“Timothy, why are you disobeying me?” Luna became desperate. “There are so many other children here and many pretty girls too. Why must it be her…”
“I don’t care. It has to be her.”
After he finished screaming, Timothy dashed out.
“Timothy…” Luna and her bodyguard gave chase.
Now, there were only Ms. Horner, Ms. Zane, and Charlotte’s family left in the principal’s office. All of them were equally stunned.
“Erm…” Ms. Horner stated awkwardly, “Ms. Windt, why don’t you head home with the children first and let me discuss the matter with the Sterlings. After that, I’ll give you a call?”
“Sure, but please give me a copy of the security footage.” Charlotte smiled smugly. “In case it disappears, the truth will be buried again.”
“Ms. Windt, is that necessary? Since Timothy has requested not to let Elisa leave school, the matter can be resolved easily…”
“Ms. Horner!” Charlotte interrupted the principal.
She asserted solemnly, “Let me be clear. From what Timothy said, it’s obvious he is the one who has bullied Ellie and damaged his family’s car too. My children did nothing wrong and yet they were criticized and humiliated by you and the other parent. To the extent we were being kicked out of school.”
Charlotte continued, “Now, it isn’t a matter of whether they will look past this. Instead, it’s up to me whether I want to let go of this matter. If you don’t hand over the security footage, I will then make a police report and let the police come for it.”
“You…” Ms. Horner began to panic. She assumed everyone was just as afraid of the Sterlings as she was and would choose to take the humiliation quietly. Little did she expect Charlotte to be someone that’s not easily cowed.
“Ms. Windt, please don’t be angry,” Ms. Zane tried to salvage the situation. “Let talk this over. I’m sure we can come to an amicable solution.”
“That’s right, let’s talk this over.” Ms. Horner grinned widely, “It’s just a small conflict between children. Let’s just resolve this internally. I’m sure there’s no need to get the police involved.”
Charlotte sneered, “If only the other party was reasonable and you handle it fairly, it would have been a trivial matter and not escalated to this extent. Luna was rude and intimidating to my children, and yet you wrongly accused them without any basis. In fact, you even punished them.”
She added, “When the truth was revealed, you chose to bow to their status and influence. You even force us to leave school. Since you are unable to mete out justice fairly, I have no choice but to seek recompense for my children another way.”
“What do you want?” Ms. Horner asked impatiently.
“Simple!” Charlotte quipped.
“Firstly, hand over the security footage to prove my children’s innocence. Secondly, get Mrs. Sterling and Timothy to apologize to my children. Thirdly, you and Ms. Zane will also have to apologize too. In fact, you will have to announce it to the whole school.”
“Ms. Zane and I can apologize to you. But it would be impossible to get Mrs. Sterling and Timothy to do the same.” Ms. Horner explained matter-of-factly.
“Your family lives in H City too. Hence, offending the Sterlings does you no good. A word from Mr. Sterling is enough to get you blacklisted. You won’t be able to find a job or get them into schools. What are you going to do when that happens?”
“If I can’t even protect my children, I’m not fit to be a mother!” Charlotte was further infuriated by the principal’s words. “Since that’s your stand, I’ll just make a police report. I want to see how powerful the Sterlings are.”
Just as she spoke, Charlotte took out her phone to call the police.
“Ms. Windt, please don’t!”
Ms. Horner was desperate and tried to grabbed Charlotte’s phone.
“What are you doing…”
“Stop!”
A loud voice barked from behind. At the same time, a pair of hands pushed Ms. Horner away and pulled Charlotte into its embrace.
