Chapter 20

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With the adrenaline mixed with anxious jitters running through my cold veins, I walked through the threshold to the front office. 

Xander slightly smiled to the middle-aged secretary as she looked up from her desk. "What's up, Linda?" He asked coolly as if they were old friends.

"And what do we have here?" She rolled her eyes and tipped her glasses down the bridge of her nose with a small smile on her face. "You got her in trouble also, Xander? Poor girl," she said, looking past Xander and at me with a warm smile in contrast to the annoyed one she gave him.

"It was worth it though," he smiled back at me, making my chest lug in my body.

She just shook her head, her black bun of hair bouncing as she put the school phone to her ear. "You guys can wait here. He's busy scaring the shit out of that sophomore kid. Wait, I can't curse with students!" She reprimanded herself. "Don't tell anybody I cursed or I'll get fired."

Xander smirked. "Well then, I guess I'll tell Richardson once I'm in there."

She just chuckled to herself before resuming typing on her computer.

Braiden was a sophomore? I thought to myself. He was almost two years younger than us, and got beaten up by two seniors!

"I can just go in there by myself, gem," he said, looking to me once we were sat down on the waiting chairs outside the dean's office.

I shook my head. "No, I need to be there, you know."

He bore his grey eyes into my green ones, his golden eyebrows knitting together, his eyes seemingly searching for my true thoughts.

The sudden seriousness of the atmosphere made me want to shrink down. I just averted my eyes from his to the plaque on the old door: a golden plaque that had engraved "Dean Richardson's Office." The fake gold was starting to peel at the corners of the plaque.

The white, plastic shutters were partially opened, giving me a peek into the room. All I could make out was a guy sitting at the other side of the dean's desk. He was fidgeting with his hoodie strings. Braiden Glenn.

I knew Xander was nervous for me, although I wouldn't know what there was to be nervous about. But I could practically feel the anxiety rippling off him. His right leg was bouncing up and down, and he kept tapping against the arm rest of the chair.

I opened my mouth to comfort him before we heard the door slam open by our dean, followed by his loud voice.

"I hope you weren't lying kid," his booming voice echoed through the hall as he patted the redheaded kid's back.

Braiden's eyes connected with mine for a split second. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, his back slouched. He was very scrawny with purple bruises all over his face, reminding me he was only a kid. That made me feel an ounce of pity for him. He quickly averted his eyes to the carpeted floor and opened the door out of the office and left to his next class.

"Now you two," the leathery man said staring down me and Xander. Richardson nodded his head towards his office which had us following him in like clueless, lost puppies, or at least I was a clueless, lost puppy.

Xander plopped down in the chair on my left like he owned the place, but he still was tense. In contrast, I cautiously sat in the chair, looking around his office. 

Wait, what if Xander gets in trouble for punching that kid up? And why isn't Cooper called here also since he did help beat up Braiden?

With paranoid thoughts running around my head, Richardson finally set them all straight.

"You guys aren't in trouble."

I sighed and Xander visibly became less tense.

"Well, not yet anyway," our dean said, folding his hands on his dark wooden desk. "From what Braiden told me, what happened at that party was more than just a nasty and drunken brawl."

"What did he say happened?" Xander asked, leaning forward in his seat with a wrinkle in his forehead.

Our aged principal shook his head. "That he was drunk and tried assaulting Miss White here."

"He wasn't drunk!" the fuming, grey-eyed guy on my left said angrily.

"Yes, he was," I confirmed. "He smelt of alcohol, and he was practically dragging his feet on the floor."

"He was still drinking underage!" Xander scoffed. "You have to suspend him for that!"

"I will be suspending him either way since you just confirmed he tried assaulting, but every student there was drinking. You don't expect me to punish half the school, now do you?"

Xander rolled his eyes. "Fine, just get him away from Aurora."

Our principal nodded. "Did he try to assault you, or did he actually go through with it?"

I shook my head violently, my bun getting more messed up. "No! No, he was drunk. He's a young, probably was his first drink or something."

Sometimes I was too forgiving, and it was usually a weakness rather than a strength. This time I was entirely uncomfortable. My niceness for Braiden made Xander narrow his eyes at me in confusion.

"But still suspend him, and put it on his record," Xander firmly said. He sounded like he would make no room for disagreement. "Expel him, even!"

"I can't expel him with no solid evidence, but I will suspend him based on your word," our dean said. "You and Cooper were the ones who punched him, correct?"

Xander didn't hesitate. "Yeah, I mean, he was trying to hurt Aurora and we're her friends. What did you expect us to do?"

He nodded with raised brows. "I'll let Cooper slide, he's a good kid. But you, Xander, are not. I may not have punished you for getting into a fight at that track meet, but I did know about it."

"Come on," I stepped in, raising my voice. "He was just defending me. And for the incident at the track meet, the other guy was stepping on his toes on purpose. He was practically asking for a fight."

I was handling this oddly well. I was even surprising myself with my calmness.

"Okay, it's settled." He stood up. "I'll be calling your parents, Aurora, and Braiden's parents to let them know of what's happening and to inform them of his suspension."

I knit my brows together. My parents coming would not be pleasant considering the last time I saw them which was a little over four months ago during the summer.

"Aurora," Xander harshly whispered at me when our dean was on the phone, presumably with Braiden's parents. "Why the hell are you trying to defend the kid? He tried assaulting you."

"I'm not going to let that put me in a depression again, not after what happened in ninth grade." I sighed before whispering back but more gently, "I'm trying to let go, Xander. And I know holding on is brave, but letting go is braver. Let me let go."

***

"I heard what happened," Tommy said, jogging up to my side in the deserted hallway. "You good?"

We were on our way to track practice. Turns out, the entire school knows about Xander and Cooper fighting Braiden, or more so Braiden getting his ass kicked by two of the strongest seniors.

I sighed at the question. I've probably been asked that about a million times today, and lunch was even worse with everybody questioning my mental state. "I've been better."

"If you ever-"

"If I ever need to talk, you'll be there, I know." I've been told the same things over and over today that I just got sick and tired of it after the third time of being "reassured." Most of the people were just hungry for the latest gossip. They knew and I knew that they didn't actually care.

Tommy shook his head teasingly as he opened the gate to the field for me. "I'm serious, Aurora."

I nodded my head with a slight smile wiped on my face. "Thanks, Tommy," I said as we set down our bags on the bottom bleacher and jogged over to the rest of the team.

"Hey, Rory-"

"My parents are coming later," I cut off Cooper as I swung my leg back and forth to stretch.

His chocolate eyes widened before running a hand through his hair. "Dang, okay. They aren't that bad, you know."

"I haven't seen them in four months, and they haven't called since," I scoffed.

"But you didn't make an attempt to call them either."

I rolled my eyes. "Stop being fair, Cooper!"

A rich chuckle left his mouth and echoed across the field. "You'll be okay, Rory. I know you will."

After an hour and a half of pure and utter running, the stench of sweat drifted through the air mixed with dirt and grass.

"Nice job, kids!" Coach Segal announced with a blow of his whistle which had us all cringing at the high-pitched noise.

"Good job with those hurdles, Aurora!" I heard Brett say behind me, and I spun around to shout a quick thanks.

Turning back around with my duffle bag slung over my shoulder, my eyes locked with a pair of very similar green ones, none other than that of my father's eyes.

***

heyo, guys! I'm back and better than ever lol. Thanks for giving me that break, but alsoooo I just saw that Twinkling in the Dark is #13 in Newadult! I can't wait to see where this book could go, so thank you for taking the time to support me, it means a ton :)

Because of my hiatus, be ready for a new uploading schedule! I also made changes to the character casts with some unique new faces that probably aren't in other casts!

i love you guys so much, -sophia

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