Chapter Nine: Contradiction

"I don't know if I am the right person to do this, anymore."

"What are you saying? You want to quit? You can't do that now, Bonnie. I have everything arranged already."

Mr. Bright looked at Bonnie with something she would describe as fear. He had just presented the new schedule for the last part of the school year to her. The one she would mostly be sharing with Kai. Bonnie thought it was nice of him to give her a head start about it, but she couldn't focus on anything he was saying. The doubts about the whole thing went louder and louder in her head. Without her content Kai had become a part of her life and spying on him was something she was not willing to do, anymore.

"I just, I don't feel good about it."

"What is this about, Bonnie? What did he do to make you change your mind?" Mr. Bright asked her.

"He did nothing! He is just… so different from what I expected him to be. I feel like I could really help him but I don't think it is fair to him to report everything back to you, sir." She tried to explain her concerns to him without giving the wrong impression.

"Oh, I see. Mr. Parker has gotten under your skin." Mr. Bright nodded to himself. Bonnie only stared at him. Okay, clearly she had failed at trying to give the right impression. Mr. Bright now thought she was into Kai, wonderful. He looked at her and saw her eyes wide open and shock written on her face.

"Don't worry, it is what I expected to happen. Kai can be really charming if he wants to be. That's how he charmed his way out of a talk with me before even sitting down once. Mrs. Percyville has a weakness for his charming smile. I guess it also helps that she has known him for so long. Just like you. Anyways, I just wanted to say that you have to be a bit more careful around him. He knows how to manipulate people. The better he knows you the easier it gets for him. I was hoping for you to bond and become friends but I thought it would be a longer process. Kai doesn't usually let people in this fast. Which can only mean that he has some trick up his sleeve."

Bonnie now looked at him in confusion. What was he saying right now? That Kai was playing games with her? That he knows how to charm himself out of every situation? That the connection she started to feel with him was fake on his side? Was he trying to convince her that their arrangement was still acceptable and that she didn't need to have a bad conscience over a boy that wasn't playing fair himself? She hadn't had that impression.

"I think you're wrong about that. He was actually really cooperative. I was surprised myself but he really committed when I was meeting up with him. We were really connecting and I think he was honest with me. I feel like I can crack him but not as your little spy but his friend. I feel like he just needs someone to really talk to and someone who is honest with him." Bonnie said.

"And I want you to be this person. But I also want to get him under control. I don't have too much time left, Bonnie. I can't let you step out of our arrangement; this is my only chance left."

"I wouldn't be stepping out, I'd still do what you asked me to do. I just wouldn't… come tell you all about it." She shied away from his gaze.

"But this part is the essential part. I need to adjust to possible changes or what is more likely I need to know how to treat him if nothing happens. And I can only know if you tell me. He won't tell me himself." He changed his voice into a softer version. "Look, Bonnie. I get it and I am not pushing you to do something you don't want to do. But see, you have already told me about how he behaved the past few days and it wasn't that much info you shared. It won't hurt him, or you, that I know this now. Why don't we make a deal. We try to keep this up, the updates about his behavior, but we will focus on the important stuff. Like, if he was in school, how much effort he put into assignments and how many students he tormented the week. You can decide what to share and what not and we can both get our benefits out of this arrangement."

This was a way to lure Bonnie back in. Mr. Bright was desperate, Bonnie could tell. He had high hopes about this arrangement and Bonnie's doubts unsettled him. Bonnie was struggling to say no. She always wanted to do everything she could to make the people around her feel importable and happy. She sighed.

"I'll decide what to tell you and if I want out, I'll get out." She presented her new deal.

"Done!" Mr. Bright accepted immediately.

Bonnie got up. "Well, his appearance at school had been pretty irregular. But you probably knew that already. His contribution to the history assignment is really good and as far as I know he had played pretty nice with everyone the past week, I mean the days he had actually been in school. Is that enough for the beginning?"

"Yes, thank you Bonnie. I can't tell you how much you help me right now."

"Don't mention it." Bonnie walked to the door and got out. She greeted Mrs. Percyville on her way out of the administration area and went to her locker. She was feeling beaten. Why oh why couldn't she say no to anyone. She really needed to learn that. Funny thing, she thought that Kai might be the person to teach her.

Her first class had already begun but Mr. Bright had reassured her that she had been excused by him personally. There were another 10 minutes left but she had no intention to get to the class. She would prepare her stuff and get to the history class.

Deep in thoughts she reached her locker, opened it and searched for her history book. With another look to the clock she decided to sort a few things in her locker but she lost interest in it very fast. She stuffed everything she needed in her bag and closed the door when a scream escaped her throat. She jumped where she stood and her right hand was pressing onto her chest where her heart was. It was pumping like crazy.

After a while she looked back into the person's face that scared her so much a few seconds ago. Kai was leaning next her locker. The door had been hiding his body from her and her thoughts had made her inattentive. He was smirking down at her, clearly amazed by her reaction.

"You scared me to death, jackass!" Bonnie said a bit out of breath.

"Really? It must have been a weird death, given you're still standing right here!" He was snickering and didn't even bother hiding it.

"Haha, really funny." Bonnie turned to walk away from him. Then she remembered that he promised to search for her phone when she wrote him a facebook massage on Sunday. He hadn't been in school yesterday so she had hoped to see him today to ask him about her phone in person.

She turned around, the question already on her lips. But she didn't need to ask anymore because Kai was waving her phone in her direction.

"You found it!" Bonnie's mood was suddenly getting better.

"Yes, I did and it wasn't easy to find. It slipped under the seat and the battery was already dead when I searched for it so I couldn't call your phone to see where it was. But I found it anyways." He passed her the phone.

"Thank you, Kai!" She was snuggling her phone like a 5 year old would snuggle her teddy bear and she earned a taunting look from Kai. "What, I missed my phone, okay?" She said.

He raised his hands, like he wanted to surrender. "I haven't even said anything."

"But I know you wanted to, so don't!"

"As you wish, milady." He made a small bow and Bonnie rolled her eyes on him. She started to walk to get to the class room and he followed her.

"I wasn't expecting you to show up today. I thought I wouldn't see my phone until Friday." Bonnie said chattily.

"Well, I couldn't let you live without your phone for so long, could I? That's actually why I am here so early, hadn't planned on it but now I'm here." She responded and shrugged, seeming incurious.

"Then I guess I have to leave a lot more stuff in your car to make you turn up to school to give it back to me." She mocked him.

"That won't work. This was a onetime deal. I am not going to be your personal treasure hunter. By the way, how come you are not being your usual reliable self and stray the halls like if you're ditching class?"

She glanced at him but only to avoid for him to see that she had to swallow hard and try to keep up her pokerface. She couldn't tell him the reason she was not in class right now.

"I had a dentist appointment and that's why I am late. What do you think of me?"

"Ah, I was starting to worry if you were sick. The rebellious acts are not your kind of thing, but of course Bonnie Bennett has a good explanation for her absence." His voice was mocking.

She let herself bump into his side. "Hey, don't be so mean!"

He mirrored her action and said in a higher voice that was supposed to be a mimic of her own "Hey, don't punch me, I am fragile!" He let out an honest, short laugh after that and Bonnie felt her eyes sparkle from the sound of it. Her mouth was going up and she started to feel relaxed and comfortable, just like on Saturday. She was still surprised on how fast she adapted to him. And then she thought that Mr. Bright had been wrong. He wasn't playing any games with her. The two of them just had this natural connection that didn't need much effort to bloom. She was sure that Kai was being honest with her and the safety of that thought made her smile.

"Why are you such a Cheshire Cat all of a sudden?" Kai asked.

"No reason. I'm in a good mood. It's really easy, just smile and have some happy thoughts. You should try it sometime." They had reached the class room. By now a lot of other students were headed to their lockers since the first class had officially ended. The classroom was still empty and Bonnie was headed to her usual seat in the back row. Kai followed her but let himself fall on the chair right in front of her. He turned around to face her.

"You make it sound like so much fun, maybe I will try it someday. Or not, we'll have to see about that."

"Honestly, it won't hurt you to smile a bit more often. Would make you look less fearful." Bonnie said bravely. She had never told Kai something like this before. At least not in a way when she really meant it as a good advice.

"Maybe I like looking fearful." Kai responded with a serious voice.

Bonnie only looked at him and shook her head. This boy was totally a lost cause. She sighed. A few other students were coming in and taking their seat. Usually they would start talking at the sight of her and Kai talking, but the past weeks had made everyone in school aware of their connection and their reason to be talking to each other, so they stayed silent.

Bonnie got out her calendar and saw that the first presentations were scheduled for next week. That reminded her of their own assignment.

"The presentations are starting next week. I think it is time for us to get back to work." She said.

"Urhg, thanks for the warning. I surely won't attend any of those boring talks."

"So you will stay away from history class for weeks? No one will notice that!" She said ironically.

"Let them notice, there is nothing they can do about it. But for real, our topic is so boring and we chose a pretty important battle. But I guess Dumb and Dumber over there have chosen some ridiculously small battle to have as little effort as possible and that one will end up being even more narcotic then ours, so I won't waste my time here. I'm not going to listen to anything they are saying anyways."

He was being so honest with her. Bonnie wasn't sure if it was just his personality or if he had started to open up to her but she had hoped for the latter, even if what he told her was not comfortable at all for her.

"Well, if you decide to stay away you at least have to put in effort in our project. Can you meet up on Thursday? And I guess you are free this weekend?" It wasn't a real question but she wouldn't take no for an answer, her time schedule was really tight for this project.

"Spoken like a true dictator. Thursday is okay but I actually have to be somewhere on Saturday, I know it's a shocker but I do have a life outside of school."

"Haha, funny. What about Sunday then? We have a lot to do still and I fear we are not going to get through with everything if we're not meeting this weekend."

Kai didn't answer right away. Bonnie looked at him and waited for his reply as he was mentally going through something. "Okay, I think I can make Sunday."

She clapped her hand once. "Perfect. Well the library is closed on Sundays so we have to meet somewhere else." She was quickly trying to remember her mothers work schedule for the week but couldn't recall, as always. "I suggest we'll meet at my place. We'll have all the material we'll need by Thursday so we can just start preparing the presentation on my laptop. Plus we'll have enough food to get us through the day…"

"Alright, alright. Let's do it that way." Kai interrupted her. "Wow, I have never seen a person more exited to do school stuff. You're such an alien."

Bonnie glared at him but had to laugh because he was right, she kind of got cheerful when it came to school stuff. Not that she would consider herself a nerd, she had other interests outside of school, but she also liked to be organized and planning the preparation of the presentation gave her safeness.

"Maybe I am a little overreacting." She admitted.

Kai's expression was full of surprise. "Never thought you would actually realize that, Bonster."

Ms. Gibbens stepped into the room and all the students took their seats. Bonnie only barely realized because she was in a deep conversation with Kai about her studying routines. The class had already started and she hadn't even noticed.

Until Ms. Gibbens cleared her throat and directed her words towards them.
"Mr. Parker, Ms. Bennett, I think it is a good thing the two of you are on speaking terms considering you have an assignment to do together but given the content of your conversation I highly suggest you take your private talk somewhere else later. Mr. Parker, would you be so kind to lend me your attention and turn around so that Ms. Bennett has the chance to do the same?"

Kai smirked at her and the look he gave Bonnie told her he wasn't approving of anything Ms. Gibbens had just said. But he played nice today and turned around offering her a fake smile. Maybe he did it because he knew he wouldn't be present in her lessons in the coming week. Or maybe it was just one of those moods of his, one could never know with Kai Parker.

Bonnie strangely didn't feel caught or bad. In the past when she had been exhorted, which only rarely occurred, she was embarrassed and feeling bad of not paying attention. But maybe the time she had spend with Kai was already wearing off. She hadn't done something bad so there was nothing to feel bad about.

She still tried to pay attention to everything else that was going on this lesson.

. . . . . . . . . … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Yes, I see you next Monday. Have a nice week, Sir." He hung up. The superintendent had the bad habit of talking for an hour straight and Mr. Bright couldn't handle another phone call like this for today. He called for Mrs. Percyville to tell her she should update his schedule with the meeting on Monday.

As she entered the room her watchful eyes spotted his tense mood right along.

"Tough day, he?" she asked.

He sighed. "Actually it was pretty quiet today but the superintendent is going to kill me with his monologues one day, I promise you." He let out a chuckle.

"So did you schedule a meeting?"

"Yes, he's going to be here on Monday at 10. Would you be so nice and update my schedule?" he asked his assistant.

"With pleasure." Mrs. Percyville took the little note where he had written down the time and day of his meeting with the superintendent and left the room. A headache started to form in Mr. Bright's temple and he was reaching for his top drawer to take some pain killers as his door got opened with an intense swing. A man with grey hair, a dark suit and intense blue eyes was standing in the middle of his office. His demeanor not too promising.

"You can't just march in here without an introduction." Mrs. Percyville was rushing in the room after the man and turned to Mr. Bright. "I am sorry, I couldn't stop him marching in here. Do you want me to escort him out?"

"It's alright, Donna." He said and gestured for his assistant to leave the room. Then he made another gesture for the man to take a seat. He was in no mood to deal with this now, but he knew he had no chance to delay this conversation. The man was taking his seat opposite him, in the same chair he had always claimed, the same chair his son had sat in so many times.

"Mr. Parker, how can I help you?" he said with the most honest smile he could muster.

Joshua Parker was leaning back into the chair and Mr. Bright had to mentally compare his outer appearance with the one of his son. It was strange how little the two resembled each other. He could always see the resemblance with his other children, even Josette who looked so much like her twin brother, but Kai seemed to have nothing form his father. Starting by the way they moved, sat and gestured to the way they looked, dressed or talked. It was like he had nothing in common with this man, nothing but the deep blue eyes.

"I was waiting for your call yesterday but it never came, Richard."

"I was out the whole day, yesterday. I forgot to tell Mrs. Percyville to give you a quick notification." He lied. He was well aware he owed Joshua Parker a call, but he didn't want to talk to him without being informed about his sons' actions the past few weeks, and he only got these info this morning.

"Well, I doesn't matter I am here now. You can give me an update about everything right here. Of course if you have other obligations we can reschedule."

"No, no. You made it all the way here, so we can talk everything through just now."

"Good." He said in an icy voice which made him shiver. He wondered how it must be like being raised by this man, even though he doubted he took such an active part in the education of his children. Mr. Bright gave Joshua Parker a quick insight in the school activities and projects coming up, discussing budget and everything else involving themes a member of the school board had to know. After 15 minutes all the topics involving the management of the school were talked through. Mr. Bright mentally sighed because he knew that know he was going to have to face the more aggravating topics of his children, or at least one of them.

"So, how are my children doing in school so far? Anything I should be concerned about? Any surprises that I need to be warned about before they get there certification?" Joshua Parker asked.

"Well, Josette is doing great. She is a wonderful head girl and has the respect from all students and teachers equally. She has a bright future ahead of her, I can guarantee that." That was the easy part.

"I know I can count on my girl. What about the others?" he asked further, without a hint of appreciation or pride in his voice for his daughters achievements.

"Joey has some difficulties in the mathematic and scientific subjects but nothing to be too concerned about. He probably won't bring home an A but he is in no danger to redo the year or any course for that matter." And there went the medium-weight part.

"Is he ever going to be able to catch up with his classmates?" Parker wanted to know.

"For sure. He just needs to spend more time focusing on school matters." Mr. Bright said and he knew what Joshua's next question would be about.

"What about Malachai?" was his simple question.

And here came the hard part. "Malachai's school situation is currently unaltered. The same issues we have been facing during the past years are still a problem. Even though I have to say he is still steady in his GPA and one of our brightest students. Plus he is starting to commit more to the school assignments given to him. He has a new history partner and she is really keeping him on edge." Richard Bright was looking at Joshua. Parker with delight, only haft played. He was happy to tell him about the small improvement he was told about and giving Joshua Parker good news was always better than giving him bad ones.

"I could experience that first hand." He responded cryptically.

"What do you mean?"

"That history partner. That Bennett girl. I don't think she is a good influence on my son. She might get him to commit to one simple assignment but he is misbehaving heavily at home after he sees her. I don't suggest pairing the two of them together any more after this." He said coldly, watching down on his wrist, which gave him the look of a boss talking down to an employee.

"I'm afraid I do not follow. Bonnie Bennett is one of our best students. She is calm and reliable. Plus she has a way to assert herself over your son, which is something that we can't say about a lot of people."

"I know about that but still I think Ms. Bennett and my son aren't going to spent more time than necessary together." This wasn't a request. "My son is currently presenting himself with his worst kind of behavior towards his family and I know I have asked you to take measures into your hands and get him under control. So tell me, what are you doing about that?"

Mr. Bright had to swallow. He tried to suppress his need to do so since Mr. Parker had stepped into his office to not show that he was intimidated by him. "I can assure you, sir, I have instructed everyone to be more consequent about his misbehavings and I have also talked to your son about this. His schedule will be reorganized within the next weeks to ensure he will get the best teachers we can currently offer him. I am also in contact with one of his school associates to get updates on his more private states. But with all due respect, sir, as long as I don't suspend him from school I don't think anything will have an impact on him. He is a smart boy and he knows where you stand and where I stand." He wasn't going to tell him about the arrangement Ms. Bennett and he had but he needed to make Mr. Parker see that he wasn't fooling around. And he had no intention of breaking up the new connection Bonnie had formed with Kai. Not that his interference would do anything by this point.

"You are not suspending my son form this school, if you want to keep your position. I expect you to handle this in other ways and I have to tell you Richard, I am getting impatient. I will not watch his behavior for too much longer. I want to see results." He said like a true business man. He was getting out of his seat and straightening his suit. Mr. Bright got up too and offered him his hand. Joshua Parker shook it and looked right into his eyes.
"I am counting on you." Then he turned around and left his office leaving the door wide open.

Mr. Bright let himself fall back into his chair and let out a huge sigh. Seconds later Mrs. Percyville was back in his office.

"I am so sorry he marched in here like this. I know he is on the school board but that doesn't give him the right to do what he wants." She apologized.

"It is alright, Donna. We know that Mr. Parker likes to show who the alpha male is in the room."

"Oh, I hate this man. Always have, always will." She said.

"Me too." He admitted.

"So, how did it go this time? I couldn't hear him yell at you for your incapability to get Malachai in check this time."

"Well, he didn't. He was really calm, which is even more intimidating by the way, but he made sure to tell me that he isn't going to take more back steps with his son. I have to hope for Ms. Bennett to get somewhere with him."

"How is the whole Bonnie Bennett thing working out so far?"

"Good, she has some doubts about the spying on him thing but I think that is a good sign. Means they are starting to connect. I have high hopes."

"Hope this plays out right for you." She went back to the door. "You know, I never thought you would take my comment about Malachai needing the right girl to get him on track so literally. Even though I have to admit, the two of them together? Seems like a match." She smiled and left the room.

It was a match and Mr. Bright was pretty content with himself for finding it. No matter what his father said, he was going to peruse his plans with Ms. Bennett. In the end, when he would be successful, Joshua Parker had to be grateful. At least he hoped so. This man was even more complicated than his son. He was also always dramatizing everything involving Kai. Mr. Bright had no idea what was wrong with their relationship but I was starting to wonder why Kai was the only one of his children acting out like this. With a father like that Richard Bright might have been the horror for his teachers as well.

Author's note: Here is the next update and I have to thank everyone for sticking around this long. I would have never thought that my story would be interesting to anyone, so thank you guys you are amazing and keep me motivated to update this story. I can promise there is still so much more to come, but since I am going to be back at university next month and have to work pretty much the next weeks, it might be a little longer until the next update. I try my very best to write as much as possible but it could be that it isn't as regularly as usual and I apologize for that. I know it always sucks to hear this from an author but I am afraid that it will be like this. So thanks again for reading and reviewing. Lots of love. Until next time, LiLaAir.