Zenon's Game Chapter 292

I leaned over and whispered to Axel, "What's Callington Prep?"

"It's a really posh school that Bryce used to go to," Axel replied, "He transferred sophomore year."

Why?

"Axel Thomas," she pulled out a second file that was much thicker than the first and struggled to balance it with the other papers, "OK, one second, bear with me. Your file is very heavy."

What was in there?

Axel didn't seem surprised by her comment. She had to place his file on the table to continue and I saw pages and pages bound together.

It felt odd to me that even the Vice Principal knew who these boys were. She was saying their names before she even got to their files.

"Zenon Albert, I'm surprised to see you being called in here. You are, after all, a symbol for the school," she said, flicking through until she got to his, "It will be a shame to have to take that away."

This was not going to be easy on him.

I saw my name on the next file she pulled out and I braced myself for what she would say. She picked it up and read out loud, "Mildred Turner-"

Bryce burst out laughing in the most obnoxious way possible.

Everyone was laughing. Even Zenon had his lips curved up in amusement.

"Sorry, why is that funny?" I asked, feeling my face heat up with embarrassment.

"Mildred..." Bryce repeated between his laugh, "Was everything a lie?"

I cleared my throat and said to the Vice Principal, "It's Candace."

"Right," she dismissed it, flicking through my file as she was noticing my existence for the first time, "I can see here that you're quite accomplished at math and... well, not much else. You applied to be a tutor-"

"That's long gone," I muttered.

I'm on the brink of being expelled, so that has to be the final nail in the coffin. My dreams of becoming a tutor were long gone.

"Cynthia Akil," she said, pulling out another file.

Everyone leaned in, enjoying the commentary. This Vice Principal was way sassier than I expected.

The VP scanned Cynthia's file, "Suspended once before for organizing a strike in the cafeteria."

Axel whistled.

I looked over at him to see if he was giving Cynthia any discrete glances. I think he liked that about her.

"I stand by it," Cynthia muttered, looking embarrassed, "Our cafeteria staff need to be better paid."

"Student council is a more appropriate forum for that discussion Miss Akil, but we do pay our staff minimum wage plus benefits," the VP said and raised her finger as Cynthia was about to argue, "Moving on to Arturo Rojas."

"It's Rojas," he corrected her pronunciation.

She was about to try again when the door opened and a man popped his head inside, "Their parents are here-"

"Make them wait," Bryce called out, "We're in the middle of something here."

I wanted to lower my head. Bryce had no concern at all for the situation we were in. He was enjoying this way too much.

The VP glared at him and collected her files, "You are all in serious trouble and the principal will be seeing you shortly."

She left the door wide open behind her and we heard her heels clicking down the hallway to the Principal's office.

Zenon got up and walked out of the door.

I stared after him. I thought we were all meant to stay here...

The others took a moment to react, but they followed him, breaking the one rule we had all been told to obey.

I didn't want to be left alone in this windowless room, so after they left, I ran out as well, dread sinking in my stomach as I saw the parents.

Cynthia's parents were most visibly fuming, and her mom's voice immediately raised three octaves to call her daughter out. She dragged her daughter to one side and loudly scolded her. Cynthia stared down at the ground, embarrassed and avoided saying anything that would escalate her mom's anger even more.

I saw Zenon talking to his parents, with his back towards me. He was facing his dad, head on, but they were discussing quietly. His parents didn't want to make a scene.

Mr Albert looked over at me and I almost jumped back, even though I was far away. He was about to say something when I saw Zenon reach out and stop him. He physically stopped him.

I wish Zenon would turn around to look at me. I wish I could talk to him.

The look in Mrs Albert's eyes was enough. They thought this was my fault. I tore my gaze away from the Albert family, because I knew it was not good news for me.

A moment later, the doors banged open.

And I went from depressed to getting the biggest shock of my life.

In walked my own mother.

The woman who gave birth to me.

She's alive.

I don't know whether to be overjoyed or worried or disappointed or what. She looked really put together in a cream turtleneck and navy chinos. She must've come from work.

And walking two steps behind her was a man I didn't recognize.

He was dressed very differently to her, in a tank top and ripped jeans. He had a bit of a goatee. I could only guess that this was her boyfriend.

I hadn't seen much of him except for the pound of weed we'd been taking care of for him. But why she thought that now would be a great moment for me to meet him... I'll never understand.

Everyone else had their parents and here was a guy I'd never met in my life.

I walked towards my mother, wondering how she would greet me. In front of everyone here, would she be kind? Would she disown me? Would she come back home now? Is she disappointed in me?