"So, would you care to explain?" The principal asked Andrew, without hiding his heavy breathing.
Along with Andrew, Josh and I were summoned to his office too.
The room smelled of wood and deodorant. It was pretty small, there were some stuffed birds decorating the wooden walls, some paintings representing either soldiers or hunters, and an American flag right behind the principal. That room was what you'd expect to find in a house in the woods, and it didn't go along with the rest of the school. It felt like a whole different place.
Andrew was sitting on the only chair in the room except for the principal's. Josh and I were standing right behind him, like two soldiers.
The principal, sitting behind his desk, looked like a proper authority figure. His face, his traits, immediately described his personality. He had short white hair and white beard. His eyebrows were constantly furrowed, which made his eyes barely visible.
I was legit scared of him. He looked like someone you wouldn't want to mess with. And I had just messed with him.
I thought about my parents. What if he was going to call them? What were they going to think about me? Were they going to ground me? Were they going to blame it all on me?
I even thought about Andrew's parents. They loved me. What would have happened if they were to know that I had a fight with their son?
I didn't want to be a part of what was going on that morning. I never asked to be picked by the bullies. I just wanted to live my existence without bothering anyone else's.
"These two," Andrew said pointing a finger at me and Josh, standing behind him, "they picked on me for no reason. They pushed me through the door and... into your, er, painting."
My social anxiety hoped that I wouldn't open my mouth, but I just couldn't stand that, so I overcame my difficulties. "What a load of--"
"Yeah, alright," Josh interrupted me, "it's all true. What can I say? We don't like the guy. Me and my boy Pete here," he put his hand on my shoulder, "we rule this school now."
"So you two are the bullies," the principal looked at us with what I think was his only expression, "and you picked on this big guy right here?"
"Yeah, well," Josh was clearly thinking very hard, "he's big and dumb, to be fair."
I heard Andrew gulp. He had his eyes on the principal the whole time. He never turned around. And if he did, I wouldn't be surprised if the principal took a shotgun from under his desk and shot him in the head.
"I see," the principal said in a calm yet deep voice, leaning back on his chair, hands tied in front of us.
There was a moment of silence. I wanted to talk. I wanted to say that it wasn't true. That they were the ones bullying on me. Making fun of me for my emotions. I wanted to speak up. But I was scared.
I was scared of him, and I was scared of them.
The principal looked down during this moment. He was probably thinking of what type of punishment he was going to give us.
Josh kept staring at him. Without even blinking. And so did Andrew. I think. I couldn't see his face from behind.
"Well, now," the principal broke the silence with the same voice as a moment before, "would you..."
Another really brief moment of silence before he smacked his closed hands on the desk and started shouting. My heart skipped a beat. "Would you spare me this load of crap?! Look at him!" He pointed at me. "Just look at him, for Christ's sake! He's probably gonna cry if he does just as much as open his mouth! This guy wouldn't even know how to kill a bug! And you want me to believe that he was picking on him?!"
"H-Hey," Josh said in a weirdly faint voice, "I know how he looks, but looks can deceive..."
"Shut the hell up!" The principal kept shouting as he stood up. Andrew didn't get up, but he moved back with his chair. "Alright, boy," he said looking at me, "I wanna hear your story, now."
Josh talked before I could, "You've got to know--"
"I said," the principal interrupted him, "you shut the hell up!" He then moved his eyes back on me, as he leaned with his hands on the desk. "Speak up, kiddo."
"I..." my voice came out stupidly weak. And I was disgusted by myself when I proved the principal right. As soon as I opened my mouth, tears started rolling down my face.
The principal sighed. Andrew, still facing forwards, put a hand on his face. I tried to keep the tears from coming out. I tried to avoid sobbing.
"It's not true," I managed to say, "what they're telling. They're the ones bullying me. T-They've been bullying me for quite some time now. And I don't even know why."
The principal stretched back into straight position and exhaled. "Why am I not surprised?" he said, looking at Andrew.
"Well, that doesn't prove anything," Andrew said, "I mean, he's a snake. It's his word against ours. He's got no proof of what he's saying. And honestly, I am sick of his games. Please take him out of this school for good."
At this point, the anger was just too much. I had to defend myself. "You idiot!" I shouted and Andrew finally turned around to look at me, "You wanted me in this school in the first place. So I could be your puppet to make you look cool. Do you really expect people to believe that I'm bullying you? I mean, they call you "Captain", for crying out loud! I do have proof of what I'm saying, and her name is Amber Kafka."
"Alright." The principal rapidly moved away from his desk, through me and Josh, and opened the door. "Marla," he shouted, "Get me Kafka Amber. Now."
After the principal returned to his desk, he didn't say a word. He just stared periodically at each of us, and essentially made us uncomfortable.
The thing that pissed me off the most was that I was dragged into that situation. That I didn't do anything but defend myself, or at least try to, from two dumbasses who didn't have anything better to do with their lives.
That moment, as we waited for Amber, seemed interminable. The look that the principal sporadically threw at me was enough to make me feel worthless.
When Amber finally arrived, she formally greeted the principal and, by the look in their eyes, I could tell Andrew and Josh knew they were screwed.
"Thank you for coming, Ms. Kafka," said the principal, "I'll go straight to the point: do you know of any bullying situation occurring between these three individuals right here?"
Amber glanced at all of us, but her eyes stayed a little longer on me.
Her eyes would usually make me feel safer, but that time I just couldn't help feeling stupid.
"Of course," she firmly stated, "Hook and Starkey have been repeatedly picking on Charming. I've seen it with my own eyes."
I felt relieved. After what happened with Erasmus, I could have expected her to turn on me as well. But she didn't. And that made me feel better.
I couldn't say the same about Josh and Andrew, though, for I didn't even hear them breathing in that moment.
"Why am I not surprised?" The principal once again asked rhetorically, "Charming and Kafka, you can go back to your class. You two stay here so I can arrange your suspensions."
I followed Amber to the door but we stopped after Andrew's almost inaudible voice came out, "Sir, please, anything but that. My parents would kill me if they knew I was suspended."
"Mr. Hook, your parents will be the first ones I'll call."
"No, please." He begged, "You can't do that! My brothers, they're all scholars. And so I should be. My parents wouldn't believe what happened."
"You should have thought about this before you played captain and went down with this ship of yours," he shut him up, "Charming, Kafka, I said you can leave."
Amber opened the door and I followed her out of the office. I kind of wanted to stay there and witness the fate of Andrew, but at the same time I was happy to finally be out of that predicament.
"Thank you," I said to Amber as we approached our class, "for sticking with me and the truth."
"Yeah," she sounded distant, "just please, next time, don't put me in these situations."
She sat and started taking notes, making it clear that she didn't want to talk with me in that moment.
I was expecting a hug or something. It was the perfect moment to end the story. Happy ever after, villains defeated and heroes triumphant. But instead, the only person on my side didn't even want to talk with me. What I thought was justice at last was later revealed to be just a little break.
But in that moment, I think I was supposed to feel good. If only I knew what good feels like. If only I had someone to talk to.
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Bittersweet ending here, right? As you can guess, that "someone" is *spoiler alert* good ol' Evelyn. And you'll see her next week!
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Don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT if you liked this chaps. I'll see you in the next one!
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