CHAPTER 5 | Them

(^ Pics of Mark's arrogant minions: Herman, Skylar, Scarlet and Rupert)

We sat there for the next 10 minutes, writing down some instructions that Ms. Wright gave us. She told us we were going to make a poster in which we explained a chemistry topic. She gave a different one to each team. Ours was chemical reactions and how they occur.

The bell rang and we all packed our things inside our backpacks.
I stood up and looked at Jaida.

"Um, Jaida."

"Yes, Zack?"

"I was wondering... if maybe you'd like to go lunch with me and some friends."

She smiled. "Yeah, that would be nice, thanks Zack. But first I'm going to talk to Ms. Wright about something real quick, ok?"

"Ok. I'll wait for you outside the classroom."

"Alright."

Before leaving though, I took one last glance at Mark. Again, our eyes met for a second. And yet again, he was glaring at me.

I quickly turned to leave and walked out the classroom, standing at the side of the door to wait for Jaida.

Just then, I heard a group of distinctive laughs and voices. I didn't need to turn and see who it was, because I already knew.
As expected, Mark's minions were walking in my direction, and they shut their mouths as soon as they noticed me.

I turned to look at a bunch of confused and surprised faces looking directly at me.

"Why is the fag here?" That was Herman's voice.

I looked down and stayed silent.

"Um, hey. Just in case you didn't know, this is my boyfriend's classroom. What are you even doing here?" Scarlet spoke with her high pitched and irritating voice.

"I know, and just in case you didn't know, this is my classroom too." I replied.

She gasped. "What?!"

"Don't tell me you're in the same class with Mark." Rupert said.

"Yes, I am." I simply said.

"Goddammit, dwarf. Stop following him everywhere, will you?" He said kinda mad.

"I'm not following him. I was assigned this classroom and he happened to be here, that's all. And I'm waiting for a friend."

Scarlet laughed. "As if you had friends."

I crossed my arms as I heard them laugh. God, I hate them so much.

"I bet he asked for a change of classroom so he could be with the love of his life." Herman said and they awed.

"Keep dreaming, little boy. You will never have my boyfriend by any means. Mark is not a fag. Is that clear?"

I was growing angrier with every insult. I couldn't be silent anymore.

"First of all, how could I ask for a change of classroom just to be with him? How was I even supposed to know he was going to be here? And second, why would I want to have him?!"

"Because you like him, duh." Rupert interrupted me.

"...I don't like him!" I tried hard not to stutter and not to blush. But I couldn't help it. I could feel my face heating after a few seconds.

"Don't lie, we know you like him." Herman spoke. "We can see it in your eyes. The way you look at him, the way you turn red. You're secretly wishing he could fuck you all night long, and fill your mouth with his disgusting seed, and you swallow it all like the whore and fag you are."

Both Scarlet and Rupert burst out laughing at that.

I blushed harder from the embarrassment of the scene he just described... but I also blushed from anger.

"Am I right, or am I right?"

"...Stupid asshole."

I heard gasps not only from the group, but also from other students who were close to the scene.

As soon as those words slipped out of my mouth, he ran towards me at an incredible speed, and pushed me harshly against the wall. I groaned in pain and I swear I felt the wall shake a bit behind me by his great force.

"How did you call me, faggot?!" He yelled, some of his saliva landing on my face.

I was so shocked and scared. I just looked at him, instantly regretting what I said.

"You're so fucking dead." He said and lifted his fist, ready to hit me.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

I opened my eyes to see Mark standing by the door and looking at us with a confused face.

"Mark! You're going to miss how Herman beats the shit out of that boy." Scarlet said and clinged to his arm as soon as he got out.

"And why?" Mark asked calmly, but there was a slight tone of concern in his voice.

"Well, it happens that your secret admirer here has a little dirty mouth." Herman said, still with his fist raised.

Then Jaida got out from the classroom shortly after. Her eyes widened when she saw me in my current situation.

"Zack!" Then she looked at Herman. "What are you doing to him?"

"And who are you? His girlfriend?" Herman laughed.

"No, but you have no right to treat him like that."

"Ooh, and what are you gonna do? Hit me?" He laughed again.

"If it's that what you want..."

Jaida approached him and punched Herman hardly on his stomach.
His eyes bulged out and he let out a gasp. He let go of me as he held his stomach.

"You fucking whore!" Herman spat and walked towards her. "Do you think I can't hit you just because you're a fucking chick?!"

"Herman, stop." Mark spoke.

"Why? You're defending them now?!" He was clearly pissed now.

"Of course not, you idiot. But you don't want to get us in another problem, do you? Now let's go before-"

Mark was interrupted by Ms. Wright coming out of the classroom. "What's happening here?"

Everybody fell silent. "You again? Who are you fighting with this time?" She said as her eyes landed on Herman.

He didn't say anything and just fixed the cap he always wore.

"You come with me." Ms. Wright said pointing to him. Then she turned to Mark's group. "And you too."

"What? Why?! What did we do?!" Scarlet exclaimed.

"Don't ask and come with me! All of you, come on!" She shouted back.

Everybody started leaving. Jaida took my arm and pulled me gently. "Come on." She said.

I turned to look at Herman before leaving. He showed me his middle finger with a hateful face.

================

I don't know what Ms. Wright did to them. Were they going to be suspended? Expelled? They will be so mad at me either way. I don't want to think what's going to happen next. But they were the ones who started it! Especially Herman. You know I didn't do anything.

Jaida and I made our way to the cafeteria silently. I was still shaking a bit from the earlier events. I would have ended with a wound or two if it wasn't for Ms. Wright, who stopped all of that, but mainly Jaida, who pushed him off me. Her strength was surprising.

"Thank you... for defending me." I finally said. It's the second time someone defends me from any of those monsters, and it embarrassed me more that this time it was a girl who had done it.

"No problem. I couldn't let him lay a single finger on you. Besides, I had wanted to do that for a long time. I hate those guys."

"Me too, Jaida... But, how do you know they bother me?"

"I saw how Mark called you yesterday at the hall. I knew he had something with you."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, and now we have to deal with him, because he's not only in the same class as us, but also in the same team." She sighed.

"That sucks."

She chuckled and we finally entered the cafeteria. We saw Amber and Vincent sitting on a far away table. They noticed us and Amber stood up.

"Zacky! What took you so long? How was your class with Mark? Did he bother you? Who is she?" She bombarded me with questions.

I laughed a little. "I'll answer your last question first. She is my friend Jaida."

Amber shook her hand. "Hi. I'm Amber, the craziest girl in the group."

"Well, nice to meet you, Amber."

Then Vincent stood up and took Jaida's hand gently. "Hello, lady. My name's Vincent Clark. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Jaida giggled. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Vincent."

"Aaaw, so cute. Now everybody sit down because Zack has some story to tell us, right Zacky?" Amber said excitedly.

"Yeah, I think..."

We sat and we pulled out our lunches. I brought my sandwich, while Amber brought a bag of cheetoz; Vincent brought a soda and Jaida brought an apple.

"Ok, Zack, tell us how was your class with big tough guy." Amber said as she ate a cheeto.

"Well, I noticed he wouldn't stop-"

"Do you want one?" I was interrupted by Amber who put her bag of hot cheetoz in front of me.

"Uh, no thanks, Amber."

"I'll leave it here if any of you guys want one." She placed it on the center of the table.

"Oh, thanks. Very kind." Vincent said grabbing one.

"Go on, Zack, sorry for interrupting." Said Amber.

"Ok. As I was saying, the creep wouldn't stop looking at me."

"He was looking at you?" Vincent asked after he took a sip of his soda.

"Yeah, well actually he was glaring. But I don't know why."

"Maybe he likes you." Amber said.

"What?!"

"...Just saying." She said innocently and grabbed another cheeto.

"That's absurd. Why would he like me? The look on his eyes was full of hatred that if glares could kill, I'd be dead by now."

"I wonder why he hates you so much." Vincent said, placing a hand on his chin.

"And now, to make things worse." This time Jaida spoke. "He's in the same team as us."

"Team of what?" Vincent asked.

"Well, there's this chemistry project we have to finish by the end of this month, and we have to work in teams of five people. Mark is in our team."

"No way! How did that happen?" Amber asked dramatically.

"Nobody wanted him in their teams, and ours was composed of 4 people, so he had to join us." I explained.

"Wow, what a coincidence. You're together in the same classroom and now in the same team! It's as if destiny wants you to be together in life too."

I almost choked on my sandwich. Jaida patted my back a few times. "What?!" I exclaimed once again.

"Amber, don't start with the bullshit." Vincent said.

I regained my composure. "Yes, Amber, don't say nonsense."

"Heh, sorry."

"Besides, that would be impossible. We could never be together. Ever."

"And... would like it if you two could be together?" Vincent asked and all eyes were on me now. I blushed hard.

"N-No! Of course not!"

"Oh ok, man. No need to be angry. It's just that you sounded a bit disappointed."

Amber was laughing silently and I glared at her.

================

I explained the rest of the story. I told them how Herman almost kills me outside the classroom, just because I opened my damn mouth to let out a couple of insults.

Jaida and Amber said he deserved it, and that I did well. Vincent complained about not being there to fight him. But if he had been there, maybe they would have killed each other.

I told them how Jaida punched him in his stomach, and she received compliments from Amber and Vincent. To be honest, I was kinda jealous. It was as if I was the only one who couldn't defend by himself. They were strong and I was weak.

Anyway, they told me I can count on them for anything I need, and that I can talk about anything with them. I was glad that my friends cared about me, and I cared about them too.

Vincent left early, since his classes finished at 1pm. He decided to go home instead of going somewhere else, because he said he was tired and wanted to sleep for a while. I know that feeling, I would have done the same.

Our classes finished at 2pm, as usual. I was walking through the corridors with Amber and Jaida. We talked happily, we exchanged opinions about random subjects, and laughed at stupid jokes. We got along really well.

"Hey Zacky, Jaida and I have decided to go to the mall! You coming?" Amber asked excitedly.

"The mall? And what are you going to do there?"

"Duh, we're gonna go shopping, obviously!"

Ugh, shopping. I hate that. These girls were just going to stop at every store to look at thousands of clothes and never buy anything. As much as I want to hang out with them, that was not my place to be.

"No, thanks. Shopping is not my thing, sorry."

Unless you go shopping for video games... or food.

"Aw, Zacky, we were going to buy you a brand new pair of underwear!"

"What?" I chuckled. "I don't need underwear. I have a lot. Thanks for offering, though."

They laughed. "Ok, Zacky. When you feel like going anywhere, just tell us, ok? See you tomorrow."

Amber hugged me and then pinched at my cheek.

"See you, Amber."

Then Jaida approached me. "I'll see you tomorrow, Zack. And stay away from those brats, ok?"

"I'll do. See you, Jaida. Have fun." I said with a smile.

She smiled back, then she leaned closer to give me a kiss on my cheek.

My eyes widened and I blushed a bit. It's been a while since a girl kissed my cheek.

"Oops, I stained you with my lipstick, sorry." She said giggling and cleaning my cheek with her thumb.

"Heh, don't worry."

She smiled once more and went back with Amber. I watched as they walked away, talking about some cute dress that Amber saw in the mall.

I stood there for a while until I turned around to head to the restrooms.

After I finished my business, it was time to go home. My aunt must be waiting for me now. I walked through the now empty corridors, until... you guessed, Mark and his minions appeared out of the corner of a wall, scaring me.

"Where are you going?" Mark said calmly, arms crossed and stone-faced.

"Why do you care?" I replied.

"You don't answer me like that, you heard me prick?" He said raising the tone of his voice. "Now you're not going anywhere until you explain why you caused that scene outside the classroom."

My mouth hung open in disbelief. "What? Now I'm the one who caused it?!"

"Yes, you're the one." Herman replied. "If you hadn't opened your dirty mouth, I wouldn't have gotten mad, I wouldn't be about to kill you, and we wouldn't have gotten detention!"

He gets mad only for a couple insults I threw at him? I didn't even hit him or gave him a reason to feel really mad. And I thought I was sensitive...

"But you were the one who started! I didn't do anything!"

"Yes, you did." Mark said. "You insulted him while he was insulting you. And I want you to know something: when we're making fun of you, you must always have your mouth shut, or else, you'll just make things worse. We almost got suspended, and maybe even expelled, because of you."

"Now you're blaming me for this? You're saying this is my fault?"

"Yes, it's your fault." He spat.

I couldn't believe what he was saying.

"So I'm just going to let you insult me and hurt me? What did I even do?"

"Nothing, really. Just being a fag." He said.

"What makes you think I'm a... that?!"

"Simply the way you look at me, yesterday and today in class. By the way, just because we're in the same class and same team, that doesn't mean I'm going to start acting all nice to you. So if you don't want problems, you better stay away from us, and don't keep looking at me like a fucking girl in love. That's disgusting. Otherwise, I will rip your fucking eyes off. Is that clear?"

I stayed silent.

"Is that clear?!" He shouted.

"Yes! Yes, it's clear..."

They all started laughing... at me. Mark with that smug look on his face, Scarlet with her high pitched and irritating voice, Rupert and Herman laughing like idiots.
They were all laughing, except for one person... The tall blonde girl. What was her name again?

Skylar...

She was the only one who had a serious look on her face. No laughing, no emotion. Would that mean she's the only one who doesn't hate me?

I looked at her, silently pleading with my eyes, pleading for her to do something about this.

And what did she do? She just turned her head to look the other way. Like saying: Nope. Don't count on me.

She wasn't laughing. But she wasn't helping either.

After a while of laughs and mocks, they walked pass me, not before receiving a punch on my arm from Mark.

I stood there, rubbing my arm and unable to move. It wasn't my fault that they almost got expelled. It was theirs.

My second day and things just seem to get worse.