"Man, she's pure evil," Erik mumbled while looking at Mrs. Smith's back with an annoyed look.
"Even worse, not gonna lie," Bradley agreed, shaking his head and already imagining the lecture he was about to get in the principal's office.
"True! She's just like the Evil Ice Queen from Whorecraft!" Erik said with enthusiasm, mentioning a game he plays.
'Huh?' Bradley looked at Erik with a raised eyebrow, confused by the game's name. But Erik didn't seem to realize it, thinking "Whorecraft" was a normal name. 'Whatever.' Realizing what kind of world he was in, he decided not to ask about it, as it might make him seem weird.
"Anyway, I should start going to her office before her mood gets any worse." To change the subject, he pointed toward the office upstairs.
"Good luck, dude," Erik said, lightly patting his shoulder like someone sending a friend off to war.
"Thank you, man." Bradley nodded and started walking toward the stairs, but Erik's voice stopped him.
"Oh shoot, I almost forgot!" Looking back, he saw Erik pointing to his locker, which had "Dead Dad" scribbled on it. "I slipped a little 'welcome back' gift in your locker."
"Really?" Bradley asked, looking down at Erik from the stairs. Erik nodded with a smile. "Alright, thanks, man."
"I should be going now. See ya, Brad." Erik raised his hand, turned, and started walking toward his class.
'Wait, what is my locker code?' Seeing Erik walking away, Bradley realized something didn't make sense. He couldn't remember his locker code, and when he tried to look through his memory, he found no sign of it. 'Ugh! I'll just ask Mrs. Smith about it.' With no other option, he decided to ask her later, already bracing for more lectures.
Walking up the stairs, he reached the first floor and saw one of his friends in the cafeteria holding a pot.
"Whoa, Brad!?" Kevin looked at Bradley standing outside the cafeteria and walked toward him after putting down the pot. "When did you get back, man?" Kevin patted his shoulder with a smile, happy that his friend was finally back at school.
"Sup, Kevin. Just got back today." He lightly waved at Kevin while looking through his memory to recall all his time with Kevin.
"Right on, bro. Good to see ya!" He held out his fist, and Bradley, realizing what he wanted, lightly fist-bumped him with a smile.
"Sorry about your dad, by the way," Kevin said with a sad voice.
"Thanks, man." He nodded lightly and then looked at Kevin's apron and the pot behind him. "What's with the apron and pot?"
"Ugh, Mrs. Smith put me on cafeteria duty until I raise my grade in Mrs. Okita's class…" Kevin made an annoyed face while punching the air, as if he were punching Mrs. Smith.
"You're failing science?" Bradley laughed at Kevin's actions and asked what happened.
"Well, not exactly failing, but it's not looking good, bro." Kevin remembered he was only a few marks away from failing.
"Man, that sucks," Bradley said, shaking his head, also worried about the fate awaiting him in the principal's office.
"Tell me about it! I haven't had a good workout in ages," he said, pointing to his biceps, which looked the same as usual to Bradley.
"Are you still hanging out at the gym?" he asked curiously, as he thought Kevin might have stopped by now, since it had started as just a curiosity for him.
"You know it, bro. I can't let these guns go unpolished." Kevin showed off his biceps, trying to emphasize his point.
"Fair enough." He shrugged his shoulders, thinking that doing this kind of stuff at a young age was pretty good, and he considered going back to the gym himself.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. We go to a new Muay Thai trainer," Kevin said, trying to imitate various Muay Thai moves he had seen the old man at the gym do.
"Oh, really?" Bradley asked, laughing at Kevin's antics. He decided to ask for the new trainer's name. "What's his name?"
"Oh, you're interested? Then you should definitely check it out. His name is Master Somrak," he said with a smile, excited that one of his friends would be going to the gym with him.
"I'll check it out later then." Mentally noting the name, he started preparing to climb the stairs again. "See you later, then. Mrs. Smith is waiting for me."
"You also got caught by her? Good luck, man," Kevin said, looking at his friend as if he were heading to the devil's lair. "Call me back if you survive."
"Don't worry, I will." Amused by the response, he replied with a smile and started climbing with heavy steps.
'Man, do I really have to go through all this?' Bradley looked at his hands and thought about ignoring Mrs. Smith's call and just going back home. 'Well, I can't make Debbie sad.' But knowing how Debbie would react to that, he decided not to give up on school and started climbing again.
After climbing one more floor, he was met with five doors in the corridor, each with a teacher's name above it.
"So, which one is it?" Looking through all the names, he realized the principal's office was at the end of the hallway and started walking toward it. 'Oh yeah, let me do that.' But before entering the room, he messaged Debbie, letting her know he had reached school.
After that, he turned off his phone and opened the principal's office door.