“Go on,” I encouraged, slowly stepping aside so that Alexander could look Auden in the eye. “Don’t make me ask again.”
Blood dribbling down his chin, Alexander looked up at Auden, pure hatred in his deep-sea green eyes. He looked like a fallen Angel, cast out of Heaven and condemned to the fires of Hell.
I waited, patience growing thin.
“I’m sorry,” Alexander forced out, voice low. “It won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t,” I agreed. “Because if you dare lay a hand on him again, I will kill you.”
***
Principal Reid’s office looked the same as it had five years ago, when I sat in the same chair I did now.
She had changed, though. Her hair had streaks of grey, the skin around her eyes and mouth loosening. The gentle expression she had worn back then was long gone, her anger and disappointment now lethal.
“Why did you do it?”
“I did not do it for me,” I said.
A pause. “For who, then?”
“For Auden.”
Principal Reid frowned and leaned back in her seat, her eyebrows furrowed as she watched me. “Why?” she repeated.
“Excuse me?”
“Why forAuden?”
My gaze fell to my bruised knuckles, remembering how it had felt to bring Alexander to his knees. I had failed to protect Auden once before, and I intended to never fail him again.
“He’s been through enough as it is,” I answered. “If Alexander had just left him—us—alone, I wouldn’t have hit him.”
Principal Reid clicked her tongue. “You’re suspended, Mr Saint. For a week. I suggest you use this time to reflect on what your priorities are. You’re a high achiever, your marks are exceptional, and I can see you doing exceptionally well. But your behaviour is a hindrance to both yourself, and the school.” She pinned me with a look. “Think carefully about how you wish to proceed when you return.”
I met her gaze unflinchingly. “And Alexander? What is his punishment?”
“You should concern yourself with your own punishment,” she said. “You’re dismissed.”
***
Ava messaged me that night, asking what happened. I recounted everything whilst my body soaked in a vanilla scented bathtub, heat fogging up the mirror so I wouldn’t have to endure my devilish reflection.
‘You should have just walked away,’ Ava replied, ‘now you’re suspended during an important academic year.’
‘He hurt Auden,’ I wrote back, ‘I wasn’t just going to let that go. I’m not sorry for what I did.’
‘How about next time you just come to me?’ Ava asked. ‘I could have helped without getting you suspended.’
‘Lol. How can I come to you when you’re always with Eden?’ I added a laughing emoji to indicate it was a joke, though I would be lying if I said there was no truth to it.
‘I’m not?’
‘You are.’
‘You can spend time with us too.’
‘And be a third wheel? No thanks.’
