Most of the time, the parents just complain to the kind principal who in turn reprimands his daughter and apologizes to them. He seeks to pay amends but because of their admiration of him, they just let these incidents go.
Inside the principal's office, a middle-aged lady wearing what looks like an office uniform and a set of pearl jewelry had her hands firmly planted on her waist. She had not said a word but her lips are quivering every now and then.
Behind her, a young boy about the same age as little Sasha is quietly sitting. He wore a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. His head is hung low but you can see tiny scratches on the exposed parts of his hands and legs. What worried him is the wrapped bandage on the boys head with traces of blood the flowed from it.
Eder held his head and breathed heavily. After what seemed like a century of silence, he spoke.
"Have a seat ma'am and tell me what happened." The middle aged woman stamped her feet to ease her irritation then sat down next to the young boy. She took two heavy breaths and tried to speak in her trembling voice.
"I mean, Principal Qorici, I know that you are a good person and you've done a lot for our town. But this. This." She wiped the unseen sweat from her temple and continued.
"Your child. Sasha. Sasha, she hurt my. How could? Oh, my poor child!" She cried and hugged the young boy sitting beside her. Her tears seemed to set off the tears that the young boy is holding and he burst to tears, calling out her mother's name!
Eder felt his head thump as he took more breath to find words to console the wailing parent and her child. When he opened his mouth to speak, the door to his office opened and in came Sasha, the source of this commotion. She smiled sweetly to her father and was about to greet him when he gestured for her to keep quiet. And then she noticed the mother and her child crying on the side. But instead of being shocked, she crossed her arms on her chest and raised her eyebrows.
"So it's true! You called your mother, you coward." She said in disdain. This weakling, he had the nerve to talk bad about Mani and not be responsible of his words and now he even needs his mother to support him! That's just a little push and he got himself wrapped like a mummy. Tch!
"Sasha, stop." Her father calmly reprimanded her but this got her angry and she answered back. No, Baba did not know.
"No! Baba, he-" she wanted to tell him what he said about Mani Tala. He will surely not let it be.
"Apologize! Right now!" Eder roared and she was stunned.
Baba never got angry, she was his baby girl. Baba never shouted. But now, because of this. Apologize? No, impossible! Little Sasha thought.
"Baba!" She looked at him with her red eyes. Unbelief written in her face.
"You won't do it? Look at him, do you see those scratches on his body that you made, that would heal. And his mother can forgive you for that but do you see that bandage covered in his head? Sasha, he could've died! What is wrong with you? Have I not taught you right?" He heaved and went on.
"You can get sued, don't you know that? Do you want to go to jail?" Sasha stared back, her face a look of horror. Jail!
He grabbed her tiny hands and dragged her towards the door. The young boy's mom was shocked at how the little girl was treated that she immediately forgot the condition of her son and ran after then.
"Principal, Sasha is still a little child. She-" Eder cut her off before she could continue speaking.
"I apologize for what happened to your son, Ma'am. I'll make sure to have you properly compensated for this and if you think you need to sue us, we'll accept it. Sasha has to pay for what she did." He said firmly.
"But Sasha..." Her voice trailed off when she saw him nod at her in his familiar kind way.
"Excuse us."
He said and got the young Sasha inside their jeep and drove home. Behind them, voices can be heard, some from young voices while others from mature ones.
" Will she be fine?" One asked.
"She's their only child, one can only do so much." Someone replied.
"I hope she gets punished. She always asked us for food." A young voice said.
"Sssh, she might hear you and come back. Look at her body, you will be crushed!" Another said.
Inside the car, Eder smiled bitterly. He looked to his side and saw little Sasha seated quietly. There are bumps on the road that cause her to jolt inside the car but she did not make any sound. She stared outside, to the setting sun, to their house in the distance, to wherever she might not see her father's face. He remembered his look, he was angry. He was angry at her!
She sniffed and held her tears back. Nana said never to show weakness in front of your enemies. She ended up hiccuping as she held her tears.
"Sasha, are you okay?" She heard her father's sweet voice again. But she refused to look back, she continued hiccuping and set her gaze elsewhere.
"Sasha, I know you're mad so let's talk about it later." He continued to speak in his calm voice. The little girl continued to ignore him and looked at the moon that showed up as the sun starts to set.
They arrived home in this mood while her Baba got out of the car, she stubbornly remained inside, not that the car is covered or something for her not to get out but still she remained seated. She heard her Baba fixed something behind the car as he spoke,
"Did you know that during the rainy season, mosquitoes lay their eggs on stagnant water and carries viruses that cause your blood level to go low? When that happens, the internal organs bleed-"
Annoyed she looked at the rearview mirror to glare at her father and yell 'I know dengue!' but her words got stuck in her throat and she just screamed.
"Babaaaaa!" She felt her body being lifted from the seat and rushing towards the back of the car, her heart thumping greatly.
"Baba!" She called and saw her father bringing out a box from the top of the jeep as he looked at her with worry.
"What happened?" He asked. Sasha looked at her father, his clothes slightly wrinkled and his hair disheveled from the wind. She tiptoed around him in bated breath and when she saw nothing of the ordinary, she knelt down and started to cry loudly.
'Waaaaa.'
"Baba, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I won't do it again. Baba!" She kept crying that it brought worry to her father as he dropped the box he's been holding and carried his plump daughter in one scoop.