch. I was just leaving the classroom when he tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey, Eliana, can we talk for a minute?" He had said to me.

I looked into his dark eyes, and for once, I just wasn't in the mood to be criticized.

"No," I said.

"Excuse me?"

"No, I would like to eat my lunch in peace. Goodbye now."

Then I just left him there to wallow in self-pity. Looking back on it, I probably could have conveyed the same point while being a bit nicer, but I remember how I felt, and I genuinely did not want to talk to him.

After lunch, Aaron approached me for a second time. Sasha and I were in the middle of our art projects. He pulled me aside, and naturally, I brought the glue with me.

"What?" I had asked.

He looked at me and told me in the most condescending tone: "You have to be nicer, or else you're never going to make any friends."

So I did the most rational thing a girl could have done at that moment; I took off the cap and poured the glue all over his head. 

It was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done, but I knew as soon as I had done it, I would regret it.

I was right. I do regret it. Well, I regret getting in trouble, and I regret talking to him in the first place, but in all honestly, I would do it again and again. 

What happened next, I certainly didn't expect. Aaron grabbed my arm and bit me. The person who always had made such an effort to put himself up on a pedestal had stooped to the levels of bitting me. And for the record, it was a simple bite. I swear to God this kid is a vampire because he broke about five layers of skin. 

I am a child of instinct, and of course, my first instinct was to scratch his face. And I've got pretty long nails, so I broke some skin. 

So of course I get rushed around the school for about an hour or so. First to the school nurse, to fix up my arm, then to the principles office, then back to the nurse, and then to the school counselors, and this went on for a while.

So anyway, the principal had to wait for our parents, because neither of them could leave work to come to pick us up. So it was about the end of the day, and the principal called us in for a final lecture. 

"Eliana you are pretty much the least likely kid to get in a fight. What happened?" She started. "I can't say the same for you, though, Aaron. This is the third time this month that you've been sent to the office. 

From looking at Aaron, and feeling the expression forming on my face, I could tell that we looked like we were sucking lemons at our grandma's funeral. It was not a good day. 

We both left that office with an in-school suspension for tomorrow, which basically means we still have to go to school, but instead of doing school, we're just going to be hanging out with the school counselor. 

I really hate school counselors. And now I'm stuck with one, plus that beady-eyed cockroach all day tomorrow. This should be fun. 

__________________________________________

Part 2

I spent the day with the most insufferable person I've ever met. And It wasn't Aaron.

Us students call her Ms. Whiskers, because of the abnormal amount of hair growing underneath her eyes, but her real name is Ms. Whisemin. 

Normally, I would be against nicknaming a teacher for something that's completely out of their control. But Whiskers, she's another story. 

She is absolutely horrendous. 

A typical school counselor is just plain annoying, with a tad bit of coffee addiction. Whiskers is far from typical. 

She is the kind of person that wears shirts that say something dumb like, "you this read wrong." 

Oh, and she wears fanny packs. Don't forget the fanny pack.

Inside, she caries those hard squishies, and little hard candies that most of my class can't have because of their braces. 

Anyway, this isn't about what's inside her fanny pack, it's about what happened in our little in-school adventure.

So I arrived before Aaron, (he's always late) and had a little time alone with Whiskers. I walked into her empty office, which was bigger than my homeroom, and sat down on one of the spinny chairs. 

I took one of my school books out of my backpack and started reading. If I was gonna be stuck here all day, I might as well get some work done. 

All of a sudden, I felt a heavy breath on my shoulder. I turned around to the counselor leaning over me. The terrible stench was coming from either her lack of dental hygiene or dirty clothes, which I recognized from the day before.

"Hello, Eliana. How's your arm?"

The second she opened her mouth, I knew exactly what she had had for breakfast that morning; tuna salad. And not a good one either, I generally prefer tuna salad when it's not coming out of someone else mouth, but maybe that's just me.

"It's better. I had to get a few stitches though. Excuse me, but I don't really feel comfortable with you leaning over me." 

She stepped back, probably a bit appalled, but it would be a crime against me to let her stench make my day any worse than it had to be.

Before she could say anything back, Aaron stumbled into the office. He was wearing the normal uniform, but with a baseball hat for some reason. 

"Good morning, Aaron," Whiskers said in her squeaky voice.

He mumbled some sort of greeting, but it was hard to make out what he said. 

"Are you aware," she started, "that hats indoors aren't within the dress code?"

His face flushed red, and the poor kid slowly removed his hat, revealing his absolutely hideous hair, which was now buzzed down to his scalp. 

For the first time throughout this whole situation, I felt regret. Because of me, he had been almost completely balded. 

Whiskers thanked him for his cooperation and then proceeded to lecture us. 

For the first half of the day, we were drowned in anti-violence videos from youtube, all conveying the same message. 

It was quite repetitive. 

At lunch, I finally had a chance to speak with him. 

"Aaron, I think that if we could somehow convince her that we are friends and the whole thing was a joke, maybe we can be freed."

He looked at me. 

"Seriously? Now you're trying to fix things? If you had just listened to me in the first place, we would be in class right now."

I gulped, I knew there was only one way I could fix this, and it was to swallow my pride and admit defeat.

"You're right. I should have listened to you, and I'm sorry I ruined your hair." 

His head shot up, his gaze fixed back on me. 

"Wait, really? You aren't mad about the whole stitches thing?"

"Oh, no, I'm pissed. But right now I'd rather make up with you than spend another couple of hours with that bunion."

So it was settled. Aaron and I make an excellent team when it comes to scheming. The plan was to apologize to each other in front of her and explain to her that we were very good friends and that we had just hit a rough patch. 

After lunch, we reentered the office, with a motive, a goal. 

"Excuse me, can I have your guy's attention?" I said raising my arm. "I just want to apologize to both of you. My actions were unnecessary and foolish, and now you both have to waste time due to my poor choices. I'm sorry."

Aaron raised his hand. "Actually, Eliana, I feel the exact same way, If I hadn't been so rude, our disagreement wouldn't have subsided. I'm sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused either of you."

Then Aaron and I put forth our best frowny faces. Whiskers sighed. 

"You know what, I think you kids have suffered enough. Grab your things and go to class. No more fights, you two, alright?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Aaron and I said in unison. 

As soon as we entered the hallway, Aaron looked at me and said, "Well that was easier than expected. Also, can we agree to never involve ourselves with each other again?" 

I looked at him and nodded, "absolutely." 

I was about to turn into my classroom when he said to me, "Hey Eli, I think I owe you a genuine apology, maybe I shouldn't be criticizing everyone all the time." 

I smiled at him and responded, "You'd make a great critic."