Mr. Gerard Smith, the guidance counselor, was tapping his finger on his desk while studying the four boys standing in front of him. He was the cousin of Mr. George Smith, the Math teacher.
"So you are saying that Cade bullied you? He did that to you?" Mr. Smith reiterated.
"Yes, sir," Arthur replied.
"What do you say, Cade?"
Cade displayed an aura above suspicion as he said, "We were walking in the same corridor when he slipped and fell to the stairs. He had a lot of food in his hands, blocking his sight," Cade said.
"Arthur, do you have witnesses?"
Arthur became mute.
"Listen, kid. Cade had no terrible record in this institution for 3 years. He is well-behaved in class and an outstanding student. But if proven guilty, he will face severe punishment. So I need you to send me witnesses."
"But I don't have friends here. I'm a transferee."
"You said several students were there. You can ask them to help you out."
Cade's eyes brightened. "I know someone who can be a witness."
***
Oliver stood in an upright position. Everyone was eyeing him as if he held the key that could save humanity from extinction. Earlier, Cade convinced him to be a witness. He had two options: to tell the truth or lie. Both had consequences, but the latter could save him from greater misery.
"Your future, reputation, and mental health depend on this. So make a good choice. Go for something that will lift you up." Those were Cade's exact words. Oliver didn't take it seriously and thought Cade was just being arrogant. It wasn't a threat for him, more like a child's play.
"Oliver, right?" Mr. Smith began. "Tell us what you saw."
"I saw them fighting. Theo punched Arthur, then Cade slapped him. They were bullying him," Oliver said without hesitation, not knowing that his words were a prelude to an unforeseen catastrophe.
"What causes their fight?"
"I don't know. I couldn't understand them because I was far from them."
Theo cut his silence as he spoke, "Arthur started it. If he didn't—"
Cade raised his hand to stop him from blabbering. "Theo, you are in no position to defend yourself."
"Oliver, if what you are saying is true, it means Cade was lying."
Oliver glanced at Cade who had a cunning smile as if he had won the argument.
"Perhaps, sir."
"Alright. Some girls saw what happened. They can testify." Mr. Smith signaled the girls who were waiting outside the office to come in. They acted timid and shy as the boys gazed at them.
"Tell us what you saw," Mr. Smith said.
"Cade and his friends were walking in the middle of the corridor when Arthur bumped Cade. You can look at the stain on his uniform. I think Arthur was pissed and pinned him to the wall."
Arthur's brows furrowed. "What? I was mad because he called me dumb."
"Did you hear him say that?" Mr. Smith asked.
The girls shook their heads.
"You didn't hear him because he whispered into my ears!" Arthur exclaimed.
"Arthur, lower your voice. You are inside my office." Mr. Smith shifted to Cade. "Cade, why did you lie?"
"He's a transferee. If I tell you the truth, he won't have a wonderful experience in this school."
"Bullshit. I am the victim here," Arthur said.
"Arthur, I don't like repetition. If your former school allowed you to be ill-mannered, that won't do here in Westgate High."
"With all due respect, sir. What makes you think I could start a fight just because my food fell to the floor when I bumped him?"
"Binge eating disorder," Stan said. "You are so obsessed with food. Isn't it a valid reason?"
"What? How dare you accuse me of having such a disorder," Arthur said and punched Stan in the face. Theo pulled him away and gave him a stern hit to the side of his neck, which caused him severe dizziness.
Mr. Smith stood up. "Burton! What did you do?"
"Don't worry, sir. I hit his vagus nerve, but that move can't kill someone."
"Bring them to the clinic."
Oliver, Theo, and Cade assisted Arthur to the clinic before he lost consciousness. Mr. Smith joined them when they couldn't lift him hard enough.
Stan put an ice pack on his cheek while sitting on the bed. "Are your hands okay? You've been using it frequently," he asked Theo.
Theo flickered his fingers. "I'm fine. I told you, I have iron fists."
"That was fun," Cade said. He uncovered himself under the blanket.
"Hey, I should be the one taking a rest," Stan said.
"I was also tressed out. It's so frustrating to talk to stupid people who won't even listen."
Stan slid down beside Cade. "Are you talking about Oliver? Or Arthur?"
"Both of them. They are alike."
"Dogpile!" Theo said and jumped on top of them.
"What the hell, man?"
"You're too heavy!"
Theo forced himself into the middle of the bed. "This feels nice."
"You mean getting in trouble like we always do?" Stan asked.
"I mean skipping class and sleeping without being scolded."
They gazed at the white ceiling, admiring its purity, and let their imagination take over them.
"What do you think does Mchalmmond looks like? We haven't seen all their facilities," Cade said.
"I'm sure there are a lot of hot girls there," Theo said with glittering eyes.
"I thought you're going to marry your date last time?"
"I was disappointed in her because she instantly fell for me."
"Isn't that the goal? To make her fall in love?"
"I like the art of seduction. I enjoy the chasing game. So when they got smitten by me, I grew sick of them."
"You are the primary reason people don't have a girlfriend because you collect them all. Care to share?" Cade said.
"I wonder what their library looks like. Marble busts, wood paneling, and dimly lit areas, according to the rumors. They constructed it between 1711 and 1730 and it holds around 198 thousand of the library's ancient books. It is paradigmatic of a bygone period," Stan said.
"Let us savor our remaining days here where we can do whatever we want," Cade said.
Mr. Smith came back with loud footsteps.
"Cade."
They sat together when Mr. Smith spoke, "I have verified that Arthur has eating disorders. You have enough witnesses to support your claims. Stan and Cade, you are free to go."
"What about me, sir?" Theo asked.
"Well, you punched him in front of me."
"But I did it to protect Stan."
"Violence is not the only way to stop the fight. You and Arthur will be punished. Arthur will be under disciplinary action. You will help with school maintenance for a week."
Theo's jaw dropped. His friends jokingly rubbed his shoulders. It was always like that. He ended up being punished when Cade caused the affray. Theo received all the burden by himself.
***
The next day, Oliver was invisible to Cade. He didn't greet him with a broad smile nor wave his hand at him. Their chairs were farther from each other than before. Cade didn't utter a single word nor glanced at him for a millisecond. For him, Oliver had turned into an insect that he could easily stomp on.
Cade interrupted their teacher when he excused himself and went to the comfort room. Oliver looked at Cade's sketchpad. He was scribbling during their class. Oliver was going to ignore it. But his inner voices told him to take a quick look. The sketchpad was wide open, tempting him to stare at it.
Have you awakened from a nightmare that seemed like a real-life horror movie? When monsters kept chasing after you and the path you were taking was rough? Like a never-ending maze into the dark woods? Oliver felt the same feeling when he locked his eyes with Cade's sketch. He couldn't breathe as if someone was holding him by the neck.
Sweat slid down from Oliver's head. He was startled when Cade closed the sketchpad in a snap.
"I'm sorry you were able to see it," Cade said.
"See what?"
"Your future," Cade checked his watch, "three hours from now."
Cade never admitted a mistake. He never apologized unless he was about to inflict immense pain on someone he despised.
"Are you listening to me?" Ms. Brown asked. She had short, curly, black hair, with a dark skin tone. Her yellow bodycon dress emphasized his sexy figure.
"You. The guy at the back." She pointed at Stan who was reading his manga with AirPods on. His seatmate shook his elbow to get his attention.
"Did you listen to my discussion?" she asked.
"No, Ma'am."
Ms. Brown frowned at his honesty. "Well, am I boring?"
"No, Ma'am."
"Then why aren't you paying attention?"
"Because what I am reading is more interesting than what you are talking about."
Ms. Brown folded her arms. "Mr. Carline, you come to school to study and learn new things. Not to read some stupid comic."
"I enrolled in this program because I assume I would gain new knowledge. But it turns out, nothing is 'advanced' in your teachings, Ma'am."
Calling him out for not paying attention was acceptable. But calling his book stupid was unjustifiable.
"You sound so confident. Then answer this question. How much does the sky weigh?"
It took him five seconds to answer. "The surface area of the Earth is 197 million square miles. Take that number and multiply it by four billion to get the Earth's surface area in square inches. The sky weighs around 5.2 million billion metric tons, with an average atmospheric pressure of 14.7 pounds (6.6kg) per square inch. Another way to look at it, according to the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, is in terms of Indian elephants. Based on this calculation, the sky is the equivalent of 570,000,000,000,000 adult Indian elephants."
Ms. Brown had a long pause.
"Well, you got lucky today," she said.
"In addition, I think you should not call art stupid. Out of all the profession, you must know better, Ma'am."
The class ended at 3:00 in the afternoon. Oliver erased the terrifying idea about Cade's drawing. From morning till then, nothing terrible happened to him. Why would he be nervous when his conscience was clean? He did nothing wrong. An impudent boy like Cade who's smaller and thinner than him couldn't possibly hurt him.
That was he thought.