The Deep End

I knew Greg would go off the deep end as soon as the story dropped.  I knew I had to prepare.  But I didn’t know how to. Even though we had been friends for years, I still didn’t know how he would react to certain situations. Half the time I didn’t think he was really telling me the truth about what when on at home and why he missed school as much as he did. I didn’t know how he could possibly be passing any of his classes when he only went to class three times a week. At most. 

I don’t think his parents had money they had donated to the school, but otherwise, I didn’t understand why he was never reprimanded by the school administrators or our teachers for his unexcused absences. By the time we hit ninth grade, I was determined to find out how he was getting away with it. I was envious that not only was he able to miss large amounts of school with no explanations, but also didn’t seem to have anything to show for it. I had plenty of things I could do with my time if I only had to go to school three days a week. But if I ever even missed one class, the attendance secretary was calling my dad at work and I usually ended up grounding for the weekend. 

I had to know how Greg got away with it. How he did it. The next time I had dinner at his house, I had to find a way to sneak around his room. Or maybe his dad had an office where I could look through his desk drawers. I just needed to come up with a plan where I could be in his room, alone, without him being suspicious. All my planning went to naught when he asked me to dogsit while he and his family were out of town. I finally had my chance to look through the house without disruption. My dreams came true when I finally found out why Greg was missing so much school, I just wasn’t expecting to get caught with the video cameras set up throughout the house.