That night, all of them slept on their respective bunk beds, except Kai who was happy to sleep on the mat on the floor. Wyatt initially volunteered but Tamaya said it would be best to let him sleep on the floor since he tends to move around at night. Everyone else exchanged scared looks. 

All of them had to attend regular classes as usual. The moment they entered the lecture hall, they could feel the eyes of everyone on them. People continued to whisper and avoid them. Tamaya and Kai ignored them, it wasn’t the first time they experienced something like this. The rest of them looked either scared or terrified. Except May-Lynn who looked more uncomfortable than scared. 

After the lecture, Tamaya left to use the bathroom, separating herself from the group. The moment she exited the bathroom, the girls who surrounded her just a day before surrounded her again. They bombarded her with questions and told her how they believed she was framed. They believed it was fake because there was no crime revealed, therefore, there’s no way Tamaya was a ‘criminal’. 

Tamaya gave a look of amusement. She looked around her and noticed Kai was surrounded by a group of guys who were confronting him on the exact same thing. She noticed Kai was trying to hold his laugh. She started to hear the girls talk bad of the other members whose crimes were revealed. 

“Listen.” Tamaya said, getting the girl's attention. 

“You can believe what you want. But that doesn’t give you the right to talk bad about others.” 

“I think it's best if we don’t talk to each other anymore.” Tamaya said firmly as she walked off. Kai saw this and pushed his way past the group confronting him. 

“Is it me or did I get my time wasted by hearing a ton of rubbish?” Tamaya asked. Kai pretended to dig his ears. 

“Tell me about it,” he agreed. 

They gathered with the rest of the group and went on to the next class. In the next class, things started to get even worse. They weren’t just facing discrimination from students, but from the professors as well. Tamaya didn’t blame them, these professors were anyway ex-police officers. 

The professors would keep calling upon all five of them to answer. Anytime they couldn’t result in mockery and humiliation. Diego and Wyatt gulped. They had never felt so small before. May-Lynn was annoyed and she kept shifting in her seat. She tried to lower herself so that she couldn’t be seen. 

Tamaya could tell emotions were getting high. Even Kai who usually would not be ticked off by such things would sit with his fists clenched, ready to attack someone. It was the last class of the day, Tamaya spoke to everyone in the group, trying to give them some encouragement and make them feel less worn out. 

“Where’s Kai?” she said as she noticed he had been missing from his seat. Everyone shrugged. Tamaya narrowed her eyes, he was up to something. The class had started and Kai was still not there. Tamaya wanted to look for him, but she knew it was a bad idea. Five minutes had passed since the class started, and there was still no sign of Kai. 

Suddenly, the lecture doors opened. Everyone whipped their heads at the sound of the doors opening. Kai walked in. Everyone gasped, even the professor had his mouth slightly open. Tamaya's eyes widened, he did not just do that. Kai was wearing a tank top and sweatpants. His tattoos were fully displayed. 

All his tattoos were of different colours, some were bright but others were black and grey. He walked all the way to his seat and sat down. Everyone started to talk to each other. Kai smiled as though he had just won a battle. 

“I’m sorry but that is unacceptable.” the professor said, trying to gain his composure. 

“That?” Kai said provocatively, 

“Oh, you mean these?” he said, putting his arms in front of him. He was referring to the tattoos on his arms. 

“I’m surprised that that was the best you can say.” Kai responded. Tamaya kicked him, he shot her an annoying look. 

“Stop.” she whispered under her breath. He gave her a look that said watch me. 

“Why don’t you explain one of the cases you took while you were a police officer. The one that resulted in my arrest.” he said, meeting the professor’s eyes. 

“Or should I tell them?” he asked. 

The professor cleared his throat. He changed his slideshow to another file located on his laptop. The file was dated seven years ago. There was a picture of an older looking man. His body was blurred out but anyone could make out that he was stabbed. More people started to gasp. Kai looked straight ahead. 

The professor clicked the next picture, and it instantly showed a boy who looked exactly like Kai. His front and back photo was taken. Once again, showing his tattooed body. 

The professor cleared his throat and began to talk. He explained this case was a parricide case that tore officers and judges on their decision. The kid in the picture was heavily abused by his father, every mistake he did or anything the kid did to anger the parent, resulted in a pattern inked on the boy’s skin. 

Although neighbours had reported multiple times such instances of abuse, it wasn’t dealt with until a year ago, when the boy was found with a knife in his hands. And the parent had died. 

“So tell me. Why even after multiple reports was it dealt with only when it ended like this.” Kai said, interrupting the professor. 

The professor remained stunned, unable to answer. Tamaya stared at him and bit her lip. 

“It doesn’t matter. We’re just criminals aren’t we?” Kai said, standing up and looking at everyone else in the lecture hall. No one dared to meet his eyes. He kept a straight face, walking out of the lecture hall, hands in his pockets. 

Note: Sorry for posting late :(