The next day, the school called for an assembly.
William was a little surprised. Just yesterday, he'd told the staff that if the Headmaster wanted him back in the dormitory, he'd have to announce it publicly.
He wasn't eager to return to that place. He'd rather spend his remaining months here, out in the wild, than under that roof again. But even now, the memory of that humiliation still stung.
Sure, he had made a mistake—forcing his way into a girl's room was wrong—but what happened afterward? Were the teachers not supposed to stop things before they went that far?
It wasn't the first time. They always arrived late—just late enough for him to take the blame and the beating.
'If not for the old man,' he thought bitterly, 'I would've walked out long ago.'
He shook his head and stood quietly in the corner of the hall.
His gaze soon found Emma. She stood among the crowd, her eyes elsewhere. She didn't come to him, not even for a glance.
