Walking to the main office with Kai by her side, she somewhat felt a sense of relief. It was a strange feeling, but it was there. The two were walking in silence side by side.
"..Hey, Kai?" Ace reluctantly started.
"Yeah?" He looked at her curiously.
"What do you.. think of me?" She stared at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.
"What do I think of you?" He adjusted his glasses. "You are.. A kind person. You are brave and confident, and I am very happy to have had the privilege of meeting you."
She crossed her arms. "..I thought you would think of me as a monster."
His eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Why?"
"I'm always getting into fights and act impulsively, you know.. I don't think about my actions." She brought her eyes up to him. "How could you say such kinds things to someone like me?"
"Ace." He chuckled, placing his arm over her shoulders, surprising her. "I don't understand why you're bashing yourself like this. I'm saying these things to you because you are these things. You are dignified and proud. You know to take action when there's something wrong. Many of us wouldn't do that. You are kind- always acting nicely around others and making them feel at home. You are brave for standing up for things that are wrong. You are confident. You know you're right and I believe you because I can also agree that you're right. You saying that you are a monster.. Doesn't situate right with me. Are you just calling yourself a monster for getting involved?"
"Well I.." She sighed. "At my previous school, I was actually avoided. I did stop people from abusing one another, but without any words. People just thought that I was there to claim the title of 'the most feared student in school'. They thought I fought bullies to overrule them. I was an outcast."
"It doesn't matter about what people think of you. You act because you know something isn't right."
"I don't want this school to think of me like my previous school did."
"And they won't because I'm here and I know what your intentions are. You'll never be an outcast in my eyes." Kai opened the door to the office, allowing her to step in first. He followed her in. "The world needs more people like you."
"..Thanks, Kai." She smiled, pulling him into a hug.
It didn't last for more than two seconds, but he felt a wave of happiness wash over him. It was followed by disappointment soon after it ended.
He forced a smile. "You're welcome."
"Ace Asai? Your counselor is waiting for you." The lady from behind the counter spoke.
"Okay."
"Hey, if you need someone to talk to, I'll always be here for you." Kai smiled.
The girl laughed. "How could I talk to you? We won't see each other."
"..Not if I get your number."
Startled, she stared at him.
"Or not. I'll see you later Ace!" Before she knew it, Kai had left the office, leaving her to her lonesome.
She turned around and walked into the office, seeing that her counselor was patiently waiting for her in a separate room.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Asai."
"Hello.."
"Please, take a seat." The lady gestured towards an empty chair in front of her desk.
Doing as she was told, the girl walked towards it and sat down. A name plaque sat on the desk. She read Counselor Ms. Henderson.
"First of all, are you hurt?" Her counselor asked.
"No." She answered, ignoring the throbbing pain in her wrist.
"Okay. Now that that's out of the way, we can proceed to the main topic. I would like to discuss with you about your actions. I have heard from some students that there were multiple occurrences of bullying that you interfered with. Is this true?"
"Yes." She felt like she was being interrogated. And she probably was.
"When did this these occurrences take place?"
"Wednesday during 1st period and Thursday after school. The victims and bullies were different people and the location wasn't the same."
"Do you know the name of these victims?"
"..I only know one. The first victim is a girl. Her name is Akia. I never asked for her last name. As for the second victim, I don't know his name."
"He is a male?"
"Yes."
The lady jotted down a few notes on a piece of paper in front of her. "Now I would like to ask why you got involved for these two incidents."
Ace grasped her hands together, feeling uncomfortable. "When I saw it happening, it is in my instinct to take action so these victims do not have to suffer. I felt like alerting an adult would be too late and they would have already suffered a few hits."
"Were you like this in your previous school?"
"..Yes."
"Last question. What prompted you to get into a fight with Edmund? The so-called 'gang leader'."
"He approached me and I didn't back down. I suppose it was impulsive of me to participate in the fight and I realize that was a mistake."
"Okay, thank you for answering these questions. I would have you know that the protocol for students that get into fights are suspended for a certain amount of time. The suspension length is determined by the intensity of the fight. Because no one was really hurt and the fight disbanded rather quickly, I've decided to suspend you for one day." She wrote down a note. "Today is Friday, so you'll be suspended on Monday. Come back to school on Tuesday."
"Yes, ma'am."
The lady handed her the note. "You have a choice because I see that you're not a bad student. Your grades are excellent and there aren't any negative reports on your profile. You can either choose to continue to class, 4th period, or go home. If you are to go home, I would need to call your parents or guardian so they may come to pick you up."
"My parents will be notified of this instance, right?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Okay.." She thought about who was able to come to pick her up. Her dad is busy at work, so that's a no-no. Her option would be her aunt, but she has a bad ankle. It would be difficult for her to walk to her school, even if her house was ten minutes away.
"I'll go to class."
"Okay. Go to class and give your teacher this note." The lady slides a note over the desk. Picking it up, it read 'Excused for arriving to class late. -Ms. Henderson'
"The other note I gave you is for you to keep until Tuesday. Go to the attendance office and give them the note so they know you weren't absent for no reason."
"Okay. Thank you." Ace said as she got up from her seat, pushing the chair back in.
She exited the office, letting out a loud sigh before walking back towards her class. Well, it could be worse. She thought. I could have been expelled, so that's good.
Entering her 4th period class, she cringed as it looked like Mr. Ken was busy at the moment.
Waiting patiently for him to finish his dialog, she grew uneasy as some of the students stared at her and began muttering things to their friends.
"Ah, Ace! Where were you?" Mr. Ken greeted.
The female quickly walked over to him and passed him the note that excused her tardiness. He took it, confused, while she retreated to the backroom before anything else was said.
"Ace?" Akia perked up at her arrival. "Ace! You're back!" She shot up, barreling into her and giving her a giant hug.
"Ack! Can't.. Breathe!!" She stumbled backward trying to steady herself from falling. She grimaced as she accidentally moved her sprained wrist a bit too much.
"What happened?" Faith asked, walking towards her.
Akia released the girl from her death grip, looking at her curiously.
Ace put down her backpack onto a chair. "Nothing as bad as I expected, honestly."
They looked at her in interest, willing her to continue on.
"She just asked me questions regarding the bullying occurrences and a little bit about the fight." She sat down. "In the end, she just gave me a one-day suspension penalty for getting involved in the fight."
Faith frowned. "So that means you can't come to school on Monday?"
"Correct."
Both of the girls went back to their seats and sat down.
Faith ran a hand through her hair. "I swear, those bullies are just... Ugh. They think they run this school. I think that what you did was idiotic and you could have gotten hurt, but.. I suppose the school needed someone to stand up to them and tell them what they're doing is wrong." She looked at the female and smiled. "Thanks to you, I think you stopped the bullies for a while. They get on my nerves, especially when they decided to pick on people like Akia. I'm frustrated that I can't protect her every single time they decide to show their ugly faces."
Akia frowned. "I.. guess I do worry you a lot, Faith. I'm sorry."
The blonde sighed. "Yeah, well. There's nothing you can do about it. You didn't ask to be bullied."
"What's important now is that Akia will stop getting bullied." Ace included. "I would really hate to see my friend getting hurt. I would be just as frustrated as Faith.. I've been through that.." She muttered the last part.
"Well, Ace, I'm just happy to see you back and doing fine!" Akia grinned. "You're my hero! And you're also a hero to anyone else that has been a victim of bullying!"
The female smiled. It felt.. Nice.. to actually have someone appreciate her actions and not think of her as someone to be avoided at all costs.