"Extortion! Threatening of imprisonment! Assuming dictatorial powers! Subjecting your fellow peers in psychology torture!"
Rodrigo said nothing as he just sat quietly inside Principal Wartz's office as the latter recounted all of his criminal offenses.
"A work program that coerced students to sign up to work long hours, without pay, in unsanitary conditions?! Just what in God's name were you thinking?!" He angrily yelled at him.
"Um, well-" Rodrigo attempted to answer.
"I'm not finished." Principal Wartz angrily interrupted him. "And to top it all off, you led this city's schools into open warfare with each other and caused the injury of thousands of students!"
"Young man, you've not only violated every single school regulation and policy, but also took a page right out of the Geneva Convention itself!" Principal Wartz furiously continued to scold at him.
"Rodrigo," Principal Wartz said with an angry, but threatening tone, "You give me one good reason why I do not pick up this phone right now and call both your parents and the police! One chance, young man! One chance to explain to me what led you to commit such heinous crimes?"
It had been only yesterday since Rodrigo resigned his position and appointed Arnold as his successor. Once he was done in supervising the dismantling of much of structure that had terrorized the whole school and to some extent, the parts of the city, he gathered all physical evidence, as well as provided a detail report of what had been happening during the last few weeks and submitted it to Principal Wartz's office. He made no attempt to hide it. He wouldn't have been able to. The next day, as soon as Rodrigo stepped inside the school, he was immediately called to the Principal's office.
Once Principal Wartz was finally done scolding him, for now, Rodrigo somewhat nervously cleared his throat and adjusted his shirt before he spoke.
"Sir," He began, "before I begin, I would like to say that I take full responsibility for all of this. Those who helped me and followed my orders are blameless. They did only as they were told to do. They were not responsible in coming up or shaping all the things that happened."
Principal Wartz said nothing and continued to angrily stare at Rodrigo with his arms crossed.
"As to how this all started and why I ending up doing all of this," He began, "I won't bore you with any deep political or philosophical exercise. The jist of it is that, I was forced to."
"Forced to?" Principal Wartz asked, looking a bit confused, yet intrigued.
"Yes." Rodrigo responded. "Have you, or any of the teachers been at all aware of what was happening to the lower graders recently?"
"Which lower graders?" Principal Wartz asked.
"Grades 1 to 6." Rodrigo responded.
"And what exactly have they been facing?" Principal Wartz asked.
Rodrigo took a moment to analyze his face and realized, that his confusion was genuine.
"You don't know, do you?" He asked.
"Young man," Principal Wartz angrily and impatiently then said, "You better tell me right now just what is it that I need to be aware of right now or I'm going to pick up this phone!"
"Hm, I'm not surprised." Rodrigo said with a somewhat condescending voice.
Rodrigo then began to explain about everything that had been happening at the school since he began. He told Principal Wartz about how the higher graders would abuse the lower graders for money, favours and just flat out terrorize them. He told him how the lower graders were forced to pay 'protection money', lest they be beaten up. Rodrigo made no attempt to hide anything and revealed everything to him. Well, almost everything. He conveniently did not give him any specific names of the perpetrators. He used vague terms such as 'higher graders' or 'they' or 'them' when referring to those responsible for much of the abuses the lower graders were subjected to.
As he listened, Principal Wartz's facial expression began to change from anger, to one of surprise, then shock and then upright horror.
"Good Heavens!" Principal Wartz shockingly exclaimed. "This is...this cannot...no, this is completely outrageous! There is no way every lower grader was terrorized like this without one of them saying anything to either the teachers or myself. Such a thing would not have gone unnoticed!"
"Principal Wartz, are you aware of Student Code?" Rodrigo just calmly asked him.
"What Student Code?" Principal Wartz asked, but Rodrigo saw right through him.
"Sir, you were a kid and a student once." Rodrigo then said. "I'm sure that such a Student Code existed during your time. One of the Cardinal rules was that you do not snitch to the teachers on your fellow students, no matter how bad it got for you. It was considered cowardice to do so and would only make things worse for you."
Principal Wartz initially said nothing and just looked at Rodrigo with a stern face. Rodrigo likewise just glanced back at him.
"Even if I am aware of such a rule," Wartz relented, "Are you telling me that all of the lower graders preferred to be terrorized and abused by their higher peers rather than risk being considered as snitches?"
"Yes." Rodrigo flat out responded.
"And what does any of this got to you with your behaviour?" Principal Wartz impatiently asked.
"Everything." Rodrigo responded. "I was victim to this, but instead of taking it in and hoping things would improve, I took it upon myself to fight back by organizing a resistance against them."
"Fight back?" Principal Wartz asked. "You mean physically?"
"Yes." Rodrigo responded.
"Young man, you know very well that fighting is strictly prohibited!" Principal Wartz angrily exclaimed.
"It was outside of school property, of which the school has no jurisdiction." Rodrigo responded. "But anyways, I and many others fought against the higher graders and won. But instead of repeating the cycle of terror by imposing our will against them, I instead opted to change the whole system by implementing many reforms."
Rodrigo then handed to Principal Wartz a copy of the Constitution that he and Phoebe wrote. The Principal took it and quickly read through it. As he did so, his demeanor began to change.
"Hm, well I see." He calmly said for the first time. "Must have taken a lot of research and time for you to write this."
"Yes sir." Rodrigo acknowledged.
"I take it the students were not really accepting of this?" The Principal asked.
"They were actually." Rodrigo corrected him. "As well as other schools who wanted to put into place a similar Constitution. Well, the majority of them were. Those that refused these changes began to terrorize the school by randomly seeking out students and beating them up, either on school property or outside."
"What?" A shocked Principal Wartz exclaimed.
"They hid from view and only attacked from the shadows." Rodrigo continued. "We had no way to flush them out and bring them to justice. And to make matters worse, we started getting reports of this happening to other schools that supported us. So with no other option, we were forced to fighting dirty, suspend the Constitution and arrest anyone suspected of aiding the enemy. Then one thing led to another, and it just made the whole situation worse."
"Enemy?!" Principal Wartz shockingly exclaimed. "What Enemy?! These are your classmates! I cannot believe what I am hearing!"
Principal Wartz began to breathe heavily, so attempted to calm down himself.
"Just take a deep breath." He told himself as he slowly breathed in, and then out, then in again, and then out.
"Alright." He said, now feeling calm, but then frowned at Rodrigo. "So to summarize; instead of alerting what your fellow peers were doing to the appropriate authorities, you took it upon yourself to serve your own version of justice, which not only made the situation worse, but ended up spilling to other school districts."
Rodrigo took a few seconds to think before responding.
"Yes." He answered.
"I've heard enough." Principal Wartz said as he picked up the phone. "Young man, you not only just earned a lifetime of detention, but also just earned yourself a one way trip to a juvenile detention center."
He then began to dial, but Rodrigo then quickly spoke. He was prepared for this.
"Sir, I don't think you want to do that." He said to him with a warning voice.
"Excuse me?" Principal Wartz said, noticing his warning tone. "And why not?"
"Sir," Rodrigo then explained as he adjusted himself to get more comfortable. "If you inform the authorities of what I did, how do you think this scandal will make you and this school look?"
"How would it make me look? Nothing!" Principal Wartz exclaimed. "This is all on you, Rodrigo. I had nothing to do with this."
"Exactly." Rodrigo said. "All of this happened right under your and the entire school's nose. Not once did you become aware of what the higher graders were doing to us and what the lower graders ended up doing."
"That's because all of you tried to hide it from us!" Principal Wartz shouted. "None of you stepped forward."
"Nevertheless, both parents and the state placed the responsibility of caring for us on the school's teachers and administrators." Rodrigo insisted. "I mean no disrespect sir, but it is your job to find out if bullying happens within the school and to stop them. The lower graders couldn't come forward for fear of becoming outcasts and becoming an even bigger target for bullying. The higher grader didn't want to come forward because they were benefiting from it."
"Do not try and twist things, young man!" Principal Wartz angrily yelled at him. "You and your peers chose not to come forward over some ridiculous unwritten Student Code that doesn't even exist!"
"What about the work programs that were set up?" Rodrigo rhetorically asked. "The school simply approved of it without any serious inquiry about it. Nor was there any teacher supervision. We were simply left there to our own devices. What do you think people say and think when they realized that we had an unsupervised after school program? And don't get me started about the two classrooms we used to detain many kids. It didn't occur to any teacher to look at what was happening in those rooms? I mean, the smell itself should have given it off. All of this happened under your watch and you and all the teachers failed to notice any of it. What do you think is going to happen when the city, heck the federal government finds out?"
Principal Wartz said nothing, but was fuming so much that his face was turning red. He could not believe this 6th grader had the audacity to blackmail him like this!
"Alright, what do you want?" Principal Wartz finally relented and asked him.
"Sir," Rodrigo said with a more sympathetic and understanding tone. "I don't want to be in this position anymore than you do. But it would not do anyone any good to alert the authorities of what happened. Therefore, I propose a settlement. Let me face trial in this school, judged by all the kids here. They were the once that were affected the most by my actions. So let them judge me. Whatever verdict they give, including expulsion, I'll take it. If they choose to expel me, then all the better for you. You would be rid of me and no one would be known the wiser as to all the things I did here."
"Hm. Seems fair." Principal Wartz agreed as he further thought about it. "On one condition; I will be in charge of randomly selecting the jury."
"Agreed." Rodrigo agreed. "I also have one condition; you are to transfer Wolfgang back to this school."
"Wolfgang?" Principal Wartz confusingly asked. "He volunteered to be transferred to another school. Why on Earth would you want me to transfer him back? Are you two friends?"
"No." Rodrigo responded. "Let's just say he played a critical role in ending the war. I know that only you are able to expedite the transferring process. That's my only condition. Do that, and you got yourself a trial."
Principal Wartz said nothing and just frowned at Rodrigo. Being a person of authority, he was utterly furious with both the Latino kid and himself for allowing things to get as far as they did. Even worse to being blackmailed by a child! But, he had no choice in the matter. Should the news spread of what had occurred, he knew his career as a principal would end almost immediately. And this time, there would be no third chance. Heck, considering how negligent he allowed the students to become, he could even face imprisonment!
"Alright. Deal." He said and extended his hand, to which Rodrigo shook it.
Later on...
*smack**smack**smack*
"Alright everyone, settle down!" Principal Wartz exclaimed to everyone in the lunchroom as he smacked the judge mallet on top of the table.
As instructed, everyone in the room settled down, took their seats.
As per their agreement, no sooner when they shook hands did Rodrigo's trial immediately began. Despite given the right, he chose to represent himself rather than get a 'lawyer'. Principal Wartz randomly selected a jury of 10 kids. Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe, Sid were among those selected. The prosecutor was a sixth grader who had every reason to ensure Rodrigo would get highest penalty.
The prosecutor didn't really have to do much. Rodrigo pretty much supplied a lot of the physical evidence and 'paper trial' that led to him. Plus there was the almost inexhaustible line of first-account witnesses who experienced much of the terror Rodrigo unleashed in the school.
One by one, the Prosecutor called each witness to the stand and asked them to tell their story. One by one, each kid told about how they were first arrested by the ISF, then taken to Helga's now infamous interrogation room and subjected to psychological torture. Yet even after 'confessing' to their 'crimes', instead of being let go, some were then taken to the dreaded work program, where they were all put to work and endured long, exhausting hours in cleaning up the school, helping the ISF with administrative and physical tasks, setting up the two classrooms that eventually became a prison, among other things. Many were barely fed adequate food and forced to work outside in the cold with almost no break. Many eventually lost it and broke down, only to then be taken to one of the classrooms where the conditions were even more terrible. The food was even worse and sanitation was dreadful. At least in the work program you get to move around. In the classroom, you were imprisoned in a small cell with barely any room to move around, which made space become a luxury as more students were thrown in.
One by one, each student told their story to the jury and to the Principal, with some breaking down in tears. Rodrigo for his part said nothing and strangely remained quiet throughout, not even bothering to question or even evaluate any of the witnesses.
The only time Rodrigo ever said anything was to object to anything a witness said that may have incriminated anyone else. Rodrigo surprised everyone when he reiterated that everything that had happened was under his instruction and his own doing. Those that carried them out were simply following orders. Neither his cabinet, nor even Helga were exclude from his protection, with Rodrigo vigorously defending the latter, much to her and Arnold's surprise. He was so determined to put the blame on himself that he even threatened one of the witness to stop telling 'lies'.
"Order! Order!" The Principal called out to Rodrigo. "Sit down, Rodrigo."
Rodrigo grudgingly obliged and sat down.
Finally, after hearing the testimonies and evidence presented by the Prosecutor,
"Rodrigo Castile," Principal Wartz then addressed him, "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
Rodrigo, with a rather defiant calmness, stood up, organized his notes and began.
"Principal Wartz, members of the Jury, fellow citizens. The testimonies and evidence you have all heard and saw as presented by the Prosecutor are...true."
A few gasps, whispers and mutters were heard throughout the room, but Rodrigo continued.
"As General Secretary and leader of the whole student body, it was my responsibility, my authority, under my watch that allowed all of these things to happen. I was the one that decided to suspend the Constitution. I was the one who created the work program, I was the one who signed the decree to arrest and interrogate any suspicious student without impunity and I was the one who created the prisons. I started it all. Therefore, I and I alone bare the responsibility and fault for all the pains and misery that were inflicted upon my fellow students. I do not lay any fault on those who were subordinate to me. They were simply following orders."
The room now became silent and still, eagerly awaiting what else would Rodrigo say.
"You might then wonder if I regretted my actions and all the things that I did, all the crimes that I committed in the name of liberty and freedom. While I took no pleasure in any of it, I am here to state now that I have no regrets. I would do it all again, without hesitation!"
Many then looked at each other with surprising looks in their faces, while others were not so surprised, Arnold among them.
"Why?" Rodrigo continued. "Because the situation called for it, pure and simple. To found and consolidate democracy, to achieve the peaceable reign of the constitutional laws, we had to end the war of liberty against tyranny and pass safely across the storms of the revolution. Such is the aim of the revolutionary system that you, not just myself, have started. Your conduct, then, ought also to be regulated by the stormy circumstances in which the revolution is placed. And the plan of your administration must result from the spirit of the revolutionary government, combined with the general principles of democracy."
"You may ask, what is the fundamental principle of the democratic or popular government? I shall answer. It is virtue. Republican virtue can be considered in relation to the people and in relation to the government; it is necessary in both. When only the government lacks virtue, there remains a resource in the people's virtue; but when the people themselves are corrupted, liberty is already lost."
"From all this let us then speak the ugly truth: the characteristic of popular government is confidence in the people and being severe towards itself. If the spring of popular government in time of peace is virtue, then the springs of popular government in revolution are at once virtue and terror. Virtue without terror is fatal; terror without virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing other than justice: prompt, severe, inflexible. It is therefore an emanation of virtue, a consequence of the general principle of democracy applied to our school's – nay, our city's - most urgent needs!"
"It has been said that terror is the principle of despotic government. Did your government therefore resemble despotism? Yes, as the sword that gleams in the hands of the heroes of liberty resembles those in the hands of the henchmen of tyranny. Let the despot govern by terror his brutalised subjects; he is right, as a despot. Subdue by terror the enemies of liberty, and you will be right. The government of the revolution is liberty's despotism against tyranny."
"What's more, society owes protection only to peaceable citizens. The only citizens in the revolution are the republicans. Those against it, those that conspire against their fellow students are only strangers or enemies. This terrible war waged by liberty against tyranny, is it not indivisible? Are the enemies within not the allies of the enemies without? The assassins who tore our school apart; the intriguers who buy the consciences that hold the people's mandate; the traitors who sell them; the mercenary pamphleteers hired to dishonour the people's cause, to kill public virtue, who stirred up the fire of civil discord, and to prepare political counter-revolution by moral counterrevolution … are all those kids less guilty or less dangerous than the tyrants whom they serve?"
"No!" Several students then stood up and shouted. "Death to all traitors!"
"Imprison them!" Cried another.
"No! Despotism is tyranny!" Another countered.
"You tortured innocent kids!" Another shouted.
"I did not understand a word he said." Another commented.
"Order! Order!" Principal Wartz shouted. "Order, I said!"
"Young man, are you done?" The Principal then annoyingly asked Rodrigo.
"Just about, sir." He answered before directing his attention back to the jury. "And just as I unleashed virtue terror upon this school to wipe it clean of its sins, that means that I must also accept the possibility to that it may too consume me. And like any true revolutionary, I accept my fate."
That made everyone immediately go silent and got them to sit back down and listen. Even Principal Wartz was stunned by this.
"As I am now standing on trial not only for my life, but for my future, I await whatever my fate is, with my head held up high and in knowing that I not only brought the war to an end, but I managed to save our Revolution. Judge me however you may think it is appropriate. I only ask that those in posterity will do better than me and lead this school into a long and happy and peaceful life."
And with that, Rodrigo closed this speech and sat down. Again, the entire room remained silent and still. Here was the leader that unleashed a wave of terror and chaos. And yet, not only did he not deny any of it, not only show no remorse of his actions, but also left himself at the mercy of the same group of people whom he had terrorized. Even Principal Wartz was left stunned that he forgot where he was.
"Oh um," He mumbled when he realized that it was his turn to speak. "This court has now ended. Jurors, you are to go to the room to assess all you have heard and pass judgment."
The Jurors all got up and quietly went out of the room and into the library to deliberate on what they were going to do.
Rodrigo said nothing and just looked on with a sense of calmness, although deep down he feeling a bit vulnerable now that his entire future laid in their hands.
An hour later…
It had barely been an hour when the Jurors announced that they had reached a verdict. Almost immediately everyone rushed back to the courtroom to find out what the verdict was. The Jurors all went to their sits and sat down. Principal Wartz went to his desk. Rodrigo had remained in his seat throughout.
"Has a verdict been reached?" Principal Wartz asked the Jurors.
"Yes sir, we have." Arnold got up and and responded.
"Well, what is it?" The Principal asked.
The room suddenly became very intense, but not a word was spoken as everyone's eyes were on Arnold as he slowly opened the piece of paper.
"We the Jury," Arnold began. "Find the defendant, Rodrigo Castile de la Serna…."
A brief pause ensued, which only served to increase the level of tension and anxiety in the room. Some were even sweating, while others were biting their nails.
"...Guilty of all charges." Arnold continued. "However-"
He tried to continue, but he was soon drowned out by the level of commotion and noise the kids were making. Some were outraged at the verdict while others cheered. Others even began to argue among themselves, threatening to start a physical fight.
"Order! Order!" The Principal shouted. "Order in the Court, I said! Order!" He shouted and smacked his court mallet on the table repeatedly.
After some tries, the room finally heard him and the kids all calmed down and sat down.
"As you have been found guilty," The Principal then spoke to Rodrigo. "I hereby sentence you to-"
"Excuse me, Principal Wartz." Arnold then interrupted. "But I was not finished reading the verdict."
"What?" The Principal said with some annoyance in his voice. "Oh alright, carry on."
"But find his sentence as 'time served'." Arnold finished.
"WHAT?!" The Principal shouted in shock.
"What?" A stunned Rodrigo also spoke.
Another series of commotion was heard throughout the room.
"This is an outrage!" The Prosecutor shouted.
"I second that!" Principal Wartz agreed. "How can you consider his sentence as 'time served' after all that he has done?!" He angrily shouted at Arnold.
"Well," Arnold answered, "To start, he not only accepted all the charges against him, but accepted all responsibility on his shoulders. Moreover, instead of fleeing or attempting to place the blame onto someone else, he stayed to stand trial and to face judgment by his fellow peers. He knew a lot of us wanted to get back at him, yet he remained to face up for what he did."
Principal Wartz said nothing but continued to glanced at Arnold with an unconvinced look. Many of the students also glanced him with the same expression. They were simply not buying it.
"Look," Arnold said, noticing they were not convinced. "put it another way; we are giving Rodrigo what he refused to give to others; clemency. I know many of us here wanted revenge. But, we are not like him. We will not exact vengeance against him like he did to others. To do that would be to lower ourselves to his level. And if we do that, then we are no different than him and by that logic, he would have been right to unleash the Terror. And that's what we should not give him; any reason to justify what he did. We need to be better than that, better than him. That's why we must show him clemency. And besides, it does no one any good by expelling him. We are simply putting the problem under the rug, but not fixing it. All we will get from this is pain and anger. That's not enough. We need to get past this; heal the pain and find peace. And to do that, Rodrigo will need to amend with us and work hard to earn our trust again. Only then can we push aside all the anger and pain that we are feeling right now.
"This will not be easy for him, but if he really cares about this school as he claims, then he at least should do this, for everyone's sake." Arnold then glanced over at Rodrigo.
"Do you care about this school? About the kids that come here?" He asked him.
Rodrigo took a moment before answering.
"Yes." He said.
"Will you attempt to make amends with everyone here?" He asked him.
"...Yes." Rodrigo somewhat reluctantly answered.
Soft murmurs and muttering were then heard inside the room, but no firm opposition.
"Well, um." A somewhat emotional Principal Wartz then spoke. "That was a...very inspiring speech, Arnold. Very well, Rodrigo Castilla de la Serna, you are free to go, but given the Herculean task of making amends with everyone in this school. Good luck to you."
*Smack**smack*
Principal Wartz smacked his mallet on the table. "Court is adjourned." And he concluded the trial.
Arnold then got out from the jury section and went over to Rodrigo.
Rodrigo, feeling a bit dazed at this sudden turn of events, almost didn't notice Arnold approaching. But when he did eventually see him,
"You fool." He said to him. "Why did you do that?"
"I did it for everyone." Arnold answered. "Not just for you."
"You shouldn't have." Rodrigo said to him. "You should have let me pay the ultimate price. The Revolution demands it."
"The Revolution also demands that we seek ways to heal our conflicts in a more humane way." Arnold replied back. "That is what the Revolution is based on; a change for the better."
"I beg to disagree." Rodrigo firmly countered. "All you have done is not let justice be served and created a dangerous precedent."
"I see it differently" Arnold countered back. "And I hope somebody you will see things differently too." Arnold said. "Until then, it is your burden."
And with that, Arnold turned around and walked away.
Rodrigo said nothing and watched Arnold leave before turning around himself to leave. However, as he did so, he smirked…
Later at the end of the day…
School finally ended and all the kids were making their way out to head home. Everything was now seemingly back to normal. Kids were allowed to roam the hallway without the fear of being suddenly arrested. Everyone was now free to head home and settle down for a nice, hot meal with their loved ones. The ISF was disbanded, the two classrooms have been constructed back into teaching rooms. The notorious work program was cancelled. A much desired calmness and peace had returned to not only the school, but the whole city.
Rodrigo also stepped out of the school and stepped down the stoop. He was ready to go home, but stopped short to look around at the other students. Despite all the commotion, he felt isolated and alone from everyone.
Since his trial no one had attempted to talk to him, not even from his biggest supporters. He understood why. Being branded now as a type of pariah, those that supported him wanted to wait for things to calm down before they associated with him again. Many others simply did not want to have anything to do with him. He also made his situation all the worse when word got out that he had broken the Cardinal rule of never telling any teacher or principal about anything that goes on in that school. This caused a lot of kids to lose whatever little respect they had left for him, but he felt it was his only chance to ensure he would not get expelled, probably even not get arrested. He didn't want to move to a new school. He liked P.S. 118 and wanted to continue attending there. Besides, he felt the school authorities needed to know what was happening right under their noses. He hoped his confession ensured no such thing would never happen again. It was his last bit of sacrifice that he would make for the school.
Rodrigo sighed as he kept seeing kids just walking by, pretending like he wasn't even there. Not that long ago – just yesterday in fact – he was the most powerful kid in school, perhaps even in the whole city. He was untouchable, feared even. Kids would see him coming and hide away for fear of being seen and arrested. His presence was known throughout. Now, no on would even acknowledge him.
This is going to be a long road for me. He sadly thought to himself.
He hadn't the slightest idea on how he was ever going to get the whole school to trust him again, but he was willing to try. Arnold was right, he at least owed them that much.
After adjusting his backpack and coat, covering himself from both the cold and loneliness, he was about to head home alone when someone called him.
"Rodrigo!" Arnold called out to him and waved at him. Phoebe, Helga and Gerald were also there.
Rodrigo turned around and was surprised to see Arnold waving at him to come to them. For a second he thought this was a trap, but he didn't think someone like Arnold would ever stoop that low, could he? After some hesitation, he went over to them.
"Yes?" He asked him when he approached him.
"Are you heading home?" Arnold asked him.
"Yeah, I am." He answered him.
"Us too. Wanna come with us?" He asked him with a smile.
"...Really?" A surprised Rodrigo asked.
Arnold nodded, but Rodrigo wasn't convinced. He glanced over at the rest to see if this was genuine. To his surprise, both Gerald and Phoebe smiled as well, safe for Helga just stared at him with a serious look, although she made no attempt to give other indications.
"Umm, sure." Rodrigo hesitatingly answered. "...Thanks." He gratefully said to Arnold with a smile of his own.
The five kids began to head home. At first, no one spoke, but as they continued to walk, the silence got a bit awkward.
"Alright well," Gerald then spoke the silence, "I'm just going to say it; this was some event."
"Yeah, it was." Rodrigo somewhat replied.
"I reckon this will be something kids will talk about for generations to come." Gerald continued.
"I hope not." Rodrigo replied. "I already have the undaunting task earning people's forgiveness. I think that's punishment enough."
"It's not supposed to be a punishment." Arnold then spoke. "It's supposed to be a gateway for everyone to make peace with this and move on."
"Arnold, there's a higher chance of future generations remembering this than people making peace with it." Rodrigo countered. "I still don't see how letting me of the hook is supposed to help people."
"It's just as I said back in the courtroom," Arnold explained. "We gave you what you didn't give to others; clemency. By doing that, we showed you that we stand by the pillars of the Revolution; justice and compassion and we were not going to do the whole 'eye of an eye' approach."
"Yes," Rodrigo then said, "but you fail to take into account that by letting me go, you are setting a precedence that anyone can be forgiven of any wrongdoing."
"You are right," Arnold agreed, "except we simply let you go; we didn't forgive you. That, you will need to earn back."
"And it worked for me," Rodrigo countered, "but that is not a guarantee it will work with others."
"Granted," Arnold agreed, "which is why we would not pass the same judgment on to others. A different approach will need to be made for based on the person and the wrongdoings of which they are being accused of."
"Wait a minute!" Rodrigo then exclaimed. "What about being fair and equal to all? By setting different standards, you are putting at risk-"
"Oh will you two just shut up?!" Helga shouted at them. "You both are giving me a headache!"
The End
Alright, well that's it for this chapter and this story!
Just a few notes; that speech Rodrigo gave at his trial, that was the same speech Maximilian Robespierre made when defending the Reign of Terror during the same French Revolution. I obviously twicked it to fit this narrative.
Now as for that smirk Rodrigo made after his trial, yes, that indicated that everyone, including Arnold, fell for it. Rodrigo had never wanted to be in power, but since no one else wanted to take the mantle, he through himself into the fray. But as he did so, he soon got tangled in this mess. He did not like having to do what he did, but he felt it was justified. After his confrontation with Arnold, he realized that time was quickly running out for him and his supporters and unless he did something, he was going to face the full wrath of a hostile student body or even have the ISF overthrow him; he saw that when that young Napoleon rising fast through the ranks and saw him as a serious threat.
Hence, when Wolfgang offered to talk, Rodrigo saw his opportunity to both end the fighting and to save himself. That's why he took it. He did not want to end up like Robespierre. And as for blackmailing Principal Wartz, that was also part of the plan. He had to break the Cardinal Rule of never ratting out to the adults, but he had no choice in the matter. He had nothing to really explain his behaviour to the Principal and felt he had a bigger chance if he stood trial. He knew he still had supporters and using reverse psychology (taking full responsibility for it), he deprived the opposition of any fuel to be used against him. It was a risk, but it worked, he was set free, although he had now has the gargantuan task of making amends with everyone.
As for the whole story, I technically could have made it longer and made Arnold have a greater role, but I didn't want to over do it and it was never my original intention to make this story so long, so I omitted a few things.