Tamara looked at Chase, examining him. She was Iris's sister. She was a 14-year-old proud girl with brown hair and brown eyes. She was a mean and arrogant girl, but kind to people she knew and liked. Iris described her as a cute cat once she started liking you.
"What are we going to do with him?" Tamara asked, pointing at Chase.
It made everyone finally realise there was still someone else among them. Before anyone could respond, the front door swung open, and an overweight, middle-aged, bald teacher stepped inside, sighing at the students.
"You kids haven't gone home yet?" he said as he furrowed his brow.
"No, Mr Mkpoin, " Alex replied as he stood up from his chair, "But we were planning on leaving soon".
"I mean, " Mr Mkpoin said, subtly scratching his cheek, "Don't hang around the school for too long and certainly not in the detention room," He concluded.
Mr Mkpoin was an Information Technology teacher and was good at his job. The students in his classes had good grades even though his methods of teaching were a bit strict. He hated kids and was never popular with the ladies. Although he liked women, he despised children. Still, as he approached forty, he knew he would have to make sacrifices
Whilst preparing to leave, he muttered to himself about extending Chase's detention time, convinced that Chase had left early. But then he noticed a blue-haired boy sitting up painfully against a bunch of fallen desks.
"Oh, you're still here!" He exclaimed as he looked at Chase. "I thought you had left. Ms Marina wanted to have a talk with you, so follow me to the staff room." Mr Mkpoin said as he left the classroom, not even bothering to check on him. Chase said nothing as he painfully dragged himself up to his feet and slowly walked towards the door.
"Hurry up!" Mr Mkpoin shouted as he came back into the classroom and forcefully dragged Chase with him.
"Hold up, teach!" Lucas shouted after him and walked towards the door.
"What is it, Lucas?" He asked, knowing the reason for the holdup. He sighed and pushed Chase to the ground before stepping back a bit to make sure that he wasn't in the middle of it. "Go on then," He said as he pulled out a lollipop from his trousers' pocket. "But make it quick."
"Thank you for understanding, sir". Lucas said whilst getting himself ready and grinning at Chase like some devilish kid.
Chase braced himself as he received a savage blow to his stomach again, followed by a kick to the face and additional hits targeted at his ribs. He tried to protect himself, but to no avail. Lucas' blows were cutting through him like paper. Everyone watched, but no one cared about what was going on. Mr Mkpoin had nearly finished his lollipop and was biting off the rest while the MTF carried on with their conversations, as if what was happening was a daily occurrence.
The teacher dashed his now-finished lollipop into a nearby trash can before stepping in between them and putting a stop to Lucas' relentless attacks.
"Alright, Lucas," He said as he clapped his hands, "As much as I enjoy seeing this, I don't want Ms Marina screaming in my ears about why he's hurt, so wrap it up."
"Bummer," Lucas sighed as he released Chase. Chase curled himself up into a ball, shivering in pain on the floor. His whole body was in pain, and he could taste blood in his mouth. Tears rolled down his face. Lucas approached him, holding the bin and dumped the trash onto him. Chase curled himself in tighter, hoping that the trash wouldn't touch him.
"This is all you are." Lucas snarled, "Nothing but trash!" He threw the now-empty bin onto Chase and sat down at his seat, whilst everyone else simply ignored the interaction between them. Mr Mkpoin was clearly delighted at the fact that the boy he hated the most was covered in trash, blood and tears.
Chase tried to fight the urge to smack Mr Mkpoin, but there was nothing a weak person like him could do. It would have resulted in him getting rougher treatment tomorrow in his I.T class. Lucas had been lenient on him, probably because his fiancée was sitting right there and didn't want to keep her waiting or because he didn't want to have anyone yelling at him for injuring students.
Chase started to regret not involving Ms Maria in this. Here he was, on the floor, weeping like a child. And the small pride that was left in him disappeared.
"Alright, " Mr Mkpoin said as he tried to pick Chase up but thought otherwise, "Let's go". When he gives an order, he expects you to follow it instantly, or a detention would be given, and since it's Chase, it would be much worse.
Chase painfully got up and found himself limping behind the teacher, holding his ribs in agony.
"See you tomorrow, Cheesy!" Lucas said brightly as he turned back towards a tired Iris and immediately forgot about Chase.
Chase tried to keep up with Mr Mkpoin despite his limping, but Mr Mkpoin was walking extremely fast to torture Chase and cause him more pain from the limping.
"Better hurry up or you'll be punished!" He warned as he took a sharp left into another building. Chase groaned quietly as the pain from his ribs intensified. He had lost sight of the teacher, but he knew the way, so that wasn't a problem.
He finally arrived in an almost empty staff room with only two teachers there: One angry and another worried.
"Why are you so damn late!?" Mr Mkpoin furiously asked as he tightened his fist.
Chase simply glared at him, angering him even more. He furiously slammed the table. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" He asked Chase. Chase didn't answer as he knew better than to argue with a stupid person; instead, he daydreamed about the new game his aunt had bought him and how hyped he was to be able to play it after school.
"I told you to be right behind me, but you wasted everyone's time and came three minutes late, you worthless piece of-"
"I think that's enough, Mr Mkpoin!" Ms Marina angrily cut in as she forcefully led the teacher back to his seat. Mr Mkpoin tried arguing, but Ms Marina had the upper hand and told him to calm down.
She turned back towards Chase and caught a whiff of him. "What happened to you?" she asked, concerned.
Mr Mkpoin eyed Chase menacingly, filling him with fear "I just bumped into a bin by accident," he said casually as he took a seat in front of Ms Marina's desk. She sighed and took a seat behind her desk, as she knew that Chase was not going to tell her anything and that she would rather have the boy go home quickly to rest for the day.
She sighed again, and when she spoke, it was in all seriousness.
"So, Chase, the reason I wanted to see you was to talk about your grades."