Joyce jumped after a few seconds Luke squeezed her wrist. So Luke reflexively released Joyce.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Joyce. I didn't mean to—"
"Never mind. It's okay," he said, twirling his arms, "After all, I asked you. I was just surprised because it actually hurts. Haha…"
"But," Jacob said, "are you sure you're pressing it with the same amount of force?"
"I don't know. What I did to you guys, it was the most pressure I could. Then what I did to Joyce was when she was in a rage. I'm really not sure."
Joyce and Jacob nodded.
"All right. Now tell the chronology of how Adam Bowleans fell. But first, is it true that you threw him from the classroom out the window?"
Luke nodded weakly. " Sadly, but… Yes, I did . Erm… can I have a cigarette? I don't… I don't feel comfortable here."
Joyce raised an eyebrow, but Jacob said yes. Somehow.
" No problem. No problem. Do you want to smoke? Here, I have one for you. Go ahead. Do you mind the WARLBORO brand?"
"Yeah. I'm not that picky."
Jacob reached into his uniform pocket and handed Luke a cigarette . Give him a lighter too when he tucks the cigarette in his lips. The embers immediately scorched the tip of the tobacco and without wasting any time, Luke took a deep inhale of the smoke.
Enjoy too. It felt like Luke hadn't smoked in a long time since this incident and that. Yes, Yes, Yes. Luke knew what poisons were stored in the smoke that was exploring Luke 's lungs right now. But, what do you want, please. The effect is quite strong. Luke's mind suddenly cleared, he felt more relieved, and a sense of well-being came from nowhere. Fun addiction.
"How about now? Are you feeling better? Can you tell me more?"
"Yes. I think so ," Luke answered .
Luke sucked one more time before starting the story that morning.
Luke told them, "I was leaving for school that day because the suspension period was over. As I walked into the classroom, suddenly he came. Adam Bowleans. He was screaming my name, 'Bright! Where's Bright?!' Something like that…"
Again, Luke first took a drag on this cigarette before it burned down in vain.
"... it might be a different story if the kids in class just kept quiet."
"Why do you think so?"
"Because if they just shut up or say they don't know, there's a good chance Adam Bowleans will go to another class and I could run away."
"What were the kids in class doing then? Did he tell Adam you were the Bright he was looking for?"
Luke nodded. Flicked cigarette ash on the table because he could not find an ashtray.
"I don't know who started it, but they all pointed at me. Damn it, huh?"
"Yes, damn it was. Then, what happened next?"
"Adam came up to me and grabbed me like this…" Luke gave a direct example of how Adam pulled my hair.
"He literally grabbed her back so hard my neck was barely flexing and my scalp was falling off."
"Isn't anyone helping you?"
"Of all the kids in the class? None, sir, " Luke shook his head firmly, "Like I said before, everyone in the school doesn't seem to want anything to do with the Bowleans brothers. Plus Adam is quite the beast and terrible."
"Back then, did he just pull your hair or did something else again?"
"He was raving about his sister who, according to him, was my fault because Patricia had an operation on her hand. She got a grudge about it and said something like, 'I'll have you think about it too' sort of thing. I don't know, I don't really remember."
"And who is this Valentina Miller ?"
"Ah… he…" Luke was silent for a moment. Reflex. So officer Jacob asked again.
"Who is this Valentina Miller ?"
"He's the one who helped me when Adam attacked, sir ."
"You're missing, the kids at school don't want anything to do with Adam Bowleans. So?"
"That's right. Most students in school choose to close their eyes whenever Adam does something bad, because if we get involved in any way, Adam will get back at them. I am proof of that. But, Valentina Miller , she did it because, just maybe… because they are friends at Rugby club. They're in the same grade."
"And what does Valentina have to do with you?"
"He's… erm, he's my ex-boyfriend." Luke rubbed the nape of his neck. Inhaling the last remaining cigarette before the coals burn at the yellow end.
"Okay, understood. Let's move on. So, Valentina suddenly came and helped you? Is that it?"
"Tisak, sir . Valentina Miller came because my friend, Amy Lee, called her."
"Amy Lee," officer Jacob muttered as he jotted down the name in his little notebook. Then he looked back at Luke . "Okay, then?"
"Valentina screamed angrily at Adam. ' Let her off, Adam! ' said Valentina. Ah… I mean screamed. Valentina snapped. But Adam pulled my hair back more and more until I felt that I was in a rich position. Moreover, every time Valentina wanted to approach me us, Adama would twitch and it hurt me. And then… and then she punch him, that Valentina Miller. She punched Adam. Yeah, if I'm not mistaken. Then I can be free…”
"You're free? Then why did you throw Adam?"
"I'm not done talking, officer. "
"Oh, alright. Sorry. I'm... sorry. Please continue without interrupting, Miss."
"I'm free from Adam, but it seems he got very angry because his own friend hit him in front of many students. Adam… I don't know. As I recall, he threw a table… or a chair, huh? Anyway, he used class property. You know, Adam has sudha got Valentina Miller on the floor then stepped on it a few times."
Jacob raised his hand this time. It seemed he wanted to interrupt in a polite way.
"I'm wondering about one thing. Did none of the other students really care? I mean, none of them thought of calling the teacher or, at the very least, school security? And your friend, that Lee guy too. He could call the teacher." instead of calling your ex-girlfriend… I mean, Valentina Miller . Why? ”
On that one, Luke chose to say, "I'm not sure." Because Luke didn't want to say the wrong thing that could harm Amy. Instead, Luke told Officer Jacob this;
"Well , reflecting on Patricia's incident, why do you think of the many students who don't want to report to the teacher?"
" I don't know." Jacob answered. Shake his head.
"Neither do I, officer Jacob. I don't know for sure. The only reason I can come up with is that they're afraid of Adam."
At that point, Joyce interjected, " Well , I guess we should go back to the Valentina and Adam scene. What happened next?"
"How far have I been?" Luke muttered under his breath. Trying to remember.
"That suddenly, Valentina was on the floor," said Joyce. He seems to be a good listener.
"Oh, that's right . Valentina was on the floor and Adam stomped her over and over again. Oh, that was horrible sir. You'd agree if you saw Adam's brutality when he stepped on Valentina Miller's stomach . I mean Miller is a girl after all! I even Can't imagine how Valentina can survive and look fine after getting kicked like that."
Luke's sentence was deliberately stopped for a moment. Memories in the classroom came back and it was quite disturbing. So Luke rubbed his face to get rid of it before returning to his statement.
"I had already been pulled by Amy to near the classroom door. It was very chaotic when Valentina got up and Adam threw objects at Valentina. It was at this point that I couldn't take it anymore, sir . I was furious and with an urge from behind my head, I advanced towards Adam. I pulled his leg like this…”
Once again, Luke practiced. The scene when it happened. So Luke stood up from the chair, bowed with his hands as if taking something, then straightened up again.
"This is how I lift her leg. Then I twirled her around like this… then I threw her out the window. The glass broke, sir and she fell down. Then, Mrs, Cindy Chen, our school's discipline teacher, came. He was startled and immediately called 911. That's the story, sir ."
Joyce and Jacob looked at each other with eyes that Luke didn't understand.
that's the summary of Luke 's interrogation where he made up his mind to speak. Tells everything according to what happened. Although, well ... actually there were a lot of interruptions or a lot of questions that were repeated until Luke annoyed himself. Plus, they asked to sit in waiting for nature two hours before being asked to leave the room.
Don't think Luke can come home afterwards. Well, not so it turns out. Because then, they handed me prison clothes and asked Luke to change in the semi-basement room.
"You're under arrest for the duration of the investigation, son."
Damn it.
***