Some students insisted he must have transferred again. Others murmured that he’d run away after the humiliation. A few claimed his father got relocated overnight, while someone else swore the principal had met with the police after hours. Then came the moment that sealed the panic: a squad car parked outside the school on Wednesday morning.
Two officers entered the building and were seen walking straight into the principal’s office. Students pressed themselves against hallway lockers, trying to hear something but every conversation inside that office was muffled under institutional secrecy. The bullies who once shoved Richard around suddenly went pale, whispering in tight circles.