20 Returning Back to School

I silently came back to the school cafe that Shelly and I were in the beginning of our journey. It was then that Luke gestured me to sit down while I was anticipating a long lecture.

However, Daniel (the homeroom teacher) came into the cafe and asked us to come to the dean's office.

Few minutes later, we all sat down on a couch at the dean's office while facing the dean. I guessed this really was a serious incident.

The ever so confident Alex looked ashamed while Luke kept a calm demeanor on and Shelly just grabbed onto my arm trembling in fear.

The dean opened his mouth after a moment of silence, \"As you guys know, this is a very serious incident. We have never had this incident before in the Abright school because most children are well behaved. However, since there has been an mistake on our part as well, we will give you a warning this time as we promised. However, there will not be an incident like this that will be tolerated again. Understood!\"

\"Yes sir.\" We all replied.

\"Now go back to your rooms for the rest of the day!\" The dean yelled.

We headed back to our rooms as Alex clenched his hands into fists like he was holding back his anger. I knew it would be wise at this time to head back to bed even though it was only evening.

So I headed towards my bed while trying to avoid Alex's gaze. However, Alex grabbed onto my hand while almost shouting, \"Don't you dare think it ends here!\"

I started to shrink back in Alex's angry aura while he wouldn't let go of my hand.

\"Do you know how I feel about this? Have you ever tried thinking in your partner's position? Do you know how the name of the Monette family will be sullied now!\" Alex tried to say while trying to calm himself down.

\"Well, it is inevitable to not make any mistakes as human beings. But if what you were saying was the case, wouldn't the Monette family be already plastered with mistakes?\" I said while trying to seem reasonable.

\"Oh really! Then how come we never had a incident where a main member of the family got minus points in school before? We also never got called to the dean's office for any negative news as well!\" Alex tried to point out.

\"You know the minus point situation was your fault! I wouldn't have gotten sick if you didn't keep on hitting me with water. But I do admit that the dean's office thing was kind of my fault, however it wasn't mine completely.\" I answered back.

Alex looked like he had no words to say back with my response, but, he quickly recovered to ask, \"Don't you feel sorry for Luke?\"

\"I never wanted to become Luke'a partner,\" I replied back.

So you felt sorry for Luke, but not for me who was dragged into this mess of a school by Luke. Well, it technically wasn't anybody's fault except for the partner system and everyone else were victims. Including Ben, Hubert, Shelly, Luke and the list went on. I had to keep reminding myself of this fact to keep myself sane from slapping Alex in the face.

\"I do, or else I wouldn't be in this school.\" I mumbled back.

I got myself out of Alex's tight grip as I headed back toward my bed. I ignored Alex's stares for the rest of the day while I grabbed my light novel to start reading.

Sigh. Did I have to be stuck with this person for the next three days?

We ended up not talking to each other the next day as well. I hung out with Shelly and Ellen while Alex hung out with only Luke and Allan. It was like our small class of six people were split into two groups.

We didn't stay inside our room except for sleeping, because we knew we would run into each other. But strangely, near the end of Sunday, I saw Shelly and Alex together talking about something seriously.

I got ready to sleep early tonight so that I could wake up early tomorrow for class. I couldn't wait to get rid of Alex, even though I had to be with Luke afterwards.

However, once I was about to head towards my bed, Alex stood in front of me blocking my pathway very awkwardly.

\"Do you have something to say to me?\" I asked annoyed.

\"I apologize for my misunderstanding of the situation. I thought that you were the one that had the idea of going to the second district, but Michelle told me earlier today that it was her idea to go and that she couldn't tolerate all the blame going towards you anymore.\" Alex said while bowing his head.

\"I also apologize for saying bad stuff about your family and your friend,\" I replied back to his genuine apology. Both Shelly and I had the idea to go to the second district equally, so it was still half my fault, but I didn't want to ruin this nice moment so I also apologized as well.

It was clear now we had repaired our relationship. We weren't that close to each other in the first place, meaning that we had many assumptions about each other in the past two weeks.

But, I was glad we were able to make up before this whole partner switching thing ended because it would be awkward to keep on avoiding each other.