Schroker County's Most Respectful Adolescent

Themes: mind control, freeuse

DISCLAIMER: THIS WORLD'S SCHOOL SYSTEM IS NOT BE MADE OUT TO BE A 1:1 REPRESENTATION OF THE ONE THAT WE ARE FAMILIAR WITH, I.E., THE AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM. ALTHOUGH THE STORY IS SET AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW SCHOOL YEAR, ALL SENIORS ARE 18 YEARS OF AGE, NOT 17 YEARS OF AGE. AND IF IT ISN'T OBVIOUS ENOUGH, EVERYONE'S AGE IN THIS STORY IS 18+. I'M TURNING MY CAPS LOCK OFF NOW.

There they were, going down the stairs with no indication of haste, looking as if they had cinder blocks binded to their person. Màximo Jorvias, a young Hispanic male that had just begrudgingly moved out of the state he grew up in with his family to some rural county, forcing him to have to transfer to a new high school despite being in his fourth and final year. This was Màximo's second day at Elvin H. Jackson High School, but that didn't mean anything to him when he got called on in class to answer a question he wasn't paying attention to and decided to get angry at the teacher for making him look like a fool when he asked for the question to be repeated, saying no and that he should've been paying attention, leading to Màximo making a remark that he wanted him to hear and doubling down on it when the teacher told him to not behave that way, landing him a visit to the principal.

Getting down the stairs, Màximo opened the door and went for the office. Entering the almost quiet hub, Màximo was immediately greeted by an old Black lady behind a desk.

"What can I help you with, young man?" she asked, smiling at the seething Màximo.

"I'm Màximo. Mr.Davies sent me here to speak with the principal." he said, not looking the woman in her eyes as he spoke.

"His office is right there. He'll be with you in a moment." she told him with a finger pointed at the door.

Màximo made his way around the desk, passing by the other adults that were working as he walked toward the door. He grabbed the loose knob and gave it a big turn, the thought of it not going to open because of some malfunction with the simple mechanism popping briefly into his mind before getting eliminated as he opened the heavy door. Pushing his way in, he slipped through door instead of having it substantially opened because it was so annoyingly heavy. He let the door slam behind him as he walked around the armchair positioned in front of the messy desk that belonged to the seemingly busy principal, get in the way of its nice and shiny wooden finish. Màximo sat down in the comfy leather chair, resting his body over its side as he waited for the head of this accursed school.

Some minutes passed of Màximo looking around the room at the framed photos on the wall and other material possessions until finally he heard the door open. Màximo stayed still, the sudden sound not making him budge in the slightest. After the slam of the door came, he heard the principal's footsteps coming from behind him, making their way closer to the side opposite of where he had his body leaned to.

"Good morning, Màximo." a friendly voice spoke out to the sour youth, "I am Principal Canter." the fifty-something White man dressed in a tan three-piece suit introduced himself to Màximo with his hand extended out and a nice smile which was surrounded by a brown goatee, his 6'1 height reminding Màximo that he was 5'5.

Màximo did the bare minimum of movement, only shifting his eyes to the right to look at him with that mean mug of his. Màximo wasn't necessarily quick to shake the principal's hand, but not wanting to exacerbate the situation, he reached up and lackadaisically took his hand, receiving in return a mighty firm grip and a quick shake, causing a little bit of physical discomfort for him.

"Màximo..." the principal made his way around his desk and took a seat in the big, fancy leather chair, "Màximo, I wanna let you know that I am not mad at you. I can't be mad at you, it would very much be inconsiderate, no?" he said, giving Màximo a face of question as if to request confirmation.

"I guess." Màximo responded, shrugging his shoulders.

"Now Max— can I call you Max?"

"No." he said bluntly, not caring for the authority the man had over him.

"My apologies then, Màximo." he took a deep breath, "I can tell you're a good kid, especially from your records. And y'know... I get why you did what you did."

A break of silence ensues.

"You're obviously upset about you moving to a place you're unfamiliar with. From the city to here, I'd be hard-pressed, too. Is what I'm saying on the right track?"

"Sure." he continued to speak in a deliberately monotone voice

"Good! That's good. Um..." the principal looks down to his right as he is thinking of what to say next, "and I fully understand that where you might've come from would not mix well with the culture that we have here in Schroker County. Do you have any clue what we value the most here in Schroker?" he asks, quizzically looking at Màximo.

"Nah."

"Respect. Respect is what we value here the most, and probably more than anywhere else on this god-blessed planet. You gettin' me?"

"Sure." Màximo answers, thinking what the principal is going on about is some generic bullshit.

"Respect here is infallible. Everyone in this county gets along because of how selfless the residents are and how much we understand that respecting each other is vital to a healthy way of living, so much so that no crimes are committed and interpersonal disputes over conflicting views or deviations from the norm are very rare and are always handled in a cordial way. Am I going too fast here?"

Màximo shakes his head.

"Great! So Màximo... you can tell that I am pretty much asking you to be respectful. It will make your new life here MUCH easier." the principal said with a kind smile on his face.

"You talk about 'respect', yet the way the teacher treated me in class didn't seem to be so respectful. There's a disconnect here." Màximo finally gives a sentence that contains more than three words.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." the principal gives Màximo a look of doubt, "Mr.Davies would never do something disrespectful. I'd wager that the way he treated you was done so very respectfully."

"I'd wager you're sorely mistaken. I was there." Màximo presses the attack.

"Well, if that's how you feel Màximo, then I won't tell you otherwise. Your feelings are your feelings, so I won't try to change them. Just please be respectful while you are here, okay?" Canter says, opening a drawer down on his left and reaching inside it.

"Fuck you, respectfully." Màximo says under his breath whilst the principal isn't looking at him.

"Yes! Fuck me, respectfully. I'm glad to see you're adopting the Schroker way, Màximo." the principal closes the drawer and looks at Màximo with a face of moderate elation as he unwraps a peppermint candy.

"What?" Màximo says, taken aback by the words that just left Canter's mouth.

"I said 'Fuck me, respectfully.' because you said, 'Fuck you, respectfully.' I was expressing joy in you clearly understanding what I've been telling you." he explains, throwing the mint into his mouth.

Màximo—very much confused—shakes his head and asks, "You're okay with me saying fuck you?"

"Only when it's said out of respect. We must be civil now."

Perplexed by this very odd response to something that wasn't even supposed to be heard, Màximo tries to process what just happened. The obvious look of great confusion as his eyes are fixed on the floor get the attention of the principal.

"Something wrong?"

"So you're telling me that everything is okay in this county so long as it's respectful?"

With a delighted smile on his face, the principal says, "It's what I've been saying this whole time my dear boy. A very smart person like you should be going back to class now."

Seeing as how he just got away with cursing at the principal, a curious little experiment pops into Màximo's head, that experiment being to see how this "respect" thing works.

"Principal Canter, your mug sucks!" Màximo insults the principal's mug which has some tacky text written on it.

"Màximo, that is extremely rude. Please cut that behavior out or else I will have to give you a detention slip." the principal expresses his slight disappointment after having gone through what they just went through.

"But respectfully. I mean what I just said in a respectful manner." Màximo adds.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry that I didn't catch that." Canter picks up the mug and reads it, "'What perseverance tastes like', yeah I suppose it is a bit lame, but it was a gift from my sister-in-law, so it's kinda special to me." the principal's mood changes back to a cheerful one as he has been reassured that what he and Màximo talked about wasn't all for naught.

"Ayo Canter, I would like to respectfully say that I hate your bowtie. It's fucking cornier than the elote I had last night. I say this with all due respect... bitch-boy." Màximo tells Canter, even having the audacity to address him informally and add some curses in his sentence.

The principal frowns and looks down at the accessory in question, "Yeah, it ain't my favorite either, haha!" he replies, his eyes closed and teeth bared as he finds it funny that another person doesn't really like that aspect of his wardrobe.

"(Holy shit, he's just going along with everything I do!)" Màximo thinks.

Understanding that with an easy bit of purposeful syntax around the word "respect", he can have things turn out good for him, he decides to see if he can get things by respectfully asking.

"I respectfully ask that you give me your phone and let me have it forever." Màximo boldly says, holding an open hand out in front of Canter.

"Of course. You sure are shaping up to be a model citizen." Canter says, reaching into his pocket.

With no hesitation being shown on his end at all, Canter places his expensive smartphone in Màximo's hand, making Màximo's eyes widen at the costly hardware.

"Woah, is this the newest model that came out this week?!" Màximo asks as he inspects the device.

"Yup."

"And— and it's mine?!"

"Under total ownership of Màximo Jorvias." Canter confirms.

As great as it was to have this phone be now his for the price of $FREE.99, Màximo felt like a thief doing this, especially since there could be so much valuable information on it that is essential for the principal's livelihood.

"I respectfully ask that you take this phone back and keep it as your own for however long you see fit." he says, handing back the phone to Canter.

"Okay." the principal takes back the phone as casually as he gave it.

As Màximo watches the principal slip his reclaimed phone back into his pocket, he gets the idea to test if he can take things by saying that he's going to do it respectfully.

"I will now respectfully take your wallet and make it my property forever along with whatever is in it." Màximo states, feeling at ease as he does so thanks to the idea being based on proof that tells him nothing should go wrong.

The principal nods his head and just sits in his chair without saying a word. Màximo gets up slowly and goes around the desk where he then searches Canter's person, eventually finding his leather wallet and taking it out from his pocket. He looks in it and sees an ample amount of cash.

"How much do you make a year? I'm asking this with respect."

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, 107,000." Canter discloses his wealth to a student without any regret.

Hearing this, Màximoand decides to take a $10 bill from his wallet, only because he lost a $10 bill of his own during the move and thinks that this subtraction won't hurt the principal in any significant way, seeing as how he has a plenty amount of cash on him.

"I'm respectfully keeping the ten bucks." he says, pocketing the cash, "You keep this wallet and its contents as your own for however long you see fit." he says, handing the wallet back to him.

"Understood."

"...I'ma go back to class now."

"Right! Have a good day now, Màximo. You're doing a fanTASTIC job at being respectful!" Canter says, giving him a thumbs up.

"Yeah." Màximo turns around and heads for the door, but stops as he places his hand on its knob, looking back at the principal to say, "Hey, will my parents be contacted about any of this?" he asks, just so he can know if he's in the clear for not just his rude behavior, but also for everything he's done in the office.

"No, not at all. Just be on your best behavior from now on."

"Alright. Cool." Màximo looks forward and twists the loose knob, but doesn't open the door as something else has entered his mind, making him look back again at the smiling Canter, "Yo, I would like to respectfully say: suck my DICK! Suck my fucking dick, respectfully!" he confidently says to the principal without an ounce of worry as he stands his ground looking at the man of authority, waiting to get a response from him.

"Alright." Canter replies, swiveling his chair to the side and getting up out of it.

Canter walks over to the confused Màximo who just watches, wondering what he's about to do. Far from what the naïve Màximo imagined his principal would do, Canter gets down on his knees in front of Màximo and reaches for the student's shorts, startling Màximo.

"HEY, WOAH! WHA— WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP! I TELL YOU RESPECTFULLY TO STOP! RESPECTFULLY, RESPECTFULLY!" Màximo yells and escapes to the other side of the room.

"Huh, why? What seems to be the matter, Màximo?" the principal who is now very concerned asks.

Màximo, still in shock, quickly evaluates the situation, clearly seeing that he's the one in the wrong for acting this way since he did respectfully tell him to suck his dick as an insult, forgetting that since he told him to do it respectfully, he was going to take him literally.

"It's nothing... I apologize for my outburst." Màximo says, showing remorse for the first time during this whole interaction.

The principal gets back on his feet and goes to the door, opening it and pointing his hand toward the way out. Màximoto, still a bit shaken by almost getting a blowjob from his principal, gets himself together and walks to the door. He passes Canter and goes through the door, Canter patting him on the back as he exits, causing Màximo to jump a little on the inside, feeling like his principal has a thing for him now, even though that is not the case.

"(Fuck me, that was crazy!)" Màximo thinks to himself. Màximo looks around the room at the faculty going about their business, "(Wait... I can totally get anything and all I want from these folks...)" Màximo comprehends the situation he's in.