The Reason Why

Chapter 3

When John entered his classroom the next day, his classmate were pointing and whispering at him. He ignored them and sat down on his chair.

A teacher John had never seen before in his entire life walked in. "John Bradley, head over to the principal's office right now, please."

Now I'm in trouble, he thought as he followed the teacher out of the class.

He stepped into the principal's office and saw his parents as well as Jim's. His parents looked upset while Jim's parents glared at John as he walked in the office.

"This is a very important topic we need to discuss, Mr. and Mrs. Bradley-"

"John was just angry at Jim for bullying him all those years! Did you even talk to them?" John's dad said angrily as he pointed at Jim's parents.

"Yes, but did Jim ever become the cause for John to be sent to the hospital?" Mr. Allen snapped.

"Well, Jim caused my brother to commit suicide!" John interrupted. "Don't you think Jim should go to jail or something?"

"Well, after all, you did say your brother committed suicide, so technically it isn't really Jim's fault is de-" the principal started to say.

"IF JIM HADN'T BULLIED WILL, HE WOULDN'T HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE!" John yelled in fury, pulling his hair in frustration.

"I believe you mentioned that Will thought you didn't love him anymore. So Jim couldn't be at much fault as you," the principal reasoned.

"How could you say that?" John screamed. "I loved him more than anything!"

"John, please calm down," his dad muttered. "We can't afford to get in trouble..."

John turned on his father with rage in his eyes. "In trouble? In trouble? We have a chance to do something about Will's suicide and all you care about is getting in trouble?"

"John, I'm so sorry about your brother, but he's gone. It's time to move on," Mrs. Allen said kindly, which was rather unexpected considering she was talking to the boy who had badly injured her son.

John buried his face in his hands. His parents tried to wrap their arms around him, but he swatted them away.

When John looked back up, his eyes were full of emptiness. He took off outside the principal's office, not bothering to look back.

Mrs. Bradley sighed. "He'll come to his senses soon, I'm sure." She said, but she sounded uncertain.

Jim's parents stood up. "Well we'll head off now. We need to visit our son in the hospital," Mr. Allen said.

"We'll pay for the hospital bills, I promise," Mr. Bradley assured Jim's parents.

John's parents ran after their son.

They founds him sitting at the bottom of a staircase, his shoulders shaking.

"John-" his dad began.

"No. Don't. Just don't," he cut him off angrily. "It's bad enough you've still let me go to this school, and now you're not doing anything about Will's situation? I can't do this anymore."

"I'm sorry, but Mrs. Allen is right. Your brother is gone, and we can't do anything about it. Besides, you were able to cope with it for the past two years. Why now?" His mom questioned.

"Don't you get it? I saw a chance to hurt Jim like he hurt me, and I took it. How about both of you?" John said.

His parents whispered to each other for a moment. After a while, his mom sighted and turned to John.

"Fine." She said

"Fine what?" John said, looking at his parents expectantly.

"We'll transfer you to another school. We see how much Jim is bothering you, especially after," his mom cleared her throat, "Will."

"You will? John looked at her in surprise. "Well... That was unexpected."

"It'll be better than having you lock yourself up in your room and not talk to us," his dad said.

John grinned, a real smile, unlike all his previous grins. "Thank you so much! You won't regret it, I promise," he skipped off to his class, joy plastered all over his face.

Once he was gone, John's dad turned to his wife. "Are you sure this is the right choice?" He asked worriedly.

"It's for the best. We don't want to lose him. Remember how we lost Will?"

His dad sighed. "Alright then, we still have to pay Jim's hospital bills, look for a good school for John, and..."