Mr Alam opens the door and pokes his head in, "May we come in, Sir?"

"Yes, of course," a steady voice comes from within.

Mr Alam enters the room and gestures Allison and me to come in, as well. We exchange glances towards each other before entering.

We stay at our spot near the door, while Mr Alam stands arm-crossed at the right side of the Head Teacher, Mr Enjoué.

The light shines off his bald head and his eyes seem to bulge out even through his glasses; though, the tightened lips on his usual smiling face seem strange.

Mrs Riguroso he Deputy Head, taps the table next to her while her other is at her hip. She takes a few steps forward, her heels clicking on the floor as she points a slim finger at four boys sitting on the other side of the room.

My mouth drops as I look over at Ethan and Trevor in sports uniforms, seated in the room's corner. The former has an ice-pack on his nose, while the latter on his black-eye. Allison's hand reflexively goes to the pocket occupying Ethan's glasses.

Eric and another guy whom I don't know look everywhere besides the middle of the room.

The latter boys notice us, and shake their friends' shoulders.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Ethan looks up and starts mumbling just as Trevor shoots him a smirk.
"Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes."

Ethan straightens up and raises a brow.
"Can you get any more immature?"

Trevor leans back in his seat as he says,
"It's a talent, my friend."

"Why you fu--"

"Boys, no cursing in the office!" Mrs Riguroso's voice booms throughout the office, making Mr Enjoué flinch beside her.

Ethan takes a deep breath before deadpanning to Trevor,
"Then may you wake up in the morning, only to find your phone's battery at zero percent."

Trevor and his friend blink at him while Ethan shoots a glare at Eric's snickers. Eric stops tittering and puts a finger on his lips.

Allison and Mr Enjoué suppress grins.

The Deputy Head massages her right temple before sighing,
"Now that we have the entire party here, would you two kindly tell us what happened?"

All of the boys remain quiet. Eric, seeing as nobody is talking, fidgets.
"Mrs Riguroso, you know that Ethan and Ian aren't exactly on good terms and today got a bit out of hand..."

Mrs Riguroso furrows her brows and says,
"I know, but it is extremely out of character for your petty fights to end up in fists! And especially you, Mr Ingram. I expected the initiation from Mr Trevor but it was actually you..."

Ethan? Fight?

The boys say nothing.

Mr Enjoué crinkles his face, while a wide grin spreads across it. He intertwines his hands on the table and leans forward,
"I know why you two fought..."

"You do?" Ethan jumps in his seat while twitching from the sudden pain in his broken nose.

My lips downcast.

Everyone turns their heads towards the principal, while I search Allison's face for some clues. Her face, too, has become a homeland of confusion.

"Now, I wouldn't be your Head Teacher if I didn't understand the basics of child-," he stops and coughs, "excuse me, teenage psychology."

Mrs Riguroso waves a hand at him,
"Then, what does your understanding of teenage psychology tell you, Head Teacher?"

Mr Enjoué rubs his the base of his french beard as he replies,
"We know for sure that the boy is acting out of character; now, by his reaction, exactly what is triggering that?"

He looks at Allison and me as he says,
"Now, I would have first thought that it may be because of the cousin, Ms Crimsom, but Ms Knightley, haven't Mr Trevor and you been quite contemptible these days? And yes, I like to keep updated with my students' affairs."

I am taken aback a bit but somehow answer,
"Yes..."

Mr Enjoué nods at everyone as he says,
"I believe that we have some sort of a love triangle among us. Oh, young love..."

Mrs Riguroso and Mr Alam's jaws drop, while Allison turns to me with wide eyes. I shake my hands at her just as Ethan almost jumps out of his seat.
"Absolutely not!"

He slaps Trevor's elbow and urges him,
"Tell them!"

Trevor scoffs,
"Of course, I'm not some sort of a second or side option."

He sits straight, as his friend claps his shoulder.

Why do they remind me of Gaston and Lefou?

Ethan opens his mouth to interject, but Mr Enjoué beats him to it,
"It is all right, my boy, all right. I remember first meeting my wife during my O Levels. I think I even cried at our wedding. Valeria, Yousuf, you two know how it feels!"

He sighs as a dreamy sigh escapes from him. Mr Alam chuckles from behind, but stops after seeing Mrs Austero cringe.

A reddish tint spreads across Ethan's face. I think I also hear Allison's giggles, but I'm too busy covering my reddening ears with my hair.

"And do you know what my psychology says after Mr Ingram's outburst?" Mr Enjoué's eyes spark and I almost want to put my hands up to his psychology.

"The guilty dog barks the loudest," Mr Enjoué nods at Ethan, "while the guilty cat barely makes a sound..." he finishes his sentence by looking at me.

Please, just stop. Please.

"Mr Enjoué, we discussing the students' cause of feud, not their hormones!" Mrs Riguroso rumbles while Eric tries to contain himself.

Thank you!

Everyone turns their heads towards the knocking door. Mr Enjoué grants his permission, allowing Mr Henley to enter.

"Sorry, for the intrusion, Sir. I would have given Yousuf the USB, but I forgot. Here it is." Mr Henley slides across the room, and puts the table. Mr Enjoué beams as he says,
"No problem, Edmund. We're almost finished with these fellows."

Mr Henley doesn't pay attention to Mr Enjoué, rather he squints his eyes at Trevor and his friend whispering in their corner.

"Mr Trevor, would you care to let us know what amusing results you gained by saying that to Mr Ingram?"

The ice-pack falls from Trevor's hand as he says, "I- how did you hear me?"

Mr Henley rolls his eyes at him.
"I'm the bionic woman."

"Ah hah! You see, the actual offender has spoken! Thank you, Edmund! I don't know where we'd be if it wasn't for your good hearing. I should include you more in these kind of situations. Now, we know that Mr Trevor must have said something about Ms Knightley to make Mr Ingram angry and it all went out of hand from there."

Mr Enjoué looks around at everyone's flabbergasted expressions and says,
"I knew that bringing the girls here would be helpful. Case's closed."

Mrs Riguroso opens her mouth to says, but then closes it. She glances towards Ethan as she says,
"Now, would you care to tell us what did Mr Trevor exactly say, Mr Ingram?"

Ethan looks at Mrs Riguroso, and then at me. He takes a deep breath, as his now stuffy voice replies,
"It was nothing, Mrs Riguroso. It was after P. E., and he said something stupid about me that I don't even remember now. It wasn't about Lindsey, at all."

Mrs Riguroso narrows her eyes at Ethan's answer and looks at Trevor.
"Is this true?"

Instead, Eric opens his mouth; but, Ethan's glare silences him.

Trevor presses his lips in a straight line as he says, "Yes."

Mrs Riguroso nods slowly, while Mr Enjoué frowns. Mr Alam doesn't say anything.

Mr Henley's cough disrupts the stifling silence of the room.

"I think we should let go their way, now. I'm going to my class, Mr Enjoué. You two don't need to return to it," he tells Allison and me.

Mr Enjoué nods at Mr Henley's retreating figure, and motions for the rest of us to leave, as well.

Just as the rest of us shuffle out of the office, Mrs Riguroso hisses at the boys,
"I've called all of your parents. They weren't able to arrive due to their jobs, conviniently. Remember that you two will still be punished."

Ethan nods at her, while Trevor grunts loudly. All of us adjust our bags on our shoulders when Mr Enjoué's voice stops us,
"Oh, and Mr Trevor, you're on probation."

Trevor whips around, almost bumping into his Lefou. The rest of us just stare.
"What for!" Trevor asks.

"For bullying and harassing the student body." Mr Enjoué nods at Eric's wide eyes and continues, "I shan't tolerate such behaviour in my school."
Our principal's face drops for a second, before his usual smile returns.

"But--" Trevor interrupts and Mr Enjoué holds up a hand-- making everyone hold their breaths by his steely gaze.
After a good two minutes, he shooes us away with a flick of the same hand.

Reluctantly, we all nod and leave the office.

As we all walk out of the school, Trevor and his friend are at the back muttering to each other, while the rest of us are in the middle. I inch near to Ethan, but he recoils.

"Hey!" Trevor's voice resounds from the back, just as we enter the grounds. No one else is here except for us.

Ethan turns around and spits,
"What do you bloody want now?"

Allison fidgets in her position, while Eric remains quiet. I stay solemn.

"Why did you bail me? If you'd told them, then I would've gotten more punishment than you," Trevor asks.

Ethan releases his a hand from his nose and waves at them. "You're already on probation, in case you forgot."

Trevor rolls his eyes.
"I'm not talking about that. Why didn't you tell what I said?"

He looks at Eric for support, but the blond only shrugs, "You wanted to be Mr Hero. Now be that."

Ethan grinds his teeth and says,
"I wasn't being Mr Hero; I was being reasonable."

Trevor's friend mumbles something to him, making him step away from us.

They both pass by my shoulder, just as I hiss in a low tone,
"What. Did. You. Say..."

They stop in their tracks but utter no syllables. Taking advantage, Ethan taunts at them,
"What? Don't have the balls to say it in front of her?"

Trevor looks down before he scowls,
"Ask your boyfriend."

"We are not dating!" Ethan shouts from behind us.

Why is everybody going mad here?

I stomp back at him with clenched fists and say, "And what's wrong with you!"

He seems taken aback as he asks, "Why? What happened to me?"

I point with cardboard hands at Ethan. "You don't get to decide what I should hear!"

He opens his mouth, but shuts it, looking anywhere but me.

"And I thought you didn't talk with fists." My arms fold across my chest.

Taking a few extra minutes, he finally says in a monotone,
"Why'd you think that? Ian and I haven't been friends since primary."

I roll my eyes. "Because the person who stood by listening to somebody playing a piano wouldn't do that!"

Ethan finally looks up and blinks.
"You... you remember that?"

A facepalm echoes from behind, and Trevor cringes at the force by himself,
"Now, Romeo and Juliet have photographic memories!"

"If you have such a problem, then why don't you enlighten us all on what you said!" I bellow.

"Ah- I gotta go now..." Trevor takes a few steps back with his friend, while my teeth grind.

"No, you don..."

"Lindsey, let them go. They're not worth it," Allison advises just as the Gaston and Lefou duplicates slip away.

I glance over at Allison and see her chewing on her lower lip. Eric facepalms at the side.

I pivot and only see the redhead shaking his head at me.

Ethan walks right past me, as I shrug my hands at him. He stops-- pressing his ice-pack again at his nose.
"Why should I tell you when you haven't told anything either to Allison nor me?"

"Where did this come from!" I fling my hands about myself.

"It was always there. You never noticed," he says coolly.

Friendships shall be challenged.

From the side, Allison fiddles with the hem of her blazer.
"Ethan..."

"Let me say it, Als! When have you told Als and me anything? We didn't even know about your parents till your brother let it slip.

"What about that bruise? I know you don't trip. And when you ended up in that classroom? We wouldn't have known why you were there in the first place, if Kathleen hadn't said it.

"I know you can keep whatever secrets you want, but can we have a little bit of confirmation whether you trust us or not? As your friends?"

Eric clinches his jaw, but doesn't say anything after seeing Allison's arm in front of him.

I keep blinking at Ethan with pursed lips, till my eyes wander towards Allison. She doesn't look at me.

Even you?

Bonds shall be questioned.

Before I know it, I shrug my bag to ease the developing pressure on it, and trek towards the school gates.

Allison tries to catch my arm, but I dodge her.

...oh, dear.

At least, we know now that Ian will never be a 'second or side' option. XD

Hello everybody! I hope y'all are doing good.

Thank goodness, the heat's decresed from about 120 F to only 100-110 F here because of the rains. I'd have literally been fried even the temperature remained the same. XD

And the GIF & music being contradictory towards each other was the summary of this chapter.
Psst, the GIF has Allison in it. XD

Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to the very talented and wonderful zuko_42. I know your birthday was last week, but I wanted to dedicate a chapter to both you and MB, and since MB's birthday is a day before... here you go XD
Oh well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR SISTA!!!

I know I'm a wee bit obsessed with minion GIFs XD

Btw, the time for Protagonist Playlist Song no. 3 is very, very, very near.

And I finally found a GIF to match Ethan's POV!(C6) That's literally how I imagine his expression to be in that chapter. XD

Let me know what you think of the chapter in the comments below and here's this week's question:

Do you believe what Ethan said? Even if you don't, then why is he hiding it?

Music- Assassin's Creed: Rogue
Alemada in F#

Have a fantastic week!
So many XDs in this chapter...

Love,
MS Zame