People had been staring at Chase since he first walked in. They always took a second look at him to make sure it was Chase Verdict. He wasn’t invisible anymore. Girls started smiling at him and the next thing he knew, he had a few friends. Of course Oliver wasn’t happy about it. Gina had dumped him just two days of dating and she had her eyes on Chase now. Chase had looked more normal and kind of good looking from various aspects. Oliver might not have the courage to admit it but Chase was getting more popular than he was. He tried a solution he thought might get him back in his game again.
“What’s the matter? You can’t talk, Ugly?”
He mocked the Down-Syndrome kid, again. And Chase happened to be in the hallway too. He was sick and tired of Oliver pushing people around. He wanted to kick his ass so bad. He thought again, it had been a week since he had been reserved. Oliver had somehow forgotten about targeting him lately. But then again, he wasn’t scared anymore. He will soon die anyway so he figured, why shouldn’t he charge at Oliver right now?
“Hey Oliver!” called Chase.
With one grip, Chase pulled Oliver off the victim.
“What the hell!” cried Oliver.
“Go, get out of here,” urged Chase.
He turned around to face his nemesis.
“You’ve got something to say to me punk?”
“Yeah, I do. I’m sick and tired of watching you harassing us just because we’re different. But that doesn’t make you a whole lot better than us! It’s time to stop the violence I’d say!”
Oliver’s followers came through. Students were circling them to see the fight.
“Just because you put on new clothes doesn’t mean you get to mess with the order around here! We the jocks, we RULE the school! And you pathetic Nerds, Geeks and Weirdos don’t get to do anything about it!”
Oliver seemed very satisfied. He thought by this ‘scene’, he’d have his reputation back on line. His followers were laughing and they were ready to take on Chase.
“You don’t scare me. In fact, I feel sorry for your ass! You may look tough on the outside but I know you’re just a big baby on the inside. You’re angry at the world coz you can’t get what you want. A jock? Yeah, you might be in the School Captain but guess what? You have never won anything for school. You guys suck so much that even the toilet wouldn’t want to flush you out!”
Chase managed to break through Oliver’s wall. He became angrier that he was exposed. Other students were whispering to each other, agreeing to what Chase was saying. The Jocks, they were a total embarrassment to the school. Even the geeks club like the AV, Math and Counselling had greater reputation and brought home some trophies. The bullies were shaking now. Oliver was under pressure to prove Chase was wrong but he knew it was true. Without hesitations, he charged at Chase.
“You loser! You can’t talk to me like that!” screamed Oliver.
He succeeded to crash Chase at the wall. He got him pinned. He swung his right fist but Chase dodged it at the last minute. His fist turned red. Chase pushed Oliver with his left shoulder so hard he fell on his back. He tried to flee but Sam and Noah got in his way.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Sam.
Ben helped Oliver to pick himself up. Chase was surrounded by the bullies. Oliver punched locker number 204 and it sprung open. He signalled the boys to shove Chase’s face in the locker but Chase was too smart for that. He pulled his hands fast and slammed the bullies’ heads into each other. He turned around only to find Sam in front of him. Chase faked left and broke to his right. Sam stumbled upon his twisted legs and fell down. Chase would have gotten away if it wasn’t for Oliver’s quick hand reaching for his shirt. With his motion pulled back, Chase jumped back and knocked Oliver down. But Chase wasn’t looking to where he was heading. He bumped into a hard and smelly figure. He looked up and saw it was Coach Que. Coach held Chase’s collar high.
“What is going on here?” Coach asked.
They looked at each other, trying to make an excuse.
“We’re just messing around Coach,” Oliver lied.
“Messing around? What do you think I am? Stupid?!”
He looked like he was about to eat them.
“And you- did you do this to them?”
Coach asked about the four beaten guys down on the floor. Other students started circling them. They were shocked to find Oliver trying to get on his feet and the panting Chase. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Whispers and assumptions spread amongst them.
“I was just protecting myself.”
Some pupil started laughing at Oliver and the rest. It was the first time anyone had dared to challenge the bullies. Coach told them to dismiss themselves while he tried to figure things out.
“All of you, at my office! Now!”
Five of them almost peed themselves when Coach raised his voice. He was the most fearful teacher in the school. He doesn’t tolerate impoliteness and his methods were often unorthodox. Chase straightened out his shirt and picked up his books. He followed Coach Que to his office.
“Gina! Gina! That’s the guy! He saved me!” said the victim from earlier.
Chase apparently had passed in front of him and Gina but was too keen on his rage he didn’t see Patrick, the guy he had saved from Oliver. Gina took a good look at Chase’s face. She knew who he was. She’d recognised him anywhere.
***
Words spread fast as the text messages and pictures of Oliver’s fight with Chase were sent to the whole school. By the time Coach Que had escorted them to the Principal’s Office, Mr. Franklin had already seen the video of them fighting. Coach Que whispered something slow to Mr. Franklin’s ears and the meeting was joined by the school counsellor. All of the kids were stared fiercely by the adults.
“Your behaviour here at the school is unacceptable and threatens other students’ safety,” said Mr. Franklin.
“Now, what do you boys have anything to say?”
Chase knew Oliver and his friends would try to manipulate the story into making him the villain here. He didn’t want to take blame for something he didn’t do. He decided to speak up his mind.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I was just protecting myself,” Chase stated his case.
Olive wouldn’t want Chase to get away so he rose from his seat and stomped Mr. Franklin’s desk; which by the way, wasn’t a good way to show that he was innocent. Coach pushed him back to his seat.
“Didn’t do anything? He attacked us Mr. Franklin! We couldn’t have just sit there and do nothing!” Oliver lied.
The others nod. Coach was furious and hit Ben, Sam and Noah’s heads with his thick report book.
“Don’t lie!” warned Coach.
“Mr. Verdict, continue,” said Mr. Franklin.
“Oliver and his friends, as usual, were bullying this kid. So I interfered and Oliver got mad, he attacked me. I didn’t even hit them! All I did was protecting myself from their fists!”
“Oh, come on!” moaned Oliver.
Coach raised his hand as a warning and Oliver shut himself up.
“And you Mr. Wood, what’s your side of the story?”
“I was just talking to that Down-Syndrome kid and this guy suddenly shouted at me for no reason. He mocked the entire athletes that represent this school and teased you Coach Que. We told him to back off but he suddenly jumped on me! What was I supposed to do? Be quiet and do nothing?” said Oliver.
Mr. Franklin, Coach Que and the school counsellor looked at each other with doubts. They didn’t know which side to believe. Both parties had run into troubles in school lately. Their school records weren’t that impressive either. They sent them out to discuss the matter. Somebody had to be punished. Then there was a knock on the door. Patrick and Gina Evan entered the room.
“Sir, we have something to say about this morning’s incident,” reported Gina.
Ten minutes later and the boys were called in back into the office. They stood there, hoping the teachers bought their side of the story. Oliver had a wicked smile on his face. He was pretty confident Coach Que would bail them out and pin it all on Chase. But his smile faded when he saw Patrick and Gina there.
“Both of these students claimed to have witness the whole thing. Patrick’s story matched with Mr. Verdict’s and we all know Patrick wouldn’t lie. And from the video, it is obvious that Mr. Verdict was only protecting himself, like he said he was. Therefore, Mr. Verdict, you can go now. Mr. Wood and the rest have to stay. I’ll have to call your parents to report about this incident. Thank you Patrick, Ms. Evan.”
Oliver’s eyes stalked Chase and had a ruthless spark in them. The war had just begun. Once he was out, Chase thanked Patrick for what he did.
“Thank you Patrick-that’s your name right?”
“Yes it is. You’re welcome,” said Patrick.
“Patrick, can you go sit down please? I need to talk to him,” Gina meddled.
Once Patrick was far away from them, Gina led Chase a little bit further so Patrick couldn’t hear them.
“Has Oliver been bullying my brother all these while?” Gina asked.
“Yeah.”
Chase was a little bit shy. He had never talked to a girl before. Well, Miss Delacruz was an exception because technically she wasn’t a girl, she was a vampire. Even so, Chase was more frightened of Gina than the Vampiress.
“He’ such a jerk! I should have known!”
“What? Patrick had never told you about it?”
“I know he’ been bullied lately but he won’t tell me who did it. He’s been gloomy lately.”
“He’ll get over it. Besides, I don’t think Oliver would bother him again.”
“You’re right.”
Gina smiled and Chase felt more awkward. He’d rather have Miss Delacruz yell at him than talk to this girl.
“I gotta go. Hey Patrick, see you around!” urged Chase.
Patrick waved goodbye from his seat. Gina wanted to talk to him but Chase was gone. He walked away feeling he had accomplished something in his pathetic life today. He was proud with what he did. He had no regrets. Gina smiled to her ears watching him from back. She was a little bit disappointed he didn’t remember her but she didn’t mind. She’ll try harder next time.
“See you soon Chase,” she said slowly.
“You like him don’t you? He’s the guy you’ve been talking to Mom about.”
Gina blushed.
“Nonsense! Why do you say that?”
“Then why are you blushing?”
Patrick laughed and Gina came to her senses.
“Come on, let’s buy you an ice cream. We’ll tell about what happened to Mom and Dad. They’d be proud of you!”
“You think so sis?”
“Yes, I do.”
***
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