Quinn & King

2 Suspension

"So, what about it? Does it ring any bells?" Mr Kim questioned smugly, like he knew something I didn't.

"I didn't do it, okay!" I said in exasperation. I turned to my uncle expectantly. "Uncle, you know I wouldn't do this. Tell them!"

Uncle remained quiet, his face showed that he was deep in thought. "May I know where is this so-called sex partner of hers?" He asked instead, looking around. "I don't see him, nor do I see his parents."

"Oji-san!" I tried to protest, but he waved a hand at me to keep silent.

I reluctantly clamped my mouth shut. I don't know what he was trying to do, but I do hope he was sincerely trying to help me get out of this.

"The other student has not been coming to school since the incident. And at the moment, his parents are also uncontactable, which is why you are the only ones here," Mr Kim explained.

Wait, what? Porky hasn't been in school since that day? And what more, his parents are "uncontactable" for some reason? How convenient. How dare he – how dare they – disappear when it's time to get punished!

Not that I did anything wrong such that I deserved to be punished in the first place. And I don't blame him for wanting to stay home after what happened. But since we were both getting accused of something we didn't do, I would expect his parents to at least be present for this.

"... which is why we will be suspending your niece for a week," I heard Mr Kim say.

"What?! Why?" I questioned, my voice raising unintentionally. "I really didn't have sex with him!"

"Can you explain why you were in such a compromising position then?" Uncle asked, arching an eyebrow.

"He was naked – well, almost – but still! I was just trying to help him cover up," I quickly explained, the words rushing out without a thought.

Crap, that sounded weird still.

I quickly spoke again before anyone could call me out for it. "He was bullied, okay! And again, I didn't do it!"

It was silent for a moment, as the adults let my words sink in. So silent that if I so much as drop a pin, the sound would have probably echoed.

After what seemed like an eternity, Mr Kim spoke first. He questioned me, every little thing I said in response. It felt like he was forcing his views on me, instead of asking. But I held on.

The VP remained quiet and listened in. Then, when he had hesrd enough, he stopped the interrogation session. He had come to a conclusion.

I was told to stay off the school premises for a whole week... At least, until my suspension was over.

I couldn't believe it. After all that protesting and explaining, the VP still gave me a week of suspension.

The reason for it was dumb, in my opinion. Although I had "claimed" on not having sex in school, there was a possibility that I might have been the perpetrator instead. Because of that, he needed me to stay home and reflect, while they try to sort things out with Porky.

Stupid, right? Like that would change anything! Porky wasn't even coming to school in the first place, from what I could tell.

On top of that, once I return to school, I still needed to go for counseling and pick up trash around the school as part of the "reform community work".

What's worse is that all these punishment would be reflected on my school transcripts. Now it's gonna be harder for me to get to university and move far away from my uncle.

Don't get me wrong, I love my uncle, partly because he's my late dad's brother. But as my sole guardian, he could be a pain at times...

"My dear niece, let's talk," he spoke, gesturing over to the couch for me to take a seat.