Read Seeds of Hate for Free Online Page B

his knee.
    "You're suspended until I invite you back onto this campus. You will handwrite an apology to Nathan and his parents for your disrespect and have it ready by the day your presence is required back. Understood?"
    I nodded once as my official reply.
    "Fine, you're dismissed." The wheels of his chair squeaked as he pulled himself up to his desk and began to work. I grabbed the edges of my pants by my knees, pulled them out to the side and curtsied like a Disney princess. Only the chime on his office door bid me goodbye.

    ***

    Shadows now lined the sidewalk, and the only sounds detectable were the clanking of dishes and the mumbling of families gathering for dinner again. I walked down the black asphalt, my bare feet wiggling against the chill and cleared my head of my impending doom at home. Focus on the things I could change, not the things that were out of my hands. Decisions. Mistakes. Past choices.
    If my father had taken responsibility of me, would who I am today differ very much or would I still be the same? I went through a period during my first year of elementary school where I repeatedly asked my mother, "Mama, why don't I have a dad?" The first time shocked her. She didn't have an answer prepared and returned my question with a question, "Want to go out for ice cream, mijo?"
    Naturally not one to push things, I accepted, until another week passed by and I asked her again. This time she had thought it over and figured out a concrete response. "Mijo, I have more than enough love for two parents." She got down on her knees and pulled me close to her chest, stroking my head all the way down the back of my neck. "Why does it bother you so much?" she asked, her eyes flicking around me, taking in the details of my appearance.
    "The other kids at school who don't have dads said they see them only on weekends or that they're dead. Is my dad dead? Or is he just busy on weekends?" I had asked.
    She didn't answer. Instead she kissed my cheek, wiped away her lipstick and stood up. "Javi, you don't have a dad. No more questions." And with that she returned to the kitchen, cooked dinner and I never asked again.
    I looked to my left and saw Gio walking up the stairs to his apartment. He caught my eye, looked down at my feet, frowned and walked on. He entered a dark apartment—no dinner, no mom, no dad.
    The light from our kitchen window still held my mother's silhouette. I put my slippers back on and headed home. My backpack dropped to the floor as I closed the door behind me. When I turned the corner, she stood waiting for me, her foot tapping silently against the linoleum.
    "I don't know your side, but either way it doesn't look good. I'm late and I know you hate hearing that, but it is what it is." She grabbed her purse after giving me a good hard stare.
    "We will discuss this later and I mean it. The school said you're suspended until further notice, Javi." I already knew this, but my mother had a way of wanting to repeat things. She rubbed her lower back and placed a plate of food for me in the microwave. "You have nothing I can take away and no important plans that I know of for the weekend, so I can only say this—no Gio." Her last word sucked the air out of me. No Gio?
    "Why are you punishing me by punishing him? That's not fair." I raised my voice—I had never spoken to my mother like this before.
    "And that's exactly why," she said, her hands digging through her purse. "Life isn't fair. Your choices affect others and that's not fair. I raised you better." She found her keys and left. I looked at the wall connecting my apartment to Gio's and walked over, placing my knuckles against the plaster. Lifting my hand, I stopped mid-air and brought it back to my side.
    Did she really raise me better? Or did she just want to believe she did.
    Two minutes ticked away and I wrestled with listening to my mom. I brought my hand back up to the wall and tapped twice. Footsteps shuffled on the other side in the distance and