Ellie-chan (COMPLETED)

Twenty-Two - I'm in trouble

I was shocked when I found out that three of our students was involved in a gang fight last night. Kyōtō-sensei (vice-principal) was very furious especially that the police came to our school to talk to those involved. Another bad publicity for the school which is already bombarded with a lot of student-related problems lately. Last month, a student from 2-C was caught stealing a comic book from a local book store.  A week after, a student from 3-A was found with 3 small packs of heroine. And now, this. I'm pretty sure, the class adviser will be grilled just like what had happened to the two teachers in charge of 2-C and 3-A.

I was already checking my students' attendance when Kyōtō-sensei, along with Kōchō-sensei marched inside my classroom. A look of anger was all over our vice-principal's face.

"Ellie-sensei, we hate to interrupt your class but we'd like to have a short talk with the twins and Saito-kun," Kyōtō-sensei announced without looking at me. He was searching the class for the three people he mentioned. I was horrified. So the 'little bastards' were my students? My gosh! They were my students!  I'm so dead.

Upon seeing the boys, our vice principal went to their seats and brutally yanked them up. Naoki and Hiroki protested and tried to fight him off.  They pushed him away. He nearly fell to the floor. Without even thinking about it, I went to his rescue. I scolded the twins for what they did while grabbing Saito-kun with my left hand. 

"Doko ni ikimasu ka? (Where are you going?)" I asked Saito-kun. I was a little bit irritated that he attempted to flee. He scratched his head and looked at me shyly.

"This happens because you don't know how to discipline them," Kyōtō-sensei hissed at me.

"This has nothing to do with Ellie-sensei," Hiroki-kun angrily retorted in Japanese. I glared at him.

"You see? He doesn't have any respect for authorities. Their brother will hear about this. Bring them to Kōchō-sensei's office!" and he stomed out of the room. Our principal, on the other hand, just remained standing in front of the class. He looked at me apologetically and told me to bring the boys to his office. Then, he left.

"Didn't I tell you last night to go straight to your houses? What did you do this time?" I asked them angrily. Hiroki and Naoki bowed their heads. I stared at Saito-kun.

"We did. But on my way home, Morita of Kyoto High blocked my way. He was with six of his friends. They tried to grab my bag when I refused to give them my money. That's when I called up Hiroki and Naoki so they came to my rescue," Saito-kun replied despite being stopped by the twins. I glared at the two boys.

"Is this true? Naoki? Hiroki?"

They slowly nodded their head. Reluctantly, they told me that Morita has been bullying Saito-kun since junior high school. He and his friends had always extorted money from him. When Saito-kun has nothing to give, they would punch and kick him till he lose consciousness. And now that they are friends with Saito-kun, they will not allow that to happen anymore, they said.

Although I was mad at them for putting me in Kyōtō-sensei's ire, I couldn't help but feel good and proud after hearing from the twins.

"That's good. Standing up for your friend," I admitted.  "But it's still wrong to get into fights. You should have called the police patroling the area."

"No one was around," Hiroki replied.  "We had no choice but to fight them off ourselves."

"Okay. You have to tell the police officers what you have just told me. C'mon, let's go. They're waiting for us," and I motioned for them to follow me.  Before I left, I told the class leader to collect his classamates' homework and make everybody read the reading lesson for the day.