They argued incessantly until finally, the leader arrived, and everyone stopped talking.
——
In the school board meeting hall, a dozen board members sat around the conference table.
"Tell us, Principal Tan, what exactly is going on here?"
Principal Tan mopped his brow repeatedly, "A misunderstanding, all just a misunderstanding..."
He nodded over and over, bowing his head, accepting all the accusations without protest.
Outside the meeting room, Mi Shen and Han Xu stood shoulder to shoulder.
Looking at the meeting room and then at Mi Shen with a worried expression, Han Xu said, "Principal Tan has been in there for almost half an hour; nothing's wrong, right?"
Mi Shen turned her head and glanced at the closed door of the meeting room, her lips pressing together even tighter.
At that moment, footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor, the heels of high-heeled shoes clicking crisply and gratingly on the pristine floor tiles.
