The Year We Had (MCYT AU)

14: Consequences

It wasn't overly surprising when Tommy was pulled out of class in the middle of a Wednesday. He was pretty used to it, having been the token problem child of his year level. He had appreciated the apologetic look that Sam had given him when he had come to collect him from his Spanish class.

"Am I in trouble?" He asked, rather unbothered by the situation as they walked down the hall and towards the front office.

Sam grimaced. "I'm not sure, that's up to Headmaster Jennings."

Tommy hummed, his hands in his pockets, and turned the corner with his head teacher. Sam came to a stop outside one of several oak doors, and knocked a couple of times before folding his hands in front of him. He smiled reassuringly to Tommy, but Tommy didn't really need it. He was pretty good at getting in trouble.

"Come in," Came the headmaster's voice from the other side of the door. Sam gave Tommy a nudge, nodding to the door, and Tommy slowly opened it. What he wasn't expecting was to see both of his brothers already inside the office, sitting across the desk from the headmaster and looking, well, bored.

Tommy stepped inside, giving the headmaster a nod. "How do?"

"Take a seat, Thomas." Jennings said coldly, gesturing to the empty seat between Wilbur and Techno. Tommy read the room and pushed his smile back, taking a seat and folding his hands in his lap.

"What's going on?" He asked, forcing himself to be serious. Was he about to win ten bucks off each of his brothers? As much as he liked winning bets, he wasn't so sure that he actually wanted to change schools again. He kind of liked it here.

Well, not here in this office. The headmaster was giving him a glare so harsh that he was surprised his skin wasn't melting off.

The man turned his laptop around, revealing the frozen frame of a video. He pressed spacebar and the picture came to life. It was a shaky video taken on a camera, and it most certainly displayed his fight with that asshole the weekend prior. It went on for a little longer, and all he could think about was how terrible the audio quality sounded. He saw Wilbur rush in and start shouting, and the video ended a few seconds later.

Oh, so that's what this is about. Tommy tilted his head slightly. He really thought that nothing was going to come from that. It had been days since it had happened. Weird.

Taking his laptop back, the headmaster raised his eyebrows expectantly at the youngest Watson boy. "This is the part where you explain yourself."

Tommy nodded thoughtfully, glancing at Wilbur, who was picking at his nails, and then Techno, who was tapping his fingers on his knee in a seemingly random way, making different shapes with his fingers as he stared blankly at the headmaster's desk.

Oh, hell yes. Thank god for the month and a half that Techno couldn't talk. Suddenly, Tommy was glad for the asl lessons he had taken alongside his brother. They had learnt it together, taking up most of their free time while Wilbur and Phi were at work. There wasn't much else to do in that boring ass hospital room. Phil had picked up a little bit, and Wilbur probably had too, but Tommy and Techno could have whole conversations with their hands.

Tommy cleared his throat, creasing his brow and putting on a confused expression as he decoded Techno's message.

'Arcade w me. tetris'

"I'm not sure what you want me to explain, sir."

Jenning's anger only increased. His voice raised slightly, his hands folding firmly in front of him as he stared the boy down. "That was you in the video, was it not?"

Tommy put on the most confused look he could muster, shaking his head slightly. "No, sir. That wasn't me. I was in the arcade with Techno. I spent so long trying to beat the high score on tetris, right Techno?" He looked to his older brother, who glanced up at his words.