“That is a load of crap,” Principal Hendrickson said. “I don’t understand why you students let yourselves be bound by shackles that exist in no other place but your heads. Tell me something, Asa, half that weight you place on your shoulders, is it even yours to carry?”
Asa didn’t reply, but he dared to raise his head and meet the principal’s eyes, an ocean of emotions he couldn’t begin to distinguish from one another washing over him in huge waves.
Principal Hendrickson sighed and leant forward, clasping his hands and placing them on the desk. “Anybody can be subjected to bullying, Asa, to pain, to peer pressure, regardless of gender, age or popularity. And you can’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“I think I’m starting to understand that now,” Asa mumbled, a faint smile gracing his face, but there were no traces of it in his eyes.
“Is there action going to be taken?” his mother asked then, her dark eyes blazing. The worried state she’d been in was slowly dissipating as her fierce and protective instincts kicked in.
“I would suspend Carson, considering this is a serious matter,” Hendrickson paused and Asa instantly knew things were only going to get worse, “But since Asa had taken matters into his own hand without coming to me or any other teacher in this school, I don’t think I will be able to do so. The boy’s injuries are pretty serious, and I think he’d have to take a few days leave from school too.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Asa muttered, feeling a sense of déjà vu of when he’d said something similar to Wyatt just an hour or so ago.
“You broke his nose,” Principal Hendrickson deadpanned, “and his eyes are beyond swollen. Let’s also not forget about the fractured ribs.”
Asa’s eyes closed on their own accord, dread piercing his chest painfully as his breathing faltered. His hands tightened their grip on the chair he was seated on.
“So what’s going to happen?” his father asked the question that Asa was too afraid to ask.
Principal Hendrickson cleared his throat and pressed his lips together, looking deeply conflicted. “Carson’s parents threatened to press charges if appropriate action isn’t taken by the school.”
All the breath seemed to get knocked out of Asa, and he felt his stomach immediately coil into a tight knot of dread. This couldn’t happen.
It couldn’t. It couldn’t. It couldn’t.
“But I didn’t know then that it wasn’t just some petty fight.” The principal rubbed his eyes. “I had no clue the issue was much bigger and serious than that. So I won’t suspend you like I had initially intended to, Asa.”
Asa’s lungs came to life, and all his muscles loosened up, as the breath of immense relief left his body. He let go of the death grip he had on his chair and leaned back, running an exhausted hand down his face.
“However, you’re no longer allowed to take part in this year’s interstate swimming meet.”
Everything seemed to freeze around Asa.
His heart froze. The beginning of the relieved smile on his face froze before it could fully bloom. The hand he was running through his hair froze.
The world froze but time was still slipping by, not waiting for him to catch up.
“Wait wait wait.” He shot out of his seat, hands shaking by his sides as he stared at the principal with utter disbelief. “You can’t do that! You can’t—that’s not—I did nothing wrong! I did nothing wrong—”
“Asa!” his mother thundered, grabbing his arm and pulling him back, but he just shook it off, not looking away from Hendrickson.
“You can’t take that away from me!” Asa shook his head vigorously, not wanting to listen to anything else anymore. They couldn’t do this to him. They couldn’t.
“Okay.” the principal nodded. “All right, fine. I won’t take this away from you. Maybe you’d like doing community service better. You know, when the Williams go ahead and press those charges against you. Maybe you’d prefer being on probation? Or is it that you’re actually okay with having some sort of record staining your credibility when you apply for colleges and jobs?”
“I don’t deserve this.” Asa’s voice shook with barely restrained anger.
“But Carson deserved to be sent to the infirmary?”
“I told you what he did!”
“And you think his parents are going to care about what their son did?” Hendrickson raised his eyebrows. “All they care about is their son’s swollen face and bruising body and making the person responsible pay. If they take this to any other authority outside of this school, I won’t be able to help. This is the only way I know to minimise the consequences. You need to understand that.”
Asa couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This wasn’t happening, was it? This was his senior year. It was his last year at high school. His last ever chance to take part in this meet. He was supposed to set new records this year, achieve new milestones. He was supposed to win that championship title one last time.
“This was the first time I ever took a stand for myself,” Asa said quietly, a faint tremble in his voice. “This was the first time in all my years of
