"It is off," he shouted back. Someone from behind him, one of the guys, added, "Effects last a few minutes after, though..."
When Mao pulled away, Rolan let him go. He would have hovered nearby worriedly, but the boy's words had him frozen with confusion. What on Earth was he talking about? He opened his mouth to say something, anything to try and correct whatever misunderstanding was happening but then the teacher was there, and his chance to do so was taken away. All he had left to do was keep himself out of trouble. Or as much as he could.
"You damn liar!" That came from one of his friends still sticking around.
"God, just, shut up," he said to the idiot who had caused this whole mess to begin with. He turned to Mao, eyes narrowed furiously, and then to the teacher, eyes no longer as furious. This was the thanks he got for thinking Mao was cute and then wanting to help him with a bloody nose? "Kevin here was using his powers in the hall, so I project a negation field to stop him from being an idiot. Mao walked into it. My ability is Power Negation." The accent was repressed once more, though it always showed a little bit in his voice, no matter how hard he tried to get rid of it.
"After that, Mao tripped into the lockers and I tried to help him stop his bloody nose." He pointed to the flannel shirt he had tried to help Mao with and then shoved his hands into his pockets... refusing to look at the Asian now. He had too much riding on him to get in trouble, especially when he hadn't done a damn thing to Mao on purpose. Imagining the look of disappointment on the faces of his parents was enough to drop a metaphorical bucket of ice water on him.