Mr. Frye wiped the sweat from his brow and explained, “Tammy’s brother punched a student, and he refused to apologize to him. It’s a very serious matter, so I thought I should let you know about it.”
Wayne nodded. He handed Tammy the clothes he had just bought at the mall and sat on the couch. “I want to hear what you think about this incident,” He said sternly after Tammy left the office.
Mr. Frye pushed the frame of his glasses and said as calmly as he could, “Tammy and Jonas got into an argument today at the end of school. To be honest, Jonas had a slight advantage. Then Tammy’s brother came over and beat up Jonas for no apparent reason. See, Jonas’s still got visible bruises on him.”
Wayne glanced at Jonas, who couldn’t raise his head after being doused with another bucket of water. “What do you think we should do about this?” Wayne asked, nodding.
Mr. Frye pushed his glasses frames once more. Realizing that Wayne seemed kind, Mr. Frye straightened up a little more than before and said, “Tammy’s brother should apologize to Jonas and bring him to the hospital for a check-up. Nobody will ever bring it up again in the future in this way.”
Wayne nodded once more. Mr. Frye then instantly smiled. But Wayne followed up with, “And what if I don’t agree to your request?”
“I’m sorry, but Tammy will have to leave the school. As you are aware, it’s the best high school in the entire city. I’m afraid that no school would accept Tammy if she is expelled from here.”
Hearing that, Wayne stood up, straightened his shirt, and said, “Okay. Tammy will go to a different school.”
Mr. Frye looked at him blankly because he didn’t understand what he was saying.
“By the way, you’re Jonas’ uncle, right?” Wayne asked as he came to a halt in the doorway.
“What do you mean?” Mr. Frye asked warily.
“Nothing, I’m just curious. I just wanted to remind you that you will be fired from school for malpractice.” He then pointed to Jonas and said, “And you! If my daughter wants to go to school, I can even build one for her. I’m Wayne Wright, and everyone in town knows my name. I’m confident that no school here will dare to admit you from now on.”
Mr. Frye was taken aback and muttered, “Wayne Wright?”
“Yes, that’s the man you’re thinking of,” Matthew said as he walked away.
“Don’t leave! Let’s talk about it, shall we? We had absolutely no idea Tammy was Mr. Wright’s daughter. I’m sorry, I can apologize to you.” To prevent Matthew from leaving, Jonas’ mother grabbed his arm.
Matthew paused for a moment before responding, “I’ll have to check with Tammy to see if she’ll agree. She’s the most precious person in my family, you know.”
Mr. Frye collapsed to the ground in shock after realizing he had offended the wrong person.
***
Tammy had just stepped through the school gates the next day when she noticed a crowd gathered in the square. She fought her way through the crowd, surprised to see Jonas in the middle.
“Tammy, I’m sorry!” Jonas exclaimed as he stood beneath the flagpole. He appeared hesitant and was obviously forced to say so. The more people who were watching him, the redder his face became.
Ignoring him, Tammy went straight to the classroom because she was bummed. She had just sat down in class when Ruby approached her and said, “Jonas has admitted defeat completely. And I heard that he is going to another class. He refused to go downstairs this morning, but his mother force him to do so. I heard that he is about to read his apology letter to you in public at the morning meeting next Monday.”
“How do you know?” Tammy asked, surprised.
“The principal and the headteacher both told us about it this morning. Mr. Frye yelled at Jonas and made him cry. Jonas was scared about leaving our class, but he had no choice.”
Ruby was thrilled about the whole thing. She was worried when she got home yesterday and assumed Tammy would be expelled. She hadn’t expected to see the principal come in with Mr. Frye and Jonas’s mother this morning.
Hearing Ruby’s words, Tammy suddenly thought of something. Last night, she still slept in Matthew’s room. When she awoke in the middle of the night, she noticed that Matthew’s laptop screen was lit up. And she told him she needed a break from school at that point.
“You can take a break from school, but you can’t do it simply because you want to avoid someone. You can’t just think about avoiding it after you meet a problem,” Matthew said calmly as he closed his laptop.
Tammy was silent. After a long time, Matthew asked softly, “Do you remember when we were in kindergarten, some kids bullied me because I couldn’t speak? At that time, you protected me. I grew up hoping that one day I would be able to protect you.”
修改幅度
One day, Isabella stayed at school in the afternoon because she needed to attend a meeting.
“Here, someone is calling you,” her friend said as she tapped her on the shoulder.
Isabella froze when she saw the caller ID appear on the screen. Then, she quickly picked up the phone. “Got it, I’ll be right there,” she said seriously after a while.
She instantly dialed another number after hanging up the phone. She then gathered her belongings on her seat with her other hand and walked out of the conference room.
Isabella was about to walk out the door when she ran into Jasmine, the vice president of Debate Team. Jasmine was dressed in a navy blue suit, and her heels clattered on the floor. She reached out to grab Isabella’s hand. Isabella frowned as she smelled Jasmine’s strong perfume.
“Isabella, the meeting is about to begin. Where are you going?” Jasmine’s attitude was hostile, and she even looked at Isabella hostilely.
Isabella ignored her and brushed her hand away. And Jasmine stopped her again and moved to the side as if she didn’t want her to leave.
“I have something to do, and I need to get going. I’ll send Sean a message later to let him know about it,” Isabella said it politely.
But Jasmine was still furious after hearing her words. She believed Isabella was deliberately provoking her. “Are you going to text him? Do you know him well? He’s two grades your senior, shouldn’t you keep your distance from him?”
“You can ask him about that,” Isabella said calmly, “And by the way, tell him that I left.” She then walked away and deliberately bumped Jasmine, who was in her way. Jasmine then stumbled and slammed into the wooden door.
“Isabella!” Jasmine yelled, frustrated. Isabella had already left in a hurry at that moment.
Before pulling her phone from her pocket, Jasmine paused for a moment and texted Sean, “I broke my ankle, can you take me to the clinic? By the way, I’d like to discuss the debate competition with you.”
Jasmine was no longer enraged after sending the message. She smiled as she entered the conference room and told everyone, “Since someone is absent today, our meeting will be canceled. You guys can leave now.”
Everyone appeared furious after that.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier? I’ve been waiting here for an hour! I even canceled a date,” someone slapped the table angrily and said.
Jasmine had stepped out of the conference room by then. “You’re a freshman, right?” she asked condescendingly.
The girl froze and nodded.
“Feel free to leave for your own personal business, and have a bunch of people waste their time because of you. Provided, of course, that you have the ability to bewitch people like she does.”
After finishing her words, Jasmine walked away, her high heels making an annoying sound on the wooden floor.
The girl was humiliated and unsure what she should do next. “Hey, what does she mean by that?” she asked, tugging on her friend’s sleeve.
“Don’t you understand? She wasn’t just blaming you; she was also scolding Isabella,” her roommate said sympathetically.
“No, I still don’t get it,” the girl continued.
“I heard Sean invited Isabella here, and she was the only freshman he brought in. I get the impression the two of them like each other. Otherwise, Jasmine wouldn’t hate her so much.”
“Isn’t Isabella a freshman? She only arrived a few months ago!”
“I only know that Sean was in charge of welcoming new students on the first day of school, and the last new student he received was Isabella, and the student union even took a picture of the two of them at the time, and that photo is still on our school’s official IG, with thousands of comments complimenting them. They are a good match.”
“Come on, let’s go get some fast food,” they said as they walked away.
***
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.