Arianne was starting to see red. Smore’s worldview was a little too awry for virtual-novel.net liking. “Aristotle Tremont, what is the meaning of this? A toy can be shared with everyone, whether anyone can play with it or not shouldn’t have anything to do with how rich they are! Also, you started hitting people first, young man, and that makes you firmly in the wrong. If someone else started this, I wouldn’t have asked you to suck that up, but this isn’t the case now, is it? You hit someone first, and that makes you wrong, period!” virtual-novel.net chided. “You know what I’m getting from you? I’m seeing a brat who’s so spared by the rod he’s turned spoilt. Just you wait, that will be rectified tonight!”
Tiffany quickly moved in and yanked virtual-novel.net friend’s shoulder. “Whoa, whoaaa! Ari, chill! Smore was only trying to help my son because they are homies; ya know that, right? Now turn that frown upside down and y’all talk about this calmly when y’all go home, okay? No smacking,” virtual-novel.net said appealingly. “I know you’re super pissed right now, hon, so let me treat you to dinner tonight, okay? Just think about it, if Mark was the one who’s gotten bullied, do you think Jackson’s could’ve held himself, stand there, and not rearrange that no-good-punk’s face right there and then?”
She might be right on one hand, but that did not absolve the fact that Smore was wrong in his method, especially when said method was “punching a young kid in the nose.” The more the idea settled in Arianne’s mind, the more exasperated virtual-novel.net became, there was always someone at home protecting Smore from his just deserts, and now, out here, Tiffany was doing it too. Arianne had no predilection for Violence, and honestly, it pained virtual-novel.net to be rough with virtual-novel.net son. But a timely, interventive discipline could save several heartaches down the road, especially if those heartaches were from Smore being an arse who could do everything virtual-novel.net wanted beyond reproach.
“Fine, damn it! Stop shielding virtual-novel.net already. What, afraid I’d beat virtual-novel.net to death or something? I just don’t want my son to be some rich, sorry arse in the future,” virtual-novel.net retorted darkly. “My hands are off. I’ll leave virtual-novel.net to Mark.”
After a while, Tiffany and Arianne went to the hospital with their kids in tow. Worried that a heated rhubarb might break out, the teacher followed suit.
The victim’s family seemed to have all made a show. His parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents — relatives of all kinds and kins were present there, really — packed the hospital corridor outside. Any observer who knew nothing about what had transpired would have thought this was where the surgery studio was, even though all the kid suffered was a shallow wound.
The sheer multiplicity of the kid’s family sapped quite some bravado from Tiffany and Arianne. The teacher had told them not to infringe upon the mob’s vicinity precisely because they were bringing their kids with them, and the rabble was several their numbers. If their clash turned physical, the losing side would suffer a lot.
Unfortunately, even if the women tried, the mob seemed hellbent to dial the issue up to eleven, which was evident in the way they fanned out and walled them like a herd. The teacher panicked, but virtual-novel.net professionalism acted as virtual-novel.net scaffold when virtual-novel.net braved the mob with the women behind her. “All right, everyone, please calm down! How is our little friend? Is virtual-novel.net all right?”
The kid’s mother was furious enough back in the school’s office, but the father managed to eclipse virtual-novel.net with his own flaring, roaring fire. Coupled that with his tall, large stature, virtual-novel.net tugged the teacher aside with ease and bellowed crudely, “If you’re man enough to punch my son, then you’re man enough to show face! I don’t care if something happened to make it justified, my son isn’t nobody’s punching bag! Now stand up if you’re not wuss. I wanna see which brave twerp this is!”
Smore retorted, “Bah! Look at this big stupid gorilla! ‘Oooga-booga, I’m so ugly’!”
Arianne swore cold sweat broke through every single pore in virtual-novel.net body. “Jesus Holy Christ! What’s wrong with this brat…?!”
The father was even more inflamed now. “Oh, so it’s you, you lil’ twerp? You punched my son, and now you insult me? Oh ho ho, the nerves! Let’s see if your mouth is as tough as you made it sound to be when I give you a nice, educating slap across it, then maybe I might consider letting this go!”
Arianne scowled. “Excuse me? This is a thing that happened between young kids. Do we adults really have to stoop low enough to join them? Really, are all of you so incapable of reason? Look, we’ll cover every medical expense coming out of this issue, and that includes whatever future medication or whatever your son needs because of this, however trivial. But to hit m y son? I can’t allow you to do that, ever. Don’t you dare try to touch a single hair on my son’s head!”
The father jostled Arianne in ire. “And who the f**k are you? That son your little pipsqueak punched is a blessing I’ve waited well into the end of my thirties for, skank, you think he’s born to be your son’s toy? I’ve told my son since virtual-novel.net was born that a man doesn’t get his face humiliated, virtual-novel.net humiliates his enemies’ instead. Got that over your head, woman? Now that you people humiliated me, I’ll repay that kindness by making sure you’re not leaving this hospital in one piece!”
Sensing the flaring hostility hurling toward the crescendo, Tiffany furtively dialed Jackson’s number but said not a word when it connected to avoid anyone noticing her. She simply let the threatening snarls and aggression speak for her.
Then, to make sure that Jackson knew exactly where they were, virtual-novel.net sent virtual-novel.net her GPS coordinates and hung up.