Becoming a DeMarlo

12: "The less you know, the better."

Chapter 12: "The less you know, the better."

I sat in the headmaster's office, bored.

The elderly teacher had handed Emily off to the school nurse to be examined, since she had obvious marks on her face from the kick I had made.

I was pushed into the headmaster's office and instructed to wait.

Tyler had texted me a long paragraph, saying he was sorry and that he hoped I wasn't mad at him for getting me in trouble.

I told him I was okay, but wanted to know why Emily was so mad in the first place. He didn't reply, making me feel just slightly weird about the situation. 

When the office door finally opened, I was shocked to see the secretary leading in Elijah.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, as soon as the secretary closed the door and left.

"Why don't you tell me, little sister?" Elijah grumbled, taking a seat on the chair beside me.

Despite the juvenile setting, he looked regal as ever. He didn't have to sit in his big, bold office chair to look like a mafia don — he easily achieved that sitting right next to me in a feeble armchair. 

"The school called you?" I guessed. 

"No. They called Charlie, who just had to be out of town today. According to him, you got into a fight and the school demanded that your guardian show up. Apparently, the headmaster here needs a little reminder of who we are," Elijah spat, clenching and unclenching his right fist.

"Uh.. What does that mean?"

Elijah looked at me, annoyed, but was interrupted by the office door opening once again.

I watched as Elijah arrogantly stood up, only to stop in his tracks when a lady in her mid-twenties walked in.

"Maya. Mr.DeMarlo. Thank you for waiting patiently," she said, her voice serious and firm.

Elijah watched with widened eyes as she walked over to sit in her chair across from us.

"You're not Micheal Bridge," he spoke, his tone unlike his usual stern one. 

"That's right, Mr.DeMarlo. I'm his niece, Katherine Bridge. He's been gone since the beginning of this year after his cancer diagnosis. I'm filling in for him," she replied. 

When Elijah didn't move, she followed up by asking, "Is there any problem?" 

Elijah cleared his throat and sat back down, running a hand through his hair. 

"No. No problem at all."

If I didn't know him any better, I'd say he had a crush on Ms.Katherine Bridge.

"Well, I've called you here today because Maya got herself into a little bit of a fight today. I've already reviewed the footage from the security cameras, but I would like for Maya to explain what happened."

Elijah still had his eyes glued on her.

I didn't know what to say. 

"Maya? Could you please explain?" Ms.Bridge repeated.

I coughed, finally getting Elijah's attention. 

"I, uh, well... Emily was talking rudely with.. one of my friends, and I came over to see what was happening. She just got upset and angry, and tried punching me, and it escalated from there, I suppose."

I sure hoped Ms.Bridge wouldn't show the security tapes. If Elijah saw the blond boy standing beside me...

I looked over to see that he looked pretty bored from my explanation.