Zenon's Game Chapter 294

The Principal walked past Zenon who glanced down, hiding the smirk on his lips. I live for the small moments. I wanted to ruffle his hair and pull him out of his chair. Seeing Zenon so relaxed made me feel like he had this all under control.

Which is difficult to imagine, since it's Zenon who led us all here in the first place.

We're like mice to the pied piper. All of us fools followed Zenon to detention. Or worse - expulsion.

Unlike some other people in this room, I don't have parents who would help me apply to another school. I don't have money to apply to all the colleges I want to go to. And I can't rely on my looks or my 'athletic' skills to get out of these situations...

I felt my emotions spin from being so attracted to him in one second to getting angry at him in the next. I'm a fool for thinking I'd end up OK. Zenon Albert gets away with things most people don't. It's part of his charm, but when you get sucked in... it's difficult to find a way out.

"As you know, bullying can lead to expulsion for the perpetrator. We take these allegations seriously and, in our policy, being a bystander is the same as being an offender," Principal Lee said, arriving at her massive desk.

She found Roland Chadwick II seated comfortably in her chair.

"Hello," he greeted her.

"Mr Chadwick," she informed him, "you are in my chair."

"Am I?" he asked, looking around before he chuckled, "It appears so. Comfortable too."

And he didn't move. He just waited for her to carry on and explain what we were all doing here.

I was seated near Cynthia's mom and overheard her remark, "Is that Bryce's dad? He sounds different on the phone."

Principal Lee was still struggling with how to handle the chair situation. She bit her tongue and spoke to the rest of us instead, "I don't want to waste your time, but this is serious news. Witnesses say your children bullied a junior classmate today."

Mrs Albert spoke up, "Define bullying."

"The boy was physically strapped to a chair and placed in the center of the basketball court-"

"That's already wrong," Bryce said, before Zenon shoved him in the stomach.

Principal Lee raised her pen, observed Bryce and scribbled something down.

Then she continued, "Zenon Albert was described as the leader of this gang. He threw a basketball that knocked the boy off his chair-"

"Well that's ridiculous," Mr Albert interrupted, "How weak is this kid to get knocked down by a ball? My son is good at sports, but he's not superman."

Art chuckled.

"As I said, Mr Albert, there are witnesses," the Principal replied, observing him before she picked up her pen to scribble something else down. "There are further reports of Roland Chadwick the III walking around and intimidating onlookers with a whip."

"A whip?!" Bryce exclaimed, insulted, "Do you think I was putting on a costume show?!"

Cynthia tried hard not to laugh.

To be fair to Bryce though, it was a skipping rope – not a whip. These 'witnesses' were getting creative.

I was shocked by how no one seemed to be taking the Principal seriously, right now.

Bryce's father raised his hands behind his neck and leaned back in the Principal's chair, "Principal Lee, this is becoming laughable. You dragged us all here to discuss these childish games. Let kids be kids."

"Mr Chadwick," the Principal spun round, "I will not let kids be kids, when their actions cause bruises such as these!"

She pulled a photo out of her notebook and raised it for him to see. It was of a shirtless boy with bruises down the side of his rib cage and his arm. Only his neck down to his h*ip was visible, to keep his face anonymous. Kaden must've gone to the school nurse to document what happened.

Axel, Bryce and Zenon all got out of their chairs to take a closer look at the photo.

"Are we still pretending like we don't know who this is?" Zenon asked, pointing at Kaden's scrawny body.

Bryce answered, "Candace should recognize her ex-boyfriend topless. Is that him?"

Oh my...

Bryce.

If there was ever a time I wanted to harm Bryce...

All the parents turned to stare at me. And I felt the judgement. How had this become the topic of conversation?

And Mrs Albert, who had heard me say some pretty weird things in the past, did not look surprised.

"I knew it," she sighed, "It's all her fault. She's brought endless drama to these well behaving boys and our family since that summer camp."

"Oh ho ho," my mom chuckled before raising her voices a couple octaves, "You really want to air your dirty laundry out here?! My daughter is a grade A student-"

"I'm not," I muttered, shaking my head.

I have one A in math. And that's it.

"And what do you think my son is?!" Mrs Albert argued back.

He's not a grade A student either.

Principal Lee was getting disoriented by the interruptions, "You were called here to settle the dispute between the children. I was unaware there were issues at the parental level also."

Issues don't even begin to cover what we have.

The Principal picked up her notepad and scribbled something down.

"What are you writing?" my mom asked.

"She's judging us," Mrs Albert gasped.

Zenon leaned back in his chair and covered his hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

At least he was enjoying this. The Principal hadn't expected our parents to be... our parents. At this rate, I'm surprised Zenon and I ended up so normal.

Actually, did we?