Zenon's Game Chapter 299

"You're welcome. They're a lively group of friends, but at least they have each other," Mr Chadwick answered, undoubtedly thinking of the time we destroyed his dinner in Dubai.

"We live and we learn," Cynthia's mom nodded and turned to collect Cece.

Before she did, Bryce's dad asked one more question, "By the way, what's your connection to Sweden? You mentioned it a couple times earlier and there was that Swedish present you gave me in Dubai."

Cynthia's mom turned back and smiled, "No connection at all. I come from Louisiana, but I heard you were Swedish and wanted to send a small token of gratitude."

"Right, right," Bryce's dad nodded, and then tilted his head, "I'm not Swedish though."

"What do you mean?" Cynthia's mom also tilted her head.

Like two parrots mirroring each other.

"I'm not Swedish," Bryce's dad repeated, really rubbing it in now, "Not even a little bit."

Cynthia's mom paused for a moment and looked at him funny, "But when we spoke on the pho..."

Her own words trickled out of her mouth as realization slowly crept in.

Cynthia raised her hands to cover her mouth. Game Over. We all knew it. And now her mother did too.

Mrs Akil turned to her daughter with a look that filled us all with terror.

She then looked at all of us; at Axel, at Bryce, at Zenon and at me.

"There was something very wrong with that accent," she said heavily, pointing her finger at all of us, and raising her voice, "Which one of you irresponsible fools did I speak to?"

We had identical looks on our faces: part stunned and part guilty.

But then, the irresponsible fool himself stepped forward to accept the blame, "It was me, Mrs Akil."

Axel's mom sighed from the sidelines, "Why am I not surprised?"

Axel tried to explain, "We really wanted Cynthia to come on the trip. She was safe the whole time and we did the cultural experiences we promised-"

"Oh, I'm sure you did!" Cynthia's mom snapped and honed in on her daughter, "You are in so much trouble you won't even know what day it is. Say goodbye to everyone here because the only time they'll see you in future is when you're handing in your homework in class."

"Mom," Cynthia complained, looking very embarrassed.

"Are you really going to stand there and 'mom' me?!" Cynthia's mom retorted, "I'm not just angry about this. I'm furious. And if you really did watch while that boy was being bullied, you deserve more than the punishment I'm going to give you."

Cynthia quickly grabbed her bag and muttered her goodbyes. She wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible, because her mom was not going to stop.

"Bye," she mouthed sadly at Axel.

"Sorry," he said back.

Mrs Akil continued over them, "Just because the popular boys are doing something, it doesn't mean you lower your standards to follow them. I raised you better than that."

Mrs Akil grabbed her daughter and left the office. And even after a few minutes we could still hear Cynthia's mom yelling down the hallway.

In the aftermath, Axel's mom spoke to her own son, "Do you know what you do to my blood pressure? Get your things, Axel. We'll discuss this at home."

They left too and I wondered what the Principal would say when she realized everyone was heading out.

I looked around and saw Roland Chadwick the II still standing in the same spot he had been speaking to Cynthia's mom minutes earlier.

He was looking confused by what had just happened.

"Do I sound Swedish?" he asked.

"No dad," Bryce replied innocently, "People can be weird sometimes."

"Stay away from them!" my mom yanked me aside in the parking lot, "How many times do I have to tell you that?!"

I almost tripped by the force of her pull.

"Ow, you're hurting me," I complained, feeling my arm throb.

I placed my other hand on the hood of a stranger's car for stability. Doz was awkwardly following us, trailing far behind as he tried to stay out of the argument. He kept his head glued to his phone.

I was suspended. Suspended from school for a week. We all were.

And we'd all left the principal's office under a wide range of punishments from our parents. Cynthia and Axel were in a double world of trouble and I wished them luck in the next life.

On the other side of the spectrum, Bryce and his father had waltzed out of there making dinner reservations.

"You deserve a world of pain for the way you behaved, Candace," my mom told me, "You've lost your head to that boy. You used to have your life together. What happened to math, your job and good behaviour?"

What are those again?

"It's not Zenon's fault-"

"Aren't you embarrassed?!" she snapped.

"Aren't you?! You brought a man I've never met to my principal's office!" I replied, before looking over at Doz, "No offence Doz, you've actually been super nice in this whole situation and I really appreciate that."

He looked up from his phone and gave me a thumbs up.

"I'd rather be with this man than a Albert any day of the week," my mom gripped me harder, digging her nails into my skin, "How can you have no shame? You accept your boyfriend's family disrespecting your own to your face."

"Ow, mom, please, you're really hurting me," I winced, seeing specks of blood from where her nails were buried in my skin.

"For a smart girl, you're really stupid," she insulted me, "Don't follow that boy into his messes. Don't you understand that the same rules don't apply? It's an unfair world and he'll get away with things that you can't. Do you know how close you were to being expelled, you clueless child?"