Part 11 

 After a moment's consideration, John decided to only punish his bully and grinned cheekily at the three of them in turn.

"Then maybe we should change things," John announced in a calm, composed tone. The looks that just changed amused John, the three looked at him in wonder and questioning. He could literally imagine what was going on in their heads. His gaze wandered to his father.

"Tell me, what's your name anyway?"

"My name is Joe," he replied immediately, even ignoring the fact that John called him by his first name.

"Well, Joe and Marcy was right, wasn't it?" John wanted to know, looking over at the woman, who just nodded.

"All right, Joe and Marcy, you'll believe me over Lars. The thing is, he's been bullying me and beating me up for years, and he's been saying stupid things to me over and over again, embarrassing me and beating me up all the time in previous years." John started to change their perception, and he wasn't even lying about that part.

"You know I have enough evidence to get him expelled and his scholarship canceled. Of course, you want to prevent that and convince me not to ruin Lars' life. Of course, you want to prevent that, and it's why you're here. You think Lars slipped in the shower and has a black eye because of it. Of course, you also know that he's only the way he is because of you. You've always protected him and pulled him out of the ... shit by whatever means. You'll be prepared to do anything so that I don't do anything that could harm him. As soon as I call you both by your first names again, you'll think it's normal that you're sitting on the floor. No, you'll even think you've voluntarily sat on the floor to beg my forgiveness properly," John continued, grinning broadly again, then looking over at Lars.

"You, Lars, won't forget anything, you'll know what I did, why I did it, and how I did it. But you won't talk about it to anyone apart from your parents or me. I think that will be fun, don't you?"

Lars shook his head and looked at him with narrowed eyes and an angry, almost furious expression. There was no mistaking that he would have loved to get up and beat up John. However, Lars wasn't in a position to do that at the moment, which elicited a short laugh from John before he turned his attention back to his parents. Eager to see how the conversation would go from here.

"So Marcy, Joe, why are you here? Lars, you stay calm," he asked them both, and he could see the brief transfigured look in their eyes, which immediately disappeared again. The two looked at each other, and Marcy nodded briefly to her husband.

"We ... we wanted to apologize to you. We know Lars hasn't treated you well. We have to admit that our son deserves to be shown his limits. And we know that it's our fault that it got this far in the first place. But ... but surely, we can find a solution so that you ... so that you refrain from making a complaint about him," Joe began somewhat hesitantly. The look on Lars' face was priceless for John. Lars had probably never heard such words before, at least not from his father. John had to restrain himself from breaking out in laughter or even having another big grin on his face. After a moment's thought, he looked at Lars' parents in turn and shrugged his shoulders.

"Why shouldn't I lodge a complaint? Your son, Lars, has been making my life hell for years, and I've had enough of it. I think it's time he learned that his actions have consequences," John replied coldly and confidently.

"We'll definitely have a word with Lars to make sure he never does anything like that again!" Marcy intervened and looked angrily at her son.

"Yeah, great, that'll certainly help a lot. As if that would change him from one day to the next," John replied sarcastically and with a raised voice. "Apart from that, it won't make me forget the years, I won't get anything out of it. If I'm lucky, he'll leave me alone from now on and probably look for another victim, which isn't exactly what I want either!"

He laughed inwardly at himself, his choice of words, and the way he spoke. He almost sounded like a teacher. The best thing about it was that Marcy and Joe listened to him and seemed to agree with him.

"But we can ... well, we could make some kind of amends. What do you say we pay you some kind of hush money?" his father asked him, and John huffed contemptuously. He had something thoroughly different in mind, but he didn't want to come right out with it, he wanted to see how far his parents would go of their own accord.

"Money is something I really don't need, I mean, my dad's a workhorse and makes a damn good living. Yeah, he travels a lot, but I can get pretty much anything I can buy with money," John countered. "So you guys should probably go back, I'll file my complaint tomorrow, and beyond that, I'll tell you about the meeting and your attempt to intimidate or bribe me."

The two looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. They had probably never seen anyone turn down money without even knowing the amount.

"We're talking about a tidy sum here ... you could ..." Marcy began, trying again to convince him with money.

John decided to interrupt her again. "Tell me, haven't you been listening to me? I'm not interested in money. It's not exactly a problem for me, so what am I supposed to do with money?"

"Well, if money doesn't interest you, we also have good contacts all over the world. We know some deans of prestigious universities or CEOs of big companies. We could..." Joe looked for another way to convince John. He just raised an eyebrow, which brought a brief smile to both parents' faces as they interpreted the gesture as interest.

"I've got nothing to gain from that either, my father knows many people and can certainly open a door or two for me if I wanted to..." John countered. Another statement that wasn't a lie. His father actually had a few contacts he could approach to get John a good place at university. But John didn't want to, he wanted to do it on his own. The two of them exchanged questioning glances again, and they seemed a little helpless and at a loss.

It was Joe who took the floor again and then faltered. "You don't want any money or ... I'll call it a favor from us. We ... well, we ..."

John's eyes wandered back to Marcy, and he looked her up and down. Unconsciously, he bit his lower lip. Both Joe and Marcy noticed this and exchanged glances with each other again. Meanwhile, Lars looked completely out of place and obviously didn't know what was going on.

"Tell me, are you often alone here?" Marcy finally asked him after a short pause.

"Yes, I'm usually alone," John replied.

"So you're the one who tidies up here?"

"Of course, who else? I haven't hired anyone to do it" was a direction that John liked more. He was curious to see if things would turn out as he had imagined. Marcy looked over at Joe, who just nodded. It was a strange wordless conversation between the two of them that John was observing, he didn't know this kind of communication, and it fascinated him somehow. It seemed to him like a telepathic conversation between the two of them, but he didn't believe it. Then again, he would never have believed that he would find or possess a ring with such abilities.

"Could we continue the conversation in private?" she asked him. Marcy smiled at him, but it still seemed a little awkward and helpless.

Chapter 12 He agrees (more or less)

Chapter overview