Apparently, Edric didn't run fast enough, because he ended up being late. So much for waking up early, huh?
With his head hung low, he made his way to Principal Bump's office to retrieve a tardy slip.
The silence of the room was only broken by the sound of Bump's pen scribbling against paper as Edric glanced around the office. His eyes shifted from picture frames, an odd-looking statue and eventually his own reflection in a crystal ball. His expression was blank; almost emotionless, aside from the way his perfectly plucked eyebrows ever so slightly furrowed into something that resembled a frown.
"Mr Blight,"
Edric's gaze turned to meet the Principal's, who had been patiently holding the slip out towards the boy for a few seconds longer than he should've needed to.
"Oh-" He took the slip from him and looked down at it briefly, "Thanks."
With a sheepish smile, he made eye contact with Bump again, "So... I'm guessing this is the part where you tell me you're gonna have to call my parents?"
"I'm afraid so,"
"Ughhh!" Edric groaned and tilted his head back, closing his eyes and gripping the paper tightly in frustration. He really couldn't afford to piss off his Mom again. When the anger was directed at both him and Emira, it was easier to deal with. When it was directed at him alone... He didn't want that—Not again.
"I understand your frustration, Edric. Really, I do," Bump offered an apologetic frown, "But you remember what I said last time... This can't keep happening."
"I know... I know!" The boy reached a hand up to rub his temple, "It's just... I honestly didn't mean to be late this time! I just lost track of time."
"Oh?" Bump raised an eyebrow, Edric took this as an indication to elaborate.
"I woke up really early this morning— Or, well... I couldn't sleep, so I was already awake. I didn't want to get to school too early, so I went to The Market instead. Time passed by fast, I guess."
The Principal watched as Edric shrugged and bit his lip, "Please don't call my parents," He began again, "Just let me off with another warning, in return I'll... Uh, I dunno... I'll help clean the classrooms after school."
Principal Bump sighed and shook his head, linking his hands together and resting them against the desk in front of him, "There's a lot of classrooms to clean, Mr Blight, you'd surely finish late. Won't your parents be worried about you returning later than usual?"
"Not really. They don't really care about me staying out late as long as I do my work and make our family look good." He froze when he realized he over-spilled a little bit, "Uh, I mean, they usually work very late too, so... Yeah. They probably won't notice my absence, anyway." He forced a smile.
Despite the look of concern on his face, it seemed that Principal Bump decided not to ask further questions, which Edric was grateful for.
"Very well. If you're that willing to give up your free time, I see no reason not to give you another chance."
Edric smiled again, genuinely this time.
"Just don't let it happen again, please. Now, hurry along." Bump waved him off and Edric stood up, taking his slip and leaving the office.
Upon entering the classroom of his illusions class, Edric did his best to ignore the eyes locked on him as he handed the tardy slip to his teacher. He then made his way towards the back of the class where his sister was sitting, not paying much attention to the small scolding the teacher was giving him (he'd heard it a million times before).
"Where have you been?" Emira had whispered when Edric took his seat.
"I was late again."
"Uh-oh, do Mom and Dad know?"
"No... I offered to clean the classrooms after school to avoid getting a call home." Emira exhaled out of her nose in amusement, turning back to face the teacher, "Have fun with that."
"I won't." Edric mumbled, leaning against his palm.
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After the long hours of the school day had passed, the other students had gone home and it was time for Edric to uphold his end of the deal (like Blights always did).
He'd retrieved some cleaning supplies from the janitor and got to work on cleaning the first classroom—A potions one—Then the next one, then the next. Edric's autopilot had kicked in rather quickly and he slaved away in silence for what was likely a few hours, as he noticed the sky dimming out of the corner of his eye while scrubbing some graffiti off of a table.
He managed to get a lot of the graffiti off, but a good amount of it wasn't budging no matter how hard he scrubbed. His face reddened a bit in frustration until he eventually gave up on that particular table and moved onto the next one, feeling like a failure.
Principal Bump watched him silently from the doorway of the classroom. His eyebrows furrowed. He was worried for Edric, to say the least.
He knew that Edric wasn't a bad kid, not by a long shot. Sure, he misbehaved and often caused trouble, especially recently, but he knew that there must've been a good reason for it. If anything, it was a sign. A sign that something was troubling the boy and he desperately needed a distraction of some sort, leading to him and his twin sister acting out a lot.
Now that he thought about it, maybe Emira was dealing with something similar.
It could have been something going on at home, Bump thought. Everyone knew the Blights were a pristine family—Naturally, that would put a lot of pressure on Amity and the twins. Their parents could be... overbearing, to say the least.
The Principal had told Edric previously that he could stop cleaning and go home, at least thrice, but he'd declined each time. This further cemented the thought in Bump's mind that the boy felt a desperate need to prove himself—Prove that he was more than what met the eye, that he wasn't a complete failure and that if he just tried hard enough, he could live up to everyone's expectations. His own, his parents; He could be someone to be proud of.
... He was struggling with graffiti again.
Bump stepped forward and placed a hand on Edric's arm, halting his movements. "You can go home now." He tried again.
"There's only a few more classrooms left."
"Come on, you've done more than enough." Bump began to usher him out of the classroom, despite Ed's resistance. It took a bit of persuasion, but he eventually sent the young witch on his way after thanking him and reminding him to get home safely.
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Edric decided to take the long way home.
He walked, staring at his feet and not paying much attention to his surroundings. He didn't expect to bump into anyone though, since most people were probably in their houses by now, he assumed.
Still, he ended up being wrong, as usual.
He stopped walking when he heard footsteps up ahead. He looked up. The Golden Guard?
He wasn't expecting to see that guy again; not so soon, anyway. It made sense though, he was probably finishing his patrol shift, or whatever it was he was assigned to do that day in Bonesborough.
The idea of the Golden Guard being assigned to a simple patrol shift was funny. You'd think he'd be out, like, killing people or something in the name of the Emporer...! Okay, maybe not killing, but something more exciting than walking around the same area of town for 10 hours.
There must've not been anything more important happening, he supposed.
Edric watched as the Golden Guard turned and headed into a more wooded and secluded area—Edric was aware that this must've just been a shortcut back to the castle, as it was very clear in the distance.
Despite his better judgement, his curiosity got the better of him and he began slowly trailing the man, staying out of sight when possible. He wasn't sure why, he guessed he just wanted to see what he'd do when he was alone.
He was a bit disappointed, though. The Golden Guard was mostly quiet the entire time. He would occasionally whistle the tune of a song that Edric couldn't recognize, and the only other sounds came from twigs snapping under the guard's boots.
Ed made the decision in his mind to turn back and head home, before—
"Stop following me!"
Edric froze. Oh, Titan. He'd been caught. Ohh, this was gonna be awkward, he needed an excuse, hurryhurryhurry—
Oh.
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His shoulders relaxed when he realized the command was, in fact, not directed at him, but at a small red bird that perched itself on the youth's shoulder. A gloved hand swatted the bird away.
The Golden Guard backed away from the cardinal, which just chirped at him in response.
"I don't know what you're trying to say to me, and I don't care. Go away." He seemed to soften slightly when the bird flew closer and attempted to perch a second time, but he wouldn't let it. "Seriously," He muttered, looking at the ground, "You'll only get hurt."
His grip on his staff tightened a little as he moved to mount it. "Now, get lost." Were his final parting words, before he proceeded to teleport away in a flash of red light.
The cardinal, however, seemed to take no notice of his request, or rather, demand. Instead, it turned to the direction of the Emporer's Castle and began flying in that general direction until Edric couldn't see it anymore.