The Ripple Effect | Volume II

Chapter 13 – Skipping Class


(West City – Capsule Corporation)

It's a late and bustling morning in West City's business district. The sky was clear—without a cloud in sight. A chilling spring breeze flowed throughout the city as well, cooling down everyone who quickly shuffled on the streets in high-end business attire. The building was just as busy as it was the day before.

Inside Capsule Corporation, the front of the building was as active as usual. Especially at this time of day. But it was the next day of school. Drawsah slept awkwardly in his bed in the comfort of his own room. It looked like he was still in the same clothes from the day before, but this time, his skin was cleaner. Probably because he took a shower before going to bed.

The window in his bedroom constantly let in sunlight. So eventually, those rays of sunshine would reach his face, and then his eyelids, which were calmly shut. You could probably tell Drawsah was a heavy sleeper. On the nightstand beside his bed, a digital clock displayed the time as 11:04am, meaning that Drawsah was terribly late. But of course, he was unaware of that through his blissful and heavy slumber.

Eventually, Drawsah stirred. The sunlight was well in his face now.

He slothfully sat up in his bed, slightly leaning forward so he could get his eyes out of the light that forced them shut. Then, just as slowly as he risen, Drawsah lifted his arms over his head and stretched them high, as high as he could until his body lost the tension. After that, he yawned deeply and loudly.

Suddenly, Drawsah whipped his head to the sun, which he noticed was a lot higher and brighter than it was when he woke up the day before. To make things worse, he quickly glanced at the clock beside his bed and read the time. "Urk…!" He jumped up out of the bed, letting the covers fall to the ground and ran straight towards his bathroom.

"I'm late!" he exclaimed hurriedly.

The day before, Drawsah and Bulma departed Capsule Corporation before business hours, which was when employees arrived at their place of work, at around eight in the morning. The only reason why they left at that time was because Dr. Brief made it his responsibility to get them up before then.

But unfortunately, Drawsah had forgotten that he told his father that he didn't want to be woken up by him and wanted to wake himself up instead. It was probably the enervated part of him early in the morning that made him say all that and forget it as soon as he was fully awake. So, because of that, he only had himself to blame.

At least he learned a lesson out of this, right?

Drawsah stopped in front of the sink and started brushing his teeth. He wet the toothbrush just barely and squirted a little toothpaste into his mouth simultaneously—then brushed his teeth at inhuman speeds. Of course. After one quick swig of water, he spit back into the sink, splashed water onto his face, then ran back out into his room with a stick of deodorant in his hand and the toothbrush still in his mouth. It was electric of course.

He hopped over to his dresser which was for the most part embedded into the wall. He pulled out multiple drawers and threw out a pair of underwear and two mismatched socks.

It's only the second day of school and I'm already messing up… And that stupid alarm clock never does its job!

As quickly as he hopped into his room, he hopped back towards the bathroom. He rubbed the stick of deodorant under both his armpits and tossed it to the side on the counter. The counter was pretty big, so nothing fell off of the surface. He'd worry about whatever fell over later. Drawsah spit into the sink again and gracelessly tossed his toothbrush into its holder.

This time, he cupped a small amount of water into his hands and splashed it onto his face, then rubbed it dry with his shirt, turning off the faucet in the process. He ran back into his room and started stripping down, only leaving his undergarments on with him. With the quick snap of his fingers, the window's transparency dimmed down to its lowest level. Comparative to five percent tint on car windows.

He looked over his pair of socks which he annoyingly realized were mismatched. He left them there and ran through the drawers in his dresser again. Drawsah pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants that were far from standing out and slipped them on. Then Drawsah closed the drawer and rummaged through the next one.

It's starting to get hot, so I'll just put on a shirt.

Drawsah pulled out whatever was at the top of the drawer and put it on his bed, slamming the drawer shut. It was a basketball jersey which was customized with Capsule Corporation branding. Number twenty-two was written on the front and back. The jersey was white with blue and yellow color accents and stripes. The numbers were black with yellow outlines. The jersey made out of the same material most commercial jerseys were made out of and the only thing that raised its value was the fact that it was custom tailored and had the name Brief inscribed on the back of it. This should be good enough.

He briefly slipped it on and hopped over to the other side of the room which was close to the door and took his book bag off the rack. Drawsah didn't bother to verify the contents inside. It was already irritating that he was in a rush, but he never opened his bag or touched it since coming home so everything he needed should be inside. Drawsah put it on his back and hopped over to the window again, snapping his fingers to remove the dimming tint.

The last thing he checked was his watch—or limiters, verifying their levels. They were at ninety-five percent, which was natural for that time of day. The limiters were designed to charge during his sleep. Since that was the only time of day Drawsah's body and muscles emitted zero kinetic energy. There was nothing to limit.

He forgot his shoes.

Drawsah sighed. This time he didn't feel like rushing over to the other side of the room, he'd been doing that all day and it's making him forget things. He glanced at his bag. Changing the bag would be a bother. I'll do it later. His nicer shoes were lined up along the wall, right next to some older generation basketball shoes he once thought were appeasing to the eye.

After a short round trip, he slipped them on and laced them up. Then stood up and slid the window to his room open. The gap was large enough so he could comfortably jump through and close it back. Drawsah peeked out into the yard which had mostly no one but garden workers. His room was near the back side of the building, and it was preferable that they had it there because it was the furthest away from the corporate side.

He hopped out and hovered closely by the window, staying as tight to the side of the building as possible. Eventually Drawsah slid the window shut gently and lightly flew to the top of the building, on top of one of the Capsule Corporation Building's towers. He crouched down and glanced in the direction of the school, which was pretty viewable from up there.

I'll get there in only a few minutes if I fly.

Drawsah then glanced over to the front of the building which still had people and employees walking in and out. It was also an 'exports day' which meant many Capsule Corporation vehicles were running out of the side of the building with loads of Capsule Corp. supply. Drawsah quickly jumped higher into the air until he reached an altitude that most people on the ground couldn't pick up with their peripheral line of sight. Then just as fast as he ascended, he blasted off towards the school in a beautiful bright white aura.


(West City – Nansei Junior High School)

The time it took for Drawsah to fly over to the school was only a little over a minute. He hadn't even thought about how he'd show up until he got there and when he did, Drawsah was hovering high over the school building.

The boy surveyed the area, looking for any teachers or students on top of the roof. After some time, he didn't find anyone and slowly descended down until his feet comfortably touched the ground. Now he was at school by…technicality.

Good thing nobody's skipping class…

Drawsah strolled over to the door on the roof, the same one he had passed through a few times before, but after turning and tugging on the handle, it refused to budge. It was surely locked. "Great," Drawsah muttered to himself.

He then turned his head in another direction. Towards the edges of the building. Drawsah walks towards the edge of the roof boundaries and hops over the fence that kept people from walking out onto the physical roof titles. He glanced at the ground near the back of the school, where the dumpsters were, to find any onlookers or people that would find him there. Again, he found no one in sight.

This particular area of the school had no windows towards the dumpster area but one door that led to a hallway. So, he should only have to worry about staff like custodians and janitors possibly being back here. Drawsah jumped down and gracefully landed, crouched in a three-pointed stance. He stood up and put his hands on his hips then turned towards the door to the hallway.

"Hey!" Drawsah turned to the voice alarmed.

It was a middle-aged hardy man in aviator sunglasses and a bushy mustache, all companied with an officer outfit. He looked just like any regular policeman.

"What are you doing outside of class?" the officer barked. "You know what happens to kids who skip school?!"

"Sorry," Drawsah offhandedly responded. "I got here late, and I was trying to find a way into the school."

"Don't lie to me, son! If you were just late, you wouldn't be sneaking around the school, now would you?!" the officer challenged.

Drawsah didn't budge and tilted his head in mild confusion.

So, skipping class is worse than being late?

"You're coming with me under the suspicion of skipping school! I hate kids who lie! Identify yourself." The truancy officer walked up to Drawsah with heavy footsteps that would've made any regular kid start buckling in fear. But Drawsah either didn't notice or was too dense to catch onto his body language.

"I'm Drawsah Brief," Drawsah bluntly introduced. "It's my second day here so I was confused." Regardless of his reasoning though, the officer kept his stride towards him.

"Yeah right," The officer replied sarcastically, "I'll be detaining and taking you to the office. Step into the cart and don't say a word." The man pointed behind Drawsah which is where a golfcart was parked. It wasn't discrete either—it had a WCISD Nansei Junior High insignia on the front of the vehicle. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."

Drawsah slowly turned around and a face of bewilderment and annoyance erupted onto his face. He removed his hands from his hips in the process and put them in his pockets. Guess he wanted to be a real police officer and somehow didn't make the cut. What a loser.

It turned out that Drawsah's first assumption was wrong. No, being late to school in general wasn't worse than skipping class. Skipping school was most of the time a deliberate action, and most of the time with rules as lax as the ones at Nansei Junior High, it was a common rule that was broken. Drawsah brought up that point the day before and his friends dismissed the idea. So, he thought it was reasonable that the punishment for that would be lesser than the former.

He stepped into the back of the cart and lethargically waited for the officer to sit in the front seat and start the cart. The officer drove outside of the dumpster enclosing and coasted around the back of the school. Drawsah gazed at his surroundings in silence.

Although the original plan of sneaking into the school without going through the front doors was probably more trouble than it needed to be, Drawsah believed it was his best option. But after pondering over 'what-ifs' and 'buts', it couldn't work out. His teachers' classes he had already missed would've counted him absent. He didn't want to be bothered with 'what-ifs' anymore as it was just something he shouldn't worry about. There's nothing he could do to make those 'what-ifs' a reality, which is why they're garnered as 'what-ifs' anyways.


(Nansei Junior High School – Administrator's Office)

A woman with short jet-black hair shaped in a curly style that had large bangs sat behind a long desk. She wore black sharp glasses and a business-styled dress which was also in a jet-black color. The woman was currently typing away on a laptop while signing documents in the process until a door in front of her to her left opened up. On the other side of the glass pane embedded in the door, there were words printed that read Administrator's Office.

She looked up at the door and saw the truancy officer and a shorter boy walk behind him with his hands in his pockets.

"Howdy there, Ms. Ronbun!" the officer casually greeted with a smirk on his face. He strolled up to her desk and leaned on it.

"Ah, Officer Otoko. Pleasure seeing you this morning," she greeted back with a smile equal to his own. "Visiting for duty or on your own accord?" The woman looked more than pleased which caused Drawsah to look on in petulance.

Officer Otoko glanced back at Drawsah and pointed a thumb at him. "It'll be the former today, ma'am," he duly responded. "Caught this brat skippin' class! He ain't do a swell job either pullin' it off."

Ms. Ronbun looked Drawsah up and down with a stern look. Then she pointed to the chairs at the back of the room. "You can sit over there. I'll deal with you in a minute." Drawsah's eyelids fell low and slowly turned around, shuffling over to the seats. He thought that doing too much and doing too little would make whatever punishment he had in store heavier, so his best option was to just comply with whatever they said and get it over with quickly.

"Anything else, officer?" Ms. Ronbun flirtatiously asked Officer Otoko. "Or maybe I should ask if you've got anything else to do…after work…?"

Officer Otoko courteously tipped his police cap down a notch. "I'm always available once my duty's done," he quipped. He started to walk towards the exit. "You know where to call me when you need me. Have a good day now!" The man winked at her before leaving through the door.

Drawsah slowly blinked then buried his face in his palms.

I'm in hell…

"Mr. Brief."

Drawsah slowly looked up and made eye contact with Ms. Ronbun who glared back at him with a venomous expression. "Yes?"

"Why were you skipping school?" she asked him. "On the second day, nonetheless? Don't you think getting an education is important?"

He kept his weary face. "I was trying to find a way into the school because I woke up late. I didn't want to get in trouble for arriving to school late so I—"

"—I've heard better excuses from toddlers." The woman's tone completely contrasted from the one she had when Officer Otoko was in the room. She was acting extremely antagonistic. Drawsah believed that being honest was the best thing he could do as reasonably, he had zero reason to lie.

"I hope you don't think that the administration at this school is stupid, Mr. Brief," she curtly pointed out.

"…I don't."

She scoffed. "All people like you treat the rest of the world the same. Eventually you'll learn how tough the world really—" Ms. Ronbun was interrupted by the ringing from the phone on her desk. She quickly glanced over to it and picked it up. "Yes…? … Yes, sir…he'll be coming in shortly… Thank you!" The woman placed the landline back on its stand.

Ms. Ronbun pointed at the door to her right which read Principal's Office on the frosted glass door. "Mr. Leon is ready for you," she callously told Drawsah.

Drawsah said nothing and stood up from his seat and walked over to the door. Only glancing at the woman at the front desk once he felt like he was close enough. "This is an awful lot for being late, isn't it?"

"There's nothing wrong with being late for a first-time offense," she immediately responded, "but skipping school is unacceptable and there will be severe punishment for kids who are caught doing so."

"I see…" Drawsah slowly replied, making an unimpressed face. He started towards the door.

Why is everyone so intense over here? I thought it'd just be my peers who shared that sentiment but apparently the staff feel the same way too…

He sighed. If this is what school life's like, I want no part of it.

Drawsah grabbed the handle to the door and turned it, opening the door inwards into the room. He peeked his head around the door and saw a much younger man with red, slicked back hair and light facial hair. The man wore a brown suit with a dress shirt and red tie. He looked like he was sporting Nansei Junior High's school colors, which Drawsah subtly noticed. He closed the door behind him.

"Hello, Drawsah!" the man piercingly greeted Drawsah. He wore a wide and bright smile and stuck his hand out as a gesture. "It's nice to finally meet you for the first time! My name is Mr. Leon, your principal."

"Right." Drawsah walks up to his desk and takes his hand. Mr. Leon shakes his hand with vigor, startling Drawsah. I guess someone of his status has to be formal like this…

I didn't expect one of Mr. Brief's kids to skip school like this, but I need to make sure he keeps attending so Capsule Corp. doesn't stop funding our institution… "I know a lot about you!" Mr. Leon added. "It's interesting that someone of your stature hasn't decided to run for a political position at the school. Would you ever be interested in running for class president?"

Drawsah's perplexed expression didn't fall. It couldn't. This principal was…unique, and he wasn't unique in the best of ways. He felt like there was some sort of façade he was running but Drawsah believed it wasn't his concern to think about that.

"Umm… No," Drawsah eventually replied. "I haven't thought of that. I don't want to draw much attention to myself. But I believe that could be something my sist—"

"—That's nice to hear!" Mr. Leon bluntly interrupted, masking his indifference with a bright grin. "But to shift to the main topic of today's meeting, why have you been skipping class? Is there something wrong?

Drawsah's perplexed face went weary again as he slowly blinked at the question. I've answered this question twice already and both of them didn't believe the truth. I guess I'll fabricate something this time.

"I overslept," he nonchalantly stated. Mr. Leon raised his eyebrows. "I didn't want to be counted late, so I tried to get into school another way. But now I'm here."

Is he serious…? … It doesn't matter. I can't let this get on his record or Dr. Brief might take his children out of school. Better to be safe this time around and keep our investment secure.

"I understand," Mr. Leon replied, nodding in affirmation. "You'll be excused this time but try not to make the same mistake again…ahaha…" Drawsah's eyes lit up in mild surprise. "The next time you're late to school, just make sure you go through the attendance desk at the front of the school. If you don't do that, you'll have unexcused absences on your record, understand me?"

He believed me… "Okay," Drawsah answered, "I'll keep that in mind…"

Mr. Leon shrugged his shoulders. "Anyways, if you really didn't want to attend classes today, you would've just stayed home, right?" the principal rhetorically asked. "Why come to school almost mid-way through? I won't hold this over your head this time."

Drawsah's posture seemed to relax some, and his face looked less tense. "That's right, sir," he replied, looking up at the man. "I won't make the same mistake a second time."

"That's great to hear!" Mr. Leon exclaimed. "You have a nice day, Mr. Brief."

Drawsah turned away from the man to the door and started to walk out. "Thanks," he casually replied with a faint smirk. …Thanks for nothing. He walked out of the door and closed it back on his way out. Then he started towards the exit out of the Administration Office, doing his best to bypass the woman at the front desk.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Mr. Brief." Ms. Ronbun barely looked up from her laptop. Drawsah stood still for a moment and looked over his shoulder, his face remained unchanged from his infamous stoic expression. "Just because you have an advantage over everyone else doesn't mean you are granted certain privileges. You still have to abide by the same rules and regulations as everyone else." She finally fully gazed up at Drawsah, who looked right back at her with an empty expression.

"…I'm well aware of that," Drawsah abruptly responded. He barely gave the woman half of his attention, still just looking at her over his shoulder. Drawsah was almost done and almost went about his day, but it looks like his name brought upon more curses than he had at first thought they would. Whether it be positive or negative, all attention was something he wanted to avoid.

"Well, skipping class on the second day of school doesn't make a good first impression for those around you," Ms. Ronbun cruelly responded. "You wouldn't want to embarrass your father now, would you?"

Drawsah narrowed his eyes and turned up his nose, but he didn't respond. He faced the door, closed his eyes, and sighed. She's not even worth the time. Just relax. His hand touched the door handle.

"If you're ever in need of some assistance, don't hesitate to ask your sister," the woman behind the desk lightly commented.

Drawsah slowly looked at her with a coldly stoic face.

His eyes looked dead.

"I earnestly apologize for subverting your expectations. I don't want to come off as an impudent person at all, but I recommend you refrain from attempting to agitate me if you want to keep your career security ma'am." Drawsah's tone was cold but calm.

Ms. Ronbun narrowed her eyes. "Oh my, are you threatening me?"

"It's not a threat at all ma'am," he immediately answered. "I'm simply informing you about the factors that pertain to your reality and to mine." Drawsah lightly smiled. "Thank you for your help, Ms. Ronbun."

He then turned around, keeping face, and walked out the door, leaving just as swiftly as he wanted to. The woman gritted her teeth instead, bending the pen in her free hand with her thumb. What was the cause of all this animosity towards Drawsah? Maybe there's something about him and his family he doesn't know?


End of Chapter Thirteen.

A/N:

Hey everyone! I've been writing a lot since I've gotten back! (not particularly this chapter but other things pertaining to the bigger plot that occurs…eventually) I'm in love with the ideas that I can't wait to get fleshed out! Hope you all are ready for the journey.

There's a few dozen of you out there that are constantly coming back for each chapter update, and I appreciate each and every one of you! It's good to know that there are people who're enjoying my story! (i understand it's starting off pretty slow; i want to build up a lot of characters before the juicy stuff starts coming around)

The weather in Houston's been sucking. Like it's actually terrible. And since it has been terrible, that's why I've had so much time to write and edit videos, things of that nature. I'd love to be flying a whole lot more thooooo.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this little fluff chapter and that you'll be back for the next chapter update! Thank youuuu!