After we got discharged from the principal's office, I went as far as possible, away from Nicole because I assumed she would kill me.
Later on, after class, I sought for Arthur around but couldn't find him anywhere. Meanwhile, he said nothing to me in class all through. I found him with Emlyn, Andrew, and Richard at the basketball court with several students practicing.
"Hey, Emlyn." I said to him. He was tying his shoe.
"Hey," he smiled back and his attention was drawn to a coach who needed his help with something.
"Where have you been? You missed a whole lotta drama," said Andrew.
"Yeah, the Dance Squad made an entrance today with the greatest performance anyone has ever seen," Richard added.
"Really?!"
"Yes. They are recruiting new members specially for the OVC High School Boys Basketball Championship."
"Darn it! So, that's where everyone was!" I've always wanted to join," I said disappointedly. "I can't believe I missed this."
"Yeah, where have you been? Arthur was looking around for you."
I turned to Arthur who was a distant away and went to meet him.
"You done with your one-minute potty break? Way to keep promises," Arthur frowned as I entered, and he noticed I was cold and alarmed.
"What's wrong? You don't look good," he said and I told him all that happened, leaving no detail out.
"What?!" Bewilderdly, he said. "Wait, wait, wait, are you kidding me?"
"Why are you shocked exactly? Is it because I caught Nicole doing... You know what, or because I denied the incident?"
"You shouldn't have lied about it... but mostly, I'm shocked about Nicole. She even had the nerves to threaten you."
"What do I do Arthur? I'm so scared," I said anxiously.
"Well, it's not completely your fault, I mean, panic led you to deny the crap but when the truth comes out from the boy, you've got to admit it was you, but I'm not so sure telling them that crime you saw Nicole committing will do any good.
Just tell them you ran and accidentally hit the dude and you denied it due to panic and fear. Nicole would have to handle the aspect of her holding a knife and if she can't give a reasonable explanation then that's gonna be her cross to bear," he said. "Man! I am so shocked... What was she thinking?! In school?! It just had to be during school hours! That girl is crazy, for real."
"So, you mean I shouldn't tell them I saw Nicole...?" I motioned the secret with my hands and Arthur got the message.
"Yep. Just keep it to yourself and let's see what happens. Else, you'll get things more twisted."
***
Few minutes later, I and Nicole were being called into the school's resting ward and there I could see the boy on the bed with a plaster on his forehead and he was staring at me but not with angry eyes or eyes that even told he was offended by me.
The principal and Mrs Kayla stood athwart the bed in which the boy sat and I and Nicole stood beside the bed. Nicole glared intensely at me and took her face off when Mrs Kayla turned to look at her.
"I am very certain you know why we are here. I need the plain truth and nothing but the truth, Christian," the principal said and Christian nodded. In few seconds, he pointed a finger at Nicole, "it was Nicole," he said and Nicole froze.
"Could you please explain how it happened?'' Mrs Kayla asked and Christian responded, "well, they both got into a serious fight and that's when she pulled out a knife to scare Stephanie, and when I tried getting in between, she pushed me hard and I bumped my head on the washbasin."
"Christian William! What in the hell?! I did nothing! He's lying! Stephanie is the one who hit him on purpose, she is a freakin' bloody b**ch!" Nicole bawled and before I could catch a glimpse of what was happening, tears came down her eyeballs and I was officially frozen solid.
"Enough young lady!" The principal snapped. "We have had enough for one semester! To my office. Your dad is gonna be here any minute," the principal said and pulled Nicole to her office. Mrs Kayla left after giving me a pat on the head.
"What was that for?" I questioned the boy when they had left, somewhat pissed.
"Shush, you wouldn't want them to find out it was you who did it," Christian smiled like it was some sort of a joke.
"I want them to find out! I can't let someone else take all the blame for something I did."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh Stephanie, this world is not for you," he shook his head. "Nicole has always been a severe pain in the neck, not to mention the fact that she picks on you and she made you seem like a freak on social media. She is so mean and arrogant to everyone and I wanna put an end to that. That'll teach her," he smiled silly again.
"That's not what I want."
"Well, that's what I want and technically, I'm the only one who's got the say on whether she stays or goes. And besides, you didn't mean to get me injured. Look here miss, I know exactly what's going on. I saw you when you ran out of the toilet in fear and that led to you pushing me, plus I saw Nicole with a knife which obviously shows that she caused you to run, which also means it's her who needs to take the blame."
Before I could make any more utterances, the school nurse walked in and I fiercely marched out to meet Arthur.
The plan was to get Nicole off the hook and me included, having in mind that I would settle everything without causing more trouble or exposing Nicole's immoral act.
I didn't want her to get expelled from the school even though she had been a jerk.
After school, I marched down to meet Arthur in the laboratory and before I could open my mouth to explain myself, Arthur grabbed and hugged me, "I'm so proud of you," he said.
"Uh, proud that I got a student badly injured or proud that someone else is taking the blame for it and is about to get expelled from school," in response to his questions, my face broadly spelt sadness.
"What?!" Slack-jawed, he replied.
The conversation went further as I removed my jacket and placed it on the chair I sat on. The heat of guilt was burning me up!
"So, what exactly happened?" Arthur asked and left what he was working on to sit next to me. He whipped his long, blonde hair to the side so I could clearly view the expressions on his face.
"Everything just keeps going bad! What did I do wrong? Well, that's a dumb rhetorical question cause I've done a lot of things wrong," I sighed and looked away with my hand placed on my left cheek in a somber way.
"Oh Steph."
"That boy, Christian, he lied. He made up a good story proving that Nicole is the culprit..."
"Let me guess, cause he's not a fan of Nicole and he thinks you're cool," Arthur said waving his hand sides and his head following the gesture of his hand—in a way that showed he could predict certain informations by just hearing the start of it. "You know, Nicole has done some mean things to some people in this school and they await the right time for payback. You are so lovable and that made the revenge on Nicole easier."
"Look, I'm not in the mood to blush. Honestly... I don tire."
"Huh? Well, what solutions do we need?"
"I don't know," I responded in a really thick Nigeria accent that really viewed I was in a weary state.
"Nicole caused everything. But expulsion... man! That's huge. You should turn yourself in, that's all I can say. If you go there and say all that really happened Nicole would be free but Christian would be penalized."
"And me?"
"You wouldn't be penalized," he released a light smile.
"So let me get this straight, I'm covering up for Nicole by not saying what truly happened... please remind me why."
"Cause if you claim to have caught her doing... whatever it was, there's a lot that could go wrong. Think about how viral it could go and think about how important Aristarchus is... in short, she'd get expelled anyway if the truth leaks out. Keeping this a secret could even cause her to begin to respect you and no longer mess with you cause she'd be afraid that you might tell on her," Arthur guaranteed.
"Oh, I see."
"Yeah. Nicky could get punished for having a knife with her and being unable to explain herself."
"Oh, what would I ever do without you?" I finally turned to look him in the eye, gladly.
"Probably die in confusion," Arthur chuckled and when I turned to give him a different facial expression than expected, he said, "just kidding," and I smiled.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"Oh no! No, no, no!" He kicked a can of soda on the floor and stood up vigilantly.
"What, what, what?!" I looked intently at him anxiously.
"The security cameras and footage!"
"Oh no! Damn it Arthur!"
"Chill. I know a guy," he smiled and rubbed his palms together. "I just hope we're doing the right thing. Are we, Holy Spirit?"
"We definitely are."
"We are?"
"We are."
"Fist bump."