Free Wrists [headmaster]

[chris]

Even if Chris had been to a far worse places, just coming from one of the toughest maximum juvenile prisons in American is proof of that, this place still intimidated Chris. As tough as he may pretend to be, as if he didn't need anybody and was talented to live well enough on his own, he was still just a scared kid in a big world. This was his new home for many years to come and who knows what he was to expect. Thinking that the only thing he could expect was that he was in it alone, he would never make any friends, always making enemies, just made him even more scared.

The fear on Chris's face was widely evident in his eyes and mouth as he timidly crossed the hallway into the headmasters office. Here he would meet the new warden who he expected would try to whip him into shape by saying things that would scare him into never doing anything bad. When he sat there alone on the chair across from the one the headmistress would sit at he looked at everything in the office including the pictures, his file sitting there on the desk, even the colour of the pen that sat beside he. He took note of everything but did not say a word. Still at the same time he was feeling his wrists with his fingers. Wrapping around them slowly he remembered the feeling of handcuffs. They were a usually feeling that was not there this time even if nobody was watching him, as if he had a little more more freedom then before and it felt odd.

After viewing the entire room he sunk his head a little and looked down at his free wrists. He knew that he still wasn't free and it depressed him a little. Suddenly hearing the door to the office open his ears perked up but he kept his head in the same position, pretending not to be startle or afraid of who was about to walk in. He was afraid of it all though, the new surroundings could mean anything.

[JEZ]

James was running late, he knew that he had a meeting with an incoming student and he hated that he was showing up late. It made a bad first impression. He chanced a quick look at his watch and winced five minutes late. Lengthening his stride, James hoped that he wouldn’t look too ruffled, he did not need the kid to see him looking like he had just sprinted down the hallway. He nearly smiled when he reached his office door; it had a nice little plaque with his name on it and everything. He nodded to the police officer standing outside the door he quietly told him that he could leave. He wasn’t really sure how he felt about the police being here. Sure the academy had security but police made him edgy.

Opening the door he was glad that it didn’t squeak, it might ruin the mood. The first thing he noticed was that this kid was pretty big, and that he was obviously scared. He quickly reached his desk and sat down behind it. He ignored the young man for the moment and opened the file on his desk. He thumbed through it stopping every once and while and read over a particularly interesting part. “A big time thief are you?” He asked softly. James looked at the young man and noticed the grip he had on his wrists. “We don’t use hand cuffs here, Mr. Roberson. They violate the dress code.” He was trying to make the young man, Chris, less tense.

“I’m not a hard man to get along with, Mr. Roberson, really. I’m not going to demand that you change over night. I’m not even going to demand you change at all.” James closed the file and pushed it to the middle of his desk. “In fact I really couldn’t care less what you did to get sent here, but let me tell you this, while you are here you will follow my rules and you will learn something.” James leaned forward a little, “My first rule, look at me when I talk to you, please.”

[chris]

Chris's eyes wondered over to the headmaster came into the room and did not even look at him as he instead started to slowly read over Chris's file. Chris never had a chance to read his own file, it was all about him but it was something he was never allowed to read because it had notes about how to treat him, things about his past that may offend him, but most of it he already knew. When the headmaster started to look towards him to talk Chris quickly looked down at his wrists on his lap to avoid eye contact. Looking down he noticed he was still feeling his wrists. Sure at the prison he didn't have cuffs on that often but in times of private meetings with counselors or visitors the cuffs would come on.

Asking about his thief record actually made Chris a little less tense already, he chuckled in pride knowing what the headmaster was reading. "I'm the best." Part of breaking in also means that it would be easy for Chris to break out. He wasn't going to try that though, that part was clear, he knew where he was and that escaping wouldn't solve it but make it longer once he was caught again. The headmaster must have been use to students in his situation though because he kept calming him down further when she explained the handcuffs. He even stopped feeling his wrists after that, knowing at this point they weren't going to come back and already feeling better.

The headmaster seemed to be fairly leaning towards most rules. He got the picture pretty quickly, behave, be himself, and in return things will work out. Still he was intimidated by the headmaster, just because of his position. He was use to prison wardens or judges that were ready to smack down the law in his face if he even looked at them the wrong way. When he got the first order Chris stood straight in his chair for the first time and his eyes darted towards James. They were stern but still very fearful. Y... yes sir."

In Chris's profile was also labeled his inability to connect to people. He sometimes would try but in the end had a large social issue, like he was scared to meet other people. Sometimes he would show his fear on the outside, sometimes he would show it by bullying others. In this case he was showing the fear.

[JEZ]

“It said in your file that you are a bit of a bully,” James smiled knowing that it would throw Chris off a little. “I wouldn’t recommend any of that here. You might have been a big shot back home but we do house violent teens here, Mr. Roberson.” James sat back in his chair and sighed, the first thing he did when he took over was changing out his grandpa’s chair. His chair was stiff and honestly it hurt to sit in. James’ rolled and swiveled. “Mr. Roberson, you are classified as a level 1 student, a student who was recommended because of property crimes. You are a sophomore schooling wise and from what I’ve gathered you really don’t have any friends or really seem to want them correct?”

James closed his eyes and turned his chair facing the wall, he knew that directly in front of him there was an ugly picture his grandpa picked out that he made James promise not to throw out. “Most of these things can be fixed, with time and help, but only if you really want to.” James turned back to Chris. “I know that this place isn’t what you’re used too and you don’t know what to expect but let me tell you this. You can expect school, food and curfews at the very least what ever else you get out of this place is up to you.”

The headmaster stood from his desk and walked over to a small filing cabinet on the east wall. He opened it up, and pulled out a folder. “This is your file here at B.A.D so far,” He opened it and showed him that it was empty, “We have nothing about you. If you ever want to see it just ask me.” He walked back to his desk still holding the file and opened it up. “Here’s the first thing in your B.A.D file, your dorm assignment.” He held up a sheet of paper. “We’ve recently moved a lot of people so no roommates yet. Your in room 101.” James smiled and handed Chris the paper, “This has your class schedule and your dorm on it don’t loose it. Any questions?”

[chris]

Everything that the headmaster said in this conversation seemed to throw Chris off. When a person can be a bully he doesn't mean to be a bully, in fact often they have no realization of it. Chris never considered himself a bully but he was going to be if they just let him carry on the way he was. Chris was going to defend himself here against the bully accusation but he was so thrown off by it and still a little frightened to speak against the headmaster and what repercussions might happen if he did. "B... b... bull?..."

He was suddenly cut off by the headmaster who went on about other things. He shut his mouth as the teacher then went onto how he was entered into the school. About the friends comment Chris was a little offended by what the headmaster said. Even if it was completely true it wasn't something he wanted to admit. Plus he WANTED friends, he just didn't know how to make him. His profile would have said he didn't want them but nobody really wants to be completely alone. "Well no... I mean I want some fri--." Chris was cut off again by the headmaster as he went on to explain more things about the school. Chris kept up the eye contact but he was starting to go back into a shell a little bit to, not sure if he would ever get a word out to this headmaster who seemed to be on some sort of mission everywhere he went.

For questions he finally spoke up. "So does that mean when I need to go to the washroom I should... ask you?" Coming from the place he was use to where he had to ask to use the washroom, and somebody would watch him the entire time, or the time he would be allowed outside each day was counted by the minute. The lack of rules here was confusing him already.

[JEZ]

James blinked, and then sighed; he had over done it again. He hated when that happened sometimes he would just start talking and never stop, even when it was obvious that someone else had something to say. He really wished the stupid child shrink was back from his vacation. James wasn’t the one normally doing all this, but he had to make do the best he could. “No you don’t have to ask me specifically to use the washroom. The only time you have to ask is when you are in class or in a meeting like this one. Other wise feel free. This isn’t prison, Mr. Roberson; while you are monitored to an extent we don’t enforce an escort everywhere. This is a school, kid.”

The headmaster rubbed his face and smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry, I don’t normally do this stuff, but our councilor is gone right now so the meet and greeting falls on me.” James sighed, “Lets try that again. We don’t allow bullying, no fighting at all, clear?” This time James paused to allow Chris to speak. He hoped that he hadn’t screwed up this kid. “As long as you’re respectful to the staff and teachers you wont have any real problems.”

“Any other questions? Did you really need to be excused to the restroom?” James asked at last. Hopefully that cleared things up for him. James looked at the young man and decided to say one part again. “No matter what you do though, we don’t use handcuffs, I remember them from when I was kid and I hated them. No handcuffs, promise.”

[chris]

James could try to come up with excuses as to why he was giving bad advice it was to late now, the man already set himself up to Chris as the person to come to to talk about advice. Chris did not know to many people to do that, in fact he had never known anybody to do that, so if James here was going to be honest with Chris it may hurt him at the very first at least somebody was willing to talk to him, be honest with him. He ignored the comments James said before in some sort of panic. "I don't mean to be a bully." He lost eye contact as he looked towards the ground because he was depressed while thinking about this. Chris knew the truth, he really was a bully when he met somebody weaker that he could take down.

"I've done a lot of bad thing I am proud of but that doesn't mean I wanna hurt anybody." His life was tough, even if nobody else understood. He wasn't dumb but he wasn't the brightest either, sometimes it was hard for him to make quick decisions and that would hurt other people. "Am I a bad person for being here?" A tough question to answer usually.

This conversation didn't brighten up Chris's mood but he needed to know the answer of. Perhaps a little bit of self realization was good for him. People were tough on him, maybe he's never had a chance to screw up so it was all he had done. Chris was complicated because that came with his age. Looking back at James in the eyes he looked sorrow instead of scared this time.

[JEZ]

James sighed and rubbed his face; he really hoped that he hadn’t messed this kid up. “I think you mean too, kid,” James ran a hand over his hair smoothing it out. He had it slicked back today and he was regretting it, the gel he used was hurt his head because it was keep it in place so well. “Eye contact, Mr. Roberson. Remember eye contact.” James said when he noticed Chris had dropped his head. “I’m glad you realize that this is serious, Mr. Roberson, I’m your teacher I’m going to call you Chris. Do you object?” He grandfather had always preached staying distant from the students but James found that it wasn’t worth the effort.

“I’m glad you don’t want to hurt anyone Chris, it means that you aren’t a danger to people, but you have to realize that sometimes you can hurt people more when you don’t realize it then when you actually mean to.” James picked up a sticky note and made a paper airplane out of it. Chris’ next question made James pause.

“Well that depends, you stole a lot of money from some people right?” James paused for an answer. “You knew it was wrong but did it anyway. You were sent to a prison of some sort before being sent here. So, by definition that makes you a criminal, but a bad person? No, I don’t think you are. I mean I went here and I don’t think I’m a bad person.” James tossed the paper airplane and watched it fly before it fell rather suddenly to the floor. “Do you think you’re a bad person?” He asked curiously.

[chris]

Shaking his head to James question as in if he minded being called Chris he actually preferred it, calling him by his last name was far to formal for him, even at a place like this. His eyes also darted back at the headmaster but quickly fell again when he heard what the headmaster was saying and sort of did make him feel like a bad person, knowing what he did was apparently bad but knowing as soon as he got out of here he would be right back at it, it was his god given talent after all.

Chris was surprised to hear the headmaster admit that he came to this school and that was when his eyes really darted back too him and looked him in the eyes. When the headmaster admitted that he had a lot more respect for the man because it was somebody that could not be a role model to him. Did that mean Chris suddenly wanted to become a headmaster of a boarding school for delinquent kids? No way, he hated kids. But with the headmaster admitting that, Chris could now see somebody in his position could eventually become a respectful citizen when they grew older. It also meant he knew somebody smart enough to get to that position instead of the usually councilors who were just to busy with to many kids to care about him.

"Wait... you mean that you came here once and now you're the head master?" As impressed as Chris was the whole thought of that also made Chris chuckle. "You loved this place just that much you couldn't leave? That's kinda creepy sir." Chris then laughed for the first time loudly since he had got here, in fact it was the first time he had seriously laughed in quite some time. Where he came from laughing wasn't... encouraged.

[JEZ]

James had to bite back a laugh Chris seemed like a mixture of confused, impressed and amused. He knew that it was odd, here this kid was fresh out of the state’s lovely prison and thrust right into a school where all the new rules he just learned are useless. Now James wasn’t a psychologist by any means but even he knew that sometimes too much information was too much. It seemed like he had managed to ease the tension with his little not so secret, secret.

“Yep, I went to school here.” James smirked at Chris. “Creepy is it?” He asked teasingly before sitting back in his chair. “You know what’s really creepy, see that picture over there?” James pointed to a picture of the wall furthest from him. It was of an older man, who looked slightly like James. “That’s my grandfather James Edward Blackwood the 1st. He was the headmaster before I was he was a real strict guy. So what’s creepier, the fact I went here, and then came back to be headmaster or the fact that I learned how to steal from the various students here?”

James was curious as to what Chris would say next. While he was waiting he picked up another sticky note and folded it carefully. He held back a curse when he folded it wrong. Stupid paper. After fiddling with it a little more, James made a triumphant noise, and he sat a paper swan on the desk in front of him. He was terrible at origami but he could make a stupid bird.

[chris]

This brought up a lot of questions now that made Chris confused yet curious at the same time. What got him sent to this school growing up in a family with a father and grandfather that ran the place? Why would a family ever want to run this place by a family line? I wasn't a place he would considered exactly great to be proud of. Still, even Chris was wise enough to know that some strange things in the universe were better left unanswered and if this place was going to be good for him then it was better to to question the fine details that came along with it. The comment about stealing from the other students just sort of confused Chris even more. Chris had no real material possessions though, most of what he owned was taken away from him when he was arrested so the guy had nothing to be stolen, so once again better left he didn't ask any questions.

Scratching the back of his head to change the conversation, Chris looked at the clock to show that it was perhaps time for them both to move on before looking back at the headmaster. "Uh sir, you are a busy guy, I understand that, and perhaps it is best if I go see my dorm room soon, get to know who I am living with and a proper introduction before they just see me lying there and attack me with a knife." He knew that situation all to well. Not on his own but he had seen it in his cell. Anybody would get stabbed where he was for even looking at somebody the wrong way.

"Your family history is interesting... it sort of gives me a headache to even think about, but still intriguing... But uh..." He then sat there waiting for the headmaster to demand the next move.

[JEZ]

James sighed, “Sorry to bug you with the whole, family history kid.” James rubbed his forehead and nodded slightly. He needed to get more sleep at night. The past few days he had been up until four trying to make sure that everything was ready for the students to return. James wanted nothing more then to let his head fall onto the desk and just sit there but Chris was right he needed to send the kid on his way but first James had to make a few things perfectly clear.

“Chris, you don’t ever need to worry about being knifed here. If you ever feel like you’re in danger of being hurt I need you to come and tell me.” James wanted to make this perfectly clear. “I need you to promise me that you’ll come tell me Chris.” James sat forward in his seat. James rubbed his forehead and stood from his desk he walked around to the chair where Chris was sitting. “Repeat to me what I just asked you to do and then I will walk you out of the building so you can find your dorm.” It was always sort of a rite of passage for the kids to find the dorms on their own the first time. It allowed them to explore a little and meet new people. With the security staff out and about nothing bad would happen.

‘Promise me Chris,” James demanded looking at the boy, straight in the eye. He needed to know that the kid would come to find if anyone threatened him. He had kids do…really bad things when they were being threatened.