c h a p t e r 2 0
p u n i s h m e n t
_____☆_____

BLAZE'S POV

"I never expected such a behavior from you boys," Father Joseph, proclaimed, looking down upon my four friends.

Adam, Jake, Milo, and Parker stood in a perfect line. Pressed up against the wooden wall, just a few inches away from the office door. No doubt to make a quick exit later.

The four of them had identical posture. Their shoulders were tensed. Their hands clasped firmly behind their backs. And their eyes staring directory down at their polished shoes. Their eyes hadn't dared to move away from the floor to dart around even once.

For the first time, it truly did feel like I was in a traditional boarding school. Seeing them like this was both amusing and off-putting. Never once before coming to St. Joseph had I ever seen a sight such as this. 

"I am truly disappointed today boys," he said, slouching his shoulders with a heavy sigh. Making his frustration apparent with his body moments. Its effect was instantly seen on my friends. As if practiced, they bowed their heads further down in perfect synchronization.

It genuinely worried me, watching their heads dip lower each time my uncle spoke. I was afraid of them snapping their necks in half. My dear uncle, the dean of this school, gave zero fuck about it though. He didn't take a single pause. He continued to pace back and forth in front of them. Taking turns to either scold them or to stare at them with disappointment.

I wonder if there is a secret community that teaches old people the art of making younger people feel guilty by using disappointment as a tool. If so I had no doubt my uncle topped that class.

"Have you all completely forgotten the decorum that St. Joseph holds? Or do you simply no longer have any respect left towards this school?" he raved, suddenly raising his voice in anger, making Milo flinch.

"We are truly sorry for our behavior Sir," Adam apologized, guilt evident in his heavy voice.

For someone who always spoke without hesitation and with self-confidence, the slight crack in his voice did not go unnoticed by me. They were practically cowering in fear on the inside but I was impressed by how well they hid that. Their expression didn't give away their fears. Knowing uncle would not get the pleasure of seeing them physically shiver in fright for him made me feel happy.

"You are. But is he?" He bellowed, finally spinning around to acknowledge my attendance in the room, by pointing an accusing finger at me.

While my friends had chosen to display their best impression of perfectly guilty students in front of him, I chose to stand on the opposite side of the room. Leisurely leaning on the large glass cabinet that displayed trophies St. Joseph had won. Like my uncle, I too gave zero fucks.

Reaching a hand out, I gently placed back the globe back over the cabinet; that I had been playing with while he was doing his bitter principle drill and flashed him an innocent smile.

"I have a feeling you won't like my answer," I said.

He narrowed his eyes at me. Looking red in the face. If we were in a cartoon channel, this would probably be the time when steam would start blowing out of his ears and noes.

My eyes darted behind his shoulder. Adam, Milo, Parker, and Jake wore matching expressions. Angry invisible steam blowing through their faces too, which made me chuckle.

Probably not the best thing to do, given the time. It only made uncle's head blow up with rage,"I have had enough of your insubordination Blaze," he said, flinging his hands around, repeatedly pointing at me. "And I refuse to tolerate you influencing good kids like them."

"Stop smiling it isn't a compliment!" he suddenly yelled, making me realize I had smirked hearing his words. Something about his previous sentence had made me feel oddly satisfied for some reason.

Realising my mistake, I quickly tried to sober up but it was already too late.

He had briskly walked towards his desk, and brought out a manilla file from the second drawer. He picked up a pen nearest to him and began to fill out the contents of the paper with a stiff face.

I looked at my friends. We all had collective confused and slightly panicked looks on our faces. Turning my attention back at the folder in his hands, I nervously cleared my throat.

"What are you-"

"You four are hereby punished to community service on the weekends till the end of this term. You four will also submit an 8000 words essay on the constitutions of discipline to me before the end of the week. Besides the essay, you four are also to submit no more than 12 reports daily detailing and summarising what you learned in every subject by the end of the week for the next three weeks to Mr. Mathew for inspection. If the reports are not properly made your essay and report writing punishment will extend to another two weeks. Apart from this you four are also to run 18 rounds of the field each morning at 4 am for the next four weeks. If failed to be punctual it will result in doubling the number of track runs," he listed out their punishments out loud as he wrote them down on a creme piece of paper, "Additionally, I am also punishing you four on dishwashing and classroom cleaning duties both before and after lunch and dinner for the next three weeks." he said.

His voice held on a flat serious tone and his eyes had hardened. The stoic blank face gave him a fearful appeal and made him look twice the age he was. He looked every bit like the strict authoritative figure that everyone in St. Joseph feared.

Hearing the punishment listed down by him, Jake gulped loud enough to be heard even from a fair distance between us. I peaked behind my shoulder and caught Milo desperately tugging at Parker's shirt sleeves, as Father Joseph made his way towards them.

Watching him wade towards Adam, with his spine straight like a measuring scale and head held high in determination, I too felt the wisps of fear and uncertainty take a slow grip on me. I might have had my fun for a while but even I knew my boundaries. And this was not the side of him that I wanted to get on bad terms with.

"Go and get it signed by Mr. Lorace. You four can leave" handing Blaze a copy of the cream colored slip he walked back towards his desk, dismissing them.

I kept staring at my friends with worry. They all shared dejected looks after taking a glance at the slip but made no move to leave.
Instead, they gazed back at me with concerned faces.

It was obvious that I would not be left without receiving any punishment. I would, however, be getting a different punishment than my friends it seemed. Perhaps one even harsher than theirs. Sighing loudly, I turned my full attention on my Uncle, wondering what he had in mind for me.

"Blaze Warner, you will also submit an essay of 10,000 words stating the constitutions of discipline to me by Tuesday," he said.

So I get extra word count and a tighter deadline. Nice!

"Along with no more than 12 reports daily detailing and summarising what you learned in every subject by the end of the week for the next three weeks to Mr. Mathew for inspection. If the reports are not properly made your punishment will extend to another two weeks" I bobbed my head in boredom as he drawled out the same punishments again for me.

"Since I know you take rounds of the field early morning anyway, and how much you enjoy sports, I am instead temporarily banning you from taking part in any sports-related activity instead,"

"What?"

"This also includes regular physical education classes. You will now have to report to Miss. Priston during your PE classes and assist her with lower classes from grade 3rd to 5th" he said.

The guys gasped in shock behind me.

He can't be serious. He wouldn't dare do that right before the start of mid-semester events. The whole school is counting on me to take part and win the champion trophy this year. He can't be serious about this.

"Are you serious?" I questioned, doubting what my ears had heard. He ignored me and continued on to state my next punishment as if I hadn't even spoken.

"You are also hereby suspended from the boarding school till the next term."

"What!" Parker and I shouted together, surprised by his words.

"I am transferring you to another hostel where you can no longer influence the students of St. Joseph. At least for a while," he finished, looking up straight at me. Ready to assess my reaction.

"Sir!" Milo, Adam, and Jake took a step forward in protest.

"You can't do that!" I raised my voice in frustration, pointing an accusing finger at him. Knowing too well that he damn well can.

And he did!

Jake and Adam started defending me, "Sir please, it wasn't even really his fault...they had provoked him," Jake said.

"Yes Sir, it was entirely Bill's fault..and we need Blaze to help us prepare for our upcoming sports tournament. We are going first up against the Mt. Hillbury school and they were last year's champions..it's going to be hard to beat them without Blaze.." Adam tried to reason with him by arguing about our school's position in the upcoming tournament.

"Yeah, yeah..and uh...and we need Blaze here at school to help us practice sir, he is our captain!" Jake said.

When he still didn't reply Milo and Parker started Pleading to him, "Sir, no Sir....Sir please, Sir."

Their efforts were wasted though. I could see it clearly on his face that he would not change his decision. Putting a hand on Milo's shoulder to pull him back and to stop his pleading, I took a step forward and stared him down.

"Fuck you I am not going to stay at some hostel! I am not leaving my friends!" I spat at him. Pissed enough to not give a damn about using a profanity. If he was determined so was I. I would not be thrown out of this place for something that I didn't start.

Adam not liking my choice of words pulled me back. He threw me an irritated look and stepped in front of me.

"Sir, I will take full responsibility of him. Please let him stay here" Adam said, his bravado returning back to his voice. Father Joseph still remained obvious to us. He busied himself by wordlessly, warming up the red wax near his desk to stamp the school album on a mint green colored piece of paper. Once done he passed the paper to me. 

"Refuse to accept or carry out your punishments properly will result in additional punishments. For example," he said coyly "suspension from taking part in any let alone the sports tournament for the upcoming mid-semester events and...," he stressed his and to create suspense, "I will seize your captainship." 

"You can't do that. You can't suspend me or take away my captaincy like that! What kind of punishment is this?" I barked, furious at him.

"I have a feeling you won't like my answer" he threw my words back at me.

Furious, I grabbed the piece of paper that he held in his hands and tore it into tiny pieces. I then proceed to throw all that clustered his desk down to the floor. Breaking the glass plate with his name on first.

"Blaze no!" Adam and Parker exclaimed together while Milo and Jake tried to hold me back.

I thought that would be a good answer but I was wrong. Unfazed by my action, he began writing up another form and this time to my horror he started with taking away my captaincy.

_______☆_______

A drop of water fell on the surface of the ivory envelope, making me realize that I was crying.

I quickly wiped away the wetness from my eyes and put my green tinted shades back on. Covering up any evidence of their existence. Folding the envelope in half, I stuffed it back in my backpack. I didn't want to stare at that horrid letter one more second.

I had no regret towards my action. Nor did I think too much about my suspension from the boarding. Getting kicked out of places was a familiar territory. It was something that I wasn't too proud of. But it was also something that seemed inevitable in my life.

No matter how hard I try to keep things right something always ends up going wrong and I find myself right where I had started.

What I do regret is dragging my friends into a mess for me. If only I had held back or walked away. If only I hadn't thrown the first punch, and started a fight in the middle of the school corridor. Then the guys would not have had to defend me or come to my aid and then they wouldn't have engaged in a fist fight alongside me, which would not have gotten them such a lengthy punishment. 

Even though I regretted getting them involved, I was also thankful for having found friends who were ready to get black eyes and torn up knuckles for me.

I had sort off expected it from Adam and Jake. I knew those two would engage in a fist fight but I never anticipated so would
Parker and Milo. I was truly surprised by them.

I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Parker had taken a punch to the gut for me. And Milo, who wouldn't stand as close as ten miles to anything that would involve injury, even if he were paid; had jumped on Bill just to take him off of me. And sprained his back in the process.

I oddly felt proud of them. But mostly at myself too for having discovered such friendship. I don't want to admit it, but it would be hard to stay away from them for a whole term. Sure I could still see them during school hours but it wasn't the same.

Shouldn't you be used to parting with people by now?

My mind voiced my inner darkest thought as my eyes once again landed in the exact spot on my backpack where I had shoved the ivory envelope in. The familiar feeling of loss again gained its reigns on me and my heart and throat got heavy with unshed burden.

"You alright mate?" Adam asked, walking towards me carrying Jake's backpack. I had, borrowed it from him since I didn't have an extra bag to pack my books in.

I quickly got to my feet, readjusting my shades and discreetly hiding my bag from him, as if he would see through it and discover the envelope hiding inside.

As if just suspending me from the boarding wasn't enough for him, my dear uncle had made sure to give me one more parting gift. A letter containing a news that had left me feeling hollow on the inside.

Though I didn't say it out loud, somehow Adam had known something was off and so he had insisted on dropping me off personally at the last moment.

Even now, I knew he caught me trying to hide something from him but he still didn't say anything. He simply gave me a nod of his head and somehow that was enough. He didn't have to voice it for me to understand that his nod meant he would give me space until I was ready to talk about it. That he understood. And I was so grateful for that.

"Well...you should probably get inside. They must be expecting you" he said, gesturing towards the glass panel door twenty-something stairs away.

"Yeah! Thanks for coming along man" I slapped his shoulders and he playfully shoved mine in return. He then scrunched his eyes at my shirt, "Isn't this my shirt?" he asked.

I looked down at myself and realized that I had indeed absentmindedly wore his shirt instead of mine. We were so similar in build and height that it gets confusing at times to decipher between our clothes. More so, since we shared the same wardrobe. I recall us accidentally exchanging our uniforms on more than one occasion and smiled.

"I don't know man...I think this one is mine" I lie, with a smile.

"Aww, Warner you really have a weird fetish for my shirts huh? Always taking them" he laughed at me.

"Fuck off man!" I said, punching him lightly on his already sore shoulder and he facked a wince. Laughing we finally said our goodbye. With one last look at the hostel behind me and promising of coming to visit often, he walked back to the taxi that waited to take him back to school.

In two blinks he was gone.

You are alone again, Blaze. And looks like there won't be anyone else this time to give you company. They are all gone no.

With that sad thought thundering like a storm cloud inside my head, I slowly made my way up the stairs and in through the door.

"Um...Hello," awkwardly standing by the door for few seconds, I waited for someone to come out and greet me or to show me around. When no one came, I guided myself further into the house. I peeked inside the living room first but not a single person was in sight.

How many people do even stay here, I wondered, as I dropped my bags, near the living room sofa and took the place in. It was quaint. Very different from the boarding but it also felt warm and homely.

I heard a faint sound of someone laughing and turned in the direction it came from. Upon walking closer to the sound, I found myself heading into an open kitchen dining room, where seven or so kids about my age were gathered around a smiling lady with short hair and wrinkly eyes. They all laughed harder at something she said when I fully entered into the kitchen to make my presence felt.

As I inched closer, the first person my eyes landed on was a fairly tall guy with lean body wearing a black t-shirt and a matching black hat backward.

Was I in the same hostel as Rhydian Churchill?

His laughing faced turned in my direction then and his face contorted to that of an amused shock, "Blaze Warner!"

I took a step forward to say hey but some girl standing near the fridge drinking water with her back turned to me, spin around with lighting speed and spit out all the water in her mouth on my face in astonishment.

Some guy standing beside her jumped back in fright at that very moment and accidentally slammed into another guy walking across towards the Lady carrying a bowl of flour in his hands. His balance tipped and he ended up dumping the bowl of flour over my head.

Are you kidding me!

All around me sounds of amused gasps resonated. I slowly lifted the bowl from over my head gritting my teeth together in frustration and blinked the white power of my eyes to see who had welcomed me like this.

I blinked once, she slightly covered her mouth, I blinked twice, she bit her lips, I blinked thrice and she smiled.

"NATASHA GLAZER!" I said, slowly but with a guttural sound that came from my frustrated, slightly angry but also amused curious and surprised state.

"That's me!" she chuckled, "oops, here let me" she took a step towards me and I froze. I didn't know what to do or say. Flashes of memory from our time at Delegres started tumbling out inside my head flooding it with images of her.  

She slowly got on her toes, reaching almost to the same height as me. I saw the familiar mischievous gleam in her dark eyes and I found hope again.

Maybe, there was someone to give me company after all.

At that moment, I didn't care what her devilish brain had planned. I didn't care that she slowly started emptying the bottle of water on my head with an overly content smile. I also didn't care about the people surrounding us laughing at me. All I cared about was not feeling lonely again. To be distracted. To not think about the contents of the envelope. To have an escape, even if it's just for a little while.

And Natasha Glazer seemed to be the answer to all of the above. She was that escape. She was that distraction. With her around, how could I ever have room to think about anything else.

She is that company that Nona had promised I would always have, my thoughts sweetly whispered to me.

So with a smile of my own, I snatched the pretty white printed scarf she had around her neck and fast walked backward. Once out of her reach I  started wiping my face with it.

She chased me around the kitchen with a frantic scream, asking me to give it back, but I kept dodging her with a laugh. Once done cleaning my face, I threw her now dirty and wet scarf back at her, hitting her right in the face.

"Ewww!" she screeched and threw it back at me only to run and grab for it again.

"Natasha Glazer and Blaze Warner under the same roof. I don't know if I should be excited or terrified." Rhydian Churchill called from the back chucking.

And I couldn't agree more. 

_______☆_______
Me motivating myself to write something these days.

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