Michka, still looking unsure, tried to regain control of the classroom.
"Okay let's settle down, the teacher will be here in five minutes".
Everyone tried to put themselves together, returning to their seats and whispering less and not long after their teacher —Mr Baksun walked into the class.
As the lectures commenced, Michka couldn't help but feel the tension between Rovanni and the new kid —Eero.
Certainly, the confrontation between them was far from over and it was clear that Eero had just gotten himself an enemy.
Everyone knew that Rovanni would never go down without a fight.
During Recess, Michka sat at her table with her friends –Mia, Jamie and Dolly.
"I donno, he seems too weird" Michka said rubbing her temple in frustration.
"I told you guys something was wrong with that new kid, I mean, no guy can resist Meshley's charm, the least talk back to her" Jamie said.
"Save it Jamie, that was my line, you're the one who kept praising him for what he did to Meshley" Mia retorted. Jamie rolled her eyes and turned in another direction.
"Stop it guys, we shouldn't be bothering ourselves over this, he's not worth our time"...
--Down the hallway--
Eero strolled toward his classroom alone, hands in his pockets, mind elsewhere—until—
BAM.
A shoulder slam.
It was Rovanni, bet he did that on purpose.
Eero sighed, barely sparing a glance. He moved to walk past, uninterested in feeding the drama.
But Rovanni?
Never one to let silence win.
He grabbed Eero by the collar and bashed him against the wall Lockers rattled from the impact.
"Where've you been tough boy, hiding a skeleton in ya closet".
That... was the last straw!.
Eero went bananas, he head-butted Rov with a loud thud, twisted Rov's hand and flung him across the hallway with the same fractured arm — all in a blink
This caught the attention of everyone around and they gathered around the duo but no-one dared to interfere.
Soon, the Principal himself was called out of his office to handle the matter but Eero had beaten Rovanni to a pulp by then.
--Silence--
The crowd parted as Prof Dinrah—the principal stormed in, tie flapping behind him, face red with fury.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
He looked between the battered mess that was Rovanni and the seething form of Eero; both looking like they'd kill eachother.
"Both of you, my office, Now!"
Eero obediently followed, not wanting to cause more trouble than he already did.
In Prof. Dinrah's office
Eero sat before the principal along with Rovanni.
He sat frozen, his breath caught in his throat. He hadn't expected his brothers to be there too. Apparently, Dinrah had called them, and of course—they'd shown up right away.
While they all waited for Rov's dad to arrive, the tension in the room simmered just beneath the surface.
Summi—the eldest of the Martti brothers—sat with an unsettling calm. To anyone else, he might've looked composed, but to Eero, it spelled trouble.
Summi was a full-time sadist, and his twin, Timat, wasn't any better.
Nero tapped relentlessly on his iPad, barely glancing up.
"I only came 'cause Summi made me," he muttered to Eero with a roll of his eyes.
Dinrah watched them all, visibly confused.
He kept stealing glances at Eero, probably noticing how different he looked from the rest. Where his brothers wore their jet-black hair like a uniform, Eero's messy blond stood out like a spotlight.
Summi finally looked up, locking eyes with Eero. That smirk—sharp and familiar—cut through the air.
Eero knew exactly what it meant. He was screwed.
"While we wait," Summi said, rising smoothly to his feet.
"I'd love a word with Eero. In private."