Rise of the Underdogs: VALIK

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“And who can tell me the answer to the next one? Anyone?”

The teacher cleared her voice, obviously disappointed that no one in the room seemed to know the answer. A few students shifted in their seats, the sound of paper rustling and pencils tapping filling the silence. I licked my lips, glancing at the page as I mentally calculated the answer to the question being asked.

The numbers blurred for a second before snapping into place. Slowly, I raised my hand.

“Mr. Pierce?”

The overhead lights flickered, almost mimicking my anxiety. The hum of the fluorescent bulbs buzzed in my ears as I swallowed hard. “Um… fi-five over ten?”

She turned to the whiteboard, her eyes scanning the equation until she turned her eyes back to me in shock. “That… that’s right. Well done!”

“Thank you.” Sighing in relief, I smiled. It was the first time I had stepped out of my comfort zone and spoke up in class. My palms were sweaty, and my pencil had a faint bite mark from where I’d chewed on it earlier without realizing.

Jake, who sat next to me in all our shared classes, glanced at me. His grin and impromptu thumbs up made me smile. “Nice one, V.”

He nudged my arm with his elbow, then went back to doodling in the margins of his notebook. I glanced around the room, catching a few surprised looks from classmates who probably hadn’t expected me to speak up. The window beside our row let in a soft stream of light, cutting across our desks and warming the edge of my textbook.

For once, I didn’t feel like I was just surviving. I felt like I was part of something.

As the bell rang signalling it was time for lunch, the teacher called out to me. “Valik, stay for a bit, please. I’d like to talk to you.”

The first thought that crossed my mind was that I’d gotten into trouble. My stomach dropped, and I felt the weight of every mistake I hadn’t made yet. I glanced at Jake, who was already halfway out of his seat. He shook his head and held up his phone, the screen lit with a message. “Um… my brother is waiting.”

“I only wanted to know if there was anything you needed for class or if you were having any issues,” she said, her tone softer than I expected.

I forced a smile, trying not to let the nerves show. “Um, no, Ma’am. Logan runs a tutor hour every school day to make sure none of his, um, pack gets left behind.”

Mrs. Gorman nodded, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Always on top of everything, that boy. Well, if you do need any additional help, don’t be scared to ask.”

The classroom was mostly empty now, the sound of chairs scraping and lockers slamming echoing faintly from the hallway. I grabbed my backpack, the zipper catching for a second before sliding closed. The light from the windows had shifted, casting long shadows across the desks. Mrs. Gorman was already gathering papers at her desk, her attention drifting as she moved on to whatever came next.

I stepped out into the hallway, the scent of cafeteria food already creeping through the air. Jake was waiting just outside the door, still scrolling through his phone. He looked up when he saw me and grinned. “You good?”

“Yeah,” I said, and for once, I meant it.

Moving to the usual spot, I saw a few girls staring at me. They weren’t curious. They were angry. One of them had her arms crossed so tightly it looked like she was holding herself back from saying something. Another was picking at her nails like she was bored, but her eyes never left me.

“What’s up with them?” I asked Jake, sitting with him at the table. The plastic chair creaked under me, and the table had a faint smear of ketchup near the edge that someone hadn’t bothered to clean.

He glared over at the girls, chewing slowly on a piece of jerky. “The pale one is named Andrast, she’s Lo-lo’s family on his mother’s side, but she’s also a brat. Remember Hunter?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she’s a Vampire noble and his niece. She was enrolled a few weeks ago,” Jake said, keeping his tone even. His fingers drummed lightly on the table, syncing with the beat of a song playing faintly from someone’s phone nearby.

Someone dropped into the seat across from me, and I looked up to see Beta Paul. The planes of his face said he was upset about something, but I didn’t want to seem like I was fishing for information. His tray clattered against the tabletop, the sound sharp enough to make a few heads turn.

“Stupid Math,” he grunted. Shoving his Calculus book at my brother, he said, “Logan, gimme a hand before I burn this damn thing? It’s offending me by existing.”

A group of younger kids passed by, laughing too loud and tossing crumpled napkins at each other. The scent of fries and something vaguely spicy hung in the air, mixing with the sterile smell of floor cleaner that hadn’t quite faded since morning.

Jake snorted and leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head. “You know, Paul, if you actually opened the book instead of threatening it, you might learn something.”

Paul rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, flipping the book open like it had personally insulted him. Logan, who had arrived with a tray stacked with food, raised an eyebrow and sat down without saying a word.

The cafeteria buzzed around us — trays sliding, chairs scraping, someone sneezing in the distance. But at our table, it felt like its own little world. One where I wasn’t just passing through.

Through some back and forth, Logan and Paul moved out of the cafeteria and toward the library. Jake got up to ditch the trays we’d used while I looked over my work for the next class: English.

It was a class I liked, mostly because I could put my feelings into my poetry – not that anyone would ever find out about that secret passion.

That’s when she came over with the other girls, her long amber-coloured nails tapping out a bored rhythm. “So, Daddy was right. You really do exist. Too bad about your mother.”

“I…”

“Must have been such a disappointment to her that she had to die to escape,” one girl snickered.

Another giggled, “Right?”

“Don’t think I’ll ever accept the son of a murderer,” the girl Jake pointed out earlier said.

I felt Ehno stir, felt his heart shatter a little at her words, but I didn’t know why.