"You got the money?" Steve asked, looking left and right suspiciously.
Ken blinked a few times, feeling a little odd. However, he pulled out the cash from his wallet, casually handing it over to his friend.
"Damn man, be a little more careful where you're waving that stuff." Steve hissed, quickly snatching it from his hands and putting it away.
"Oi, what are you two doing?" A teacher yelled, seeing the suspicious activity from afar.
Steve froze, his face full of panic.
Ken on the other hand looked way less guilty as he turned to a teacher he didn't recognize. "Morning Sir." He said politely, bowing slightly.
The teacher in his mid forties was slightly taken aback at the polite gesture and instantly seemed to calm down. However, his gaze moved to Steve who looked to be sweating bullets.
He let out a sigh, holding his hand out. "Hand over the drugs now and I won't involve the police."
"Drugs?" Ken was immediately bamboozled. How did the conversation move to such a subject out of nowhere?
Even Steve who was crapping his pants before, looked at the teacher with utter confusion. "Mr. Paul… I have no idea what you're talking about." He answered simply.
Seeing their reactions, the teacher could tell that they were being genuine, but something didn't seem right. "So what did you hand Steve just now?" Mr. Paul asked, sending an accusatory gaze towards Ken.
"I just gave him my joining fees for the Baseball team." Ken said simply, his poker face in full effect.
Steve's eyes widened a little in surprise, but he quickly managed to hide it. He hadn't expected Ken to lie, and so easily as well. If Steve didn't know about the situation, he might have even believed him.
Mr. Paul frowned, not knowing whether to believe him or not. Eventually, he decided to take the next step. He had a duty to ensure that no drugs were on school grounds, even if that meant taking things a step further.
"Alright, turn out your pockets, or we'll be heading to the principals office." He said, moving closer.
Ken let out a sigh, feeling it was a little harsh. However, he still complied.
After a few minutes, they were still taken to the school's office despite there being no signs of drugs on the two. The fact that two teenage students were exchanging such a large sum of money was concerning enough for Mr. Paul to escalate it.
Both Ken and Steve sat down, their expressions somber.
"Dude… This is because you were so suspicious." Ken stated, his tone carrying some blame.
Steve lowered his head, feeling a little bad at the misunderstanding. This day was meant to be a joyous occasion when he would finally be able to buy his car, but such a thing had happened.
Meanwhile, back at Ken's home, Yuki was busy cleaning around the kitchen after breakfast. Ken had only left around 45 minutes ago and Chris had likely arrived at work by now.
RING RING
Suddenly, the land line phone rang, causing her to raise an eyebrow. She had not really given out the number yet, so receiving a call was unexpected.
"Is that Mrs. Rodgers?" She mumbled, picking up the phone.
"Hello, this is the Takagi residence." She answered politely.
"Hi Mrs. Takagi, we have some news about your son Ken." The woman on the other line spoke, causing Yuki's face to turn up in worry.
"I—Is he okay?" She stammered, feeling her heart drop.
However, after a few minutes of conversation, her face turned up into a frown.
"Yes, I was there when Ken withdrew $1000 from his own bank account. He said that he was going to give it to his friend Steve so that he could purchase a car today." She said sternly.
Her tone was curt enough for the woman on the other side to feel her annoyance.
"W—We're terribly sorry for the mix up Mrs. Takagi." She said, quickly hanging up on the other end.
Back in the school administration office, the receptionist hung up the phone abruptly and felt her face heat up in embarrassment. Her eyes moved to Mr. Paul, the one who had started this whole mess.
"Mr. Paul… Please tell Ken and Steve that they can go to class." She said, her self control barely in check.
"What? Wait, aren't you gonna tell the principal and get these two suspended?" He said, filled with confusion.
"Suspended? I just confirmed with Ken's mom that the money was indeed his own and not stolen. He also has a valid reason to be lending the money to Steve, in order to buy a new car."
"Huh?" However, the teachers face morphed a few moments later, "Wait, he lied! He told me that it was for joining fees for his baseball club. The stories don't match, we can't trust them." He said matter-of-factly.
"Jason! Send them to class." The lady said, almost yelling and drawing the eyes of the other receptionists to her.
Jason Paul almost jumped in fright. He wanted to retort, but it seemed that the shout had snapped him out of it.
"A—Alright." He said, agreeing reluctantly.
He walked out to the lobby of the administration building and saw the two teens waiting patiently. "Alright, you two head to class. I'll be keeping an eye on you guys from now on though." Mr. Paul said, his eyes showing his suspicions.
Steve breathed a sigh of relief, but Ken simply stood up and went to leave. He could understand why the teacher might have suspected something off, but it didn't mean he wasn't annoyed.
As Ken walked out the door, Steve quickly caught up with him.
"Man that was close…" he said, wiping the non-existent sweat from his brow.
However, noticing that Ken was silent, he queried him, "You okay man?"
"Mmm, I'm fine. But you owe me." He said simply.
"Huh? W—What do you want?"
Ken grinned, "Oh nothing much, I just need a new training partner."