Shay was slowly regaining her consciousness and warmth. The sounds in the background were becoming more and more clean and when she gained enough strength to open her eyes, she noticed Kellan leaning above her with a worried glance on his face.
,,Oh my lord, Shay!" the worries left his face in an instant.
,,How long was I out for?" she asked, fearing the answer. However, judging from the people still standing in corridor, it couldn't have been long. Suddenly, she heard one of the professors shouting from a distance. Shay hoped it was Orika, but as the voice got closer, she realised it belonged to one of her special classes' professor. With the help of Kellan who was quite beaten up as well, she stood up, ready to tell the professor everything, including using her path, despite knowing the punishment.
However, she was unpleasantly surprised by the tall woman who was wearing a tag saying Professor's reaction.
Instead of coming to help Shay and Kellan, she stopped to help Tean out, pushing away Clarys.
,,Tean, are you alright? Do you need my help? What happened?" she started questioning him the second she got to him. At first, Tean was just processing everything, thinking of what to tell her. It wasn't like he was going to get in trouble anyway.
,,Those two attacked me," he pointed at Shay and Kellan, who was currently using a locker to keep himself standing. The frostbites on Shay's fingers disappeared as she came back to her senses, although the ice was still there. Melting, but a huge part of it was still there, serving as a proof to mrs. Dematou, the professor. ,,And that girl can control ice!" he yelled, making sure everyone could hear him.
Mrs. Dematou turned to the boy with his girlfriend, her eyes widened in shock and wrinkled forehead. Did he just? Something in her mind kept telling her nobody would be stupid enough to do that. Her mouth twisted as she took one more look at Tean and then at Shay.
She approached Shay and Kellan. ,,I suggest you see the school nurse. And then pay mr. Koskou a visit," she kind of whispered. The principal? Shay was too stunned to say a word. But all we've done was defending ourselves! ,,Everyone, this is not a free day! Get back to classes. This incident will be taken care of," mrs. Dematou announced and disappeared behind the corner of the hallway.
The crowd began to disperse, as everyone left for class. Soon the only ones left there were Clarys with Tean and Shay with Kellan. Tean acted hurt, holding onto Clarys. She glared at Shay with her eyes full of disgust and then muttered something to Tean. The blonde girl covered her nose and mouth and when they were about to leave, Shay stopped them.
,,No apology?" she didn't mean to say it out loud, it just sort of happened.
,,You should be the one apologising and begging for forgiveness, honey," she said in a bittersweet tone and quickly took her leave together with Tean.
Shay and Kellan were soon the only ones in the hallway and while Kellan was processing everything that happened and the fact Shay used a different path just seemed too unbelievable to him, she was just standing there, her head empty. Kellan had never seen something like that before.
,,We should probably get going," he broke the silence.
Shay agreed.
She took Kellan to the school nurse. He was barely walking, clinging onto her with his right arm draped over Shay's shoulder and they had to stop every few seconds, as he was struggling to breathe properly.
Shay knocked on the nursery's door and waited. The door looked like any other, except for a sign that was hanging on it, saying Nursery.
The nurse soon opened the door with a shiny smile, which in seconds turned into grimace after seeing Kellan.
She rolled her eyes; ,,You again, Kellan?"
Kellan just grinned at her through the pain. ,,Hello again, Sacha."
Shay raised her eyebrows a bit at the thought that the two of them knew each other by name already.
The tall woman with coal-like hair showed the two of them the way inside, closing the door behind them. She told Kellan to sit down, pointing at the deckchair in the back of her small office. If one could even call it that. Sacha took out some stuff that Shay didn't quite recognise and then inspected Kellan's injuries, who had already lay. Sacha took out some stuff that Shay didn't quite recognise and then inspected Kellan's injuries, who had already laid down.
Shay watched them, not wanting to interfere. She was nervously tapping her feet on the ground and playing with her fingers in the corner of the room full of white furniture, eyes at Kellan for one second and at the ground the next. The sounds of her cracking her knuckles echoed throughout the room, making Sacha turn to Shay for a moment with curled lips and her nose crinkled.
Sacha frowned and turned to one of the cabinets, looking for something. It seemed like either she had trouble finding the very thing she needed or she was deeply focused.
,,What is it, miss? Is it something serious?" Shay couldn't help but ask. Numerous things had crossed her mind and she wasn't able to exclude the worst possible outcomes unless she was sure. While Shay had to wipe her sweaty hands on her vest every few seconds, Kellan looked calm, only the grimaces appearing from time to time through the inspection showed in how much pain he actually was.
,,Only if you take a broken rib and displaced shoulder as something serious. If not, then it's just a few scratches."
,,Just one rib? Lame!" Kellan smirked. He thought Tean had done much more damage than that.
Shay's eyes widened. How could he make fun of such thing! Shay's panic made her unable to process the rest of their time at the nursery. Sacha's words kept resonating in her head.
Kellan's too reckless. How could he let this happen? She just watched as Sacha asked Kellan questions while taking care of his wounds. Only a few scratches, mostly bruises.
She didn't look twice at the, to her unimportant, scars and only focused on his chest. His rib was her main priority right now. As much as he wanted to just waive at it, he couldn't . It wasn't just some broken bone. This one hurt like hell. He felt so uncomfortable sitting there almost shirtless as Sacha bandaged both his shoulder and chest. He was fine till it was only unbuttoned shirt. Now he just wished Shay wasn't looking in his direction. He was more than happy that he could keep his glove on.
,,Done. Off you go. And, I can't even stress this enough, no more fighting for a month at least. Do you hear me?" The nurse pointed a warning finger. Kellan just nodded, waiting for her to shut up. Sacha's words went into Kellan's mind by one ear and left through the other on in an instant.
After their visit at the school nursery, they headed straight to the principal's office, although it didn't go as smoothly as Shay expected.
,,I honestly don't feel like going," he said, making Shay unsure whether it was about his physical or mental state.
,,Kellan, we have to go there. I'm sure it's nothing serious," Shay kept convincing him, knowing it definitely was way more serious than anything they had faced so far.
,,Nothing serious? You broke one of the main rules and I started a fight with the rich kid! Lord, this is going to be serious," he couldn't stop hitting his head with his hands as they were approaching the office. ,,Maybe we don't have to go there?" he suggested with a crooked smile.
,,We do."
,,Oh lord," a groan came out of his mouth.
Shay knocked on the wooden door with carved-in details, waiting for someone to invite them in. The doors were pretty similar to the classroom ones, except the handle. This one was way fancier, a silver flower twisted all the way around it. The rest of the doors had a classic white handle with no ornaments.
A few minutes passed and when no one was answering the door, a smile appeared on Kellan's face.
,,How about just leaving? Nobody's going to answer it," he giggled.
Shay let out a frustrated sigh and crossed her arms on her chest as she stepped further from the door. For a moment, Kellan even thought she was about to leave.
,,Look, we can't just-" the door opened with a squeak, interrupting her little speech about how they have to face the consequences of their actions.
The office was nicely decorated, with an L-shaped walnut desk somewhere in the middle of room. One side of the desk, the messier one, was touching the khaki coloured wall. Although this side looked like a bomb had exploded on it, the other part, that had two armchairs on the other side, was perfectly clean. Kellan also noticed a huge bookshelf located behind the desk, full of decorative items and thick old books. As he was going through them with his eyes, two books really stuck out to him. The Paths of the Elements. Gaucherie. He read.
,,Oh, miss Arter and mister Gataki," the principal turned around in his chair, greeted them and beckoned them to come inside. He then showed them their seats. The moment both of them were seated, he began asking questions.
,,So what happened? I heard you got in a fight again." That sentence was meant for Kellan.
,,Well, to put it shortly," Shay started, but the principal interrupted her.
,,Fill me in the whole story, please."
,,Alright, so basically, Tean was picking a fight with me again because I accidentally bumped into him. More like he got into my way on purpose and I was in a hurry back then. He then proceeded to call me names and I only defended myself and when my friend here noticed I was losing, she tried to help me," Kellan explained before Shay could even think of the beginning.
,,Interesting," the principal leaned in, tapping his index finger against his chin. ,,Because I was told something totally different."
Both Shay and Kellan stared at the principal with eyes wide open and clenched jaws. To Shay, it felt like her whole world fell apart. It can't be! But we told the truth! She was frozen in place, unable to move at all. The feeling of not being able to prove herself slowly started to eat her from the inside.
,,You must've been told the false version! Look...we...we told you the truth. There's no way...," she started to defend herself, when she noticed the principal's face. His narrowed eyes and creased brows gave away what was going on in his head at that moment.
,,Either you two tell me the truth or I'll have no other choice than to temporarily expel you."
Those words made Shay's world shake and break down totally. She couldn't imagine having to return to Lisenae and disappoint her whole family.
,,We are telling the truth! I can't prove it, but... but you just have to believe us! Kellan would never pick a fight, trust me I know him," Shay stood up and barely managed to not yell at the principal.
,,May I ask what version of the story you are aware of?" While Shay was losing her cool, Kellan remained calm, not being controlled by his emotions.
,,From what I've heard, Tean was on his way to class when you intentionally hit him while passing by. When he turned around, you called him a freak and hit him. Tean begged you to stop but you just kept hitting him, so he had no other choice but to defend himself. Clarys hoped Shay would convince you, but when she approached her, Shay froze the ground and her in ice. Then you two wanted to get away, but fortunately, mrs. Dematou intervened."
What the-? This was too much for Kellan's mind. ,,We did not do that!"
,,Yeah, Kellan is right," Shay joined.
Kellan quickly stood up and stormed out of the office with his face all red. At that point, Shay was just waiting for steam to start coming out of his ears and nose. He slammed the door shut, making both the principal and Shay wonder how did the door withstand his strength. No wonder they were so pricey. Koskou thought. Even in his condition, he still had a lot of strength left.
,,You've proven yourselves," he said to Shay, as she was about to leave as well. ,,Go."
,,I'm truly sorry for his behaviour," Shay replied while staring at the floor. She couldn't make eye contact with Koskou, no matter how hard she tried to face him.