Chapter Three
1134 Words
**Zane POV**
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I stood in front of the school building, with the name "Silverdale Academy" boldly written on it, knowing this is what the next phase of my life is going to be. I adjusted my face cap and walked to the principal's office.
"Who's there?" A voice echoed as I knocked on the door. I ignored the question and let myself in. In there was a man in his fifties, dressed in corporate attire and wearing prescription glasses.
"Who are you?" He asked.
Then I removed the face mask covering my face and my cap. His face lit up.
"Kindly get me into this school, Uncle," I told him.
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I walked through the hallway with people's stares following me everywhere I went. I have gotten used to that as time goes by, even though I would rather they didn't.
I got to the class assigned to me as the whole class had different reactions to me — some screamed, some fainted, others looked like they had seen a ghost. A little crowd had formed outside the class too, and even the teacher was no different, even though he tried to hide it.
Then in the midst of the tiring amusement and astonishment of others, I saw her. Her black pupils — there was no reaction in them. I couldn't read her, couldn't know what she was thinking.
I bowed to greet the teacher.
"Good day, sir," I said.
This caused more uproar in the class as more students chatted, murmured, screamed — but there was nothing from her. All my life, I hadn't seen this. It felt refreshing. For a moment, all I noticed was her.
Then I heard it.
"You're welcome, Mr. Williams."
Williams! I hated being called by that name. It reminded me of many things I did not want to remember, as I looked at who called me that — it was the teacher.
"I'd rather you don't call me Williams, sir. I am better off as Zane," I found myself declaring before I knew it.
The teacher sucked up to me and apologized. I hated that so much. I hated being treated as something inhuman. I just wanted to be normal, feel normal, act normal and be treated normally — the same, equal as others — and in her gaze, there was normality.
I was directed to sit with a boy who seemed to have something wrong with him as he looked at me weirdly. I don't know if I liked that, but that is my life now.
Lessons went on as usual with the students barely concentrating as they were all stealing glances at me. I looked in her direction briefly, and she was actively listening to what the teacher was saying. This made me cast my gaze towards her the whole time the class was going on, because everywhere I turned, there was someone stealing glances at me. It wasn't until after the class was over and we were free that she turned her gaze at me in observation, but I couldn't see for how long as the students gathered around me, all asking me various questions till it was break period, and she was no longer in the class.
I went to the cafeteria as I heard students go there during their break to eat, but I was surrounded once more, by mostly girls this time, with many asking if I was single.
That question made my stomach sick.
I was about to stand up to use the restroom, but something else got my attention. I saw her table — there she was, eating with a girl who I suspected to be her friend, as the girl didn't seem to stop talking, with her feigning annoyance over the other girl talking a lot. It was so funny to watch. Then something happened — two girls came in and were laughing at them, while they acted like they were about to go, before one came back and emptied the food her friend was eating onto her friend's head, with my name being mentioned.
"Are they fighting over me already?" I thought to myself. Though I wouldn't like for others to be bullied using my name, I was about to stand up away from the flock of students surrounding me when something interesting happened.
She told them to apologize while they refused. Bullies are always like that. For a moment I feared she would be bullied next, but that girl was really something. She twisted the hands of her bullies after they attempted to assault her. The joy that filled my heart after they apologized was second to none. But I knew they wouldn't let her go — though that wasn't my business.
I went to visit the restroom, and on my way back, I saw the girls with three other guys explaining to the principal that they were bullied. The three other guys bore false witness that she was the cause of it all, and my uncle promised to expel her.
"Don't you think you should go through the evidence thoroughly before punishing a person?" I asked my uncle while he was alone in his office.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Then I explained everything to him and gave him CCTV footage of the cafeteria when this happened, which I was able to get by walking into the security room and offering to give an autograph in exchange for the footage. Guess fame comes with its advantages. He reviewed the CCTV footage and saw what truly transpired.
The girls, together with the guys who came in to bear false witness, were given school punishments while she got suspended.
"She took active part in the violence. Besides, this is how the school works," my uncle defended.
"What?" I exclaimed.
"I am disappointed in you," I finally declared.
"You shouldn't be dealing with this on your first day of school, Zane. Besides, I am only a messenger here," my uncle added as he closed the case.
This was all bullshit — unjustified and didn't even make sense. I decided within me to cut all ties with my uncle. I didn't want another family member who reminded me of injustice, and I took a quiet pact within me.
Those students were going to wish they never came to this school in the first place.
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