Chapter 19: The punishment
Chapter NINETEEN
**Oliver West**
All six of us stood facing the principal, waiting for whatever punishment he was going to give us.
My legs felt shaky and my nose was still bleeding, I could taste blood in my mouth. My whole face hurt from where Marcus had hit me, I was totally the victim here, couldn’t he see my condition at least?
Principal Johnson was a stern man in his late fifties with wire glasses on his nose. We stood there for what felt like forever while he looked through papers on his desk. My feet were starting to hurt.
Marcus had already been taken away in an ambulance. There was still blood on the hallway floor from where Kieran had beaten him.
When Principal Johnson finally looked up, his eyes swept over all of us, when he got to Kieran, his features flickered with exhaustion, like he had dealt with enough drama and wasn’t in the mood for more.
Kieran.
I’d been ignoring him the whole time, well, I was trying to.
I couldn’t understand why he had to do what he did. I sneaked a peek at him and felt my stomach drop. He had fresh bruises on his face that weren’t there the last time I saw him, his knuckles were bloody, not just from hitting Marcus but from something else.
Had he been in another fight before school? The bruises looked angry and fresh.
"So you were all involved in a fight? Anyone WANT to explain?!" Principal Johnson asked finally, snapping my attention from Kieran.