I don't know what Luke should say to Ulfa about this. Yeah, Luke can imagine Ben's reaction, who will smile with satisfaction and say;
"I'm sure you must have a reason when you do it, son."
Luke thought Ben could better tolerate the trouble Luke created. At least, that's what war veterans often think, don't they—or maybe it's just Benjamin who likes it when he gets a call from school because his grandson is fighting. Who knows.
On the other hand, Luke had expected how Ulfa would respond to this. He would definitely put on a gloomy, regretful, and disappointed face. Then without saying much, Ulfa would shut herself up while lamenting the fate of having a grandson who broke her schoolmates, especially since she's a girl.
Ah, Luke doesn't know anymore. In fact, even though Rei, Amy, or Andrew tried to convince him with positive sentences, the only positive thing that was on Luke's mind was that he would get punished from school. Maybe the suspension is also not bad.
Not long after, the school clinic doctor returned and announced that Luke had to go to the Principal's office. Plus, he said that Ben Bright—Benjamin had been contacted.
"Good luck, bro," Andrew whispered to Luke.
While Rei forced himself to go to the Principal's room.
"I can wait outside, Luke. At least you're not alone there. Please ," he begged and Luke saw the sincerity in Rei's small eyes so Luke couldn't refuse him. That made Amy also want to go, but because she and Andrew had an exam in the physics practice class, they couldn't accompany her. Luke understands that.
Luke's legs seemed boneless as they walked up the stairs to the third floor, to the Headmaster's office. Arriving, Luke did not go straight in but waited for Benjamin to arrive which took twenty minutes. Benjamin's hurried steps up the stairs made Luke immediately know it was him. His thin body but still showing the gallantry of the past, appeared from behind the wall after the stairs. Seeing him, Luke reflexively got up from the chair and put on a regretful look.
"Ben, I…"
He raised his hand, interrupting Luke's sentence. He nodded as if he understood what happened or why Luke did it. Besides that, Ben's eyes also glanced at Rei whose clothes were different from this morning.
Ben walked over, grabbed Luke's shoulder and his eyes traveled around the boy's face to see some scratch marks and bruises.
"Who did it to you?"
“Bowles. Do you remember him?"
Ben shook his head.
Luke said again, "He's the one who was stuck with them in the shed in the woods the other day. The girl with the nose piercing and brown hair."
“Ah… those Bowleans. Michael Bowles. Yes, yes. I remember the brown haired family. You're involved again with a Bowleans daughter? Again?"
Luke nodded slowly.
"So did he beat you first or did you two do it together?" he asked.
"Erm…actually, I pushed him first. But that's because he already drenched Rei in the hallway."
Rei also chirped in, “That's right sir . Luke helps me a lot whenever Patricia interferes. Because of me, Luke got into trouble. I'm sorry, Mr. Bright." He bowed deeply, but was immediately upheld by Ben.
"You're defending your friend then?"
"Yeah."
"You yourself, do you have a problem with that child?"
“Erm… no. I mean, not really.”
Ben then nodded and then they went into the Headmaster's room after Mrs. Cindy Chen, the school discipline teacher who dismissed the students earlier, invited them in.
"Yes?" The headmaster greeted them with a surprised look, but then immediately nodded in understanding and motioned for Benjamin to sit down.
"Mr. Clashweed…"
"Bright. Ben Bright," corrected Benjamin when he heard the headmaster misspelled his name.
“Oh, sorry… I mean Mr. Bright. Good morning and welcome. Please sit down sir .”
The headmaster pointed at the chair in front of him and Ben sat in it, followed by Luke who sat next to him. Then, adjusting his coat, the Headmaster cleared his throat, placed both hands on the table and began speaking in as polite a tone as possible.
" Well, Sir ," said the headmaster, "as you have heard that your daughter..."
"Grandchild." Once again, Benjamin corrected.
“ Pardon me ?” The Headmaster bent his neck slightly. A sign that he doesn't understand.
"Grandchild. She is my granddaughter ,” Ben repeated.
"Oh okay. OK. I see it . As you have heard through the call from the school that your grandson, Luke …” The headmaster looked at Luke with a somewhat questioning look, Luke felt he didn't even know his name.
"Luke Bright, sir ," whispered Mrs. Cindy from behind Luke's back.
“Ah, right. Miss Luke Bright, your granddaughter, had a fight with one of the schoolgirls this morning and very regrettably, Miss Bright injured the girl and broke her hand, sir ."
“Yeah, I heard that on the phone. But, speaking of which, Mister Headmaster, why was I the only one summoned? Why weren't the girl's parents called too?”
"Oh, of course they will be summoned, sir."
Benjamin sighed in annoyance while chuckling at the same time and they briefly locked eyes when Benjamin rolled his eyes. The headmaster continued his speech.
"Miss Lawson's parents—"
“Bowles, sir. Patricia Bowles.” Again, the disciplinary teacher had to correct the Principal's words.
“… Miss Bowleans' parents have been called, but of course they are in the Hospital now looking after the child. But, yeah… you do understand that this matter can be very serious, sir . There was a student who was seriously injured and many witnesses saw the two fight…”
“Have you investigated this case, Mister Headmaster? I mean, just because Luke didn't get into the emergency department, doesn't mean he isn't a victim here. You get what I mean, don't you?" interrupted Ben in his usual old-fashioned tone.
“Ah, sir . We're not talking about who is a victim and who isn't a victim…” The headmaster tried to chuckle, “But you were called here to discuss what this Miss Clashweed has done to her schoolmates. If you understand correctly, sir , this is quite a serious case considering Miss Clashweed's violence—”
“Bright. Please! His name is Bright,” said Ben, tapping the edge of the table.
"... what Miss Bright did can be categorized as a crime."
"Criminal?!" squealed Ben furiously, making the Headmaster and Mrs. Cindy jumped in surprise. Ben couldn't hold back his anger anymore, "You said my grandson is a criminal?!"
"Ah, calm down, Mr. Bright," said Mrs. Cindy is surprised by Ben's high pitch. “ Relax. What the Principal meant was… um, that it was an accidental act,” he said. However, it seemed that my Headmaster was not sensitive enough and Benjamin didn't want to hear it at all so the two of them just kept on talking. Argue alone.
"Oh, no, no, Mrs. Chen. I did make it clear that what happened this morning, which resulted in one of our students being rushed to the emergency room, was a criminal act. Which of these actions can tarnish the good name of our school," said the headmaster, rebutting Mrs. Cindy.
At the same time, stubborn Benjamin also spoke which drowned out part of the Headmaster's sentence.
He said, “How dare you call my grandson a criminal?! Didn't you open your eyes that there are other children outside this room who fell victim to that girl?! Try to come out and ask him what exactly happened!”
"You brought up other students, sir, and that is irrelevant. This is the case between Miss Clashweed and Miss Bowleans."
“Ow, yeah! Of course it is very relevant. Did I mention that the root of the problem lies with the injured student?! Not yet? Well, now you hear it, Mister Headmaster! I don't mind if I have to be called to school because my granddaughter slapped someone, but what I want to emphasize here is that I know you and the school have done an investigation first and not judge a child that you think is a troublemaker! Do you understand what I'm saying, Mister Headmaster?!”
“Yes, yes. I totally understand sir. But, after all this is an agency and everything that happens in the school will be the responsibility of their side. If you want an investigation, they will and they will. Well, I'm not judging your grandson as a troublemaker. However, I prevented it from happening—”
"Nonsense," Ben cut in. Very cynically chuckled. "In that case, take out all the camera footage at the scene and we will watch together, who was wrong in the first place."
The Headmaster sighed, then said;
"They would have done that, sir . Thank you for the advice. But _ Bright, I regret to inform you that she'll get a suspension, sir . ”
***