The floor under Zak's feet collapsed.
His sight became dizzy and unfocused.
He felt the third panic attack of the day incoming.

'Fuck, fuck not now. Not now or they'll get suspicious. They'll ask more questions.'

Darryl softly squeezed and caressed his hand with his thumb, he was also internationally panicking, and the short boy tried his best to stop the attack, and looked back up towards the three adults in front of them.

"Take seat." the middle woman proposed, his tone made it look like an order more than an invite.

One of the police officers walked towards the door and stopped right in front of it, blocking the exit.

'What the fuck is happening? I'm the fucking victim, whyare they treating me like a criminal?!' anxiously thought, letting go Darryl's hand (against his will) and sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the principal's desk.

"Carder," she leaned on the table, sliding a copy of the school journal towards the two boys. "mind explaining this to me?"

Zak found himself unable to move or speak, the panic he tried so hard to repress got back up more violent, pushing the short boy on the edge of a crisis.
Luckily, Darryl instantly noticed it and turned his head in the redhead direction, ready to defend the little one.

"Zak got targeted by-" started, not able to continue the phrase.

"I said Carder, not Noveschosh." she harshly said, cutting him off giving him a disappointed glance.

The blonde boy looked down at the floor excusing himself.

"As he was saying," started to explain Zak, his voice was shaky even after trying to relax with several deep breaths. "I got targeted, let me add 'once again', by those freaks of the school journal. And obviously, none of what's written in this article is real. Me and Darryl were going to ask you to do something about the writers without involving the police, since we have are not interested in a denunciation." his voice clearly cracked on the last word, making him even more anxious.

After a long stare from the principal and both the policemen, she layed against the back of the chair, shaking her head.

"Officers." she sighed, allowing them to act.

The one behind her, also the most intimidating between the two, took a step forward, taking and opening a file that was laying on the desk.
Before reading out loud what was written on it, he glanced at Darryl, who was barely breathing, with a severe look.

"Noveschosh, you have to leave the room." ordered, signaling with a nod of the head at his colleague to let him out.

"W-what?" muttered in reply, looking at him and then at Zak, who was clearly panicking at his statement.

"We are going to discuss personal stuff about Carder situation, you can't stay here." explained him, glancing at the Junior.

Darryl looked worriedly back at Zak, who didn't move his eyes from the floor while biting his nails, still shaking. He got up against his will and walked towards the door held open from the policeman, and got out followed by him.

The short boy struggled breathing, everything around him was spinning and he just lost the only thing that kept him sane.
Clearing his throat to catch the Junior attention, the officer reopened the file he was still holding and started talking.

"Noveschosh, I have to supervise you. You're not allowed to talk to anybody or go anywhere without consent." explained the officer, suspiciously looking at him from head to foot.

"Can I ask what's happening? We didn't do anything bad, why we are treated as criminals?" asked in reply, without thinking twice.

"It's the protocol." answered coldly, narrowing his eyes.

"Protocol of what?! As I just said, we did nothing!" snapped Darryl, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Noveschosh, order!"

The blonde boy flinched taking a step back, then he nodded sadly and layed his back against the cold wall behind him, letting himself slide until crouching up.
He wanted to cry so bad that his eyes were already watery.

'Zak is going to hate me... oh gosh, everything I did was useless... he believed in me... why did I trust myself...'

After taking a deep long shaky breath, he lifted up his face that was embed in his arms and energetically rubbed his eyes, noticing after stopping a figure out of the corner of the eye.
Turning his head towards the shadow, surprise made open wide his eyes, it was Vincent, hidden from the policeman in the corner between the two hallways.
He was waiting for the Senior to notice him.

The two never talked before, but Darryl always seen him with Zak everywhere, yet, in those days something was different between the two. Was it his fault?
And the way Vincent was watching him, increased his anxiety.

With a nod of the head towards the bathrooms right at the end of the hallway, Vincent signaled to the blond boy to come meet him.
Darryl hesitated for a long moment before nodding, and the french boy immediately silently ran in the bathroom.
Glancing at the Officer, who was watching the showcase filled with medals and trophies for all the time, he got up and turned towards him.

"Uhm, can I go to the bathroom?" Darryl hesitantly asked, fidgeting with the zip of his jacket.

"Is it urgent?" he asked in reply, annoyed.

"Yes..." confirmed, looking down at the floor.

Not only Darryl was an awful liar, he hated to lie.
Eventually, the Officer believed him and sighed nodding, following the Senior all the way towards the bathroom.

'Oh no, if he enters with me I'm going to be in more trouble... oh my goodness, why did I think this was a good idea..? I don't even know Vincent!'

"Alright, you have five minutes." apprised him, stopping and standing in front of the door. "Move."

Panicking, Darryl nodded energetically and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind and laying his back and his head against it. He was painting, every single side of that situation was terrifying.
Especially knowing that Zak was inside there all alone, with that Officer telling him who knows what.

"Hi Darryl." murmured aloof the french boy, exiting one of the stalls, ready to face him.

"Uh, h-hi Vincent. What-" stuttered, not ready for that.

"No. I'm the one who as to ask questions here." he cut off, narrowing his eyes. "What the fuck is happening. Why the police is here."

"Language, please." murmured Darryl.

"I don't give a single fuck, answer my questions."

"Me and Zak decided to go to talk with the principal about the article about us and the police was already there. There's nothing more to explain." said after a few seconds of silence, his voice wasn't as gentle as before.

"I believe there's a lot to explain, Mister Smart." harshly replied, taking three steps closer.

"I don't know what are you talking about, Mister Baguette." Darryl talked back, crossing his arms.

Vincent punched the wall behind the blond boy, just a few inches away from his face, and narrowed his eyes while getting closer to him. The senior flinched slightly at his action, pressing his body as far as possible from him, surprisingly managing to keep a straight face.

"Don't mess with me." spelled the french boy, clenching his teeth while looking right into his eyes.

"Give me respect as I did with you, and I won't. I tried to be nice, but from the start of this discussion you did nothing but disrespect me." pointed out, slightly narrowing his eyes.

A long and hateful stare from Vincent pushed Darryl on the edge of a breakdown, not able to endure all of that pressure.

The french brusquely removed his fist from the wall, still staring for a few more seconds before turning and taking two steps away from him.

"Can you please explain me why are you treating me this way?" Darryl asked, pulling himself away from the wall.

"Wow," murmured, turning back towards him. "you don't seriously get it?"

"No."

"Well, you literally come out of nowhere, start talking with Zak and boom, after less than what? three hours, or whatever of acquaintance? you get I'm to tell what the fuck is wrong in his life." blurted out, shocking his head. "Now do you get it?"

Darryl stared at him with arched eyebrows, nodding sadly.
He was about to say something when a knock from the door blocked his words in his mouth.
Sighing, Vincent shocked his head once again and layed against the opposite wall.

"Go." murmured looking down.

"But-"

"I said go." repeated, slightly raising his voice.

The senior nodded once again, and murmuring a 'sorry' he got out from the bathroom, finding the officer right beside him.

"Let's go. The captain finished interrogating Carder, it's your turn now." murmured, pushing Darryl to walk faster by laying a hand on his back.

The blonde boy, totally caught off guard by his words, opened wide his eyes, panicking.

Too much.
It was way too much.

"W-what?" whispered, not getting an answer.

Two steps later and they were already in front of the office door, and Darryl didn't had choice but letting himself get pushed into it.

Once in, he immediately looked at Zak.
The short boy head was held up by his hand, elbow resting on the armrest of the chair, tears were streaming down his cheeks and his eyes were lost in something inexistent.

Something bad happened.
Something really bad.

"Zak..." whispered to himself, clenching his fists way too strongly.

"Sit down, Noveschosh." ordered the officer who stayed in with Zak and the principal, while his colleague slightly pushed him toward the seat.

Darryl followed the instructions, and sat down, glancing once again at Zak, who still didn't move.

"Okay, we have to confirm a pair of things." said the captain, letting the file he was holding fall on the desk. "Noveschosh Darryl, where were you Tuesday evening, after school."

"After helping Zak with his studies, I got back to my dorm." answered, clenching his teeth.

'They still suspect me? What's happening?!'

"Is there any witness to confirm your alibi?"

"Sorry but... alibi? What?" replied, between the pure confusion and the disbelief.

"Answer the question, Noveschosh." intimidated him, narrowing his eyes.

"Why should I!? I did nothing!" snapped, brusquely getting up from his seat.

"Because of this, Noveschosh." calmly said the officer behind him, grabbing him from the shoulders and making him sit. "It's obvious you can't your anger. Watch your hands."

Darryl looked down at them, opening them. Both covered in blood.

"We have the right to believe that those bruises weren't just from Zak's father." continued the other one.

His emotions overwhelmed him.

"Now, answer the question."

"Nobody saw me, it was late, at that hour everyone were eating." replied, aloof.

"Please, he did nothing wrong, leave him alone... It was my fault, nobody else's, I got him involved against my will, I'm tired of repeating this, please." sobbed Zak, talking for the first time after Darryl entered the office.

Both officers stared in silence, and finally, even the middle-aged woman who sat silently on his chair the whole time spoke up.

"I confirm. Darryl wouldn't hurt a fly." she said, sighing while leaning on his desk.

Still remaining in silence for a few more seconds, the captain nodded and crossed his arms.

"Alright, we are done here." stated, grabbing the file on the desk and held out his hand to the principal. "We'll let you updated. Have a nice evening."

After both the policeman shaked her hand, they exited the room, leaving the three in silence.

"Alright Zak, you can obviously stay in the baseball team and you dont have to worry about your grades, since you'll won't finish the year." she said, watching him.

"Wait, what?" intervened Darryl, completely off track.

"Oh, right. Darryl, you don't have to help him with his studies anymore,"

"he's moving out from here."

[unedited, 1015 words.]