President's Delinquent (&TEAM)

SIXTEEN

"What were you thinking?!" Taki's mother yelled.

Taki stayed silent, not wanting to reply.

"So you have nothing to say? You have brought shame to our family for doing such a thing. I can't believe it. My own son was beating up other kids. How long has this been going on for?" His mother questioned.

"A year and a half..." Taki muttered.

His mother's eyes widened in disbelief and she scoffed.

"You have some nerve doing that. You're grounded for the next two weeks. If I hear anything else, I won't hesitate to extend it. Now, go to your room!" His mother yelled.

Taki quickly scurried off to his room. His phone had been taken from him, so there was no way to communicate with Euijoo. As he closed the door, he fell to the floor. He held his legs to his chest and sobbed. He didn't want things to turn out this way.

– – – – – – – –

Taki got suspended?! Nicholas thought to himself in disbelief.

He stood up after hearing that the teacher, Euijoo, and Taki had left. He had eavesdropped on the entire scene.

Crap, what am I gonna do?

Nicholas ran into the building, trying to find the office that they went into. As he opened one of the doors, to his surprise, there was a student in it.

"Jo?" Nicholas called out.

The boy looked up and a smile crept onto his face.

"Nicholas! What are you still doing here?" Jo asked.

"I'm doing some things. Listen, did anyone happen to pass by just then?" Nicholas asked.

"No, why?"

Nicholas sighed in defeat as he looked at the ground. He felt horrible not being able to help Taki.

"Hey, what's wrong? You can tell me," Jo said, standing up and walking towards Nicholas.

"I don't think I should tell you-"

Nicholas was cut off by Jo dragging him to his seat, forcing him to sit down.

"Tell me what happened," Jo insisted.

Due to Jo's stubbornness, Nicholas was forced to tell Jo what had happened. He explained how his partner, Taki, got found out, and was suspended.

"How come you weren't called in?" Jo asked.

"Taki is the type to take all the blame for his friends. He wouldn't rat me out, but I feel bad about it," Nicholas sighed as he slumped in his seat.

Jo looked at the upset boy in sympathy. He lied on his desk, staring at the guy next to him.

"Can you not stare at me?" Nicholas asked, making eye contact with him.

"Wouldn't it be better if you just taught people how to defend for themselves, instead of helping them and getting into trouble?" Jo asked.

"Not this again. I knew I shouldn't have come in here," Nicholas said as he stood up and started walking towards the door.

"Wait, I didn't mean it like that," Before Jo could finish, Nicholas had already shut the door behind him.

As Nicholas walked down the hallway, his cheeks flushed pink. He felt like he could still feel Jo's stare.