Knowing he didn't have much time to be hesitant, Christian decided to improvise as the situation demanded.
He stood up abruptly, with an expression of disbelief and shock written on his face, and slammed the desk in front of him with nearly all his strength.
The loud sound of Christian hitting his palm on the desk made most of the students fall silent, as he followed up with a shout.
"Impossible!"
Christian, fully immersed in his act, nearly convinced himself of the authenticity of his reaction. He went as far as to believe that this might genuinely be the first time he's seeing what's being published now.
His desolate appearance led others to believe that he felt betrayed, suspended for cheating, only to discover that the teacher in question was actually aiding other students in cheating.
Nothing could be more ridiculous! Is what was read from his expression.
The students, observing Christian's dramatic display, exchanged glances and began murmuring quietly among themselves.
And Christian like the realization of what had happened finally settled in, his expression displayed a mix of betrayal and acceptance. Unable to contain his emotions, he cursed in frustration.
"Fuck."
His reaction was as if he truly couldn't hold himself back after reading the shocking news.
And although his voice was faint, it was still loud enough for most of the students in the now quieter class to hear.
Even the teacher, who until now seemed at a loss for what to do, was jolted back to reality by the curse.
"Turn the projector off immediately!"
As the teacher began directing a student to turn off the projector, the student first stayed still, hesitating, torn between following the teacher's order and satisfying his curiosity by continuing to read the shocking announcement.
But as if on cue, like it wanted to assist him, a new message suddenly appeared at the top of the article. It announced that both the article and a file containing the evidence would be sent to all students and school staff.
Right after that, as he heard a faint vibrating sound begin to emerge, the student made up his mind and decided to follow the teacher's instructions.
As Christian watched the scene in front of him, with the teacher shouting at one student, urging him to help her.
In his mind, he was so impressed by the acting that he even wondered if he now deserved a Nobel Prize for it.
But as the teacher tried to turn off the projector while attempting to calm down the students, who were in shock and murmuring or talking among themselves.
She still failed brilliantly, as it was the first time she was in such a high-tension situation.
And even if she turned off the projector, the sound of the robotic voice would still be heard.
So while she was able to turn off the projector in the end, she was still forced to hear most of the things the math teacher had done through the automatic robotic voice, which persisted and was even harder to turn off.
As the classroom was in disarray, the teacher's ineffective attempts to restore order only seemed to fan the flames. The air was thick with tension, and the students' restlessness was palpable.
Amidst the chaos, the student who had been caught cheating stumbled forward, his eyes pleading for mercy. Although the punches he'd received from his classmates had been few, he still didn't want to endure any more. He turned to the teacher with a mixture of hope and resignation.
It was nearing a riot, like those in prisons he had seen in movies. Or so Christian thought.
"NOO!"
But Christian suddenly heard the math teacher shouting in the corridor as he was running, likely trying to turn off what was being broadcasted.
He was also likely trying to deny any wrongdoing towards the school and his students.
But Christian didn't care, instead he was more joyful. Thinking that the perfect moment had arrived, he decided to continue his act, this time targeting the math teacher.
He couldn't help but walk toward the door and open it. Looking at the math teacher arriving at the stairs a little farther away, he shouted.
"Mr. Clayton, this can't be true, right?"
Looking toward him, while trying to muster every muscle in his face for the act and recalling his brilliant expression from before, Christian aimed to create an even better one.
Christian adopted the expression of someone who felt betrayed.
Resembling someone who had a friend for thousands of years but was betrayed by him, Christian tried to imagine himself living that moment when the sword of his best friend stabbed him in the back.
His friend looked at him with eyes devoid of emotion, still holding the sword now lodged in his heart.
But even after all of that, he continued to look at his friend, asking with his expression and eyes instead of his voice, asking him why, asking him to deny this harsh reality.
Christian wanted to convey that to the math teacher, hoping to make him deny this current reality.
With a pained eyes, from the betrayal rather than the act of stabbing itself, he waited for a cry of denial from Clayton Murphy.
But his best friend, or rather the math teacher, upon hearing his voice, without even registering what he said, immediately stopped in his tracks and looked at him.
Instead of reassuring him with a warm expression that it was not true, that it was all lies, or that what he was seeing was merely an illusion,
He seemed to confirm the reality of the situation by not responding. Then, his expression, which had been filled with panic, turned to one of fury, filled with ire, fierceness, and even a hint of madness.
After looking at the stairs and then at him alternately, and listening a bit to the robotic voice now filling the school, he seemed to make a decision. Then, he took a step toward Christian.