Think Before You Act
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:47 am
((Adonis Alba, Kyran Dean, and Gray Emerson continued from Whatever))
"Gentlemen," Mrs. Freeman said in a level voice before allowing the sentence to trail off. Pausing to put her thoughts in order, she began tapping her index finger on the blotter on her desk. She took in their stained and disheveled appearance and wondered what her lunch room looked like. She resigned herself to the flood of unhappy parental phone calls and emails that would arrive soon.
The silence in the room was oppressive and she wondered which of the boys seated before her would have the audacity to speak first. Her money was on Mr. Alba, given his track record. Although, when the parent constantly made excuses and justified the student's behavior, it was unfortunate that she could not hold the parent more responsible for the student's conduct.
Of all of the aspects of her job, this was the one she disliked most; having to look at those who were so close to the end and dash their hopes and expectations. Of course, it wasn't as if they were innocent little lambs being led to the slaughter. Even a modicum of common sense or reason would have prevented them from darkening her door.
She pursed her lips as she mentally tallied the amount of time and attention the clean-up would take away from the custodial staff's regular duties. Thanks to the most recent round of budget cuts, they had already had to scale back on the frequency which some of the rooms were being cleaned.
Leaning forward, Mrs. Freeman began again. "Gentlemen, and please be assured I am using that term most loosely when referencing you three, I cannot fathom what on Earth went through your minds during your incident in my cafeteria. One would assume that, as seniors, you would possess enough common sense or at least a strong enough sense of self-preservation that you would refrain from such behavior. However, I can see that not a one of you does, or else we would not be having this little...chat."
Mrs. Freeman stood up and began pacing behind her desk, never taking her eyes off the boys. "Do you three have any idea of the severity of what you have done? How your actions will affect the other students and staff here at this school? The kind of example you have set for you fellow classmates? I would ask you what you were thinking, but there is nothing you could say that would justify this."
She abruptly stopped and locked eyes with Alba, then Dean. "Fighting. Two well-known seniors, one of whom is on the football team, slugging it out in the middle of my cafeteria." Mrs. Freeman folded her arm across her chest as she peered down at the seated boys.
"Fighting," she reiterated sharply, "this close to the end of the year. You gentlemen must not want to participate in the senior privileges you have been working towards since you arrived at this school. You know the consequences for fighting, one of you better than the other."
Returning to her seat, she watched Adonis and Kyran dispassionately before pronouncing her verdict. "As is school policy, you two will be suspended for five days for mutual combativeness and placed on the Out of Activities list. This, of course, makes both of you ineligible to attend the Senior Prom. I sincerely hope today was worth it, gentlemen."
Folding her hands on her desk, she turned to Gray. "And you, Mister Emerson. Please do not think I have forgotten you, young sir," she promised as she turned her full attention to him.
"It is my understanding that you were witness to your friend's altercation, but you did nothing to stop him. You made no attempt to find a staff member to intervene, and according to some accounts, you are the reason the whole situation escalated in the first place. And all of this is in addition to being one of the first participants to wantonly fling food about my cafeteria. As one of the progenitors of today's incident, Mr. Emerson, it seems only fair that you deal with the ramifications of your actions."
Mrs. Freeman plucked a pen from its holder and quickly filled out a form. With a practiced motion, she pulled off the top copy, revealing the colored carbons underneath. She handed it to Gray.
"Gray Emerson, for your role in today's activities, you will serve three hours of detention under the supervision of the head custodian and Mr. Morgan. It will take the custodial staff at least that long to clean up the cafeteria. That is three hours taken away from other portions of our campus. It is only logical that you work to remedy that situation."
With more force than necessary, Mrs. Freeman returned the pen to its holder. Slowly standing to her full six foot height, she looked down at the trio before her.
"Gentlemen, that concludes this little talk. Be aware that I will be watching each of you, and if you so much as put the tip of a toe over the line, I will bust you so fast your head will spin. Now get out of my office," she icily commanded.
As the staff has repeatedly stressed, actions have consequences. Adonis Alba and Kyran Dean are suspended for five days. Gray Emerson must serve a detention period.
In OOC terms, Adonis Alba and Kyran Dean may not post in any School threads for three weeks. For the sake of bookkeeping, this means that their ban expires noon Pacific time on Friday July 13th. They are also prohibited from posting in the Prom thread. They may participate in pre-Prom threads and post-Prom threads, but they are not permitted in Prom itself.
Gray Emerson's next thread must be Gray serving his detention. Other characters are permitted to interact with Gray, but it must be set after school.
Failure to comply will result in consequences to be determined by the staff team.
"Gentlemen," Mrs. Freeman said in a level voice before allowing the sentence to trail off. Pausing to put her thoughts in order, she began tapping her index finger on the blotter on her desk. She took in their stained and disheveled appearance and wondered what her lunch room looked like. She resigned herself to the flood of unhappy parental phone calls and emails that would arrive soon.
The silence in the room was oppressive and she wondered which of the boys seated before her would have the audacity to speak first. Her money was on Mr. Alba, given his track record. Although, when the parent constantly made excuses and justified the student's behavior, it was unfortunate that she could not hold the parent more responsible for the student's conduct.
Of all of the aspects of her job, this was the one she disliked most; having to look at those who were so close to the end and dash their hopes and expectations. Of course, it wasn't as if they were innocent little lambs being led to the slaughter. Even a modicum of common sense or reason would have prevented them from darkening her door.
She pursed her lips as she mentally tallied the amount of time and attention the clean-up would take away from the custodial staff's regular duties. Thanks to the most recent round of budget cuts, they had already had to scale back on the frequency which some of the rooms were being cleaned.
Leaning forward, Mrs. Freeman began again. "Gentlemen, and please be assured I am using that term most loosely when referencing you three, I cannot fathom what on Earth went through your minds during your incident in my cafeteria. One would assume that, as seniors, you would possess enough common sense or at least a strong enough sense of self-preservation that you would refrain from such behavior. However, I can see that not a one of you does, or else we would not be having this little...chat."
Mrs. Freeman stood up and began pacing behind her desk, never taking her eyes off the boys. "Do you three have any idea of the severity of what you have done? How your actions will affect the other students and staff here at this school? The kind of example you have set for you fellow classmates? I would ask you what you were thinking, but there is nothing you could say that would justify this."
She abruptly stopped and locked eyes with Alba, then Dean. "Fighting. Two well-known seniors, one of whom is on the football team, slugging it out in the middle of my cafeteria." Mrs. Freeman folded her arm across her chest as she peered down at the seated boys.
"Fighting," she reiterated sharply, "this close to the end of the year. You gentlemen must not want to participate in the senior privileges you have been working towards since you arrived at this school. You know the consequences for fighting, one of you better than the other."
Returning to her seat, she watched Adonis and Kyran dispassionately before pronouncing her verdict. "As is school policy, you two will be suspended for five days for mutual combativeness and placed on the Out of Activities list. This, of course, makes both of you ineligible to attend the Senior Prom. I sincerely hope today was worth it, gentlemen."
Folding her hands on her desk, she turned to Gray. "And you, Mister Emerson. Please do not think I have forgotten you, young sir," she promised as she turned her full attention to him.
"It is my understanding that you were witness to your friend's altercation, but you did nothing to stop him. You made no attempt to find a staff member to intervene, and according to some accounts, you are the reason the whole situation escalated in the first place. And all of this is in addition to being one of the first participants to wantonly fling food about my cafeteria. As one of the progenitors of today's incident, Mr. Emerson, it seems only fair that you deal with the ramifications of your actions."
Mrs. Freeman plucked a pen from its holder and quickly filled out a form. With a practiced motion, she pulled off the top copy, revealing the colored carbons underneath. She handed it to Gray.
"Gray Emerson, for your role in today's activities, you will serve three hours of detention under the supervision of the head custodian and Mr. Morgan. It will take the custodial staff at least that long to clean up the cafeteria. That is three hours taken away from other portions of our campus. It is only logical that you work to remedy that situation."
With more force than necessary, Mrs. Freeman returned the pen to its holder. Slowly standing to her full six foot height, she looked down at the trio before her.
"Gentlemen, that concludes this little talk. Be aware that I will be watching each of you, and if you so much as put the tip of a toe over the line, I will bust you so fast your head will spin. Now get out of my office," she icily commanded.
As the staff has repeatedly stressed, actions have consequences. Adonis Alba and Kyran Dean are suspended for five days. Gray Emerson must serve a detention period.
In OOC terms, Adonis Alba and Kyran Dean may not post in any School threads for three weeks. For the sake of bookkeeping, this means that their ban expires noon Pacific time on Friday July 13th. They are also prohibited from posting in the Prom thread. They may participate in pre-Prom threads and post-Prom threads, but they are not permitted in Prom itself.
Gray Emerson's next thread must be Gray serving his detention. Other characters are permitted to interact with Gray, but it must be set after school.
Failure to comply will result in consequences to be determined by the staff team.