The class is at its peak when I push the open door and head inside. The chatter stops when the students see me. The classroom grows silent. I see heads looking between Mr. Sanders and me. It’s the silence before the storm. Mr. Sanders glares at me. His blue eyes getting dangerously close to popping out of the sockets.

The backbenchers whisper. I hear a chuckle mixed with a sneer. ‘He’s dead today.’ I hear from somewhere in the first column. Emily looks at me worriedly from the second bench in the middle column. Sky is on the verge of standing up to make an excuse for me for the back of the class.

“Mr. Adams!” The class teacher impresses on every alphabet. Venom on his tongue, poison in his words.
“Sir,” I say trying to take a seat behind Emily.
The teacher yells, “Stop!”
I do. I wait for him to criticize me so we can get this over with and I can go back to enjoy teasing Emily. But an intruder crashes the party before Mr. Sanders could set off the big fireworks he had readied.

Zoya Abraham, school principal’s secretary. Unlike her name suggests, she’s in her fifties. And like the cliché associated with most old women, she does have a collection of cardigans that she regularly wears to school; a different one every day.

Today, she wears a woolen, musk green long piece with big pearl white buttons. It drapes over her figure like a curtain, hiding her curves and corners perfectly. Her glasses dangle over her chest from a thin chair like a bohemian necklace. She walks with a slight hunch, but she always has a smile on her face. As she does today.

“Excuse me sir, but are there an Emily Taylor and Adam Foster in this class?” She asks Mr. Sanders, who by now has lost the steam accumulated inside his heart.
“Ah, yes,” He says looking over at me in a daze. “This is Adam and,” He looks around the class and points at Em when he finds her. “She’s Emily.”

“Please come with me to the principal’s office.” Mrs. Abraham says to us. “Principal Owens would like to have a word with you two.”

I turn to Emily and find her looking at me, her eyes slightly tense. I smile to assure her it’ll be all right. She does stop frowning, which I find surprising. I didn’t know she believed in me that much.

“I’m sorry, but what’s this about?” Mr. Sanders asks Mrs. Abraham as she turns to leave the classroom.

He is actually a very good teacher. He might be hard on his students, but he has stood up in favor of students on more than one occasion. Once he even posted a student’s school fees when the boy’s parents couldn’t pay in time.

“It’s regarding the video that went viral yesterday.” She says turning around. “That’s all I know. The others are already there. They are the only ones left. So if you can excuse us,”

Oh, I know what this is about. We leave a confused Mr. Sander behind in an erupting classroom and slowly follow the wobbly Mrs. Abraham toward the principal’s office.

I have to say the empty hallways do give the school the appearance of a morbid asylum during classes. The students clamoring in the classrooms almost sound like patients screaming inside their cells, trying to stop the teachers from administering poison into their brains.

And following after the warden’s secretary only makes the feeling more official. Almost as if, we are the newest patients going to meet the head doctor. To know whether we are redeemable or are a lost cause.

“Hey,” Emily whispers. Walking with her head straight, her eyes closely follow Mrs. Abraham's movements. “Why were you late today?”

“I was meeting Nick’s friends. They wanted the car back. I told them I took it from him and I’ll give it back to him. They can take it from him if they want.”

Em’s ears twitch and her pupils dilate. Her feet halt for a second before she realizes and rectifies the problem. “I don’t understand why you want to help him. You know he’s a--” She looks ahead to see if Mrs. Abraham could hear us. Knowing that we are safe she continues, “He’s a dealer. And it’s not like he’s forced to sell the stuff. You know he beat one of his underclassmen so bad the boy had to take leave to recuperate at home!  Yet no one lodged a complaint against him when the teachers asked who beat him up. He’s a bad kid.”

I sometimes forget that everyone around me is a teenager in reality. And none of them have the freedom that I enjoy. They need to study if they want to enjoy a life full of amenities. To make a name in society so they can brag to their fellows that money can’t buy happiness. I forget that they need to stay in the rules and be a part of the collective. Because those who are not a part of the whole are outsiders to the system and outsiders rarely amount to anything in this world.

Emily is the same. She might listen to my facts and stories. She might even believe my absurd lies and mangled truths sometimes. But she’ll never truly understand me. The same barbed wire that wraps every inch and corner of this world in its shackles binds her thoughts and actions, like everyone else.

“I know,” I say. I couldn’t meet her eyes. They wanted an answer that I couldn’t give. I can see her wondering if I am a fool or a messiah. I am neither. “That’s why I want to help him get out of the mess. I not only save him if I succeed but also the countless others who would otherwise fall into drugs because of him.”

Emily’s face doesn’t shift, but I notice her clenching her fists, balling them tightly to suppress the emotion raging inside, forcing her to ask these questions. “But are you sure he wants to stop being a dealer?”

I don’t know if she wants to understand the reasons behind my actions or want to find a way to stop me from stepping into the sewer under other people's home. But I don’t want to lie to her.

“It doesn’t matter if he wants to or not,” I announce with a tone so serious goosebumps appear on her arms. “Since I’ve decided to save him then he’ll be saved no matter what.”

Emily doesn’t respond. She drops her head, but doesn’t fall behind and walks with me. She keeps up with the pace. I know she’d have trouble understanding where I’m coming from. It’s not like she knows what I can and can’t do. But this is who I am. I am a selfish, controlling, and self-minded person. I don’t care what anyone else wants. I only care about what I want and if anyone comes in the way of that, then I’m sorry, they’ll have to get out of the way.

It’s the first time I’ve come clean to anyone ever since the accident. Is this a sign of me losing my control? Or a sign of me opening my heart? I don’t know. The only thing that I know is that I wouldn’t have told my true thoughts to anyone else. Not even Sky. Perhaps, deep inside I really want Emily to be someone I can trust, to share my thoughts.

We take the faculty elevator to the first floor and make our way toward the principal’s office. It is not long before I see a few familiar faces sitting together on the bench near the secretary’s desk. Their murmurs cease and smiles recede like an ebbing tide when they see us.

Jade is there, and so are her two girlfriends, Samantha and Spencer. Jade’s the girl who’s against Emily over petty reasons (Emily made her boyfriend ditch her. So what?). They are not alone. Jade, new boyfriend, James from the rugby team sits beside her. To his right are Shorty and… the black guy he had brought over to deal with us in the canteen.

Jade and James seem to be on a get-together, which is not surprising because they are idiots. The others are nervous. Shorty looks the same. I bet he’s high right now.

James ignores us. Jade's eyes pass over me and latch onto Em like two blood-sucking bats. That’s not a bad analogy considering her character. I’m surprised neither Samantha nor Spencer shows any hostility toward us. They keep their head down like two wet kittens, whispering something to eachother in inaudible voices.

“Wait here for a while.” Mrs. Abraham tells us before she goes and knocks on the door of the principal’s office.
She waits until the principal calls and enters the room.

 “You just wait for us. It’s not over between us.” Jade says as soon as she finds herself unsupervised. “I’m--”

The opening door interrupts her. Mrs. Abraham briskly walks out of the office and takes a seat at her desk. She takes a notebook out of her drawer and puts on her glasses. Then as if remembering us, she turns and tells us to go inside. “Principal Owens will see you now.”

I show Emily the way, telling her to go ahead. Jade jumps up from the bench and rushes into the room ahead of us. I share a smile with Emily and follow her into the Principal's office.

The office is an unsurprisingly large room. I guess it‘s converted from a classroom because it’s exactly half the size of one. Sunlight through large windows fills the room with light that has been tamed by reflective glasses.

Principal Owens is an older gentleman in his sixties. His hair has long lost its luster, but to have a head of hair at his age is already an achievement worth celebrating. His stature is such that he completely fills his irregularly wide office chair. He sits with his back slightly hunched, his hands resting together on the darker solid wood table and eyes watching us all from behind the mirrors of his thin half glasses.

I intentionally lead Emily to stand on one side of the room, away from the girls. The principal notices my intentions but has no reaction whatsoever. Emily and I greet him with a good morning and the others hurriedly follow suit to keep up with the changes.

We wait for the others to arrive and then I go back to close the door. I use my actions to solidify the difference between them and us.

“Is this everyone?” Principal Owens asks.
We agree and he nods. “Okay. Then let’s start.” He says without wasting time. “I have called you all here to talk about the incident that took place in the cafeteria yesterday. I would like to have your account of the things to make better sense of the issue. So we can deal with it fairly--”

‘and sternly,’ I think the words that Principal Owens doesn’t say.

“But before we get to that, let’s take a look at the video from the cafeteria.” Principal Owens is not a man with a hard stern voice, but he’s very measured in his actions.

The video plays on the screen hanging on the side of the room. It’s not the one uploaded to Instagram, but taken straight from the cafeteria camera. So even though there is no audio, you can see everything clearly as it happened.

We see Jade blocking Em’s path when she gets up from the bench to dispose of the tray. Em tries to get past her, when Jade pushes her, resulting in the tray flying away and falling on the floor. Even Em almost falls down and only manages to stay on her feet by using the table for support. The fight gathers the students making a crowd and we see Jade and James confronting Em with their friends.

All of this happened when I was in the locker room.

Then I appear and a few minutes later, the crowd throws out Jade’s friends one by one. Later a teacher appears, the crowd disperses, and the video ends.

The video, however, paints a clear picture of the incident as it took place, without any emissions.

“I have to say I’m impressed.” Principal Owens adds after the video ends. “I have never seen a crowd working collectively to end a fight. It was surreal to watch for sure.” He glances at me for a second before looking back at Jade and her friends. “Now, it’s clear from the video that, You, Miss Jade, are the primary aggressor in this incident. Miss Samantha, Miss Spencer, Mr. James, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Dave were your helpers. Miss Emily is the victim and Mr. Adams was her helper. Is there anything you would like to add?”

Samantha and Spencer start sweating upon hearing Principal Owens calling them Jade’s helpers. James still looks confident. While Shorty --who surprisingly has a normal name like Dave-- and Thomas don’t seem to care about anything happening in the room.

“Yes,” Jade says. Her voice trembles, but her eyes shine brightly with intelligence. “I’ll tell you everything.”
“Please,”

She takes a step forward and starts to speak when I interrupt her.

“Tell the truth.” That’s all I say. Because everything that she said afterward implicated her in every possible way.

“I’ll tell the truth.” Jade stops a few feet from Emily and points a finger at Emily. “I hate this bitch. I hate her!”

Principal Owen's eyebrows rise in disbelief. He hurriedly looks around hoping someone could explain to him why this stupid girl is adding charges to her already pilling offences. No one gives him the explanation he demands.

Even her friends are shocked at her audacity.

“Manners, Miss Cambelle! You are inside the Principal’s office right now. You are not at your home!” 

“Please sir, let me say the truth,” Jade says, sending another shockwave across her friend’s heart. Her words are so shocking, even James can’t keep his smile. He frowns and does Samantha and Spencer.

Jade continues unabated. “She made my Ex break up with me. Bruno was my baby! And now he doesn’t even return my texts.”

Principal Owens couldn’t take this charade anymore. “I’m sorry what is this about? Who are you talking about? And what has this got to do with the incident?”

“Bruno! I’m talking about Bruno!” Jade says. “He was my boyfriend before she told him I was a slut. A SLUT! I mean look at me! Do I look like a slut to you sir,”

“Well,” is all Principal Owens could muster up.

I don’t think anybody has ever seen the man look so speechless. He’s dumbfounded and probably dismissing himself for giving the girl a chance to explain herself. I’m sure he’s thinking Jade’s a total nutcase and probably wants to get this over with already.

Jade is only getting started, however. She slams her hands on the principal’s desk, startling the poor fellow.

I hope he doesn’t get a heart attack. I share a glance with Emily and I find her equally amused and befuddled.

‘What?’ I gesture with my mouth and pantomime to show the girl is crazy. It doesn’t amuse her. It’s not long before she averts her gaze back to the staged show.

“Principal Owens, I know you want to know why I did what I did in the cafeteria yesterday.” She blabbers on without giving the principal a chance to agree. “It happened like this,”

I notice her girlfriends sharing a look, nodding in unison, and stepping away from Jade. Guess, they decided to shift their allegiance to themselves. Meanwhile, Jade is still blurting out her true thought, as if she’s not talking to the school principal, but her parents.

“It all happened because of that guy.” Jade points a finger at me. “I could have easily had my revenge if not because of him. He’s such a creep. He always gets between us whenever I try to beat up this bitch. So I told my friend James, this blond buff guy--”

“Friend? I’m your boyfriend.” James murmurs. At least he tries to keep his voice down, but Jade doesn’t.

“Oh please,” Jade says looking down at him. “Have you seen yourself in the mirror? I’m only with you because you are friends with Jason--”

“He’s the quarterback,” Emily tells me. “He’s very good.”
“Is he?” I whisper in her ear. “Is he better than me?” She pinches my waist which makes make me grunt in pain.
My pain makes her happy and she stands beside me with a smile on her face, not noticing that she’s leaning against me. To find victory in defeat is the motto I live by.

“This Bitch!”
“Mr. James, You are not doing yourself any service by being demeaning to Miss Jade right now. You should apologize to her right this instant.”

“But sir—“
“Mr. James!” Principal Owens stresses again. “The only thoughtful thing you can do right now is to stay quiet.”

James grits his teeth and balls his fists as hard as he can to bury the thoughts in his chest. It takes him great strength to apologize to Jade, who dismisses him by throwing her hair back and continuing the story.

“I asked for James help and he agreed readily,” Jade says. “He told me we should thrash Emily in front of the whole school and post the video so everyone can see what a bitch she is.”
“Sir, I never said that!”
“Gosh, you are such a liar,” Jade says. “Everyone knows you are a piece of shit. Anyways… I asked him if we would get in trouble and he said he knows a guy on his team the bench who would do anything to get a chance to play in the game. He promised we’ll only get a slap on the wrist if we personally don’t get physical with Emily.”

Principal Owens looks at James. “Is that right, sir? Is Miss Jade telling the truth?”

He acts thoughtful by resting his chin on the back of his hands, but I know he’s trying to hide his smile. I see his lips twitching from my end.

James doesn’t speak. His pale face tells a broader tale than his words could ever describe.

Controlling his smile, Principal Owens straightens his back and addresses us. “So if I understand correctly, you and Mr. James planned and enacted the violent act in the cafeteria yesterday because of a personal grudge. Is that right?”

Hearing Principal Owen's words, Jade's friends visibly sigh in relief. They understand that Jade has thrown all the heat on herself and James and they are now safe and out of danger. They won’t get dragged in the mud with her. A faint smile returns to their faces.

Jade thinks about it for a second and then shakes her head. “No, sir, you are wrong.”
“Why am I wrong?” Principal Owen swallows a bitter pill and says.
“I was only sharing my grievances with James when I told him about my grudge. He’s the one who suggested this plan. He wanted to pull me up when I was vulnerable so he could get what he wants in the end.”
“And what do you think he wants from you?” Principal Owens asks tiredly.
“A lay probably.”

Someone laughs aloud in Jade's corner. They quickly cover it with a fake cough, but it doesn’t hide the fact that suspension is probably the least of Jade's problems. Principal Owen is not amused this time.

“That’s enough. I guess that’s all I needed to know.” Principal Owens gently dabs a tissue on his forward to wipe away the sweat. Throwing the tissue away he gently addresses all of us. “I have been in the teaching profession for over thirty years now, but I have never seen such an honest student during my time as an educator. Most students in trouble would lie and deceive to get out of even the smallest of punishment, but you Jade, you have opened my eyes.”

“Thank you, sir.”
Principal Owens chuckles. This time he does. “No, I thank you for your honesty. You don’t get to see such spectacles every day.”

“Now,” Principal Owens puts his hands on the armrest and pushes him up. “That we have the whole truth, it’s time to hand out the punishments. I don’t like this part to be honest. Miss Samantha and Miss Spencer, since it is now clear that either you took no part in the planning or the execution of the plan to demean Miss Emily, I’ve decided to give you a chance to apologize to Miss Emily and Mr. Adams for your behavior. And promise that something like this won’t ever happen again.”

“We’ll never do anything like this again, sir. We promise. We are sorry for the way we behaved. We hope you can forgive us.” The girls say crying tears of joy.

Jade really scared them. They really thought Jade would let out some of their dark secrets too in the heat of the moment. They are thankful to god for giving them another chance. They promised to be good girls from now on and never make fun of anyone ever again.

“Let this be an experience and warning to you, to be mindful of the company you keep.”

Principal Owens then turns to Shorty, a.k.a Dave, and the helper, Thomas.

Principal Owens lets Dave go because he neither planned nor participated in the bullying of Emily yesterday. As for Thomas, Principal Owens is still lenient with him. He only suspends the boy from the Rugby team. I thought Thomas would revolt, but he receives the punishment quietly with a nod, though I saw his lips quiver.

Now it’s turn for our two main offenders and Principal Owens doesn’t look to be in the mood to play games.

“Now, Miss Jade and Mr. James, your offense is too big for me to decide this right now. I would like to see your parents on Monday morning. And Mr. James you are also suspended from the football team as of now.” Principal Owens says and writes it down on his file, making the suspension legit and irreversible.

Jade deflates and bites her lips. I guess she still has some fear of her parents. James doesn’t stay as quiet. He revolts.

“You can’t do that sir!” James says. “We have a match on Sunday! I’m your main striker.”
“Oh, I’m sure I can do this, all right. As the principal of this institution, I do have the right to punish dishonest students such as you and Miss Jade. Besides, Suspension from the team is the least of your worries, young man. As for the game, I will talk to our football coach Mr. Cook. I believe he’ll understand my thoughts and appreciate my concerns.”

He then turns to Jade, who still hasn’t quite understood the gravity of things. “As for you Miss. Campbell, I appreciate you for telling us the truth, and I do think it awards you some respite from the punishment in for your deeds. Before that, I want to ask you something. Do you in your heart feel guilty for your actions, and do you believe you can forget your grudge and work together with Ms. Emily from here on after?”

Jade shakes her head. “No way!” She stands with her arms crossed in front of her chest, implying no negotiations.

“Is she stupid?” Emily whispers. I shrug in response. What could I say? Jade’s doing what I asked her to do. She’s telling the truth. She’s entitled to have her opinions. She can like and dislike whomever she wants.

“Very well then,” The principal calls Mrs. Abraham inside the office and tells her to inform Jade and James' parents about their offense and ask them to come to school for a visit on Monday to decide how to go forward from here.

“That’ll be it for now.” Principal Owens says. “You all can go back to class now.”

We thank the principal and leave the room. We couldn’t stop laughing after coming out of the office.

“You just wait it’s not over yet,” Jade says to Emily on the way to the classroom.

“Oh, it’s over, all right,” I reply. She snorts and rushes after her friends, former friends I believe, because they ignore her all the way.

She’s going to need new friends now.

Whom will she poison next I wonder and stop thinking about it. I turn to Emily and ask her, “Will you let her be your friend.”

Her response is a cold snort. She does take the initiative to hold my hand. I can say that two good things happened because of one incident. It is a perfect end.

Now, to end the day on a high note, I’ll fix Mr. Davis’s gambling problem too. So they can go back to being a lovely couple again and I can have my fix of familial bonds that I miss so much.