Chapter 38 - SuperMum
The room was silent and Principal Dobbins mouth opened and shut like a fish. Kyle's smirk turned into a smile. His mum is awesome.
"How dare you!" Principal Dobbins finally spluttered after gathering her wits, and Delilah put up a hand to silence her. She smiled, and said, "I dare. Why shouldn't I dare?"
"Unlike you, I have ample evidence to suggest that you're most likely demented," she began, as she then put up her forefinger, "One. You concluded that the person in the pictures is Kyle even though the face was never shown."
Putting up two fingers, "Two. The post was made at 7.30am, became viral in one hour, and without even finding out the truth of the matter, you called me at 8.45am stating that Kyle had committed an unpardonable crime."
"Three. Kyle is the victim here, as the one who was defamed. Yet instead of defending him, you are prosecuting him."
"Four. The pictures clearly indicated events happened prior to entering Sakura Academy. In two pictures, the said person was in Retsu Primary School outfits. Why is Sakura Academy making such a fuss about their reputation when it isn't even their student in the picture?"
"Five. It is quite clear that the school forum was used to spread malicious rumours, but instead of taking it down immediately to lessen the impact, you left it up. Does your school not maintain its own website? What was the person-in-charge doing?"
"And finally. This post - and its accusations - have attracted the attention of the media already. Since you failed to take down the post in time, the Sakura Academy's name is being brought down to the mud. Not because of the said person in the post, but by your own lack of good sense and mismanagement."
"So tell me, Principal Dobbins. Do your actions not point to the fact that you're demented? Oh wait. No. That's wrong, my mistake. It should be retarded."
Principal Dobbins bristled, but could not retort. Her mind was in a mess. It was true. She had been so incensed that, before she could gather more information, she had immediately called up Kyle's parents. She hadn't called Janice's parents as Janice was a victim. She refused to believe that Kyle wasn't the one in the picture, but she had nothing in her hands right now to refute and argue with Mrs Smith.
In the end, Principal Dobbins retreated. There was no point continuing the fight if she did not have the ammunition. She will gather them and then shoot that smug look off their faces. With that thought in mind, Principal Dobbins stood up, straightened her clothes.
"The matters you have stated are being dealt with as we speak," she lied, keeping a straight face and mentally checking the list that needed to be done, "I did not want to delay the matter and have things get worse. Believe me, I will get to the bottom of this and the culprits will be punished. Expulsion at the very least."
Delilah got up, and still managed to appear like she was looking down at Principal Dobbins and said, "I can't believe you would waste my time over something as unsubstantiated like this. I hope there will not be a next time."
"Rest assured, Mrs Smith," said Principal Dobbins unperturbed, "There won't be"
**--**--**
The moment they stepped out of the office, Kyle hugged his mum, saying "You were awesome there, Mum! I hereby dub you SuperMum!!"
Throughout the entire thing, Janice was squirming in her seat and could do nothing but simply look aggrieved. As they all walked out of the Principal's office, Delilah turned to Janice and said kindly, "Chin up, girl. This matter will be cleared soon. If you're facing any problems, just look for Kyle here."
YES!! Janice shouted in her mind, for what she wanted finally happened - even if it was not the way she had imagined it to be. She turned towards Kyle, saying softly, "Sorry for the trouble, Kyle."
Kyle just looked at her and smiled kindly, making Janice melt at that perfect face being so close and having him smile. At her. Only her. Her mind blanked out.
NOOoooOOOooo ... wailed Kyle in his mind ... but it was expected. The calling of his mother had not been within his calculations, but the moment he found out it was done, he made the adjustments to his plans as he stood behind her in the Principal's office. He knew his mother's caring and over protective nature, so the fact that she had dumped Janice's safety onto him was no surprise. He would have been shocked if his mum had ignored the sniffling baby.
He was just groaning over the fact that he now had this leech who would latch onto him. Shivers ran down his spine just at the thought. It didn't help that Kay was laughing uncontrollably in his mind, not sparing him any thought as she sent that tinkling laugh. Outwardly, he had to maintain a straight face, and winced when his mum hit him at the back of his head.
"Focus Kyle! Did you hear what I said?"
"Yes, dear mother," Kyle said, "Be kind to Janice. Study hard. Be good. No nonsense or you're grounded."
Delilah harumphed at Kyle's summary of her 10 minute lecture, still not satisfied. However, before she could start on another tirade, Kyle quickly took both her hands in his and kissing her on the forehead, he said, "Gotta go, Mum. We still have classes to attend."
"Fine. Go," she said, waving him off.
"Thanks Mum!" Kyle shouted as he gave his mum a quick hug, and dashed off as if he had the bats of hell chasing him, leaving a speechless Janice behind. Other than that smile he gave her earlier, he had not even talked to her or acknowledged her in any way. Janice could do nothing but trail listlessly after him, and headed back to her own class, thinking of many other ways to get closer to him.
**--**--**--
The day passed by uneventfully ... well, if you consider the various furtive glances, increased whisperings that abruptly stopped when he walked by, fingers pointing indiscreetly at his back as uneventful, that is. Kyle wasn't bothered by all of it. In fact, he felt those things were like pesky flies buzzing around him. Annoying, but can be ignored. He was, after all, mentally 40 ... no wait. His mind wandered, and he realised that the numbers was not right.
He started counting in his head. Kylie died at 40 years old, and Kyle has lived for 13 years. So essentially, he is 53 years old. Kyle had to admit. He looks pretty darn good for a 53 year old person. He laughed at his own stupid, random thoughts.
Kyle quickly got up when the school bell for the last class rang, and headed straight for basketball practice. He needed some physical activity to get rid of this frustration that was piling up. He wasn't bothered by the things people were saying, but he was rather bored with it all. No, to be accurate. He was upset about how shallow people's hearts were.
He sighed, waking into the locker room. As bad as they were, he was worse since he enjoyed playing them like a violin on a string, and using his popularity to control the flow. It was ... fun. It was like a hobby of his, to instigate certain situations and fanning them. He had always been boring in his previous life, and this was harmless fun.
Kyle smiled to himself. Today is going to be another fun day at practice. He had been working hard after all, so he needed a break. Kyle placed his duffel bag in his locker, then proceeded to take off his shirt. Instead of crumpling it and throwing it into the locker like any normal boy, he folded it and placed it nicely.
"Kyle, I swear. You're so neat that I'd say you're a girl."
Kyle didn't turn, took off his pants to reveal the shorts he wore underneath. He then folded his pants neatly and placed it in the locker, and took out his jersey that was hanging inside. "Oh please Darren. That's stereotyping. As if girls are so neat."
Darren took Kyle by the shoulder, turning him around and gesturing the whole place with one long sweep of his hand, "Look. Compare your locker, with ... that"
Kyle shrugged, pushing off Darren's arm that was across his shoulder and wore his jersey. Every single locker that was opened had all sorts of stuff that were just crammed inside. Some clothes were also littered on the floor, with people stepping on them.
"I just don't like my clothes wrinkled. I have an image to maintain, you know." Kyle replied, closing his locker door and twisting the lock combination.
"Speaking of image ... " Darren leaned closer, "You ol dog you. Come on, tell me. How many girls have you done it with?"
Kyle gave an exaggerated look, put a hand on his chest and gasped, "Darren! What sort of guy do you think I am?" Then, with a slight pause, Kyle smiled mysteriously, "I never kiss and tell, you know. But seriously, I've been a good boy. Never kissed a girl even, except for my mum and sis."
Darren watched Kyle walk off to court, and smiled, nodding knowingly.
"Yeah, riiiiiiight," he said and jerked his chin at another teammate nearby, "We believe him, right?"
As usual, when Kyle walked out, the bleachers were full of girls just sitting there, watching the practice. Despite the rumours going around, the crowd did not diminish. Kyle ignored them as usual, and started doing warm-ups as per instructions. After about 20 minutes of basic dribbling and passing of the ball, the coach called them all in front.
"Ok. We'll do a practice run. Split up into two teams" he commanded, handing over 5 red vests to Captain Lee. "Seniors vs juniors". The guys looked at each other and split into huge grins. After the last match, they were itching to compete against each other again. The seniors wanted to put the juniors down a peg or two, while the juniors wanted to show that the new blood will take over the old.
Captain Lee twirled the basketball on his finger as he pointed to all the juniors in front of him. He then took his thumb and made a slitting motion across his throat before giving them the thumbs down.
Kyle, the captain of the juniors for this match, snorted, brushing his nose ala Bruce Lee style. The other four members stood behind Kyle in a semi-circle, perfectly imitating Kyle's nose brush at the same time.
The Coach blew the whistle.