The deal with the devil - Fear the devils series book 1

Chapter 9

"Office, now!" the principal shouts at both – Michael and Joshua.

When Celine got to her senses again, she acknowledged how Joshua and Michael walked past her - on their way to the principal's office. Joshua turned around to Celine one last time before entering the building.

"Don't worry, go to the library and we meet at home. I don't want you to wait for me here, ok? Mom will have to pick me up as it seems." Joshua tried to ease Celine's concern with a forced smile before turning around to follow the principal inside.

She should have never told Joshua about Michael - the guilt of his punishment whatever it might be overwhelms her.

She didn't want to drive to the library today, Mrs. Pepperwood's daughter is possibly already there to help out, but what if she isn't? At the bus stop, she decided to take the bus to the library anyway. If it was her last day, then there should at least be a proper goodbye without making it look obvious.

When Celine was about to go into the shop, the door wouldn't open. Then Celine saw the closed sign.

That's strange, normally it's always open but maybe Mrs. Pepperwood is still at the hospital and on her way back. The easiest way to find out is to call her, Celine decides. It didn't take long until she picked up explaining that she will come to the store tomorrow because she wants to spend some time with her daughter.

"Greet her for me, will you?" Celine requests.

"Sure, but no need to be done. You know my little one, always listening to conversations. Hopefully, see you tomorrow, Celine." These were the last words before Mrs. Pepperwood hang up.

Back home, Joshua was already back, if Celine didn't know, you couldn't tell that he just bashed a guy for her. Not even a scratch was on his face.

Their parents and he were sitting at the kitchen table when Celine arrived.

"What did the principal say?" Celine wanted to know from Joshua.

"Your brother has got 3 weeks detention and is not allowed to participate in his upcoming boxing match...or any other matches at this school at all..."
Now their mother turns back to her bother.

"What the hell Joshua?! You're only at this school for some days now and you already start beating people up and on top of that you were kicked out of your sports teams!"

"It's my fault, not his. The guy Joshua beat up had humiliated me some days before. Joshua only wanted to protect me with physical revenge."

After a while their mother answered.

"Very well, you're grounded. With that, I mean both of you. Joshua for 2 weeks, you get one." Their mother stated. Then she went up to Joshua and whispered something in his ear to which he smiled a tiny bit. Their mother gave him one final kiss on the head and went out of the house, back to work.

"What did she say to you?" Celine asked him.

"Nothing serious, she's just happy for us always having each others' backs."

"What about your sports teams you're in? I'm so sorry it came out this way."

At this Joshua's mood darkened as if he only now just realized what he had lost because of his outburst which he only had because of her.

He stood up from his chair and looked her straight in the eye saying nothing but everything at the same time. 'I would do it all over again because you're my family and my best friend'.

But there was still a hint of sorrow in him he tried to hide – to not let Celine feel responsible for what had happened – although she already felt guilty.