The Sage and Shield

Chapter 15

Mikey watched the look on their faces as they were caught with no escape screwed as Principal Putam noticed most of the students and the office were looking in their direction.

"Is it gonna happen?"

"They have to get expelled for this, right?"

She took a deep breath.

"Demean and Dahmir, you are banned from recess for the entire week."

"What?"

"No way."

"You have got to be joking."

"That's not fair."

"She stole our stuff."

"You have no idea how much work this is for me. As for you Ms. Arclight and Mr. Yurei-"

"Reverse that."

"Oh, my apologizes. Be sure to erase that off your phones. Recording without consent is a violation of school conduct."

"Could I get an apology since I told you all it wasn't me?"

The school aide fessed up. "My bad."

"Are you gonna call my parents back and tell them the truth?"

"I will get to it later. For now, the rest of you, go to class. Trumans, sit down."

"Does that mean fourth grade can get their recess back," Faith asked.

The principal lowered her gaze as she dropped the book out of sight.

"Sure, that feels fair and appropriate. Spike, I apologize for falsely condemning you. Our pledge claims to help one another out and it seems your classmates were willing to put in the work we did not. Dahmir and Demean, you have something to say to Michael?"

"Sorry for chasing you," smiling with no regret.

"Forgiven," Mikey said with as little grace as possible.

"Ms. Almore, thank you for your cooperation, I will call Ms. Puckett in a few to let her know of the situation."

Spike walked out with Mikey and Faith.

"How'd you figure it out?"

"Long story, Kathy put on a trial, Faith's the one you should be thanking."

"I just had a feeling you were telling the truth and wanted to find out."

"Thanks," looking at her with melting eyes. "That's pretty cool of you."

Their teachers took them upstairs to the rest of the class.

"So wait, the movie wasn't the original lesson?"

"It got mixed up with middle school's assignment."

"Well this would've been fun for extra credit."

"If he was the defendant, doesn't that mean he was part of this too," Mikey asked.

"Well technically a jury is supposed to make people who don't know either person on the trial."

Kathy's mouth widened. "What happened to jury of one's peers? Doesn't that mean people that you know?"

"More like people that will treat you equally and fairly. And we can agree some of you did not try that. More points for those of you who followed the rules."

The Class Dojo points for Faith, Mikey, Jamiya, Marigold, Caleb, Rebina, Kat, and Abdul were higher, though the other jurors got their own individual points.

Maria pouted. "What about us?"

"Should've participated."

"What if we took notes of the trial?"

Ms. Spring collected what she wrote down. "That's just writing down the insults you heard."

"Who defended me?"

"Thank Faith for that one, she stopped your jury from ending in five minutes."

"You care," giving her a stern grin and nod.

"Just being helpful."

Mikey raised an eyebrow at this.

"But I couldn't do it alone," nudging him. "Take two people to keep a chain reaction going."

"Mikey, really?"

"I'm a shield for the innocent, even for the inconsistent. Try not to get on my bad side."

"I can agree to that. Friends?"

Faith saw this as an opportunity, and he decided to humor the thought.

"Ehh, acquaintances. Or allies," extending his hand. Spike gave him a handshake.

"And Faith, let's sit together during lunch sometime," heading back to his seat.

"I've made another friend!"

Looks like he wants to be more than friends, watching her earnest happiness spread across her face. Well at least she's happy.

Later that day, the two of them walked home to his house, offering to come without having to fly off a trampoline.

"So she there's cameras in the office."

"Yeah, I saw you spin over the staircase! Your mom and dad would be so proud of your skills."

"Stop, that's just my normal training. Something's telling me that this is not going to be the end of our problems though. The rogue Grimoire user almost got Spike."

"Hey, we'll stop whatever comes our way."

"Well, I'll stop it, you defeat it."

"You're always going above and beyond for me. I want to be your shield in battle soon."

"You're doing great."

She blushed. "When she called me Ms. Arclight, it kinda sounded like we were like official." See saw his face light up, correcting herself. "Like a team, partners!"

He laughed. "My parents usually perform in pairs. I usually prefer to do things solo, but the more time we spend together, I feel like I could do it one day."

"And I'll be there in the audience cheering you on."

She had to head home, but Mikey asked her to wait for a second.

"If you ever wanna practice your spell, come over, anytime."

"Sure. I'd love that."

After she left, Hela dashed out of the kitchen.

"Was that a date offer?"

"No," giving her the cliff notes.

"Spike may have gotten a rescue attachment crush. So that's why you're being more honest."

"I'm just feeling protective. Something dangerous is coming. I can feel it."

Dahmir and Demean found themselves with their older brother leaving school, teasing and taunting some of their classmates and forcing their children to flee, while two people watched over them.

"So the pawn you've been using for the Seeds is starting to be ineffective."

"It's about time I rely on some Knights instead. You're certain the one with the grimoire is at my school?"

"We have a bit of history. I'll be at the other school if we need to share some transfer students."

"How did you deal with yours in the past?"

"Easy. Cut their branches before they start to grow."