"You son of a bitch—" I grabbed him by his collar. "What do you think you're doing?"
He smiled. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"You two, stand back, now!" Mr Ross's voice was laced with authority.
I hesitated for a while, which was honestly a fight to resist Tyler's menacing smile. Eventually, I let go of him and turned back to the principal.
"Mr Ross. You have to believe me." I moved closer to his table and then pointed at Tyler. "He's the one who did this, he's been trying to frame me—"
"And is assaulting your classmate anyway to prove your innocence?" Mr Ross's eyes locked sternly on me. Behind me, I heard Tyler chuckle slightly. "That is disappointing, Ren Mora. I normally expect a lot from cripples like you, but not blackmailing your classmate over something you did."
"What?" I looked at him, questions bedraggling my mind.
Forget that he'd just looked down on me like everyone else would. But did he also think that I, a low-tier student, would try to blackmail an egoistic bully like Tyler?
"We received word from a witness, Ren Mora. Is that still not enough reason for me to believe that you did this?" He asked, raising the note again.
"Who's the witness?"
Mr Ross was about to say something when another knock came on his door. Great, this was starting to seem like a court hearing. At Mr Ross's approval, someone walked in. Rowan. As usual, he looked jittery, scared, like he was always about to make a mistake.
And just looking at him, there was no doubt— he was the supposed witness.
"Rowan here sits beside you, am I right?" Mr Ross's gaze fixed back on me. He didn't wait for my answer before he continued. "During the test, he claims to have seen you glancing at a small note while you filled in your answers—"
"What the—" I turned questioningly to Rowan, and then to Tyler who was busy smiling on every bit of the second.
"Tell me, Ren Mora. Do you still believe that what Mr Chen reported to me was a misconception?" Mr Ross continued, still holding up the note. "With everything laid up on you, are you still going to push us back and forth, or admit to this?"
I didn't answer. I just kept glaring at Rowan, as if waiting for him to say the truth. To finally do the right thing for once. But maybe that was the last thing I should have expected from him. He wasn't evil. He was just allowing himself to be threatened by Tyler.
What a coward.
"Yeah. That's what I thought." Mr Ross grabbed a sticky note and a pen from his drawer, and he began to scribble some words I couldn't quite catch.
"What...what are you doing?" I summoned the courage to ask.
"Filing your suspension details." He said that as if it were supposed to be something casual. "Two weeks. That's in accordance with school protocols. You should be thankful the penalty isn't getting any worse than it already is."
Gee. I'm so grateful.
******
Something felt different about walking out of school today. After all, it would take almost an eternity before I returned. Which meant, missed credit points, a lot of notes to catch up on. Missed lectures too.
And somehow, I was willing to accept all of Tyler's shit.
Not because I couldn't fight back. But because fighting back won't make a difference. After I'd beaten him in our recent duel, he only went on to orchestrate how miserable my life should be. Apparently, a beating couldn't stop him.
"Your next challenge just arrived." Amelia's hologram appeared. "And I think the difficulty looks promising."
[Stage 5]
[Difficulty: Insane]
That's right. After that encounter with Cypher, I'd faced two other street fighters, reaching stage 5. By now, the stats were pretty good-looking. Enough to take out two Tylers. Apparently, the consistency was actually worth the effort.
But then—
"Not today, Amelia." My voice sounded like enthusiasm had taken a free fall down a tower.
"Honestly Ren, I think your suspension's on you. You let Tyler do whatever he wanted while you just watched like a buffoon." Amelia crossed her arms. Honestly, I was starting to get used to hearing her hurl insults at me. "If you're gonna get out of this, you have to—"
"Ren." I heard a familiar voice call my name from behind. Rowan. He was running towards me, adjusting his glasses firmly over his eyes. "You forgot your textbook."
He stretched out my physics textbook to me, barely facing me. Self-resistance stopped me from depositing a punch in his girly face. I received the textbook instead, my eyes still locked angrily at him.
"About what happened earlier—" he started. "I'm sorry."
"Do you always apologise?" I asked after a moment of intentional silence. "And what makes you think that an apology fixes things?"
He muttered something I couldn't grab. Obviously, he was too scared to talk, especially now that he realised that I was mad at him.
"If you're really remorseful, then you'll start doing the things you don't need to apologise for. You'll stop being a coward." I said, matter of fact. "When you begin to stand your ground against jerks like Tyler, you'd realise how simple life can be."
Without saying anything else, I just turned and continued walking. Rowan. It wasn't entirely his fault. But it would be his fault if he let himself be overruled by Tyler. Honestly, that jerk was just all big talk. Behind the scenes, he was just looking for self-convincing situations that would make him look like the stronger one.
"Hey, kid."
Reaching the school gate, someone approached me from a van. A guy who looked two to three years younger than me. Unlike Silvic High's white uniform shirt, his was deep blue, with a badge that read, 'East High.'
Great. This day just keeps getting better.
East High had bad blood with Silvic High. And whatever this guy and the rest of the friends in the van had to do with me— it definitely wasn't something good.
"How's it going?" The guy kept smiling at me. He even flung his arm on my shoulder.
What the heck is going on now?
"Don't be scared," the guy said, bringing his face closer to my ear. "The boss wants to see you. He promises to return you as soon as he's done."
"I'm not interested " I said, pulling his arm off me.
He didn't answer immediately. He just kept looking around the vicinity, trying to see if there was anyone else in sight. At least I registered when he was doing that. But I didn't know when he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it on my nose. My mouth.
I couldn't scream, nor could I struggle with his strength. At that moment, I couldn't even hold on to my consciousness. It faded. And the only thing that followed was darkness.
What a day.
******
(External POV)
Huff. Huff...
Hadn't been two years since his last leg day. No wonder it seemed like an eternal sprint, trying to reach the next street after school.
As Rowan raced along the street, resolve beamed in his chest. He had to do something for once. As Ren had said, he needed to stop being a coward. He needed to stop trying to save himself when he was only dancing to Tyler's loop of threats.
He needed to save Ren.
Finally, he saw his destination from a distance. Cauli's Pork And Rinds. He'd been here during one of Tyler's cravings for pork, and that was the first time he'd seen Aria up close, dropping a plate of pork in front of him.
Even then, he couldn't eat it, scared that Aria might conclude that he was actually an accomplice to Tyler. For one thing, Aria hated bullies.
Rowan waltzed in through the door of the restaurant, almost crashing into a customer. His eyes scanned around for Aria, and they found her. Silver hair being kept together by a hair tie, crimson eyes. She was in a usual red apron, interacting friendly with some customers.
Rowan didn't wait for her interaction session to come to a close. He just rushed towards her, grabbing her shoulder.
"Aria. I need your help!" He said, bending over to catch his breath. "It's Ren... He was... He was.."
"Slow down," Aria said, hugging a tray. "Who the heck is Ren, and what happened to him?"
"He's... a classmate. He got into a fight with Tyler, and now, Tyler wants to make him pay for it?" Rowan continued, still trying to catch his breath. "You have to help him."
"Isn't Tyler your friend. Why are you snitching on him to me?" Aria's question made Rowan quiet for a while. "I'm sorry, I can't help you if you won't tell me the truth."
She was starting to walk away when Rowan spoke up behind her.
"Sancho and the other East High students have him!" Rowan said, making Aria pause. "Sancho had a deal with Tyler, to help him get rid of Ren. And he's not my friend. I was just a victim of his bullying."
Aria turned to him, anger now replacing the once hospitable look in her eyes. "Did you say East High students took a student from our school?" She asked in a sterner voice.
Rowan simply nodded.
"Alright then." She dropped the tray and removed her apron, flinging it towards the counter desk. "Take me to them."