Chapter 9: The Truth!

The teachers were gathered in the Principal's office all standing around and looking at Principal Rumbotum as he rested on his table and folds his hands with a frown on his face.

Although almost all the teachers were around, the Principal didn't start the meeting as he looked around and asked;

"Where is Miss Alex?" The principal asks and glanced around the crowd of teachers.

As if on cue, Alex Bayly walks into the Principal's office and stands at the back. The Principal spots her and immediately clears his throat before speaking.

"Now that we are all here, we can begin" The Principal starts speaking and gets off the desk.

"I know by now you've all seen the video making rounds about our new student who was involved in a murder case. I wouldn't have known about it if a student hadn't entered my office to tell me about it and show me the video."

"I was expecting you, teachers, to maintain order amongst the students, but instead, you're even the ones fuelling the controversy..." The principal paused and stared at Mr. Weasel, Miss Jane, and a few others.

"I've invited a policeman to conclude the controversy and weigh in on the issue" The Principal completed and immediately, the teachers adjusted themselves as if they were the ones under scrutiny.

From a dark corner of the room, a man in his late forties got up from the seat he occupied previously. He had the badge of Wolvescamp city police by the right side of his waist around a point on his belt.

He wore a black hat that perfectly complements his black uniform top and trousers.

There was a gun inside the holster around his left side.

The uniform top was tucked into his trousers tightly and his muscles were evident through his exposed arms.

"Azrael Herrington was innocent of those crimes. The video evidence found was manipulated by some pranksters that got him arrested. Although a student did die in the process it wasn't however a premeditated murder like you all believe."

"He was trying to rescue a fellow student from an attacker, it was this same fellow student that recorded him and framed him for murder. When the school eventually got wind of it, they expelled him without so much as an investigation."

"We started our own investigation afterward and discovered the truth. By the time the school would find out the truth, they felt bad about it and the school wanted him to come back not only because he was innocent but also because of his high academic performance but he refused, he preferred to remain expelled, hence he moved down south to Wolvescamp- here."

"So please stop treating him like an outsider and if you can, explain this to the other students so that they can stop ostracizing the kid. He has been through a lot already" The Policeman concludes as he stared around the faces of the teachers.

The teachers all felt guilty. They had even at a point added spice and tasty-gossip-inducing exaggerations to the discussions about the new student, and it turns out that it was all a lie.

They felt terrible.

"I want you all to go individually and apologize to that boy, and also clear his name before the whole school." The Principal gave his verdict.

"Isn't that a bit harsh? We know we were at fault Principal Rumbotum, but all of us apologizing to a student is just over the top, with all due respect..." Miss Jane was the one to speak and the Principal became immediately tensed.

Miss Jane has his secret in her hands and this was more like an undertone warning as if to say, 'You know I have your secret in the palm of my hands, be reasonable'.

The Principal felt defeated after he heard Miss Jane speak. "Alright, one of you should apologize to the boy on behalf of all the teachers but make sure you clear his name before the students" The Principal added and waved them all away.

"Dismissed"

The teachers left the Principal's office heading back to their respective duties or places of choice. Alex Bayly felt a bit guilty as she walked out of the principal's office.

Although she didn't have any opinion on the matter, she did feel unhappy that she almost doubted him without getting the full facts. She was at least happy that her gut feeling wasn't wrong.

For the remaining part of the school period, Azrael Herrington's name was cleared and the truth was explained to all the students in the presence of the police officer.

Although a major part of the students believed, however, there were still some students who held on to the conspiracy theory that the school was also trying to cover up the sins of Azrael because of his rich parents who were probably threatening to sue.

Either way, the attitude of many students changed towards Azrael and at least they stopped giving him a wide berth every time he came to a public gathering.

Some even apologized and wanted to be friends with him, but he held on to certain grudges and ignored everyone instead.

"You were quick to conclude on me and spread gossip to tarnish my name, but now that my name is cleared, you suddenly want to become my friend?! How much of a hypocrite are you...?" This was his response to many of them as he mostly kept to himself.

The others also felt bad for being judgemental without knowing the whole truth. In such a way, the entire day proceeded with a lot of people battling with their guilt.

The school day finally ended and it was time to go home. Alex Bayly was working tirelessly on her lesson note and was unaware of how fast the time was moving.

By the time she checked the clock, it was 5 in the evening.

She was used to not having anything to do afterward so she usually just buried herself in work, but this time, she was no longer alone. She also had Azrael living with her although a temporary arrangement, still, it should prompt a slight change in behavior.

Noticing that there was someone else waiting for her, she quickly got up and packed her bags.

"What if he has gone home and his aunt has arrived?" She thought, but then shrugged.

She arranged her desk and went out to see if Azrael was still around. As soon as she left the staff building she discovered that the school was nearly empty, maybe only the security personnel was around.

Just as she walked out of the staff building she found Azrael sitting down on the floor, waiting for her.