Delicate

Chapter Twenty Two

A few hours ago.

"If I may interrupt—" Roan finally spoke up. His tone was stern, and his voice commanding enough to make the other arguing adults quiet down, "—Mrs. Keating, was it?"

"That's right," Nick's mom muttered.

"I know we like to ignore our children's faults, but you cannot be blind to the fact that your son, just like you, is a bully. Aside from Leo and Quinn, there are other witnesses too that noticed Nick and Owen bullying Quinn. So, are you saying that everyone in this room is a liar but your son?"

"How am I supposed to trust the word of—" Mrs. Keating looked Leo up and down, giving him a dirty look.

"Finish your sentence. Go ahead. Word of who? That won't be the first racist thing you'd say in the past twenty minutes," Roan challenged, and she looked away. Roan sighed as he faced the principal, "I trust that the facts are at least clear to you."

"They are," Principal Collins nodded, "I'm suspending Nick, Owen and Xavier for two weeks. We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to bullying."

"You can't—"

"If it was up to me I'd make sure that your son gets expelled for mentally and physically harassing students, Mrs. Keating. You should be glad Leo doesn't want to press charges. I think you should cut your losses and teach your son how to be respectful of others instead of defending him," Roan said.

"I will not sit hear and listen to you tell me that I'm a bad mother!" Mrs. Keating raised her voice.

"Mr. Collins has already given his punishment so you don't need to sit hear and listen to me state facts. You're free to leave, I presume?" Roan glanced at Mr. Collins for his opinion, and he simply nodded as he looked at Nick's mom, clearly tired of her bullshit as well.

"Mr. MacElroy is right, this is not the first complaint I've heard against Nick. If I see him in my office one more time then I won't have any choice but to expel him," Mr. Collins said.

"We're leaving," Mrs. Keating said as she grabbed Nick's hand and stormed out of the office.

"I'll talk to Owen and make sure he doesn't repeat his behaviour," Owen's mother, thankfully a cool headed person, said before leaving with her son. Xavier's parents did the same.

"Now regarding Leo's punishment—"

"Excuse me, why would Leo be punished? I thought it was clear he was a victim in this case," Roan raised a questioning brow.

"Well, victim or not, he did engage in a physical fight and that requires consequences," Mr. Collins said.

"If I recall correctly then Nick threw the first punch. What was Leo supposed to do?" Roan asked.

"Not engage—"

"And get beaten up?" Roan scoffed, "you expect him to what? Lay down on the ground defenseless as three jocks keep hitting him? If he didn't defend himself then he wouldn't be standing here in this office right now, he'd be in the hospital!"

"I understand your point of view, Mr. MacElroy but I'm afraid my hands are tied here," Mr. Collins said.

"Then untie them! Where were the teachers when those three boys ganged up against Quinn and Leo and started the physical fight? If there wasn't any faculty present to defend my son, then of course he had to do it on his own!" Roan was starting to get angry, but he tried to maintain his calm.

"I'll only be suspending Leo till Monday."

"I have my Mathlete tournament on Friday," Leo muttered as he frowned. Roan glanced at him, looking at his dejected expression and the cuts on his face.