Dean Thorne's office felt smaller than usual. Maybe because three people sat crammed in chairs meant for two, or maybe because the weight of what had just happened in the hallway pressed down on all of them.
Maya kept her eyes on the floor. Ethan sat to her right, jaw still swollen from Mateo's punch. Mateo sat on her left, eye darkening into a bruise. Neither of them looked at each other.
Dean Thorne stood behind her desk, arms crossed, face carved from stone.
"Fighting on campus." Her voice was ice. "Public brawling. Over what, exactly?"
Silence.
"I asked a question."
"It was my fault," Ethan said.
"It was mine," Mateo said at the same time.
"It was both of yours." Dean Thorne's gaze could have cut glass. "And it was spectacularly stupid. Do you have any idea how many students witnessed that? How many videos are already circulating?"
All of them. Everyone saw. Everyone knows now.
"We're sorry," Ethan said.
