Exposed Secrets Lead to New Secrets

Part 11

"Damn it!" Keene hissed through gritted teeth as he entered the main office lobby area and the files he had been carrying tucked under his arm slipped from his grasp and scattered across the freshly swept floor.

It was his fault for not carrying them properly he guessed.

But in his defense it was a little hard to carry files correctly when you had two apple cores and another fresh apple occupying both your hands.

Depositing both eaten apples in a nearby trash can, the beige-haired man walked back over to where his previously organized papers were still strewn across the tiled floor.

He grumbled a series of curses under his breath as he got down on his hands and knees to sweep papers back into their respective manilla folders with his free hand, sitting upright to hastily fix his round glasses that had slipped down his nose before standing back up again.

This time, he had the files safely in the grasp of his hand, an untouched apple still sitting in the other.

Luckily the amber-haired secretary who usually sat at the front desk wasn't there at the moment.

That would have been one embarrassing entrance.

Keene approached the door to the headmaster's office, shaking himself off from his minor delay and using the hand holding his apple to knock on the door with his knuckles.

"Come in." A deep, familiar voice sounded from inside the room immediately after he knocked.

The headmaster watched from his chair at his desk as the door clicked open and his head of security entered the room, the younger man greeting him with a cheerful "Good afternoon, sir" as he made his way over to him, Vaughn nodding in response.

"Good afternoon to you as well, Keene." The teal-haired man greeted back politely, lifting a white tea cup up to his lips to sip at its contents. "How's your day been?"

"Kind of odd if I'm being honest." Keene responded, letting a sigh escape his lips as he placed the two manilla folders he was holding down onto the older man's wooden desk. "I got the files you wanted by the way."

Vaughn set his tea cup down gently on the small white plate sitting on his desk, a soft clink chimed across both men's ears as glass made contact with glass.

"Hm. I see. Thank you." The middle-aged man glanced at the folders before him before sliding them off to the side to be looked through later. They weren't too important, but it was something he still had to do. "So what has happened today that's made your day 'odd'?" Vaughn asked passively, his green eyes holding a somewhat faraway look to them as he gazed straight ahead.

It always seemed that the man was thinking about something else rather than what he was talking or asking about in the present moment.

"Sometimes I feel like he isn't all there." Darren's words flashed through Keene's mind as he continued looking at the man before him.

He honestly sort of agreed with the school nurse. It was always a mystery as to what Vaughn was thinking about. He never gave any hints or clues even if you asked him.

"Well—" Keene started, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning his weight onto one leg— "It involves John."

At the mention of John, the teal-haired man suddenly snapped fully back to the present as he turned his head to lock eyes with the campus security guard. His expression was stoic, but the beige-haired man could see interest shining within his emerald eyes.

'Of course he's suddenly interested when John is mentioned.' Keene thought, a frown appearing on his face. Even though Vaughn had explained it to him, he was still having a hard time seeing why the headmaster showed so much interest in John. Especially since John just seemed to be continuously dragging the school even further into the ground.