Blacaris

Untitled Episode

BLAKE’S POV

***THE NEXT WEEK*****

“Blake! Blacaris! You are already late for school!” My mom yells downstairs from the kitchen while preparing breakfast. I can literally smell the bacon, eggs and toast from my room.

“Don’t forget your books!” she yells again as she finishes off with the food preparations.

I rush down from my room, basically skipping three-fourths of the stairs. My jeans basically hanging off my thighs with my belt on my shoulder. The only clothing items I had on proper ly were my t-shirt and my Air-Jordans.

“How are your shoes even on when you haven’t even properly put on your pants?” she asks with a mixed expression of confusion and amusement on her face.

I roll my eyes, “whatever.”

I pull out a chai from the dining table and start downing my breakfast like a starved animal. I look outside the windows and it hits me. It’s still dark outside, something is off. I check my phone and I just couldn’t believe this woman.

“4:30!!” I exclaim in sheer disbelief. “Why we getting ready this early?!”

“Nothing special, isn’t it better to get to school earlier than usual?” she replies with a smirk on her lips.

“Ughh, mom don’t do this I’ll lose my mind.” I say before I proceed to finish off my remaining breakfast.

“So, how are the new students?” she asks.

Taken aback by her sudden curiosity in such a topic, I turn to meet her gaze. She looks genuinely curious and a bit afraid. Confusion washes over me. Why is she afraid?

“Umm, I dunno? I don’t talk to them.” I reply. Her face suddenly relaxes and the atmosphere becomes more breathable.

I pick up my dirty plate and drop it in the sink.

“Mom I’m off”, I say as I kiss her on her cheeks.

“Blake shouldn’t I drop you off?”

“Don’t worry, I have to make some stops on the way.” I say immediately declining her offer. I pick up my bag and walk out of the house.

I think I understand why mom was worried about the new students stuff. The new students seem to be quite different and sometimes, different is scary, but I don’t think they are scary. Maybe it’s because I don’t know what exactly is different about them, and she doesn’t either. Perhaps, it’s some kind of motherly instinct.

“Well as long as nothing weird happens, everything should be fine.” I say reassuringly to myself.

The screeching halt of the school bus pulls me out of my thoughts. I board the bus and take my sit close to the door so I can get off easily.

The atmosphere in the bus was quite calm, most students were either on their phones, dozing off or just minding their business, save for the few consistent voices from the back.

“Hey! White hair!” A voice yells from the back.

The atmosphere in the bus became very tense and the new sounds of people snickering from different directions made it even more annoying. I decided to ignore whatever was trying to describe me and put on my headphones.

At this moment every eye on the bus was darting to and fro, from me to the back of the bus.

“Hey are you crazy?” A voice says as he grabs my shoulder tightly. I look up to meet an unfamiliar face. He must be part of the new transfer students. I size him up with my eyes and look away quickly losing interest. I wave him off dismissively and turn to face the window.

“The f**k! Do you want to die?” Another boy says, making his way to where his friend was standing.

“Get the f**k up and apologize”, he yells at me as he pulled off my headphones, throws it on the floor and smashes it.

All the snickering in the bus immediately stopped. The bus went dead silent as I turned to get a better look at the two delinquents that have made it their sole purpose to ruin my seemingly peaceful morning. They are both new students.

“Did no one tell you?” I ask looking them dead in the eye. I get up from my seat and look them dead in the eye, towering over them.

“Tell me what?” He asks looking up at me. His eyes full of confusing, curiosity and subtle regret. I grab his shirt and punch him squarely on his jaw. The punch was so perfectly placed that it was accompanied by a deafening c***k, a little bit of blood and gasps from the other students on the bus.

I punch him again, “That no one…” followed by another punch, “And I mean nobody touches my belongings!” I throw him on the floor.

“How…. How did you do that?” The first guy who approached me asks in disbelief while slowly retreating back to his seat.

I crouch down to where I left his friend and confiscate his phone, “This should do.”

I dust off my clothes, clean the little blood stain on my knuckles on the guy’s shirt and sit down on my seat. The other guy came back to pick up his injured friend.

I turn to the Teacher who has been standing there like he’s a part of the bus, “Teach, do your job.” I turn back to the window and escape into my own world of thoughts.

**In school**

***LUNCH TIME***

As soon as the bell rings, I pick up my things and head to the cafeteria. As I stepped in, the whispers doubled and got louder. I made a bee line to the queue waiting to be served.

“Do you think he really pulled it off?” a girl sitting near the queue whispered to her friend.

“He probably did, just not on his own. I mean, Blake is extremely athletic but those kids are rumored to be really good at fighting.” Her friend replied.

“Nah, Blake probably took them on alone. The dude is really strong . Why do you think no one has ever fought or tried to start a fight with him?” A guy sitting next to them chimed in.

“I honestly just thought it was because he didn’t talk to anyone in particular.” The first girl answered.

“What do you want?” The lunch lady asked. I stopped eavesdropping and turned my focus to the trays of food in front of me.

“The beef burger, A side of fries, no ketchup and two sausages please.” I replied.

Apparently, gossip spreads like wild fire in a high school because I’m pretty sure that’s what everyone I pass so far has been talking about.

I took my tray from her, picked up an apple and a milk carton and headed to the only empty bench. I don’t want to sit with the jocks even though I am one because I prefer to eat in silence by myself. Their table is too chaotic for me.

Most of them were definitely exaggerating however, according to all, it shouldn’t have been possible to do that to transfer students.

The reason for the doubt is that the Exchange students have always been notorious for being very athletic and strong apart from their incredible academic prowess. This is also the reason the school places much importance on receiving them.

This situation for any other person would have been considered a good thing. I mean new found popularity and the title of defeating the transfer students are definitely things to brag about. Regardless of how petty it sounds; it had never been done until now of course. I am used to getting a lot pf unwanted attention but I’m pretty sure that’s gonna get worse with this new shallow achievement.

Teachers however, have remained in the clouds because Mr. Thomas who was the only teacher present on the bus today is a renowned coward. In order not to drag his name on the mud and make enemies with the transfer students who he thinks probably have powerful parents, he kept the event to himself. It can only stay a secret for so long.

“Bro how did it feel?” Brice one of my juniors asked as he took the sit beside in the cafeteria. His eyes were full of excitement and anticipation.

I take a generous bite of my burger, “I dunno, how am I meant to feel?”

“Bro, how can you be so unbothered right now?” He asks obviously disappointed but the excitement didn’t leave his eyes.

“This is like the biggest thing since like… ever.” He continues while rubbing his face in disbelief.

“You don’t say.” I say with faux interest.

“Whatever. So, I know you already had girls fawning over before this happened but now that the number must have obviously doubled, who are you going for?” He asks, genuinely curious as if he was fact checking for some dumb bet.

I turn to him in utter disbelief, “How the heck does this have anything to do with what we were talking about?”

“Bro, Blake come on, don’t take it too seriou….”

I stand up and cut him off, “See you later man. Plus, I think you would be more productive in the soccer team instead of spreading gossip.”

I take my tray and head towards where the dirty

trays are kept, dump mine there and leave the cafeteria.