Vintage Diaries.

15. Fencing

BEEP

The beeping sound was heard, marking the end of the fifth bout. Three minutes had passed in the blink of an eye.

The two fencers took off their helmets and stared at the scoreboard. The blue side had twelve points and the red one had eight. The blue side won unilaterally winning four bouts out of the five.

"You did well today," Ped said genuinely to the opponent. The match was tight and scoring hadn't been easy.

However, Ped's words sounded like sarcasm to Ban. He had once again lost to Ped, which infuriated him beyond limits. He hated Ped's guts. He hated everything about Ped. 

"You too," Ban patted Ped on his shoulder, keeping up the friendly act that he had been doing for years.

Ban wasn't the only one who hated Ped. Almost all the members of the fencing club hated him. Or it could be said that they were jealous of him.

None of them could ever get even close to breaking the records Ped had created.

Ped was no fool. He could sense the hostility from everyone. Especially from Ban. But he didn't care. The only reason he was putting up with Ban was that he was engaged to Cher, his little sister.

Even though the engagement was an arranged one, his little sister was head over heels for Ban, which put him in a bad position.

Ped was taking off his fencing uniform when a fellow club member told him that someone was looking for him.

Putting on his school uniform, headed to check who was looking for him. He was greeted with the sight of Din.

Ped recognized Din as one of his classmates. He didn't know what this classmate's name was as he never really interacted with any of them other than Noah. 

He recalled that this person was the same person who collided with him a few days ago and was taken to the infirmary.

"You are..." Ped found it embarrassing to ask the name of the classmate who had studied with him for a whole year.

"Ped, you have to come with me. Noah is in trouble," Din said anxiously.

This wasn't the first time he had come to the fencing club for Ped. The only difference was that normally, he would hide behind the pillar and watch Ped practice fencing, and this time, he was standing face to face with Ped, talking to him.

He wasn't nervous because he was talking to Ped, but because Noah had gotten in trouble because of him. 

Hearing that Noah got in trouble, the expression on Ped's face changed. He didn't know why he had always felt the urge to keep Noah safe. He believed that it was because Noah was the first friend he made. To him, Noah was the first person who approached him for who he was and not whose son he was.

There were times when he doubted if the protective instinct came from the fact that Noah often addressed him as 'Papa' instead of his name. It had now become a nickname for him, exclusively used by Noah.

"Trouble? What happened to him?" Ped asked. 

"He got called to the principal's office," Din answered nervously. He was really worried for Noah.

He didn't know what else to do other than go and find Ped for help. After all, Ped was the principal's son and Noah's close friend. He was sure that Ped would be willing to help Noah out if necessary.

"Got called to the principal's office?" Ped's eyes widened. The students only got called to the principal's office when they did something big. Normal antics of students that teachers found annoying would be concluded in a visit to the staff room and a round of lectures from the said teacher. 

"I will explain to you on the way. Can you come with me now? It's urgent," Din asked biting his lips.

"Wait a second. I will be back," Ped ran to notify his coach and get permission to leave.

"Let's go," He hung his bag on his shoulders.

Din and Ped rushed to the principal's office. On the way, Din explained to Ped about what had happened in the cafeteria and how Noah had reacted to the bullies. 

"Their parents are also here. They are causing a commotion in the principal's office." Din concluded.

Ped could feel that Din was feeling guilty about getting Noah involved in the matter and it blew up beyond proportion like this. "It's not your fault. Let's see what we can do."

He didn't find it weird that Din and Noah had become friends. Noah did have the habit of making friends with people around him. The only thing he was sure about was that since Noah made Din his friend, he would also have to be around Din from now on.

As they reached the principal's office, they saw Wave standing outside the door. As the classes had started the hallway was deserted, unlike the time when Din left to get Ped.

"How is it?" Din asked as soon as he got near the office door.

"It's bad. All those ladies are making a fuss. Especially that Len's mom," Wave said while peeking into the office.

Len was the leader of the bullies and had often bullied students like Din.

The office was not soundproof. They could almost hear everything that was being said inside the office.

The small glass window on the door gave them a clear view of the inside as well.

Other than Noah and his mother, Ped spotted their homeroom teacher, Soison, a few students whom he knew as the bullies of the campus, and a few women whom he assumed to be the mothers of the bullies.

He could see that the look on his mother's face wasn't a good one. He had always known that his mother wasn't really fond of Noah and had wanted to kick him out of the school. He was starting to fear that his mother might use this as an excuse for the same. 

"Students like him should be expelled from this school! I don't want our children to study alongside such a student!" The lady whom they recognized as Len's mother, demanded.

"Then, take your children out of this school," Noah, who had been silent all this while finally spoke up.

He was unwilling to interject in the beginning but decided to do so after seeing that their homeroom teacher was going to side with those unreasonable parents.

The student in question was not Noah, but Din. The parents felt that Din should be expelled because of his homosexuality even though they had no proof of proving it as a fact.

They were simply there because their egos were hurt. They couldn't take it lying low. 

"What did you say?" The lady glared at Noah in anger.

Noah was really calm. The women didn't scare him, "I said, you should take your children out." His aura was similar to the one he had in the cafeteria while facing the bullies. He glanced at the bunch of bullies. "Because Crystal High has no space for trash." He smirked.