✮Ｓｔｅｐｈａｎｉｅ✮

CH.11: JUDGEMENT

"Sh*t!" She exclaimed. She had probably forgot to lock herself in.

I studied her face and it was pale. She looked unwell and disturbed. The atmosphere was tense; I could not unsee what I had just seen.

It was uneath for my mind to process the whole situation.
I was indeed thunderstruck, but at the same time not so shocked that she would amount to that.

I saw the pills scattered everywhere and she had also been vaping nicotine.

She speedily hid all her stuff, tossing some out the window and covered herself. Then she jolted me from my state of shock by seizing my hand and threatening me vehemently.

"If you dare yammer about what you just saw to anyone, I will stab you until you slowly bleed to death," said Nicole. She pulled out a knife from her purse, used it to clarify her threat by pointing the object at my face.

How she had the gut to expose her addictions during school hours was a mystery. I thought that her minions had been guarding her by warding off the students from the bathroom... Well, I had access to the bathroom with normal ease.

I panicked and got lose from her tight grip and raced out of the bathroom. Nicole had definitely lost her mind! You crazy lunatic!

I ran with so much vigour that I didn't notice a boy who stood at a corner, attempting to use the guys' bathroom which was slightly linked with the girls' bathroom. I mindlessly bumped into him; that way, he fell and mightily dashed his forehead on a washbasin which caused him to pass out with an injury on his forehead.

I wasn't thinking straight at that moment, my urgent need to use the bathroom ceased as I ran out. I knew my heavy push would affect that boy somehow but I didn't stop to check if he was alright or go back to check up on him after I exited the bathroom. I was only concerned about getting away from Nicole who had already become a savage beast and even beheld the effrontery to lay a threat on me.

I was headed to the teachers' lounge to talk to a teacher concerning what I had unveiled and by a teacher, it obviously had to be Mrs Kayla. I took a rush over to meet her but then, she was nowhere to be found. The hall suddenly looked empty. I felt alone in a troubling situation, literally alone.

Nicole on the other hand wasn't as smart as I thought she was. She left the toilet with the knife unintentionally and fate led her to storm upon Mrs Kayla that second. Evidently, she was highly concentrated on getting me first. I could tell that Nicole was in a puzzled state with what happened to the boy I injured but before she could keep the knife away, Mrs Kayla caught her with it.

"Oh my God! What did you do?!" I heard Mrs Kayla say. She stooped to check the boy's temperature and Nicole stuttered, unable to defend herself. Just immediately, I walked back into the scene slowly and frightfully, and Nicole rapidly pointed an accusing finger at me—saying I was the one who got the boy injured.

Before making any more interrogations, Mrs Kayla got the attention of the school nurse and the boy was taken away for treatment.

"Now, before you start talking, I wanna know why you've got a knife with you," asked Mrs Kayla but Nicole couldn't give a rational explanation or a straight answer—she was heck evasive.

"Oh my God! I can't believe... Did you really get that boy injured with that knife?!" She asked and I innocently stood beside her, unable to say what truly happened.

Mrs Kayla actually never noticed the blood on the washbasin.

Nicole's minions then rushed into the scene with a facial expression of guilt. They had forgotten to protect their 'boss' by running off with the rest of the students whom I didn't see anywhere around. Something must have drawn everyone's attention, something dramatic.

"I did not! It was Stephanie," Nicole hurled. It then dawned on me that she was trying to get herself off the hook and paint me out to be the bad guy.

Although, it was truly my doing, but it was an accident and it happened as a result of Nicole's aggressive threat!

I knew that if I admitted being the one who caused him to pass out, I would have to elucidate why I ran in the first place and then end up saying I caught Nicole doing the abominable and I didn't want to get a participation ticket for school drama. I had to deny it because afterall, Nicole had always been a scunge and I knew anyone would believe me.

"No! Don't try to deny it, you are the one with the knife," I said and she bawled.

I wasn't thinking straight; it never occurred to me that the boy would eventually wake up and spill the truth and then I would be scolded for lying and would also displease Mrs Kayla and at last, it would have still led to me seeing Nicole using drugs and defiling herself by herself.

The girls noticed the blood on the washbasin and one of them took a picture of it. They didn't want to interfere in anything because Nicole still couldn't defend the reason for the knife.

I thought it all through and suddenly felt a rue. I wondered why I hadn't said it all in the first place without having to tell a single lie. Moreover, Nicole deserved to be punished for her crime and everyone deserved to know the truth about her. Moreover, that was my aim for heading to the teachers' lounge in the first place.

Mrs Kayla stood for me because she trusted me.

We were guided to the principal's office and the principal concluded the case by saying, "I would like to hear the victim's side of the story for conclusions. Nicole McGuire, I hope you are not guilty because you won't get away easy this time. You shall be expelled from this school if guilty."