Because my policy in childhood was to bend like the willow and not break like the oak. Not phrased in those words, and not quite as consciously chosen as it is now, but it was my policy, and for the most part I stand by it. Modern me, looking back with an engineer's rather cold cost/benefits analysis, sees way more cost than any possible benefit, so I might refine my past self's reasons but I'd still take the same actions.

Fortunately, this was closer to a one-off problem in an otherwise acceptable class rather than a systematic issue.

"Escalating" in American high school is a good way to increase your consequences to no benefit.

He was just a kid, man.