chapter 153 Bonus Chapter 5- Do Not SuggesteBuBuying A Safe Instead
E ISTVAN
ot WAIT for this term to end. I need a break. A real one. Not the land whdrwhere I’m technically off duty’ but still answering messages at all hours e something else has inevitably gone wrong. I’m thinking sunshine teatcben. Somewhere with absolutely no magic, no politics, and no students with mpulse control. Preferably somewhere with a drink in my hand. Some rng frivolous and silly. Why? Because between Blake, Lexi, the wolves, Professor and an entire group of hunters breaking onto campus, I have haven pet putting out fires non-stop. Literally AND figuratively. Mostly literally, lately. The ht Blake arrived, I had no less than a dozen calls within the first day daw students. Parents. Influential families. Even a couple of politicians who should tely have better things to do than micromanage my enrolment dest decisions. The general message? ‘Remove the dragon.’ Or, more bluntly, ‘Remove the or we will remove you.’ Charming. I was mostly confident they do bouldn’t actually follow through on that. Not while Blake was technically within the And to his credit, at the beginning, he was. He has a reputationation, yes, but it’s a very specific one. Keeps to himself. Doesn’t pick fights unnecessarily. anger unless provoked. I was cautiously optimistic. And rid them he inet Lexi. At first, I thought it was perfect. She’s sweet. Grounded. The kind of t who actually listens, who tries to do the right thing even oven when it’s difficult. I thought maybe she’d balance him out a little, give him a reason to be invested in this place. And, to be fair, she has. Just hot inohon the way I was hoping. Because while Lexi is not the problem, she has a remarkable cy to attract problems. None of them technically HER Fittavilt, which makes it infinitely harder to deal with. Case in point; the bullying. If she had just TED it, I could have documented it. Handled it properlypetly: Shut it down early. Instead, she handled it herself, or worse, didn’t handle it at all, and by he it reached me, it had already escalated into sotmesareting much messier. Which brings me to Aaron. And his damn father. I have never received so aggressive, self-righteous calls in such a short perioperiod of time. Apparently, his son being injured while attempting to steal from a dragon is somehow ministrative failure. What kind of IDIOT tries toestel steal from a dragon? Honestly! And then there was the SCRI app. I have run this Academy for years t needing anything like that. Suddenly, orgaganising moderators, setting policies, dealing with online disputes between students like I’m running
ind of magical social media platform. We are supposed to be an institution of higher learning. Not a moderated chat room. Still, fine. That issue is, under control. And then.. Of course, Bekhude had to go and break Aaron’s hands. Now. Am I saying I don’t understand why he did it? No. Frankly, I coming from a mile away. But it would be des vory HELPFUL if students stopped taking matters into their own hands and then expecting me to clean up ermath. I am a principal, not a miracle wae groter. They could at least send me a heads up. ‘Hey, I’m about to go do something super dangerous and
Then I could plan for the fallout: Evart very incident means more calls. More concern.’ More PRESSURE! At first, it was easy enough to shut them down. an. cannot expel Blake Nyvas. He has duas donothing wrong. Technically true. Until it wasn’t… Once the violence started, the demands escalated.
ion. Immediate removal. Consequenquemes. So I compromised. Suspension. Something temporary and honestly harmless to him. But enough to look hekke without actually removing him darcar’s father pushed, of course. But I pointed out the obvious. If Blake was to be expelled, then Aaron would have to to well. And not just Aaron, any of the the wolves involved. Because last I checked, theft and provocation count as aggression too. And SUDDENLY suspensiension
d perfectly reasonable. Fuquay how that works. In the end, they were all suspended. Blake and the wolves. I also banned the wolves from detenerende for a month. Officially awan was about safety. Unofficially, it was because I needed them to stop escalating every situation they walked into. Perscentrally? d have preferred to excerpen them. Every last one. But that would have required expelling Blake as well. And while I absolutely cannot condone the the level ence he escalated to to understand it. Which is more than I can say for most of the people currently calling my office. Ap
between the dragon och and the wolves? I know exactly which one I trust more.
complerzetely
as happened sinde ince then Too much, frankly. And while things have, on the surface, settled down a little, the noise ar
The calls cassade stri coming. The complaints. The threats. The ‘concerns.’ I hate that word. It’s so fake. Aaron’s father ha
ng me is now host his fall-time occupation, Farrow’s extended family are demanding a full investigation and pushing to press
rdez, which in tom domplete and utter nonsense, AND the police have buried me in so much paperwork I’m fairly certain I’m new i
abinet A pone point, they even suggested I cancel all classes and send every student home while they look into things. Like the
het uit te vestigate? And seriously, send them home? As if this is a day school. As if I don’t have students here from the stater, de
events we live here. I can’t just… evacuate the Academy like it’s some kind of minor inconvenience. Absolutely not: My phone
c
ecourse it’s him. Jeremy. Aaron’s delightful excuse for an alpha. To be fair, he DID schedule this call three days ago, and I agree to th
Eatery toping he’d forget. Or get distracted. Or, ideally, fall into a hole somewhere and lose signal. I consider, briefly, pregrade I’ve targumen
ime stress. But no. That would only delay things, and knowing him, he’d just show up in person. I am NOT dealing with the fud day. With a long-sufferi
kenswer the call, straightening in my chair out of sheer habit and slipping into my most polished, professional conse
ein terday. How are you today?” I say politely.
on you start that with me, Istvan. You know why I’m calling Have you done anything about that dann drazon perhe heups mediary Ah. Straight
t, then. Professional. Lovely.
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r 153 Bonus Chapter 5- Do Not Suggest Buying A Safe Instead
xplained previously, the earlier incidents to the ad already been addressed. Your son was directly involved in those situations as well. As for the more ent with the hunters, it was clearly self-detinere. Blake protected another student and prevented further harm to others, including a member of re are no grounds for expulsion.” I reply keeping my voice calm and even.
crap,” he growls.
OW he needs to go. He’s a diarono e esta threat. If he helped anyone, it was just to make himself look good. My son, and my pack, aren’t safe wiele .” he insists. I close my eyes by otivily Deep breath.
while
your son and Blake appezcar to have come to an understanding. There hasn’t been a single incident between them in weeks. I would go so far as to far as to are… friendly.” I saw vondfully Alright, friendly might be generous. But Layla did see Aaron nod at Blake once in the hallway. And Blake Bake gave a back. Which, for those to too, is practically the same thing. She rushed to tell me of course.
would never be friendhi with a damn dragon!” He starts. And then he’s off. Ranting. Raving. Listing every imagined flaw and danger assorter associated with ike he’s reading from a very outdated, very biased textbook. I let him go for a while. I really DO try. But eventually… I snap..
13 MV 1 ctsts through his tirade, sharp and final.
gan is stastingrid’s say, every word clipped and deliberate.
osos nesas already worked that out, because, unlike you, he’s intelligent enough to recognise that antagonising a giant, fire-beatine breathing creature with
badadade. He’s also shown the ability to learn from his mistakes.” I don’t even pause. I’m on a roll now, res
Manereans, if you feel strongly about it, you are more than welcome to come here and tell Blake that yourself. And afterwar afterwards, your wolves can
atuaten er remains of yourself from the courtyard.” I continue sweetly. There’s a choking, spluttering noise on the other endi kerend. Good.
these calls, I am done. If you need to process your emotions, I recommend a diary. Or, better yet, a therapist. Prefeinb Preferably one equipped to deal with ted rage and a frankly impressive level of insecurity. I sincerely hope your son turns out to be a better alpha thanphuthren you are.” I go on, my patience well
ty gone. I take a breath. O
n call me again unless you have something useful to say.” I say firmly. And then I hang up. Silence. Glorious blesses blessed silence. I sit there for a moment, ng a little harder than I’d like to admit. Well. That will absolutely come back to bite me later. Do regret itgeteit? Not even slightly. My gaze drifts down desk, where, conveniently, a glass of wine now sits within reach. I didn’t pour that, I smile faintly patting percing the desk
you,” I murmur.
e been so focused on Lexi lately, I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.” I tease. The chaithe hair beneath
ft music begins to play somewhere in the room, I yelp, grabbing the desk instinctively before coreptam topple over.
right. Message received.” I mutter, straightening myself again. I take a sip of the wine, letunepetting the tension ease just a fract
udents are chaotic. The politics are unbearable. But despite everything, despite all of it, i contiquicent quite bring myself to hate it. Be
DO enjoy watching people learn. Even if, sometimes I have to shove that information down andlowy their throats and watch them choke on
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Not To To Fall For A Dragon
