LEO'S DILEMMA

Zoe’s eyes almost bulged out of her sockets upon hearing the news. Leo sat there quietly, looking down at his legs to avoid Zoe’s gaze.

"What happened? What did you do?" Zoe asked him, trying to calm down. It was just months away from his final exams. If he got expelled now, that was terrible bad luck.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to cause trouble."

"Tell me what you did," Zoe pressed further. "We can still prevent you from getting expelled if it is not that bad."

"He beat up a kid. The boy is in coma right now," Emily told her when Leo would not speak up.

"Leo, is that true?"

"He kept bullying me," Leo spoke up. "I needed to stand up for myself."

"Why did you not tell me you were getting bullied?"

"What would you have done? Even the principal did nothing when I told him about it. I reacted, and suddenly I am the one who's wrong."

Zoe sighed. "You should have told me. Now look at how much trouble you caused. What if the boy does not wake up from the coma? You would be expelled