Chapter 91: Sucked in There were so many ways this could go down and none of them were good. It was a bad situation to begin with. The threat of being expelled was hanging over all our heads... and that was before my mom appeared with her new boyfriend. Before Luke's parents came in with daggers for eyes. And before Roland Chadwick Senior walked through the door. No, Roland Chadwick Senior didn't walk. He confidently strolled in wearing a sleek navy suit, white pocket square and silver cufflinks to match his watch. His assistant hurried after him, juggling a briefcase in one hand and phones in the other. My head rotated away from Roland Chadwick... to Austin Taylor... and then to Cearra Akil... Oh. Holy jumping father of a weasel in a fancy side-car with chocolate spread and a ho- "Principal Lee will see you in her office now," the receptionist announced. Why did she make it sound like we were in 50 Shades? I wonder if she reads the- "Ow!" I complained as my mom tugged my earlobe. "Why has the school called me here?! What have you done?!" she hissed in my ear, before letting go when noticing Cearra's mom glance worriedly over at us. Nothing about this situation was relaxing. Except for the gentle typing sounds the school receptionist was making on her computer. She seemed so calm over there. The two Chads led the way to the Principal's and Austin veered off after them with his backpack raised over his face. What was he doing? I rubbed my pained ear and watched Luke's family as they walked past. We kept our distance from them, and I'm sure they were delighted to do the same. Luke looked back. "Uh," I glanced at my mom's boyfriend who was following us, "Is he coming?" I whispered to my mom. I don't even know his name. "Why else do you think Doz is here?" she snapped at me, "It's like you only have two brain cells banging about in there." OK, now I know his name. I looked over at Doz and he looked back at me. No comment. So I walked towards the principal's office. Maybe my last trip as a non-expelled student in this high school. Maybe I should start thinking about what my tombstone would say. ** The Principal's office had a bunch of plaques on her wall with quotes about discipline and creativity and progress... like a tamer version of a meme page. I almost tripped over my own feet as I stared at the walls. I've never been in here before. There were several chairs which were already taken by the time I sheepishly walked in. I knew this situation was already bad, I couldn't bear to think what our parents would do to make it worse. The door opened behind me and I stepped out of the Principal's way. Principal Lee walked into her office and shut the door behind her, "Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come here today." Well, it wasn't really a choice. "As you know, bullying can lead to expulsion for the perpetrator and we take these allegations seriously." She locked the door. I caught Luke's eye. He gave me a look, his perfect lips curled into a smirk. He's a breath away from detention and this boy still manages to make the room hot. The Principal walked past Luke 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 Luke so relaxed made me feel like he had this all under control. Which is difficult to imagine, since it's Luke who led us all here in the first place. We're like mice to the pied piper. All of us fools followed Luke 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. Luke Dawson 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 Cearra's mom and overheard her remark, "Is that Chad'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 Dawson 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," Chad said, before Luke shoved him in the stomach. Principal Lee raised her pen, observed Chad and scribbled something down. Then she continued, "Luke Dawson was described as the leader of this gang. He threw a basketball that knocked the boy off his chair-" "Well that's ridiculous," Mr Dawson 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 Dawson, 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?!" Chad exclaimed, insulted, "Do you think I was putting on a costume show?!" Cearra tried hard not to laugh. To be fair to Chad 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. Chad'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 hip was visible, to keep his face anonymous. Kaden must've gone to the school nurse to document what happened. Austin, Chad and Luke 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?" Luke asked, pointing at Kaden's scrawny body. Chad answered, "Millie should recognize her ex-boyfriend topless. Is that him?" Oh my... Chad. If there was ever a time I wanted to harm Chad... All the parents turned to stare at me. And I felt the judgement. How had this become the topic of conversation? And Mrs Dawson, 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 Dawson argued back.