November 15th. Wednesday, 11:24 AM.

"Malakai… Malakai”, Delilah whispered. Malakai's head rested on his palm. He slightly turned his head to look at her. "Do you have a spare pen?" She continued to whisper, leaning over to his side so he could hear.

"No. Why would I have a spare pen?" Malakai quietly replied. They were quiet because their lesson was going on, and their teacher was lecturing at the front of the class. "Why don't you have a spare pen?" Malakai asked.

"This is my spare pen, it ran out", Delilah replied, shaking her pen to make it work.

"Use a pencil".

"I don't have one".

Malakai pulled a face, "You've got a pencil case, and you don't have a pencil. What do you have in there?" he asked.

"It's none of your business", Delilah answered.

Malakai scoffed. He reached over and snatched the pencil case off her desk.

"Hey", Delilah reacted. Right after she did, she looked at the teacher. Luckily, he was looking at the board, so she knew she wasn't that loud. Meanwhile, Malakai was looking through her pencil case.

"You've got highlighters and different coloured pens. Just use one of these", Malakai said, holding up a red gel pen he had picked from the pencil case.

"No, that would ruin my notes", Delilah replied.

"How?"

"My notes are organised. I can't use a different colour halfway through".

"Oh my days", Malakai said. He turned his head to the left to look at the window. "You're lucky the window is closed. I would've thrown this pen out of it".

"Lucky me. Now give me back my pencil case", Delilah said, reaching over and trying to grab it.

Malakai held the pencil case away from her. "Let's swap. Lemme use this red pen, and you can have my pen", he said.

"No. I want my pencil case back", Delilah replied.

"Why? You said you wanted a pen, so I'm giving you one", Malakai said, holding his pen to her.

"I don't trust you. You're going to mess around with my pencil case", Delilah replied, still trying to get her pencil case.

"I didn't think you were such a girly girl", Malakai said, guarding his desk.

"I'm not. I just like my notes organised", Delilah replied.

"Notes are notes. Who cares how they look?" Malakai said, taking the lid of the red pen and starting to use it.

"I do", Delilah said, swiping at Malakai's hands.

"You two at the back be quiet!" the teacher scolded. Without realising the two of them distracted the whole class.

"It was her/him", Malakai and Delilah both accused each other simultaneously. All eyes were on the two of them.

"I don't care who it was! Stop talking! You are disrupting the whole class!"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Everyone's attention was quickly shifted from Malakai and Delilah to the opening door.

"I'm sorry to disturb your class. Can I have a word with Malakai Junior please", it was Mr White.

Everyone's attention shifted back to Malakai. Malakai didn't know what to think. He didn't even know what he'd done. Why was he being called out?

William turned around in his seat, "Dude, what did you do?" he asked.

"I don't know", Malakai shrugged. He had no clue, but he was trying to figure it out in his head.

"Yes, please take him. The class will be quieter without him", the teacher said, sounding sick of him.

Malakai smirked, "Dickhead”, he insulted his teacher under his breath before he stood up. Only Delilah heard, causing her to giggle a little. "Should I bring my bag?" he asked.

"No, you can leave it here. You'll come back", Mr White replied. Malakai tucked in his chair.

"Good luck", Delilah told him before he walked away. Malakai didn’t reply. He walked to the front of the class, yawned, and covered his mouth while he walked, not making eye contact with the classmates looking at him.

"What a surprise he's in trouble again", Tanisha quietly said. Maria silently watched Malakai walk past.

Malakai reached the front of the class. He heard Lucas whisper something to him as he passed him, but he couldn't hear what he said. He reached the door where Mr. White was standing.

"Follow me", Mr White said, leading the way. Malakai followed and closed the classroom door behind him.

The two walked down the corridor and turned the corner. After turning the corner, Malakai saw four people standing against the corridor wall. Luna, Akari, Jason and Nina. Team 4. His teammates from the last challenge.

"Go stand with them", Mr White ordered him. Malakai listened and stood next to Luna, who was at the end of the line. He looked down the line and said,

"Yo", he smiled when he greeted them. The girls greeted him back, but Jason didn't. None of them looked happy when replying to Malakai. Were they pissed at him? Or the situation?

"Are we getting a reward?" Malakai asked Luna.

"I don't think so", Luna quietly replied.

"Damn".

Mr White waited for silence before talking. He stood in front of them, glancing at each individual.

"I'm sure you can connect the dots and realise why I called you all here", Mr White started. None of them answered. "Your team came first in the last challenge, but your team did something dangerous to win". Eyes widened. "We've got many complaints from the team that were affected by this, so we can't look away from what happened", he continued. Nina was worried, Akari was anxious, Jason was pissed, Luna was stressed, and Malakai was biting his lip, stopping himself from smiling. "Therefore, because of your team's actions and the complaints we've received, all of you will be punished".

"What?!" Jason exclaimed. Everyone's faces dropped except for Malakai, who had a slight smirk. "Why are we getting punished? He was the one driving the car", Jason said, pointing at Malakai.

"I've been told the whole team must be penalised for his actions", Mr White replied.

"That's not fair. None of us told Malakai to brake-check them", Nina said, not taking Malakai's side.

"Whether you told him or not, the affected team complained a lot. There have to be consequences, leaving this unpunished would be unjust and cause problems down the line", Mr White explained.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"But why do we have to get punished? Why can't you only punish Malakai? None of us were involved", Jason asked, trying to change Mr White's mind.

"You've got a point, but Malakai is part of your team. What Malakai did, helped your team get first place. That dangerous act caused you and your teammates to get more points", Mr White answered.

"But we didn't do anything", Akari joined in, making the point that they were not involved known. The severity of the situation was becoming more clear now. They didn't even know the punishment, but some of them thought that points would be deducted from them. They were thinking about themselves now.

"All of us shouted at him after he did it. None of us supported what he did", Nina added.

"All of you benefitted from his actions. You were all a team, it's only fair", Mr White replied.

"No, it's not!" Jason harshly replied. "Look, he's smiling right now", he said, pointing at Malakai. Everyone looked at Malakai, who was indeed smiling. It wasn't a toothy smile, but one of those smiles where you try not to smile. Jason was already pissed at Malakai, but after seeing him smiling, Akari and Nina were also pissed. Luna didn't know what to think; she felt Malakai was planning something.

Malakai had stayed silent the whole time, listening to the situation. He found it amusing. He sighed and wiped his face with his hand.

"Aryt, look. You can send them all back to class. Just give me the punishment", he said, grinning. Mr White didn't respond; he wanted to hear what he had to say. "I was the driver, and I brake-checked them. All of them were crying and screaming when it happened. Punishing them isn't fair because they had no say," Malakai continued.

"As I said before, the whole team has to suffer the consequences of your actions", Mr White replied.

Malakai stepped forward.

"Listen. I said, let me handle the consequences".

His tone was casual but stern. His hazelnut-coloured eyes looked warm, but his stare felt cold, and Mr White felt it. The vibe around him when he said that felt off and caught everyone off guard. One second, he was joking around; the next, he was dead serious.

"What was that just now?" Mr White thought. He took a second to compose himself.

"I've been told that team four will receive a punishment", Mr White tried explaining.

"By who?" Malakai asked.

"He's back to normal", Mr White thought. "The higher-ups", he replied.

"What's the punishment?" Malakai asked; it was like the roles were reversed.

"How has he gained control of the conversation?" Luna thought.

"No punishment has been set. I've just been told to inform you that all of you will receive a penalty", Mr White replied.

"So they haven't told you anything", Malakai mumbled. "Aryt, let's go see what penalty they will give me", he said.

Everyone's eyebrows raised and they looked at him like he was crazy.

"Excuse me?" Mr White said, wanting to hear what he said again.

"Let's go talk to the higher-ups. They can tell me my punishment directly", Malakai said, more slowly this time. His teammates watched him silently handle this.

"You can't. You're only a student. Why would the higher-ups want to talk to you?" Mr White replied, sounding a little panicked.

"Look, they told you to tell us we will get a punishment. That means they don't even know what the punishment is", Malakai slowly said. "I think you've been getting constant complaints, so you complained to the higher-ups. Then the higher-ups gave you an order to tell us that we will get punished, but the punishment isn't even decided", he continued. Mr White's eyes widened because Malakai got the story spot on. "I'm guessing the punishment is going to be taking points away from us because they can't think of anything else. I don't mind if it was only me, but taking points off these lot would be unfair", Malakai said, nodding to his team.

Mr White was quiet for a moment. "But why do you want to talk to them?" he asked.

"So we can negotiate", Malakai smiled, turning this into a light-hearted joke.

"What happens when they refuse to let you in?".

"Then you'll have to tell them what I said", Malakai replied. "But I think they'll want to talk to me", he confidently smirked.

Mr White was hesitant on what to do next. Should he take him to the higher-ups? Or stand his ground?

"It would be easier to know the punishment now, and he is adamant on handling the consequences. The students who complained probably wanted to see Malakai get punished, they're not fussed about his teammates", Mr White thought.

"Okay, I'll take you to see them", Mr White accepted. Malakai smiled with the teeth showing. He was excited. "All of you can go back to class", Mr White told the rest. "Follow me", he said to Malakai.

"You lot don't have to be stressed. Nothing will happen to you," Malakai told them with a reassuring smile before following Mr White.

All of them watched him walk beside Mr White with his hands in his pockets.

"How does he always end up in these situations?" Luna said out loud.

"He's an idiot, that's why", Jason replied.

"Y'all really tried to force the punishment on him", Luna said.

"Of course. Why should we get punished?" Nina replied, feeling relieved she wasn't involved in the punishment.

"Weren't you angry, Luna? You were going to get points taken off of you?" Akari asked.

"I'm not saying what he did was good, but he was a big reason why we came first", Luna answered. "I do feel bad seeing him take the punishment alone".

"I don't feel bad. It's every person for themselves", Jason said, walking away.

"Where are you going? Isn't your class the other way?" Akari asked him.

"I'm going to go buy a drink", Jason replied.

"I want one, too", Akari said, skipping away following him. The two of them walked away, leaving Nina and Luna standing together. Luna glanced at Nina, who was looking at Malakai and Mr White walking down the corridor.

"He told us not to stress about it. You don't have to worry", Luna said, touching her shoulder.

"I'm not", Nina replied. "I'm wondering what's going to happen to him".

Luna looked at Malakai, who was walking away with his hands in his pockets.

"I guess we'll know when he comes back".