Mr White and Malakai walked side by side to the room with the higher-ups. Malakai didn't find the atmosphere awkward, but Mr White did.

"Did they actually not tell you what the punishment was gonna be?" Malakai asked, trying to start a conversation.

"No", Mr White answered.

"This is going to be interesting", Malakai quietly said, excited.

Mr White glanced at him and saw him smiling. "Why do you think they would want to talk to you?" Mr White hesitantly asked.

"Honestly, it's just a feeling", Malakai replied. "I'm in class 1-C, and I'm first on the leaderboard. Surely they're interested, no? All the second years are making a big deal out of it".

"Are you friends with the second years?" Mr White asked, surprised to find he was already talking to them.

"I'm friends with Michael, so I'm basically friends with all of them".

"Michael?" Mr White said. "He is a great student", that name gave him a few memories.

Malakai noticed Mr White smiling now, "What was he like last year?" he asked.

"When he first joined, he started in class 1-B", Mr White said.

"Huh?" Malakai didn't expect that.

"Yep. He wasn't a standout student at the start, but gradually, throughout the year, he climbed the leaderboard. At the end of the year, he was second on the leaderboard and made it into class 2-A", Mr White summarised.

"Made it into class 2-A? How do you move up classes?".

"It depends on your points at the end of the year. The students with the highest points move up. You can't move up during the school year, so you're staying in the class you're in now for the whole year," Mr White answered.

"Damn. Guess I gotta stay first", Malakai said, looking up at the ceiling.

"You have to keep working hard", Mr White replied. He warmed up to the conversation and started enjoying talking to Malakai. "I should've known you two would become friends. You two are similar", Mr White continued.

"Really?" Malakai didn't see any resemblance in their personalities.

"Well, he's less troublesome than you, but you've both got charisma", Mr White replied, touching his chin.

"I don't have charisma", Malakai said. "A lot of people hate me".

"You might see it like that, but from an outside perspective, I see a lot of people smile when they see you", Mr White replied. The conversation was becoming more and more casual.

"How do you see our year? Is it better than last year?" Malakai asked, genuinely curious.

"Your year? Hmm", Mr White had to think about his answer. "Your year is definitely different, that's for sure. There's a lot of interesting characters amongst you, not just yourself".

"Yeah".

"It's been fun watching all of you. You've also competed in a new challenge and the minigames, so it was interesting seeing something new", Mr White continued. "It's been an enjoyable year so far. I'm hoping you feel the same?"

"Yeah, it's been sick", Malakai replied. "I hope it stays like this".

Malakai and Mr White had been walking for a while; they entered a new building and reached a set of polished white stairs.

"Their office is up there", Mr White told him with a lowered tone. "You understand who they are, right?" he asked with a slightly worried expression.

"Yeah", Malakai nodded. "I'm not going to be stupid. I know when to be serious", he said, reassuring Mr White.

"Okay, good. I'm happy I don't have to tell you to behave", Mr White replied, but he was still on edge. He didn't know how Malakai would act; he could only predict how he would be by what he'd seen so far. Before they started to climb the stairs, Mr White had to tell him, "Before we go up, if they disrespect you or say something that offends you. You have to swallow your pride and accept it. Stepping over the line could get you expelled from this academy", Mr White warned him. "I'm only the principal, they have much more power than me. If they wanted to, they could get rid of anyone. So don't be over-friendly with them, they may see it as disrespect".

"Yeah I know", Malakai replied casually.

"Malakai", Mr White put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm telling you this as an adult, not your principal. Sometimes you have to let some people walk over you to survive, because pride isn't worth losing everything for".

Malakai was taken back a bit by how serious Mr White was right now. He really appreciated how Mr White advised him, but it got him thinking. What was he walking into?

"I get it. A bit of disrespect is fine, I can handle it", Malakai replied, feeling weirdly pumped up. The two of them ascended the stairs and reached the office doors. Mr White was clearly nervous, while Malakai was in his usual position with his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not sure how many of them are in the office right now", Mr White quietly said.

"How many higher-ups are there?"

"Seven", Mr White answered. "I'll go in first and tell them that you want to talk to them. They may send you away, so keep that in mind".

"Aryt", Malakai nodded. Mr White knocked on the doors and waited for the call to come in.

"Come in", said a voice from inside. Mr White opened the door and entered the room, closing the door behind him. Malakai waited outside; he didn't know what to expect, but for some reason, he couldn't stop smiling. After a minute, the doors opened again, and Mr White appeared.

"You can come in", he said with a straight face, making way for Malakai to enter the room.

Malakai looked down at himself to ensure his uniform was good before entering. After checking, he took his hands out of his pocket and entered the room. The room was spacious, with paintings on the wall and a long black table at its centre. The room was quite dark as the curtains were drawn; a few lights lit up the place. Malakai walked into the room with a toothy smile on his face. He walked closer to the table and stood at the end of it. Six men were sitting at the table, and he recognised one of them. Mr Miller. Malakai glanced around the room again to avoid eye contact with them for a little bit.

Silence.

It seemed like they were waiting for Malakai to introduce himself. Malakai took the hint.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Malakai Junior. I'm from class 1-C", he introduced with a big smile.

"Good afternoon", One of them greeted back. The others nodded at Malakai. "What would you like to discuss?" he asked.

"My punishment for what I did in the last challenge", Malakai replied, not beating around the bush.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Okay, please continue".

"Before I say anything, Can you tell me your names? I don't want to be rude," Malakai said. Mr White gave Malakai a look that said, 'What are you doing?' However, Malakai didn't see him. He was focused on the people in front of him.

The higher-ups furrowed their eyebrows at him—the audacity for him to ask for their names.

"That won't be necessary". The man who was talking to Malakai was sitting at the table's figurehead. He looked tall and slender, with white hair combed to the right side and a long white beard. Out of the whole table, he looked the most sophisticated. "You will eventually get to know all of us when you come to complete our challenges".

"Aryt that's fine", Malakai smiled. He glanced at each of them quickly to remember their faces.

"I've got to say, hearing your accent in person is unusual", another one chirped.

"It's a normal London accent, Sir", Malakai confidently replied.

"Is that so? Whenever I see a British person on TV, they always have a posh accent. Isn't that a normal British accent? Or are you of lower class?" he asked. The man talking to Malakai was bald on both his head and face and looked grumpy. He was also significantly rounder than everyone else.

"There's a lot of different accents in England. The one I've got is called Multicultural London English", Malakai smugly replied. The man rolled his eyes; he didn't like how Malakai was talking back. Malakai wasn't responding rudely; it was just that the man didn't like being taught something like a student. He didn't bother to respond because he'd never heard about that accent. He didn't want to be schooled, so he kept quiet.

"That scar on your nose. How did you get it?" a smaller man asked; he looked to be shorter than Malakai. They all wanted to know more about Malakai.

"I got it when I was younger. The corner of the table sliced my face when I was turning around. I wasn't looking when I was running", Malakai replied.

"I'm surprised you don't cover it up. It's unsightly. I don't know how you have the confidence to walk around with that", he said, looking at Malakai's face with disgust.

"It's a part of me now, can't do anything about it. Just have to embrace it innit", Malakai replied, feeling his scar. "Where's Mr Anderson? Isn't he a higher-up?" he asked, looking around the table. Malakai had to relieve some pressure off him. He had to ask a question before they asked him another one.

Some of the higher-ups lowered their heads, and the mood worsened after that question.

"He's not here at the moment. He has business elsewhere", the grumpy man replied. "How do you know Mr Anderson?".

"He interviewed me", Malakai answered. "It didn't even feel like an interview, we had a good talk. I haven't seen him since", he said, looking happy about remembering Mr Anderson.

"I don't think you'll see him anytime soon", Mr Miller bitterly said.

"Why?".

"He's a very busy man", Mr Miller replied, looking unhappy.

Bang!

"Enough about that! What did you want again?" the tall man asked, banging the table and sounding slightly impatient.

"Oh. My punishment", Malakai replied, unfazed by his worsened mood.

"What about it?"

"What is it?" Malakai simply asked. They all looked at him, bewildered. They thought he was going to appeal against getting a punishment, but he was asking what it was. Malakai noticed their confusion. "You were originally gonna punish my whole team, but I thought it was unfair, so I wanted to take responsibility".

"Right". None of them knew how to respond; they didn't see this scenario coming.

"You don't have a punishment, do you?"

"Watch your tone, boy!" The grumpy man said, pointing at Malakai.

"My bad, I apologise", Malakai replied, smiling with his hands up. Mr White had his heart in his mouth for a moment. Malakai was being too casual.

"Before we discuss your punishment, let me ask you a question. Why did you brake check that team?" Another higher-up took over. He looked the oldest with a weathered face and glasses stuck to his face.

"To win", Malakai replied like it was obvious. "I wanted to slow them down. I knew what I was doing, I wasn't gonna make them crash", he confidently said.

Mr White looked towards his feet, stunned that Malakai hadn't been kicked out yet. The higher-ups looked at each other, unsure how to proceed. They all thought this kid was crazy, but they secretly liked it. Preferably, they wanted to overlook this incident, but the nonstop complaints forced them into action. The problem was in front of them, and they could solve it now.

"So, your punishment. You want to take full responsibility?" The tall man asked.

"Yes sir", Malakai replied, saluting like he was in the military. Mr White couldn't believe what he was seeing, while a few smiles broke on the faces of a few higher-ups.

"The only punishment that comes to mind is a point reduction", the tall man replied. "Do you think that's a fair punishment?".

"Yeah, that's fair", Malakai replied. "But don't you think that's a bit boring?"

"What?"

Malakai smirked. "I mean, look, I'm first on the leaderboard. A guy from class 1-C. If you take points away from me, Alexander will be first. A guy from 1-A. Like, c'mon, seeing a guy from class 1-A first on the leaderboard is boring".

The higher-ups glanced at each other. He was making sense. The leaderboard looked different for once, and that could be ruined if they take points off him. If that was the punishment, everything would go back to usual, back to being boring. That can't happen.

"What do you think your punishment should be then?" The tall man asked.

"I don't know", Malakai shrugged. Some of the higher-ups kissed their teeth at his response. "What's the next challenge?" he asked.

"We can't tell you that, but I can tell you Mr Miller is the organiser".

"Again?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Mr Miller asked, not liking his reaction.

"Nah, nah", Malakai replied with his hands up. "I just thought it would be someone else's turn or something".

In truth, Mr Anderson organised this challenge, but as he was busy, Mr Miller had to take responsibility for it.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Malakai's head. "I've got an idea. Why don't you give me a handicap in the next challenge?" he proposed. Eyebrows raised. That wasn't a bad idea; no one opposed it, but no one had a suggestion on what the handicap would be until,

"I know what your punishment will be".