Vincent had a confused look on his face as Daniel urged him to walk alongside him. He was going to explain as they walked to class.
From listening to Daniel, Vincent learned that Adams was actually not angry at him; he was just venting his aggression. Vincent could almost not keep in his burst of laughter when he heard the story.
Apparently, Class 1A — whom it was no longer a secret were the ones who started spreading those nasty rumors — took it upon themselves the night before to send disturbing messages to all the Class 1B students. It was no longer a battle with just the three of them, but with the whole class.
Adams was much more annoyed that they dragged the entire class into the mess. Entering the classroom, they saw students grouped together, recounting what they had gone through the night before.
"Hey Vincent, can you tell us what's going on?" a boy asked as soon as Vincent walked into the class, calling the attention of others to his arrival.
After narrating all that had happened from the beginning, Vincent was surprised that they did not start pointing fingers at the three of them. Instead, they were all thinking of ways to stop what was going on, while also telling him what Class 1A had done to them.
"I had water poured over me for no good reason!!" a boy said.
"I felt like I was being watched while taking a bath!! Are there girls involved? Was I actually being watched?"
Another thing Vincent was surprised about was that none of them retaliated, even when it was a direct confrontation.
"Should we just report them to the school authorities?" Daniel suggested.
"I doubt they'll—"
Vincent was about to speak when Miss Aimee entered the class, and the meeting had to be cut short. Before she even started talking, the students were already telling her all that had happened. Since they were all talking at once, she picked a boy to speak.
After hearing what he had to say, she spoke.
"The school is not going to get involved in this matter," she said, her eyes and tone shattering all the hope they had at that moment.
"But we are being bullied," a boy said.
"The school is not going to get involved," she repeated. "There is no proof of your claim. Also, don't forget that they have a video of you bullying someone, which means reporting to the authorities would only put you at a disadvantage. Moreover, this is nothing more than teenage scuffles. You should sort it out yourselves."
With that, she walked out of the class, reminding the students of the classes they had.
It was time for lunch, and they had planned to talk things out since they could not go to the authorities. But after lunch, entering the cafeteria, every one of them could feel the gazes of everyone in the hall. If it wasn't a student from Class 1A, it was another student who had watched the video and was angry at them. Even the seniors had such looks on their faces.
The breaking point was when a girl from Class 1B was taking her food to her table and another student put his leg in the way, making her spill her food.
"Watch where you're going, girl," he said.
Adams could barely hold himself as he watched the scene unfold. It was obvious the boy was at fault, yet no one in the hall said a word.
The whole class returned to the classroom, each of them angry and ready to act.
"Can we not just start retaliating?" a boy asked.
"No, that would just make us the villains and prove everything they've been saying about us to be true," another boy replied.
"What if we give them the 'I don't give a fuck' vibe?" Daniel suggested.
"That's both good and bad," Vincent replied. "They might leave us alone, but the stain would forever be there. Moreover, we'd just become their punching bags."
Everyone kept bringing up opinions and possible solutions, but none of them could actually solve the problem.
That was until Adams, who had oddly been silent since morning, spoke. More so, what he said might be the only way to solve the problem.
That's quite good. He was able to come up with such a solution despite being the most annoyed one out of all of us, Vincent thought.
The class quickly adapted to the idea and built a plan around it. Since it was going to be put into motion the following day, they had to endure the rest of the day.
Finally, night came.
Vincent, who had only been paying half attention throughout the day, was happiest when night arrived as he quickly made his way to Miss Aimee's room.