Chapter 180 - Makai – Assembly Part 1

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Makai

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Oh, great, an assembly. This is just what I need. I get to sit through this massively uncomfortable charade as the people in charge try to explain to the students what actually happened yesterday. Yay. So fun. Can I just go home already?

I shuffled to the gym with everyone else. Ryan was right next to me from the start and Ben joined us along the way. None of us said anything as we moved with the crowd. The two of them just looked at me with eyes that were filled with concern and worry. They were still upset about Ocean and didn't know what was going on. I needed to tell them about everything later, I needed to explain it all to them.

Ryan, Ben and I sat in the back of the bleachers once we got to the gym. I wanted to be away from the annoying and watchful eyes of everyone else. I had already been dealing with everyone staring at me since I got to class this morning. They knew that I knew what had happened yesterday, but they had, so far, been unable to ask me anything about it. Even the people in the hallway on the way to the gym had stared at me and whispered, not too quietly. It was all quite annoying.

Once the entire school was present, seated, and quiet, the principal stepped to the middle of the gym where there was a microphone in place for him and for the rest of the staff to use. I saw him search the crowd of gathered students, and his eyes lingered on me for a moment before continuing.

"Hey, guys, you might hear some things during the principal's explanation that don't make sense and that don't add up for you. Do me a favor and keep it to yourself for the time being and I promise I will explain everything to you later." I didn't look at either Ben or Ryan, but I know that they heard me. I watched as the two of them jumped and slightly recoiled like they had been slapped in the face unexpectedly or something.

"What are you talking about?" Ryan didn't sound so happy right now. "What won't add up?" His voice was just a whisper as he leaned in toward me, but I still heard it.

"Makai? What did you do? Does Ocean know anything about all of this? Tell me that this isn't going to be what I think it is. Please." Ben sounded so upset it was hard to tell if he was angry or worried.

"Just trust me and don't get upset when the principal starts explaining. I promise you this is all according to Ocean's wishes." That made both of them gasp but none of us had the chance to keep up the conversation, the principal chose that moment to start addressing the school.

"Thank you all for joining us today for this assembly. I know that you are all still confused and looking for answers after yesterday's events. Today, I would like to clear up a little bit of the confusion and fear that you all must have right now."

There was a small amount of murmuring that broke out at the principal's introduction to the gathering. Several of the students looked around themselves, clearly looking for something, or someone. I had a sneaking suspicion that they were looking for me. This was why I had chosen to hide myself away.

"Now then, as you all know, the school went into lockdown mode yesterday. That is not something that happens here often. Actually, let us be honest, I can't remember the last time that it happened to us here. I know that there are troubles in the world right now and that all of the possible horrors of the situation most likely flashed through your minds. For that, I apologize. We should have explained things to you yesterday, but there simply wasn't enough knowledge yesterday to do that. Today, however, we know more of the details and can explain to you what had happened."

The principal paused again and looked around at the students once again. I think he was gauging them, checking to see if they believed him right now or not. I don't know about everyone else, but I knew that this was the point that the principal's whole story was going to be nothing but one big lie. I couldn't complain, though, since I was the one that had asked for him to lie. In truth, he was doing this based on my lie to him because I couldn't tell him the truth. It was just one lie after another. Would it ever end? 

"Now, yesterday morning, on the way to class there was an accident. At the time we were uncertain whether the incident had been caused by another individual or not, so we were not able to share the details of the situation. At the time of the accident, two students who had had a disagreement earlier in the morning were talking and working out their differences. During that talk, completely without fault to either party, one of the students was injured."

"WHAT!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITHOUT FAULT?"

"WASN'T HE ATTACKED?"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"

The students all around us started to yell out their objections to the principal's explanation. At the same time, both Ben and Ryan turned to glare at me with matching looks of fury and sadness.

"Makai, how could this happen? Why is he saying that?"

"What the hell, man? What is he doing?"

"Calm down, you two." I turned to look at them and gave them as reassuring a look as I could. "The principal is doing what I asked him to do. And I only asked him because of Ocean. I will explain it all to you later. Please, just wait and I promise you will know what is going on."

"You'd better tell us, and you better not leave any of it out." Ryan looked angry as he stared at me.

"I don't like this, Makai, but I will reserve judgement until later."

While we talked, the principal and the rest of the staff were working to calm everyone down so that the conversation could be continued. They were having a hard time of it though, since everyone was objecting with their opinions and rebuttals. This was not going very well for them.

Ugh! I hope they can calm all of them down soon. All of this screaming and the raucous objections were giving me a massive headache. Then again, I think that most of my headache was caused by my irritation with the fact that I wasn't with Ocean right now. I wanted to be there with him and to know how he was doing today.

"Hahh!" I sighed as I thought about it. I hadn't even been able to talk to him earlier when I called. His mom answered the phone and told me that he was sleeping so I had to wait. I just wanted this day to be over so that I could rush to the hospital and see him as soon as possible.

The voices around me weren't calming down. If anything they were getting worse. I was holding the side of my head while I watched the staff trying their best to fix this. However, that was when I saw Coach Dickson slowly walk forward until he was beside the principal.

The coach didn't take the microphone from the principal before he spoke. Nope he just glared at the crowd of students and yelled out in a voice that was loud enough to be heard over them all. He was used to making himself heard, he was a coach and a teacher.

"ENOUGH!" His voice rumbled out and rang above the sound of everyone else. "I don't want to hear another word from anyone that has not been given permission to speak." At that, every student in the attendance stopped talking and stopped moving.

For a moment, I wondered if the coach had somehow killed them all with the force of his voice. That, or he might have put a spell on them like Ocean did to Justin. No matter what it was that he had done, it was impressive. I mean, how many people in this world could do something like that? I had a feeling that there weren't all that many, at least not that many in the school at least.

"There, Joe, I think they will stay quiet and listen to the rest of what you have to say now." The coach grinned at the principal and started to walk away.

"Thank you, Richard. That was a big help." Everyone was still recoiling a little while the two men had their little exchange. I didn't care. All I wanted was for this to get a move on so that I could get out of here. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to make it through this whole day. I was ready for school to end and it hadn't been a session for all that long. Dammit, I just wanted to see my Ocean. I wanted to see my boyfriend. It went beyond want, actually, it was a deep, longing, aching need that I was trying to ignore since it couldn't be filled just yet.

"I will see you soon, Ocean." I whispered just before the principal started to talk again.. Ugh! Even his voice was starting to grate on my nerves like it was nails on a chalkboard or something like that.