Attention please!

All students of all departments are to be present for a prolonged student body meeting tomorrow. Attendance is mandatory for all students and staff.

Repeating.

All students of all departments are to be present for a prolonged student body meeting tomorrow. Attendance is mandatory for all students and staff.

Rocio Al'meida's clear and crisp voice floated into every nook and corner of the college. It traveled through a certain blue door where a bunch of people relaxed after witnessing a very well planned prank go right.

But the announcement made them sit up straight.

"Student body meeting? What the heck dude. Is she allowed to do that?"

"She is the student body president mate", Sean said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He saw his brother's hard glare and back pedalled a little bit.

"A student body President. One of them".

"But still Shezaad dont both of you need to agree on holding meetings?" Meredith's reasonable voice was malice-less.

She and Roger played no part the anti-Zoya agenda. They just observed. Much like Shezaad.

Rona muttered a string of insults at Zoya. Shezaad kept quiet through it all. If she managed to get a student body meeting with the staff present then it obviously meant the Dean was involved. He knew there was only one way to get answers and that's exactly how he was going to get them.

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ZOYA'S POV

I saw him see me. And I saw him running towards me. I heard him call me. And what did you think I did?

I'll give you three guesses.

Yes that's right. I kept walking. Treat me like I'm dumb and watch me play your game back at you.

Asshole!

I walked with my head high and with pace. He had to pant to keep up.

Good.

He would forget how to breathe by the time I get the ball back in my court.

"Can't you hear when I call you?" He blocked my way.

The audacity!! I gritted my teeth and kept walking. He blocked me again.

"I want to talk".

"Well I don't want to. I save my time for people who are worth it", I spat at his surprised face and resumed walking.

He blocked me again.

"You can't call a student body meeting without my consent".

I raised a brow at him.

"I can. And I have", my tone was flat. Cutting and victorious.

"What are you planning?", his tone was deadly. It would make any other cower in fear.

But unfortunately for him I'm not 'any other'. I gave him my sickly sweet smile.

"I'm not planning. I'm executing. And I suggest that you plant your feet on the floor and wait and watch. You know why? Because you can't do anything else but that", I said with so much acid that he narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth. I spared him my best death glare and left him to ponder over my words all by himself.

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The following day everyone from the whole college piled into the big auditorium. I watched from behind the curtains as lecturers, professors and students, both legatees and others took seats.

I went through my file to make sure I had everything I wanted. I did this for the hundreth time in the last hour. Across the stage in the other side Rocio fixed everything and gave me thumbs up to show that we were ready to go. I rubbed my clammy palms together. Now I shall wait for my sweetcheek-Deanie baby to open the floor.

Just as I said it he walked through the door with two members of the the director board. He caught my eye on the stage and smiled. The other two sat but he made his way all the way upto the podium.

Upon his arrival, the whole hall went quiet.

"Good evening everybody. Professors, staff and students. I wish to keep my words really short. Because we are all gathered here to witness a brilliant idea that our new president, Ms. Zoya Zafar", he turned to smile at me, "has come up with. Now I have my own reasons as to why I like and approve of it so much. But before I go into that, I'd give her the stage to brief you the whole idea".

I looked baffled. I wasn't expecting this. I thought he'd do all the talking himself. He saw my bewildered expression and motioned me to the podium.

"You have to tell them yourself", he patted my still baffled self on the shoulder and made his presence scarce off the stage. I gulped and took a big breath.

Okay! I can do this.

I removed the mike from the podium and relaxed myself.

"Okay. Umm..hi guys. Its great to see all of you here. Including the Dean himself. And thank you sir for the words of praise. So ever since I was appointed we have been trying to come up with ideas that can help us make up for lost ground in the annual listing. And like all of you know we have come up with good ideas. Specially brilliant ones like the video games proposed by the Sparks twins", I gestured towards the two brothers with the hand that wasn't holding the mike. Shaun smiled at me tentatively while the usually angry looking Shane wore shock on his face.

I moved on.

"I highly appreciate your creative input. At the same time I also wanted something that the other colleges did not have. Something out of the box and something permanent. That we can maintain throughout for the future generations as well. So in the end I came up with the idea, which I'm glad to say that the Dean himself has been very pleasantly approved of".

I breathed letting them all take it in. I wanted them all focused with their hundred percent attention on me when I let the cat out of the bag.

"We are going to introduce an Internal Justice System here at Empire state. In more simple words, there will be a Student's Court of Justice established".

The whole audit looked shell shocked. I saw hands over mouths, hands in the head, wide eyes and dropped jaws. Just a moment later the whole hall erupted into a huge buzz. Excitement was clear in the air. Every where people whispered and chatted and in the very first row the Dean grinned like a Cheshire.

B I N G O!

I gave them a moment and tapped the mike. I was purring.

"I know you have so many doubts and questions as to how the whole procedure works. And as to clearing them one by one; yes we will have a court, an actual set up of a court", I empshasized.  

"There will be parties, offence and defence. They may represent themselves or chose others as their lawyers to represent them. There will be a jury and it will contain both students and lecturers. The the whole college will serve as spectators to every case handled", the excitement was getting higher and higher in everyone's faces". "AND lastly, the Dean will serve as the Judge, your honour", I said smiling at him. He threw his head back laughing. The whole crowd also took their time laughing. The dear old man had pink cheeks.

"Also we will have a proper system of filing cases and trial and verdict. And the Dean has decided to hand over that to Madam Pamela".

She was in charge of what we simply call the college sick bay. She has a less tighter schedule so it was the Dean's idea to handover this important task of accepting complaints to be trialed in court to her.

Madam Pamela beamed red faced and I felt a fondness at the motherly woman.

The hall was again noisy. Everyone had so much to express that it was hard to extend the silence to a little over ten seconds.

But all wasn't over yet. Now came the time to drop the real bomb.

"So no matter how much of explaining I do about the procedures, you actually need to witness it....experience it first hand to know how it really works. So I'm extremely pleased to inform that next Wednesday, exactly a week from now, we will have our first trial and verdict. Official notices will be given and I hope to see you all on that day".

The meeting was finally adjourned and I shook several hands when I made it out of the doors. Everywhere it was nothing but buzz.

I saw Shezaad coming out. A weird expression on his face, a mixture of several emotions blended together, as he looked right into my eyes.

Suddenly in that suffocatingly crowded entryway, I felt exposed and raw. Like time slowed with each step, like it was only me there. Me and him. Everyone else and everything else faded into a light ringing in my ears. We were a foot apart, maybe closer. I could see his clear blue eyes. And I felt like being pulled back into reality as Rona came out of nowhere. Pulled one of his hands over her shoulder and yanked him away with her with an arm around him.

I watched him go. Dazed. He didn't turn back.