Prologue
The story begins at an idyllic school playground where children were playing football and having fun while teachers were supervising them, making sure no student broke the rules and caused harm to each other. It was a sunny day and two best friends were walking around, talking to each other about random stuff.
“So, Clay. How’s your day going so far?” A girl asked, happily.
“Nothing much. Mrs Nisha was being cranky in IT as per usual,” Clay said, annoyed.
“Oh, what happened?”
“She kept on and on about how we weren’t following her instructions properly. I just told her that I didn’t understand what she was saying, and she got mad.”
“Ugh, teachers can be so annoying sometimes,” the girl said.
“Yeah, I know.” Clay thought of something else to say. “So, do you want to play a game?”
“Sure, what did you have in mind?”
Clay tried to think of a game that he and Alex could play until a group of menacing bullies approached the duo.
“I’ve got a good one. Let’s play a game that totally won’t involve you two kissing,” the leader of the group, a kid named Rod, teased cheekily.
Both Alex and Clay gagged at the mere mention of such a topic, and they got angry at the same time while the bullies laughed at them.
“Knock it off, Rod!” Alex shouted in an angry tone.
“Chill out, princess. It was a joke,” said one of Rod’s friends, Ashley.
The group of bullies then proceeded to make lewd comments and suggestions about how the two best friends would play if they were to hold hands and do it. This made Alex and Clay even angrier, and they began to yell obscenities at the group in response.
“How about all of you go screw yourselves or else we’ll—”
“Or else what!” Rod yelled mockingly in an intimidating tone. He and Clay stared at each other angrily.
“Stop it! This is unacceptable behaviour!” a teacher’s voice boomed.
The group of boys looked sheepishly at each other as the teacher came towards them.
“What happened?” The teacher asked, sternly.
“Rod was teasing me and Clay about us kissing,” Alex said.
“It was a joke, you dramatic loser.”
“That’s enough, Ashley.”
The bell rang for third period as Clay and Rod looked away from each other and scoffed.
“I suggest going to your next class and apologising to each other for what happened,” the teacher said before walking off.
“And don’t think I’m going to just give you a pass because I won’t,” she added.
Clay and Rod groaned as they walked away from each other in a daze.
“You’re dead,” Rod whispered menacingly to Clay as he and his friends went to their next classes.
“Don’t worry about them,” Clay reassured Alex. “They’re just a bunch of dicks.”
“Okay,” Alex said, but she didn’t look convinced.
The two friends went to their next class, which was Maths.
When they walked into their Maths class, Clay saw Rod and sat in the front of the class while Alex sat behind him next to another student.
“Class, may I have your attention, please?” Mrs Bilbe, the teacher, said in a loud, commanding tone. She waited for everyone to quiet down before continuing. “Today, we’re going to learn about angles. Now, what I want you to do is work in pairs, and I want you to write the name of the angle in your pairs workbook in the chart you have in front of you.”
The students nodded in acknowledgement as they got to work.
“Now, don’t forget to swap notes with the person next to you,” Mrs Bilbe instructed, as the students went back to work.
Some students were working hard while others were messing around. Alex and her partner had already written down a few notes and were swapping them back and forth. Clay and his partner had not written down any notes yet and were working as hard as they could.
Clay glanced over at Alex and noticed her looking at him. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
Several minutes later, a few pairs finished the work while most were struggling to answer some questions and Mrs Bilbe noticed this so she decided to give the students a short break.
“Okay, I’ve been noticing that some people are struggling with this so I’m going to give you a five-minute break to allow your minds to think properly,” Mrs Bilbe said, apathetically.
The class went to the astroturf that was near the Maths room. The astroturf had a large tree with a bench circling around it and bushes behind the tree. It was a very relaxing place to relax and think of what to do next.
Alex and Clay sat down on the bench together, and as soon as they sat down, they started whispering to each other.
“I can’t believe Rod and Ashley were being dicks to us at break.”
“Yeah, I can’t believe they thought it was funny. You should have hit them back.”
“What, you wanted me to start a fight?”
“Maybe. Did you see how they were laughing?”
Rod and Ashley were talking to each other until they heard Clay and Alex talk about them. The boys then approached the best friends.
“Hey, are you talking about us behind our backs?” Rod asked. He was standing with Ashley, who was noticeably mad.
“We were just talking,” Alex said, defensively.
“Yeah, we were just talking,” Clay added, hesitantly. “And we didn’t mean to insult you or anything.”
“Yeah, you did,” Ashley said, in an accusing tone.
Clay looked at the ground and didn’t say anything else. Alex looked at Rod and Ashley and noticed they were both smirking.
“What?” she asked, in an angry tone.
“You heard me,” Ashley said, in a quiet, but stern voice.
“Oh, come on,” Clay said, in a joking tone. “We were just messing with you.”
“No, you weren’t,” Rod said, in an authoritative tone.
“Yeah, we were,” Clay said, trying to avoid any arguments.
“No, you weren’t,” Rod repeated, in a firm voice. “Now, you and your girlfriend are going to apologise to me and Ashley right now, or else.”
“Or else what?” Alex asked, in a menacing tone.
Rod didn’t say anything. He just looked at Alex and gave her a stare.
“We’ll give you a choice. You can apologise to us now or suffer the consequences.”
Clay and Alex looked at each other concerned and worried.
“I’m sorry,” Clay apologised, looking at Ashley and Rod. “It was just a joke.”
Rod and Ashley looked at each other and smirked. They then looked back at Clay.
“Alright, but before we accept your apology, let us do something quickly,” Ashley said, in a harsh tone.
Clay reluctantly nodded and Rod punched him in the stomach. Clay held his stomach in pain.
Alex saw what happened and tried to save Clay but a boy held her back from the fight.
“No, Alex, stay out of it,” the boy said.
“Let go of me!” Alex said, struggling to get free.
Clay fought back against Rod and punched him, without any success. Ashley punched Clay in the back of his head then Rod pushed him onto the grass and Clay fell into a W position and screamed in pain.
Everyone watched the fight in horror as Mrs Bilbe transferred the students to another classroom.
Alex looked at Clay, who was on the ground in pain. She wanted to help him but she knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. It looked like he needed help but it would be much better for her to stay out of it.
“I’m sorry,” Alex whispered, regretfully, before walking away.
Rod, Ashley and the other boy who held Alex walked away as well.
Clay laid on the grass, unable to get up after trying several times. He was in so much pain. He had never felt so much pain before. He looked up at the sky and noticed how pretty it was. He hoped he would never experience anything like that again. He started to cry and continued crying until a teaching assistant came out of a nearby classroom and helped him.
