Individual

Chapter 9

Kay parked her bicycle and secured the chain around the stand. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed into the school building.

“Hey, Kay?” Conan said, closing his locker door. “Why do I feel like Brooklyn Sargent’s looking at you?”

Kay spun around and her eyes met those of Brooklyn's far down the corridor. Instead of glaring, the corners of Brooklyn's mouth were upturned. She was smirking at Kay.

“Do you know her?” Conan asked, his forehead creasing in confusion.

Kay snorted and slammed her locker door shut. “No.”

In registration, Kay doodled tiny basketballs in her notebook, only raising her hand when her name was called. The speaker crackled.

“Kaydence Nakagawa, please proceed to the office now. I repeat, Kaydence Nakagawa, please proceed to the office now.”

Kay straightened her back and blinked, the gaze of her classmates burned onto her. She glanced at her teacher, who motioned for her to go ahead to the office. Kay slowly dragged her chair out and trudged to the office.

The office staff looked at her, adjusting the spectacles on her nose bridge. “Kaydence Nakagawa?” Kay nodded. “To the headmaster’s office.”

Kay raised an eyebrow questioningly. As she approached the headmaster’s office, Brooklyn's smug face from before flashed in her mind. Kay’s jaw clenched. The little brat must have ratted on her.

Kay knocked warily on the headmaster’s door, and gently pushed it open when he answered. Headmaster Willingdon was a smartly dressed man in his early fifties, who sported slicked back dyed black hair.

His lips pressed into a thin line when he saw Kay, and his expression became stern. “Good morning, Kaydence.”

“Good morning, Mister Willingdon,” Kay greeted, cautious of the change in the atmosphere right as she entered.

“Take a seat,” he said, gesturing to the chair across from him.

Kay lowered herself onto the chair. It was a soft, comfortable chair made for precious guests, but the mood in the office made Kay shift uncomfortably in it.

“Do you know why you’re here?” he began, taking a couple of files from a drawer.

Kay decided to be vague. “I… broke the school rules?”

Headmaster Willingdon sighed at the rather petite girl in front of him. “Yes, you’re not wrong, Kaydence,” he started. “On top of that, you physically harmed another student.”

Kay had to choose between being sorry or playing dumb. She settled on, “Which student did I physically harm, Mister Willingdon?”

Headmaster Willingdon looked at Kay, trying to tell if she actually didn’t know what he was saying. He got straight to the point. “You punched Miss Brooklyn Sargent in the stomach, did you not, Kaydence?”

It was meant to be a direct question with an equally direct answer. However, Kay focused on another detail. “Why is she a ‘Miss Brooklyn Sargent’ while I’m just ‘Kaydence Nakagawa’?” she asked.

The headmaster was slightly flabbergasted by the question, but his stern expression hardened. “Answer the question, Kaydence.”

Kay scratched her head, deep in thought. “I guess I did. But! It was a tit for tat, Mister Willingdon,” she added hurriedly.

“And how did she provoke you?”

“She…” All of a sudden, Kay felt ashamed to say it. She couldn’t believe that she had allowed someone like Brooklyn Sargent lay a hand on her. So she dropped it. “Nevermind.”