Thank you @Meitorei for the beautiful poster!
And a shout out to @tvesha04 for writing Millie's eulogy in last chapter's comment section: "Here lies Mildred Ripley, Messiah to raccoons, Grim reaper to laptops and a Comedic muse to mafia men. Now reunited with Winnifred"
~Please vote~
Chapter 92: Long List
RIP Cearra, you will be missed. I loved you dearly, but nowhere near as much as you loved BTS.
It had started out with good intentions. Months ago, Austin convinced Cearra's mom that she should come to Dubai with us. He succeeded, by pretending to be Chad's dad and putting on an accent.
A Swedish accent.
And now the house of cards was crashing down. Not just for Cearra, but for the rest of us too. The Principal said she would punish everyone and that it would impact our academic records.
I didn't grow up in the warmest of homes. Literally, we didn't have heating for a few years until my mom started earning more. I always told myself that if I studied hard enough, I could get a better life. But I got distracted. My grades were sinking and here we all were.
"Sweden?" Chad's dad asked, "What does that have to do with anything?"
"It's a figure of speech," Chad said.
"It's not," Cearra's mom replied, "I'm dead serious."
Chad's dad took a moment before he replied, "I don't know how this would be handled in Sweden, but I'm trying to get my son out of trouble in this country, and I understand you're trying to do the same for your daughter."
Cearra went into a meltdown and dropped into her chair. Austin turned his head away, trying to keep a low profile. And I tried to keep so straight faced that my eye started to twitch.
They were moments away from being busted.
"Except that it sounds like my daughter had a very small part to play in this incident, unlike your son and his whip," she gave Chad the side eye, "But he's getting away with it because of your bank account, while my daughter is still in the hot seat. That's the definition of privilege."
New voices sounded outside, interrupting the debate.
"Gloria, it's this way. Trust me, I know my way around this school," a voice said, "I've been here enough times by now."
I perked up the moment I recognized her voice. A few seconds later, the door swung open and Dr Taylor walked in with Gloria. Before the door shut behind them, I saw Doz's face in the hallway, trying to peek in.
Dr Taylor was wearing blue hospital scrubs. She waved at the Principal like they knew each other and marched towards her son, "Austin Taylor, what did you do now?"
They swarmed him; Gloria started patting his hair down while his mom tried to adjust his shirt. Austin brushed them off, but couldn't say anything. He still wasn't speaking in front of Cearra's mom. He glanced over at Luke and Chad, his eyes pleading for help.
Luke got the cue and said, "Dr Taylor, there's been a misunderstanding."
"There's always a misunderstanding when it comes to you three," she replied, "I know my son and if he's in this office, he's probably done something wrong."
"At least someone is admitting it," Art muttered from his chair, before his dad glared at him to stay quiet.
"Can we wrap this up?" Mr Dawson asked, "I have an appointment at four that I don't want to miss."
Everyone turned to Principal Lee who was now just standing there.
"I hate my job," she sighed, and placed her notebook against the table, "Perhaps I need to remind you all that this school is built to educate children and keep them safe. Today, we failed in that mission, so I need to hold someone or multiple people accountable for what happened. It's school policy and it's the right thing to do."
I'd like to look at that school policy. Bullying isn't just physical, and I haven't seen any existence of this 'no-tolerance' policy supporting emotional harassment. I tried to get help multiple times freshman year, but was told that it's too hard to prove.
Over time, verbal bullying has destroyed my self-confidence and heightened my trust issues. I can readily admit that Luke has helped me open my eyes to that and helped me start to rebuild. But it's a long road to walk back up.
Coach Griffith said, "With all due respect, Principal, we agreed that I will handle the punishment of my own players-"
"I now need to revisit that agreement," she said, pointing at the rest of us who were not part of his 'team.'
It was ridiculous that Luke and Chad had been about to walk out of here free of any repercussions.
"Suspension and expulsion are on the table for everyone," she repeated, "Now you either confess or I'll have to determine who willingly participated in the bullying. We have witness statements that describe everything."
Jokes had died down now.
The boys had been so used to getting out of trouble; they knew how to work the system. But this time was different. Hate Kaden all we want, but Luke hurt him on school grounds. I know Kaden had bad intentions, but you can't right a wrong with another wrong.
Arturo's dad asked respectfully, "How will you approach this, Principal?"
"I'll ask each of you to recount what happened. I'll have to separate you since I think there's a lot of peer pressure in this group," she said, staring directly at Luke, "To be honest, it's not looking good for you kids. School records will be affected."
"You make them sound like they're guilty already," Mrs Dawson criticized, though she sounded incredibly concerned.
Everyone seemed concerned. Finally. We needed to start giving this situation the attention it deserves.
"These kids are in serious trouble," the Principal replied to Mrs Dawson, "I am not trying to be cruel to your children, but you have to understand that it is my job to make this school a safe place. We cannot have people being punched and thrown around a room. And if we can't settle this here today, we'll take it to the school board."
She took her seat behind the large desk, since Chad's father was no longer occupying it. It creaked as she sat back. Everyone watched her collect her files into one stack, waiting for the next step. She had control.
Until Luke spoke out.
With his arm resting against his chair, he calmly said, "It sounds like you haven't heard enough."
"Ssh," his mother whispered, trying to get him to lay low, "Luke, now is not the time."
The Principal leaned forward, "You, young man, are in the worst position out of all your friends. I'd stay quiet if I were you."
"These witnesses have talked," Luke replied, "So why can't I? I'm a witness too."
Principal Lee raised the picture of Kaden's bruised rib cage and arm, "Do you think this photo is a joke, Mr Dawson?"
Dr Taylor gasped at the photo, "What is happening in this school?!"
Cearra's mom leaned over to bring Dr Taylor and Gloria up to speed. The tension in the room was high as the gravity of the situation had finally come to grips with everyone.
Everyone except Luke, apparently.
"Is this ridiculous to you, Luke?" the Principal repeated, waving the picture emphatically.
"No," he answered and his sharp blue eyes kept a firm gaze on her, "But neither is accusing us without proper evidence. I'm willing to bet that your witnesses are two people," he said and pointed at the picture, "That's one. And I have a good idea who the other is."
Principal Lee lowered the picture, "Let me guess; your new plan is to intimidate the witnesses?"
Luke took his time before he said the next part.
"No," he said, "But if you do your job properly, you'd collect statements from all the witnesses. There were a lot more people in that court today, other than the two who hate us. Why don't you ask around before you round us up and expel us?"
The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.
The Principal's nostrils flared while she digested the information. Her eyes shifted across the room as she looked at the parents, trying to judge their reaction.
Then, she asked, "Is there any reason the witnesses I have could be unreliable?"
Luke shrugged, "Hard to say when you want to keep them anonymous, but if one of them is Millie's ex-boyfriend and the other is her former friend, then yes. There's a long list of reasons they could be unreliable."
Again, silence.
Coach Griffith took the cap off his head and scratched his bald patch. "Woah."
**
The silence continued for a long time. The Principal agreed to call in the other onlookers who had been at the basketball court this afternoon to hear their versions of the story.
We were not allowed to leave until then and Mr Dawson had to cancel his 4pm appointment.
One by one we watched people enter the Principal's office, give their ten-minute account of what happened, and then leave. We sat beside our parents, not saying a word, while this took place.
And every single person we watched walk in... was part of the basketball team.
Luke was standing by himself, leaning against a wall. His arms crossed over his chest and, again, his expression did not reveal much of what he was thinking.
He still looked calm about the whole situation, even though he'd delivered some very cold blows.
The Principal's door opened, and we heard her voice say, "Thank you for your statement."
"No problem," came the response before O'Conner walked out.
O'Conner walked down the hallway, wearing his basketball jersey, and keeping his eyes straight ahead. When he passed Luke, I saw his right hand discretely move into the hook 'em horns sign.
Luke's eyes glanced down at them and then away.
Those boys...
I had no words for what I was witnessing.
I remembered earlier today when Cearra and I struggled to get into the basketball court in the first place. Two players were guarding the door, stopping anyone from entering. I also remembered Austin telling us not to stay. And then I remembered thinking how cruel it was of Luke to publicly humiliate Kaden on top of the unnecessary aggression.
But now I understood.
Luke had his team members sit on the stands, not as onlookers, but as witnesses. Because if Kaden tried to retaliate by getting Luke expelled, Luke would have back up.
He's smart, there's no denying that. Luke's smart, strategic and he's subtle.
But I don't feel comfortable because none of this felt right.
**
I was staring down at my hands when the Principal's door opened again. A lot of movement ensued as everyone gathered around to hear what she would say, but I stayed still.
I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open.
I felt awful. Partly because I drank alcohol this morning on an empty stomach. Partly because I watched my boyfriend beat someone up. And partly because I felt like a bad human.
The right thing is for all of us to be punished – including Kaden. None of us are good people in this chain of events. Sure, Kaden started it but look how we finished it.
And yet, here I was, incapable of doing anything about it. The Principal said Luke would lose his spot in college if he was responsible for hitting Kaden. And I couldn't do that to him. I love Luke too much to ever want to hurt him. So I was keeping my mouth shut...
And that made me complicit.
**
"Millie, come on. Come on!" Cearra whispered, nudging me up.
I looked up around me and saw parents with happier expressions. My mom was talking to Doz and Cearra's mom was talking to Luke's dad. It seemed like the tension had lifted.
I didn't feel the same way.
Cearra yanked me along to join Chad, Austin and Luke, who were standing away from everyone else. As we walked towards them, we overheard their conversation.
"Why is your dealer a grown man?"
"He has the best sh*t at a good price."
"Is it awkward if we go up to him and ask?"
"Hey guys," Cearra said, entering the conversation with a grouchy me behind her, "I can't believe we got out of this. I was so sure we were done for."
I avoided looking at Luke. I didn't know how I would react. I didn't know how to process this.
And then I tried to hide my yawn behind my hand. After all the events of today, what I needed more than anything, was a bed. Any bed would do. Even a chair would be fine.
It was so much effort to stay awake.
Austin said, "Who came up with Chad's whip? I need to thank them."
Cearra joked, "Maybe Kaden's kinky."
"It was a skipping rope," Chad clarified, "Shame, we were having such a good time before someone came along..." He sighed and slowly turned to look at me.
"I ruined it?" I asked, shocked that he would blame me for interrupting their bullying.
Luke explained, "Millie wanted us to do a Q&A session with Kaden instead."
Oh that little-
"Can we leave now?" Chad asked, switching subjects pretty easily, "After the principal said we were innocent, I stopped listening. What are we waiting for?"
"She didn't say that," Cearra answered, "She said that none of the new witnesses supported Kaden and Julia's version of the story, but there's still one person left to ask."
"Who?"
"Arturo," Cearra said, "Apparently, Kaden and Julia mentioned that Art had been bullied too. Principal Lee wanted to see if at least he sides with their version of the story."
"So Art's in there now?" I asked, looking round the room to check.
Luke has been giving Art a hard time ever since the jersey incident. Wouldn't this be Art's chance for payback?
"He's not going to talk," Luke said, seeing my reaction, "Art isn't going to go screaming to anyone. We have our differences, but we handle them directly."
"Unlike your ex the snitch," Chad said, shaking his head, "You really know how to pick 'em."
"Chad," Luke said, "If you make one more joke about Millie's ex-boyfriend, I'll show you how hard I can throw a basketball."
"Luke!" I snapped, keeping my voice very low so that no one else could hear, "Can you not threaten anyone please? We're still in the Principal's office for the first time you tried that."
Luke raised his hands in surrender.
"Code red," Austin told us, staring over us with widening eyes as Cearra's mom walked to Chad's dad.
I had completely forgotten about Austin's phone call.
"What do we do?!" Cearra freaked out, flapping her hands while watching the adults approach each other.
"Go over there," Austin told Luke, "You know I can't say anything."
Luke and Chad didn't hesitate. They swept in between the parents and tried to intersect Cearra's mom.
Chad went straight for his dad, drawing attention to his watch, "You're late, dad. Don't you need to be somewhere important?"
And Luke appeared in front of Cearra's mom, "Sorry to ambush you like this, but I just wanted to say that you have a very kind daughter."
"How sweet of you, Luke," Cearra's mom replied, stopping to talk to him, "I'm sure a dozen girls have said that to you before and I'm just not so sure how innocent you are."
"I'm well intentioned," he replied, with a hint of a smirk.
Cearra was holding onto me so tightly I thought my arm would break off.
She leaned over, "I can't believe Luke Dawson is trying to cover up for me!"
"He's a master at that, apparently," I muttered bitterly, still not over Luke's clean diversion of the bullying incident.
We watched the conversation continue, until Cearra's mom loudly called out to Chad's dad, "Mr Chadwick, there are no hard feelings. You took good care of my daughter in Dubai, so I appreciate that."
Luke rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at me. He was worried that this would be the moment everything unravelled for Austin and Cearra.
There was not much we could do about it now. Chad was waving his rolex in his father's face, trying to convince him of some invisible appointment, but his father wasn't going to leave until the Principal cleared the situation.
"You're welcome. They're a lively group of friends, but at least they have each other," Mr Chadwick answered, undoubtedly thinking of the time we destroyed his dinner in Dubai.
"We live and we learn," Cearra's mom nodded and turned to collect Cece.
Before she did, Chad's dad asked one more question, "By the way, what's your connection to Sweden? You mentioned it a couple times earlier and there was that Swedish present you gave me in Dubai."
Cearra's mom turned back and smiled, "No connection at all. I come from Louisiana, but I heard you were Swedish and wanted to send a small token of gratitude."
"Right, right," Chad's dad nodded, and then tilted his head, "I'm not Swedish though."
"What do you mean?" Cearra's mom also tilted her head.
Like two parrots mirroring each other.
"I'm not Swedish," Chad's dad repeated, really rubbing it in now, "Not even a little bit."
Cearra's mom paused for a moment and looked at him funny, "But when we spoke on the pho..."
Her own words trickled out of her mouth as realization slowly crept in.
Cearra raised her hands to cover her mouth. Game Over. We all knew it. And now her mother did too.
Mrs Akil turned to her daughter with a look that filled us all with terror.
She then looked at all of us; at Austin, at Chad, at Luke and at me.
"There was something very wrong with that accent," she said heavily, pointing her finger at all of us, and raising her voice, "Which one of you irresponsible fools did I speak to?"
We had identical looks on our faces: part stunned and part guilty.
But then, the irresponsible fool himself stepped forward to accept the blame, "It was me, Mrs Akil."
Austin's mom sighed from the sidelines, "Why am I not surprised?"
Austin tried to explain, "We really wanted Cearra to come on the trip. She was safe the whole time and we did the cultural experiences we promised-"
"Oh, I'm sure you did!" Cearra's mom snapped and honed in on her daughter, "You are in so much trouble you won't even know what day it is. Say goodbye to everyone here because the only time they'll see you in future is when you're handing in your homework in class."
"Mom," Cearra complained, looking very embarrassed.
"Are you really going to stand there and 'mom' me?!" Cearra's mom retorted, "I'm not just angry about this. I'm furious. And if you really did watch while that boy was being bullied, you deserve more than the punishment I'm going to give you."
Cearra quickly grabbed her bag and muttered her goodbyes. She wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible, because her mom was not going to stop.
"Bye," she mouthed sadly at Austin.
"Sorry," he said back.
Mrs Akil continued over them, "Just because the popular boys are doing something, it doesn't mean you lower your standards to follow them. I raised you better than that."
Mrs Akil grabbed her daughter and left the office. And even after a few minutes we could still hear Cearra's mom yelling down the hallway.
In the aftermath, Austin's mom spoke to her own son, "Do you know what you do to my blood pressure? Get your things, Austin. We'll discuss this at home."
They left too and I wondered what the Principal would say when she realized everyone was heading out.
I looked around and saw Roland Chadwick the II still standing in the same spot he had been speaking to Cearra's mom minutes earlier.
He was looking confused by what had just happened.
"Do I sound Swedish?" he asked.
"No dad," Chad replied innocently, "People can be weird sometimes."
A/N: Voila! Did you expect this chapter to end up this way? And how do you feel about it?
Next chapter will be out in TWO days! And my Author Q&A is now up on Instagram (@Natalieinacorner) so I hope I answer a lot of your questions :)
Now I need to get going. My pasta is waiting.
See ya!
P.S. Please vote if you're enjoying frequent updates! It gives me that extra pep in my step ;)