Chương 21: A Slap to the Face
Alex's plan was to hide under his covers the whole next day, but it was not meant to be. At about 8 in the morning, he was stirred awake by his mattress shaking as if we were on a boat in choppy waters. He rolled over from his side to his back, expecting to see Jack. He was sure he locked the front door, but that wouldn't stop a properly motivated Jonathan Farrow. Alex blinked the sleep out of his half-awake eyes and almost had a heart attack when instead of Jack, he saw the blurry outline of a redheaded woman. For a whole terrifying second, he thought it was his mother, but after he shot up to a sitting position and his vision focused, he saw it was Julia. His heart rate slowed down and his mood shifted from panicked to just confused.
"Julia?" Alex croaked, rubbing his eyes in the hopes that she would disappear. No such luck. "What are you doing here?"
"My dad sent me," she said like it was obvious. Alex probably would have guessed that if he had been fully conscious. Why else would she come? "He tried ringing your phone but I guess you couldn't hear from that little cocoon you've wrapped yourself in."
"Sorry."
"He wants to see you in his office. Apparently witness statements from the attempted murder last night are contradicting."
Alex winced when Julia said 'murder'. Her tone made it sound like she thought the label was an exaggeration, but Alex had a feeling it was all too accurate.
"Do you know who he's talked to already?"
"Malcolm Greene. Edward Courtney. One of their other friends. And your flatmate, of course. Some confusion about who started it, apparently."
"Malcolm did."
"Save it for my dad, Lexi."
Julia stepped back while Alex got out of bed and threw on the slightly dirty clothes he had been wearing before the party. He expected Julia to leave, but instead she just leaned against his desk and watched him.
"Was there something else you needed?" he asked apprehensively.
"Why were you there?" she asked as if it was the most baffling thing, him going to a party. "I figured you weren't the party crashing type. You drag your feet even showing up to parties you're meant to be at. Only fun when it's not allowed or something?"
"I was invited."
"Invited? To theirs? Why?"
"I-"
"And why would you say yes? They didn't even have drinks, I heard."
"We're not all motivated by adolescent alcoholism, are we?" Alex snapped, earning him a steely glare from Julia that reminded him too much of his mother. Christ, he would suspect that she was his mother's real child if he didn't know he would have been kicked to the curb a long time ago if it was true.
"Laurent said you got snappy when he was talking shit about your flatmate," she said. "These lower wyverns really bring out a nasty side of you, don't they?"
Maybe it's just you two, AJ suggested, luckily only in Alex's mind.
"I said yes because I thought it would be fun," Alex decided to say, ignoring both her and himself. "And that maybe it would help ease some tensions. Now they're just worse."
"Did you really think you could single handedly dismantle centuries of social structure and tradition in one night?"
"I wasn't trying to. I just..."
"Just what?"
"Just... wanted to make a couple friends."
Julia stared at him with a cocked head. "You've never shown any interest in making friends before," she pointed out.
"No one's ever been all that nice to me before. Everyone follows you and your brother's lead, or just treats me like they're scared of me."
"It's called respect, Lexi."
"It's fear. And it's exhausting." Alex looked at his cousin's puzzled expression and sighed. "And you don't understand what I'm saying at all, do you?"
"Not a word, no. Are you going to lie to my dad and say Malcolm came in yelling 'I'm going to kill you' before brandishing a knife?"
"How do you know that's not what happened?"
"Malcolm is impulsive, not stupid."
"I hear he got plastered at Mary's."
"I've seen him worse. What are you going to tell my dad then?"
"The truth. See what good it does any of us." Alex grabbed a hooded sweatshirt from his closet and walked out, Julia right behind him. She followed him to the elevator and rode it down to get to her own floor, but paused before getting off. She rifled around in her pants pocket before pulling a tin out and throwing it at him. He barely managed to catch it before it hit his face.
"Here, your breath smells like stale onion crisps," she said before going off down the hall without another word.
Alex looked down at the tin and frowned when he saw what Julia had written in black marker on it. For Surprise Snogging , surrounded by little hearts. Alex threw a mint in his mouth to keep himself from gagging. The last thing he needed was his breath to smell like stale crisps and vomit.
Alex was expecting the campus to be quiet, being relatively early the Sunday morning after a big party, but it was more than quiet. It was absolutely dead. Alex didn't see a single soul out as he left the dorm and headed to the administration building at the heart of the campus. When he did finally spot a couple of people, they were teachers. Mr. Sanders and Mr. Alvaro were standing close together under the shade of one of the courtyard's oak trees. They were whispering about something, Mr. Alvaro's hand on Mr. Sander's waist. They pulled apart when Mr. Alvaro noticed Alex approaching them.
"Mr. Conrad," he said in his heavily accented voice. Mr. Alvaro's mother was a Spanish woman named Sonia. His father was the oldest son of a fairly respected Moroccan old family, named Amani. It had been a bit of a big deal when they married, partly because it hadn't been arranged by either family. A rare marriage for love between old family wyverns. The other reason was the sad reality that after centuries of assimilating into human cultures, they picked up a fair number of their bad habits as well. Just like humans, wyverns tended to not marry-socialize even- outside of their perceived racial groups. Especially back when Mr. Alvaro's parents married. Alex had a feeling the stigma he faced was what gave him such a steely exterior. "What are you doing out here?"
"Um," Alex said, receding in to the hood of his sweatshirt. Alvaro's tone made him feel like he was doing something wrong. "I was on my way to speak with my uncle."
"There's a temporary daytime curfew in effect right now. All students should be in their dorms."
"Oh." Alex wondered of Julia had been playing a trick on him, but this didn't seem quite her style. She was a lot more direct when she wanted to mess with him. "Sorry, I hadn't heard. My... my cousin said my uncle wanted to see me."
"Tsk. Estúpido never tells us anything."
"Calm down, Ilyas," Mr. Sanders said, patting his shoulder. "You're scaring the boy. Give me a second, Conrad." Mr. Sanders picked up the two-way at his waist and pushed down on a button. "Golden Dingo to Tower Princess, come in Tower Princess, over."
Alex blinked at the strange phrase Mr. Sanders just uttered. Mr. Alvaro rolled his eyes, but Alex noticed the corner of his mouth twitch upwards, threatening a smile. Alex didn't think he had ever seen Alvaro get that close to one before.
Mrs. Faraday's voice came over the two-way. "I told you to stop calling me that, Alan," she said, sounding playfully annoyed. "Over."
"Fine, but you still have to call me Golden Dingo, over."
"Give me that," Mr. Alvaro said, snatching the two-way from Mr. Sanders' hands. "Emily, did Headmaster Conrad ask to see Alexander?"
"Yes, he did. Could you two walk him down?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Thank you, love."
Mr. Sanders stole the two-way back and spoke in to it again. "And by the way, Emily, Ilyas' code name is Señor Tapas, over." Mr. Alvaro tried to grab it back, but Mr. Sanders spun to avoid him. "Alternate code names include Moroccan Spice and Midnight Reverie. Ow!"
Mr. Sanders was reacting to Mr. Alvaro stepping on his toes with the heel of his boot. He hopped around on his uninjured foot long enough for Mr. Alvaro to take the two-way.
"Please disregard that last comment," he requested.
"Whatever you say, Midnight Reverie," Mrs. Faraday answered. Mr. Alvaro rolled his eyes and glared at Mr. Sanders in a way that made Alex shrink back even though he wasn't the intended target. But Mr. Sanders didn't even flinch.
"Thanks for that," Mr. Alvaro muttered.
"Any time, mate."
"Let's go, Mr. Conrad."
"Do you want him to disregard my comments too?"
"I've already forgotten them, sir," Alex said quickly, not wanting to actually be on the receiving end of that glare. Mr. Alvaro didn't indicate at all that he had heard either of them and just walked off toward the admin building. Mr. Sanders clapped Alex on the back as they followed him.
"Good answer, kid. He'll remember that."
"I'm sorry you two have to give up your weekend because we couldn't get through ours without fighting," Alex said.
"Eh, I'll never turn my nose up to extra pay."
" I had better things to do," Alvaro muttered.
"You did not. You were grading papers."
"We can't all call it quits once the kids stop running in circles."
"Just stop giving assignments. There. Problem solved."
"Wow. Your genius is unprecedented."
Mr. Sanders chuckled and continued to bicker with Alvaro. Alex always knew they were good friends, but he had never seen them interact at length before. He noticed that despite Alvaro complaining and Sanders acting dumber than he actually was, both looked like they were enjoying themselves. Alvaro's mouth kept twitching up, constantly on the verge of smiling. Alex looked back and forth between them, increasingly invisible as they approached the admin building. He got this creeping suspicion that there was something to their relationship that he was missing. It wasn't until they were walking up the steps, and Sanders said something that made Alvaro actually smile, that a lightbulb went off in Alex's head. His eyes widened and he paused midway through a step.
Holy shit, they're a couple.
Mr. Alvaro turned his head when he noticed Alex had stopped walking, and raised his eyebrows at his dumbfounded expression. "Are you alright, Conrad?" he asked.
"You look like you got bit by a viper or something," Mr. Sanders added.
"I- I'm fine," Alex got out, too flustered to sound convincing.
Alvaro looked like he was thinking of pressing the issue, but decided it wasn't worth it. "Let's get going, then. Best not to keep your uncle waiting."
He turned to continue up the stairs, but Sanders hesitated to look at Alex for a moment longer before following his friend.
Friend , AJ repeated as he followed them, his eyes glued to their backs. You and Jack are friends. Those two are in love with each other.
It was just a smile , Alex rationalized. It doesn't mean anything.
It was Alvaro smiling, though. When has that ever happened before?
I don't exactly know the man very well. I mean, how well could I know my teacher? He probably acts very different with friends than with students.
Well, what do you know about him?
Everything that everyone knows.
Is he married?
No, I don't think so.
Suspicious.
"That doesn't mean anything," Alex muttered under his breath. The sound caused Mr. Sanders to look back over his shoulder.
"You're sure you're alright, Conrad?" he asked.
Alex warmed up while AJ laughed at him for getting caught talking to himself. "Yes, sir," he said. "Sorry."
"You apologize too much, Mr. Conrad," Alvaro pointed out without turning around.
"Sorry. I- I mean-"
Sanders smacked Alvaro on the shoulder. "Don't tell him that, you'll make him feel bad. Especially since there's a fair share of kids here that don't even know those words exist."
"If he says it all the time, it won't mean anything anymore." Alvaro finally looked over his shoulder to make eye contact. "Say it when you mean it, not just because you think someone else wants to hear it."
"O-okay."
" I'm sorry he acts like a pretentious wan- Ow! Stop doing that!"
"Don't swear in front of children. It's unprofessional, and as you mentioned before we're on the clock."
"Like the boy has never heard a swear word before."
"He doesn't need to hear it from your mouth."
The two probably would have kept bickering about swearing, but stopped because they had reached their destination. The door to his uncle's office was open, and Alex saw Malcolm and his two friends that had been brought in, sitting in chairs inside. They all looked like they could have been lounging in their rooms, or even at a pub. None of them looked as nervous as they had the night before. None of them looked they were school boys in trouble with their headmaster.
Right outside the office, sitting in Mrs. Faraday's desk chair, was Matthew. He was sitting sideways, with his knees drawn up to his chest. He was looking down into a steaming mug, his glasses pushed up on to his head. Mrs. Faraday's chair made him look smaller than he was. He didn't look up at the trio approached, but Mrs. Faraday did from where she stood to his right.
"Hello, gentlemen," she said. "Thanks for escorting Alexander. You can go on inside, love. Your uncle will be back soon."
Alex glanced at the boys in the office, who had all turned their heads at Mrs. Faraday's greeting. They looked at Alex with malicious smiles. Malcolm himself looked the cruelest of all, like he was poised to either initiate Alex in to his little club, or order him executed.
"Is it alright if I wait out here?" he said, suddenly feeling the need to take a step back.
"No," Matthew said, his voice thick and bitter.
" Cálmate, niño ," Mr. Alvaro said. Matthew looked at him with a hard glare, and Alex was sure he was going to cuss their teacher out. But he said nothing, just made a discontented humming noise and took a sip of whatever was in his mug.
"Whatever, viejo ," Matthew muttered, and Alex looked over at Alvaro, expecting him to be offended. But he just shook his head.
"Of course you can wait here, Alexander," Mrs. Faraday answered. "Want some tea? Or maybe a hot chocolate?"
"No, thank you."
"I'll take one," Mr. Sanders said before getting bumped by Mr. Alvaro.
"We need to get back to the patrol duty you signed us up for," Alvaro reminded him.
"I think I have some takeaway cups. Want to try some new almond tea I just got in, Alan?"
"Oh, sounds lovely. Could you maybe brew this one a coffee? I think I accidentally made him decaf this morning. It's why he's so grumpy. Well, grumpier than usual."
"This isn't a café, maleducado ."
"It's no trouble, Ilyas. I brewed some not too long ago. Hold down the fort until I get back."
"Yes ma'am," Mr. Sanders said, giving her a small salute. When she disappeared behind a door labelled Kitchen , Mr. Sanders turned to Alex. "The reason your uncle asked you in here, Alexander, was it the same as them?"
"Yes."
Mr. Alvaro furrowed his brow. "You were involved?" Alex's stomach twisted at how disappointed his teacher sounded by that possibility.
"No, no. I was there, but-" Alex cut himself off and glanced at Matthew. He was staring down at his mug again, gripping the handle with a tight but slight shaky hand. "I didn't do anything," Alex finished, somehow managing to keep his composure. He was sure his teachers would chide him for that admission, but they just looked relieved.
"Glad to hear that," Mr. Sanders said. "Maybe then we can get this all cleared up."
"Mr. Greene and his friends haven't exactly been an impartial source of information," Alvaro said while staring directly at the boys in question.
"Hey, neither is he," Malcolm argued. "Lying little runt."
"Watch your mouth, boy," Alvaro said, raising his voice slightly. Malcolm tried not look scared, but he didn't do a very good job of it. Mr. Sanders put a hand on Alvaro's arm and gave it a squeeze.
"Don't let it work you up, Ilyas," he said in a calm voice. "Bigger battles, remember."
Alvaro looked like he thought teaching Malcolm Greene some manners was a worthwhile battle, but instead he just nodded and squeezed Mr. Sanders' hand back. Alex tried not to stare at the interaction, and instead ended up glancing at Matthew. He was looking at Sanders and Alvaro, and his bewildered expression made Alex think he had come to the same conclusion about the two of them that he had.
Footsteps started echoing from down the staircase, on the floor below. Thomas Conrad's voice called out to them. "Mrs. Faraday, is my nephew up there yet?"
"Yes, sir," Mr. Sanders called back. "Emily stepped away to be a good hostess, though."
"Send him down here, to the student records room."
"You heard the boss," Sanders said to Alex. "Good luck."
Alex glanced back at Matthew, wanting to say something. But he doubted anything he managed to come up with was likely to make things better. Besides, Matthew was still staring at their teachers, the gears in his head visibly turning. Alex imagined he was having a conversation with himself a lot like the one he had just had with AJ. So, he left without another word and made his way down the stairs.
In the right corner of the lower floor was a wooden door with a plaque next to it that read Student Records in shiny gold letters. It was propped open with a rubber doorstop, and Alex could see his uncle standing by an open file cabinet inside. He was thumbing through a manila folder, and had two more tucked under his arm. As Alex approached, he noticed he was wearing the same suit from the previous night, and from as far away as the doorway he could smell cigarettes on him. He knew his uncle's intake rose and fell with his stress levels, and it smelled like he had torn through a whole pack.
"Come in, Alexander," Thomas said without looking up. Alex wasn't sure how he had managed that. He felt like he wasn't making much noise to signal his arrival.
"I know you want to talk about what happened last night," Alex said as he walked in," but I'm not sure what I could tell you that you haven't already heard."
"Well, you could start with what you and Mr. Farrow were even doing there last night."
"Does that matter?"
Thomas looked up to stare down Alex with cold eyes. "I suppose I'll know if it does or if it doesn't when you tell me, won't I?"
Alex shrunk back slightly from the glare. "I was invited," he muttered.
"You? Or Mr. Farrow? I know he has a fondness for lower wyverns. They're so much less strict about the divide in America, aren't they?"
"I was invited first, and then Jack was too."
Thomas looked genuinely surprised by that. "By who, exactly?"
"Her name is Eloise," Alex said after hesitating for a second. He hoped he didn't just get her in trouble.
"Family name?"
"I- I don't know it, actually. She's from Newcastle."
Thomas left the files he had been holding on to resting on the open drawer and went over to a different cabinet. It was labelled 'scholarship recipients' in black marker. He opened it to reveal a row of folders all sparsely stocked. He shuffled through them until he found what he was looking for.
"Only one Eloise in the new bunch," he said, a discernable distaste in his voice when he said 'new'. He opened and skimmed through the folder's contents as he walked back to Alex. "Eloise Mishra. Exemplary academic record, though that is the case with all of them, isn't it? Participated in robotics. Volleyball in primary school." Thomas looked up at Alex, and tilted the file enough for him to be able to see the old school photo in her file. "Bonded over common ground, did you?"
Oh, please hit him , AJ begged.
"I don't see what she's got to do with this," Alex said, crossing his arms over his chest to keep himself from fulfilling AJ's request.
"I believe her name came up in the other boys' accounts. Well, in Mr. Montoya's at least. He claimed he only threatened that little trio up there because Mr. Courtney was verbally harassing her. Mr. Courtney admits to coming across as rude, but doesn't think anything he said justified a death threat. Mr. Harraway and Mr. Greene agreed."
"But they started it," Alex said. "And it wasn't just what they said to Eloise, they showed up and-"
"There's no rule against them entering the dorm, Alexander. Not unless curfew is in effect, which it wasn't at the time. They may not have been welcome, but they weren't breaking any rules just by being there."
"But Malcolm broke their stereo."
"He claims it was accidental, and he's already offered to compensate Mr. Montoya for the cost of a new one. A nicer one, even."
"He did it on purpose."
"Did you see?"
"Well, no, but-"
"So, you can't say for sure."
"I know Malcolm grabbed Matthew in a headlock. That he was choking him, and Eloise and Baptiste were just asking him to let go. And he and his friends were being cruel in return."
"Mr. Greene struggles with controlling his strength. I'm sure you can understand. I heard you combusted in your French class earlier this week."
"He knew what he was doing."
"So did Mr. Montoya, when he bit Mr. Greene so hard he drew blood. Or do you have some alternate insight in to that as well?"
"He-"
"You know this is the first incident those boys in my office have been involved with since they enrolled here," Thomas said, tapping the files he had had been reading before. "Meanwhile Mr. Montoya had quite a few scuffles at his last school. Perhaps his perception of Mr. Greene's intentions was skewed, since he has too much experience escalating things in to fights in his past."
"But Malcolm-"
"If there was a back and forth, then both boys are just as responsible. And as far as I can see the only rule Mr. Greene broke that Mr. Montoya didn't was changing. Did he physically harm Mr. Montoya or any other student while he was in that state?"
"No."
"I see."
"He was going to!"
"Oh? Did he tell you that?"
"No, but-"
"Ah, then you have miraculously inherited your father's abilities for seeing the future as well?"
Alex ground his teeth as the rising heat he felt in his body went cold at the mention of his father. "No," he said, his voice tight.
"Mr. Greene claims he was just trying to scare Mr. Montoya."
"Well, mission accomplished. Matthew was terrified!"
"If I took drastic measures every time a schoolboy prank was brought to my attention-"
"A prank? That wasn't a prank, that was an attempted homicide!"
"Alexander-"
"And what happened to taking acts of violence seriously? You said that-" Alex stopped as he stared down his uncle's stoic face. "That people like the Himuras would pull their kids if they think fights are breaking out over this. So, you want to be able to call this something different. It wasn't a fight; it was just a misunderstanding. A prank between schoolmates."
"Alexander-"
"And Malcolm ends up getting away with what he did and Matthew is left knowing we don't actually give a shit about-"
Alex was suddenly cut off by his uncle's left hand striking him across his face. At first Alex was so shocked that he didn't feel a thing. But slowly the cold sting from the contact settled in. The corner of his lip throbbed from where it had been grazed by Thomas' wedding ring.
"Watch your language and tone with me, boy," Thomas seethed as Alex brought a hand up to his face. "If this incident was more significant then I may pay it mind, but seeing as the only damage done was a cheap broken radio and a scared little boy, it's really not worth bringing unnecessary attention to. Never mind the fact that it's Malcolm Greene involved. His parents were the loudest opponents of opening admittance. If I react too harshly to his first behavior infraction then I'll be seen as taking a side. And then there's our Holy Savior Matthew Montoya. Too harsh on him and I've chosen a different side. It's a thin line and I don't need my own family publicly criticizing and undermining my decisions. Understand?"
Alex swallowed hard and nodded, afraid he would start crying if he spoke. Thomas didn't want to hear what he had to say to clear up any discrepancies. He only wanted to know whether or not he would have to shut Alex up before he ran his mouth off and made him look bad.
"Good. If you feel incapable of speaking about this incident without getting so needlessly worked up, then I suggest you simply say nothing. Now go. Back your dormitory."
Alex turned to leave, but stopped when his uncle called out again. "And put an end to whatever it is you were starting with Ms. Mishra. The last thing we need is another bastard scandal. At least Amelie comes from an acceptable stock."
Oh, you need to kill him, AJ said, and for a terrifying second Alex saw no problem with this. If he had something heavy within reach, he may have given it a go. But there was nothing but the harmless rubber doorstop. So, he sincerely apologized for not giving AJ what he wanted and left.
He was hoping he could make it to the dorms without running in to anyone, but as he was leaving so were Alvaro and Sanders. They stood at the bottom of the stairs, almost looking like they were waiting for him, both wearing serious expressions.
"You alright, Conrad?" Sanders asked. Alex nodded and muttered an excuse he doubted they could even hear as he hurried to the exit. "Should we walk him to his dorm?"
"Leave him," he heard his uncle call out, calm and completely unaffected by what he had just done. "He knows how to do as he's told."
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