Page 183 of The Compass Series

“You are in the public eye now, too, Aiden. This could’ve ruined any career opportunity if this got out to the press. Don’t you get it? You’re not allowed to behave like a regular kid because you are not regular. You are more. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You could’ve ruined everything I worked for,” he said.

“Everything you worked for?” Mom asked in a sarcastic tone.

Dad grumbled. “Everything we worked for. You know what I meant.” He cleared his throat. “And you will apologize to that boy. I will take you to his house, and I will make sure it happens.”

“What?! No fucking?—”

“Language!” he barked.

Fuck you , I silently replied.

I wished I had liked my father at that moment. I loved him, yes, but I wished I liked him.

In his eyes, I was my father’s biggest failure, and if anything, he hated the idea of failing.

He went on with the punishments and then left the room, leaving Mom and me sitting there alone. The space felt lighter whenever my father wasn’t around.

“He’s a dick,” I muttered.

Mom moved over and placed her hands on my cheeks. She looked at me with a smile soaked in sadness and gently touched my eye. I tensed up from the pain. “We need to ice that.”

“It’s fine,” I huffed. I had so much pent-up rage inside me that I felt as if I was going to burst.

“Your father loves you,” she claimed, getting up to get an ice pack from the kitchen. When she returned, she had it wrapped in a cloth. She sat back down and held it against my face. “He just has a hard time showing that kind of love.”

“He acts like I wanted to fight.”

“Did you?” she questioned.

“No. Of course not.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Did you?”

I sighed. “He called her names.”

“Called who names?”

“Hailee.”

Mom’s face softened as she pulled the cloth away from my eye for a moment. “What did he say?” She looked horrified when I told her and shook her head. “That’s disgusting. And familiar. I once had a guy who used to get caught up in fights for my honor, too.”

“Dad?”

She nodded. “More than once. His motto back then was punch first, talk later.”

I grumbled.

Hypocrite.

Mom smiled. “It wasn’t his right to do it, either. There are more ways to stand up for a woman you love than using your fists.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. It just seemed easier at that very moment.

Later that night, after dinner, the doorbell rang. Dad answered it to find Hailee standing there.

“Samuel, hi.” Hailee’s voice was coated in sweetness, something it always seemed to be. “I wanted to stop by and tell you that what happened at school wasn’t Aiden’s fault. If anything, he was protecting me from a jerk at school.”

“Now, Hailee, I know you’re always going to try to get Aiden out of trouble, but?—”

“He was calling me fat and ugly and gripped my arm hard, Samuel. He was humiliating me in front of the whole school. I know that fighting isn’t the right answer ever, and I know Aiden made a mistake, but he made it for me.

At the end of the day, I know you taught your son to stand up for what he believes in, for the right side, and that’s what Aiden did today.

He stood up for me when no one else would. I hope you understand that.”

She glanced toward the hallway leading to my bedroom and locked eyes with me for a second before a small smile found her lips. When she smiled, I smiled, too. Kind of a thing we did together.

“Thank you for the information, Hailee. I’ll take it into account,” Dad replied.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll take it into account,” I quietly mocked.

Hailee kept smiling. “Of course, sir. I also made you my special chocolate-chocolate chip cookies. Your favorite ones that I make for Christmas time each year.”

Dad grumbled a bit and crossed his arms. “With the big chocolate chunks?”

“The biggest ones, sir.”

He took the bag from Hailee as he thanked her for stopping by with more details on the incident that took place. Before she left, she looked up toward me once more. When I smiled, she smiled, too.

“Good night, Hailee,” Dad stated sternly, yet I knew his cold heart had thawed a little. If anyone was good at softening up my tough father, it was Hailee.

After Dad shut the front door, I hurried back to my bedroom and slid into my desk chair to make it appear as if I was working on my homework. It only took a few minutes for Dad to stand in my doorway holding the container of Hailee’s cookies.

He furrowed his brow and kept the hard look in his eyes. His shoulders were lower than before when he scolded me, and he looked a bit more relaxed—which didn’t say much. My father’s form of relaxation appeared like someone stressed out to the core.

He nodded once. “You’re still grounded. Do you understand me? No television, no cell phone, no internet.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But it might be best to avoid the apology at this time. Focus on your studies. You’ll need your grades to be good for the year. Plus, we want your image to stay unstained for your acting career.”

And that, folks, was how my father apologized.

“Yes, sir.”

“And don’t go causing any trouble for Hailee, you hear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And keep protecting her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Just not with your fists.”

“Yes, sir.”

He wiggled his nose and looked toward my bedroom window. “No climbing out of the window, either.”

The ultimate punishment for me. I was now unable to open my bedroom window to sneak over to Hailee’s and vice versa. I couldn’t even open my window to talk to her, which felt like the biggest punishment.

He cleared his throat. “Our choices in life have consequences. Think about that the next time you use your fists instead of your brain.” He turned to walk away.

Feeling brave, I called out to him. “Can I get a cookie?” I asked, knowing exactly how good Hailee’s baking skills were.

And with one word, he replied flatly as he continued his descent from my room. “No.”

The following week, I met Hailee at the bus stop where she held the straps of her backpack. We’d hardly communicated over the past few days, due to my punishment.

“How long are you grounded?” she asked.

“For five more days, but I don’t have to apologize to Carlton, thanks to your cookies. Speaking of cookies…”

She smiled as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a container for me. “I figured your dad wouldn’t share with you, so I made you a new batch.”

“That’s my girl.”

We took our seats on the bus.

“Hey, Aiden? Thanks again for standing up for me,” Hailee said, leaning her head against the slightly frosted window.

“I hate the fact that he thought he had the right to say that crap about you because you didn’t want to give him another chance.”

“I saw a phrase for that online. It’s called S.D.E.”

“S.D.E.?”

“Small dick energy.”

I snickered. “Makes sense.”

“Which would mean that you had B.D.E. for how you stood up for me.” I glanced up at her and saw her cheeks flushing over with nerves. “I’ll let you assume what that stands for.”