Alice Reed had no choice but to jog alongside him, quickly blurting out the speech she had prepared in her mind: “Our school has a morning exercise inspection every Monday. If we’re not in sync, we lose points. I noticed you don’t seem to know the self-choreographed routine very well. There’s a PE activity tonight—could you spare twenty minutes for our class league secretary to teach you?”

Captain Carter got caught in the crossfire while lying down, rubbing his face as if he had a toothache.

Old Miller hooked his arm around William Carter’s neck, lowering his voice to whisper in his ear, “Could you let our class league secretary teach you?”

William Carter muttered a curse under his breath, clearly reluctant, but since he knew Alice Reed liked him, he didn’t want to embarrass her in front of everyone. For her sake, he grudgingly agreed.

Who would have thought that Brian Cooper didn’t appreciate the gesture? He suddenly stopped in his tracks and frowned.

Alice Reed said, “It’s really easy, you’ll pick it up in no time, you—”

“Inspection is on Monday, right?” Brian Cooper interrupted her bluntly. “Then on Monday, I’ll go to the infirmary and get a leave slip. That way, you won’t lose any points.”

With that, he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to leave.

Alice Reed was stunned for a moment, feeling defeated. Her face flushed slightly, but she still refused to give up. She hurried to catch up, “Wait—”

Without looking back, Brian Cooper raised his arm, intending to wave her off and tell her not to bother him. But Alice Reed was just over 1.5 meters tall—far too short compared to Brian Cooper. She couldn’t stop in time and bumped right into his backward-swinging elbow.

Brian Cooper hadn’t meant to do it, but to others, it looked like he was impatient with her and had elbowed a girl in the chest.

A teenage boy’s elbow is hard. Alice Reed saw stars from the impact and was momentarily dazed.

Brian Cooper was also surprised. He shifted his arm awkwardly, feeling he should say something, but apologies didn’t come easily to him. He hesitated, frowning as he looked down at Alice Reed, trying to figure out what to do.

Before he could come up with anything, William Carter and the others, who had been trailing behind, caught up.

As soon as William Carter saw what happened, he thought—Great. Last time it was Henry Clark, now it’s a little girl. This weirdo Brian Cooper really knows how to pick on the weak.

Fuming, he pulled Alice Reed behind him and shoved Brian Cooper with his hand. “Can you speak like a human being? Can you act like one?”

Chapter 5: Call the Parents

During the big break on Friday, William Carter and Brian Cooper were both summoned to Heather’s office for fighting after class.

It had been years since William Carter had done something so embarrassing. He reflected carefully and felt he wasn’t really at fault—ultimately, it was all because Brian Cooper was such a jerk.

From the first day Brian Cooper transferred in, William Carter felt they were destined to clash. First it was Henry Clark, then Alice Reed, and the resentment had built up until it finally boiled over from verbal sparring to a physical fight.

Heather was furious. “Speak! William Carter, what kind of league secretary are you? Why did you get into a fight?”

William Carter’s jaw ached—he’d accidentally bitten his tongue during the fight, and his mouth was full of the taste of blood. He glanced sidelong at the even more disheveled Brian Cooper, figuring this guy must be a seasoned fighter, but judging by the outcome, his two years of kickboxing in middle school had given him the upper hand.

In front of the homeroom teacher, William Carter knew when to back down, but he didn’t want to waste words explaining. So he simply bowed his head and admitted fault: “I acted on impulse. It won’t happen again.”

Brian Cooper snorted at this insincere, slick response. His split lip made it hard to talk, so he let every muscle in his face radiate mockery.

Heather: “……”

She now understood why these two troublemakers fought. Seeing Brian Cooper’s attitude, she almost wanted to roll up her sleeves and join the fray herself.

Heather took several deep breaths to calm down, then slammed the desk and roared, “Is ‘acting on impulse’ an excuse? If you hit your classmates now when you’re impulsive, what’s next—pulling a knife and killing someone?”

William Carter lowered his head obediently. “I’m sorry, teacher. How about I go write a self-criticism right now? I promise it won’t happen again.”

Before he finished speaking, Brian Cooper rolled his eyes.

Even a comedy duo couldn’t have better timing than these two.

Heather caught this out of the corner of her eye and felt like she needed some fast-acting heart medicine.

She’d been the homeroom teacher since their first year and had long known that William Carter was the type to pay lip service and never really change. He had a whole routine for admitting fault, but it never stopped him from acting up again. All those beautifully written self-criticisms were actually penned by Henry Clark for him.

Normally, Heather wouldn’t let him off so easily, but everything is relative. Compared to the sullen Brian Cooper beside him, William Carter suddenly seemed downright lovable—almost gentle and considerate.

Heather quickly gave both of them a stern warning and sent them back to class.

On the surface, it looked like she scolded William Carter more, but as soon as the two students left, she pulled out her contacts and dialed Brian Cooper’s parent, Eric Cooper.