Crestfallen, Julian and Aaron left the disciplinary office. They were tasked to do community service for thirty hours. Their parents were still in the office, so they had to wait for them to come out. Julian weighed his choices and was determined to do his best to visit Nerida as he deducted his hours of service for a day and increased his days of working. Maybe, he could do his homework in the cabin too.
He might be exhausted after that, but it was still worthwhile.
The door to the office opened and Aaron tilted his head as he casually greeted, "Mom, Dad. How was it?"
"It was a good experience," his father nodded. "Great job, son."
Meanwhile, his mother knocked his head over.
"You… idiotic son! You should have erased your traces and consider going with Julian next time! Then, you will just be warned for skipping classes!"
"Yes!"
Julian was tilting his head when his parents still hadn't appeared.
"Uhm… Auntie Agnes, where is Ma and Pa?"
"Dear, they are still talking. It seemed serious. Maybe your punishment is being talked over?"
"..."
"Hahaha. No, they are not. They just have something they need to talk over with. Some papers appeared, you see."
"... since when?"
"You didn't see it, Jul? Maybe you are getting blind?" Aaron quipped with a sneer.
"I am busy thinking, okay?!"
"Yeah, sure~"
Julian clicked his tongue.
"Do you want us to stay, Julian?" Agnes asked as she hunched over.
Julian immediately waved his hands. "No… no."
"Ah… I see. You are embarrassed because we are with you, is that right?" Agnes teased with a grin.
"No! It's not that! It's just… maybe Auntie and Uncle Roan have something more important to do…."
"Ah, you are right. We do have something more pressing to do. Aaron, we're going home now."
"... I have a very bad feeling about this, Mom."
"Of course not! Your dad and I are just going to do something."
"... we are?" Roan asked, dumbfounded.
Agnes elbowed her husband's side.
"... yes, we have something to do."
"...."
Julian tilted his head as Agnes pushed Roan and Aaron outside the building. Then, the door to the disciplinary office opened and a staff beckoned him to go inside. Julian pointed at himself and the staff groaned and nodded as she beckoned him forcefully. Julian hurriedly stood up and entered the office with the staff. Then, he was led to another door he was recently familiar with.
"They are calling you," the staff said. "You have to knock then enter."
"Yes," Julian nodded, then did what he was told to do. When he opened the door, he was met with gazes from his parents and from the disciplinary officer.
"Julian Fletcher," the disciplinary officer called. "Sit down here first. Okay. Good. I received a notice and a form from someone, and I am afraid to tell you that you have to nurse this student of ours as a community service until he got better. Meanwhile, I will also work on apprehending these students that broke the rules and report to their respective schools. You also know of this, right?"
"Know…?"
"The students from different schools cooperated with each other to dispose of this certain student of ours."
Julian's eyes went wide and his mouth agape.
"It seems you finally understood it. You also know what you are going to do? This is going to be confidential, and you have to use a different route to get wherever that student of ours is to avoid suspicions. Remember, there is a high chance that you might get caught, so you have to be extremely careful. We are dealing with a lot of people after all."
"I understand."
"Great. Okay, Mister and Missus Fletcher, you are dismissed."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Elodie, Julian's mother, said as she bowed.
"I ask of you to keep this a secret."
"Very well."
Jaime, Julian's father, nodded along then stood up. He patted his son's shoulder then went out of the room. Elodie gave a stern but warm look at her son. She also stood up, then went out.
"Now, Julian, how did you become involved in this?"
"I didn't know… I was just visiting a friend in the mountains where we last camped. I heard from Aaron that she was missing when they last visited and I got worried. Then, when I came near the small cliff, I saw that there was something strange, then I saw my friend there, tending the injured. I decided to help, that's all."
"The friend you are talking about is Miss Gwendolyn, right? The injured man would be Mister Cyrus of the Cyrus Corporation."
"... I have no clue about their last names."
"You don't know Cyrus Corp either?"
"Yes."
"Hmm… interesting…."
"Uhm… what about it?"
"Don't worry about it. Miss Gwendolyn also asked me to keep the information at the minimum. Besides, it's better for you to be ignorant in this case. You, your family and your friends could do nothing against a powerful opponent, so Miss Gwendolyn and I are only keeping you all safe."
"I understand, ma'am."
"Okay, I have nothing more to add. Oh, besides that you'll be starting tomorrow. You are dismissed."
Julian stood up then bowed before leaving the office. He met with his parents and they welcomed him with smiles.
"I am proud of you, but I am also scared for you, son…," Jaime mumbled. "Since it came like this and you already helped, see the end of it."
"Yes!"
"Let's go home now, Ian," Elodie affectionately called with a warm smile.
"Yes, Ma."
"What do you want for lunch?"
"Hmm… can I have fish steak?"
"Order taken."
***
Julian stepped out of the train with his school bag as he looked around the station. He took out his phone for directions. He fiddled with his phone for a while then pocketed the device. He left the station and took the quiet road of the mountain. It was still early in the morning as the sun was only peeking from the horizon. When he arrived at the fork of the road, he took out his phone and confirmed his way.
At the left path, there was the more crowded residential area. That was not where he was going since Nerida's place was an isolated one. From then on, it was getting harder to trek. When he finally arrived at his destination, Nerida was waving at him. He waved back as he climbed the small hill to where she was.
"Good afternoon," Nerida greeted with a bright smile.
"Yes… I made it… haaah…," Julian said as he wiped his sweat.
"Was it a hard journey?"
"Not really? It will get easier once I get used to this. Hopefully."
"It will be. Come in now. Let's dry you off and change your clothes."
"I don't need to change…."
"But it's bad if your sweat dries off on your skin. It's also chilly here. It will be better to wash off with warm water and change clothes."
"... okay."
Nerida smiled.
"Thank you."
Julian nodded then entered the cabin. For some reason, he just stood there without moving an inch.
"What are you doing standing so stupidly there?"
"Yeah, Jul. You should come in now."
"Did you become more stupid?"
"...."
Julian mechanically turned his head and pointed at his friends as he asked, "What are they doing here?"
"They came to help, of course," Nerida smiled, then pushed Julian in.
"Yeah, yeah! When I knew who Nerida was, I came to get tutored!"
"Aaron… that's not what you told us," Jahleel sighed.
"Shush! I did not say anything!"
Reed and Jahleel smiled wryly then the former beckoned Julian over.
"We took your clothes, shoes, uniforms and daily necessities."
"... wait, what?!"
"It's in the second floor bedroom," Reed said as he took his cup of earl grey tea and sipped. "I know it's confidential, but we begged the dean about this since we don't want to miss the fu-- I mean, let you be in danger without us."
"I'll just pretend I didn't hear anything."
"Pretend all you want. We will be here often too."
"... okay, but why do you have my things?"
"Aren't you supposed to go home before coming here, Jul? Your parents got worried, so they asked us to bring it here."
"Do they not want me there anymore…?" Julian whispered.
"And Auntie asked us to tell this to you, 'Ian, if you forgot anything, you can come home anytime. Just be careful, okay? You are stupid enough that you can't even work your way out of a paper bag--'"
"That last part is unnecessary! Besides, you added that! Screw you, Aaron!"
Aaron gasped and looked hurt. "And here I am trying to be a good friend… and you did this to me? What did I do to deserve this treatment?"