The Last Place

CHAPTER 3 Back to School

"You freak!"

"That's the weird kid who lives on the plantation, isn't it?"

"Why is he here?" one of them said.

"Hey, you don't belong here."

"Strange boy! How dare he go to school here?"

All the ridicule continued to echo in Reagen's ears as he walked down each corridor of the school. It's the first day of school, after not going to school for a long time because of being bullied. The decision not to continue school was not of Reagen himself, but the decision of Reagen's mother, Alena.

The woman could not bear to see her son continue to get bad actions from his friends. She couldn't bear it every time she found her son got several wounds all over his body when he came home from school. Finally, in desperation, Alena did not send Reagen to school anymore for the sake of Reagen's mental and physical health. Even though it was a very difficult decision, it was for the best.

Reagen actually did not want to obey his mother's request to quit school, because he still wanted to try to make friends even though it was very difficult, like looking for a needle in a haystack. But, his mother's decision at that time was so strong.

Alena really can't stand the behavior of all of Reagen's friends, who always bully her son. At that time, Alena also ran into some of Reagen's friends' houses and asked the child's parents not to bully her son. But her efforts were in vain. Alena even got ridiculed from her parents. She is being cornered by many people.

Even the school never once supported Alena and Reagen. They seemed to close their eyes and ears about what happened to Reagen. Alena was very sad at that time, it felt like she had given up. But Reagen always encouraged him to get through this with passion.

But, after all this time, Reagen finally returned to school. Although it was too late for him, Reagen's determination to return to school was great. While not in school, Reagen is still learning independently, he spends more time with his father's books.

After persuading his mother for a long time, today, it was summer to be exact. Alena agrees with Reagen to return to school. By now Reagen was seventeen, a teenager who usually spent time having fun with friends. But, whatever Reagen's power, he didn't have a single friend. The boy wanted to go back to school with the aim of making friends. He thought maybe now someone would want to be friends with him.

Alena actually doesn't agree with Reagen's decision to go back to school. For Alena it was not important. The woman was also afraid that Reagen would be bullied by his friends again. Shadows of the past still haunt Alena. She doesn't want Reagen to experience that again. But Reagen kept reassuring Alena that it wouldn't happen, even though Reagen himself was still not one hundred percent sure.

This morning, Reagen will face the principal and report that he will continue his education there. He was supposed to be in high school now, but because he hadn't gone to school in the past, Reagen had to repeat the junior high class.

Two days ago, he had to go back and forth to school to take care of the admission process. Today he was finally able to go to school. It seemed very strange to him. He hasn't been to school in a very long time. Especially now that he was in full uniform, Reagen felt very proud.

Right now Reagen was sitting in the principal's office, waiting for that person to arrive. He rubbed the toes of his shoes because he was tired of waiting, he also fiddled with his fingers nervously. This wasn't the first time Reagen had sat in the room, but somehow he felt very nervous. The boy still remembers the jokes he had heard in the school corridors. Reagen firmly believed that his childhood events would repeat themselves. But this time Reagen had prepared himself for all that, now that he was an adult, he didn't have to cry anymore when someone mocked him.

"Sorry for making you wait so long." A bespectacled man walked into the room, then landed his butt on his chair.

Reagen immediately straightened his seat. "No problem, sir."

"Okay, it's your first day. I hope you can adapt to this new environment soon. And because you're older than your friends, I hope you can handle it well."

"Okay sir."

The man nodded twice. Then he tilted his head to look at the person behind Reagen. "You come with the teacher, he will take you to class."

Reagent looked back. He found a man in a teacher's uniform waiting for him in the doorway with many books in his hands. Then Reagen nodded at the principal and stood up from his seat. He drew closer to the teacher, he stretched out his hand for a shake, but he didn't reply and the teacher immediately turned around and walked first. Reagen, who felt so neglected, could only exhale slowly. He didn't know how to react to this situation anymore.

Finally, Reagen started to follow behind the female teacher. Along the way, all pairs of eyes looked at Reagen. Not infrequently, after that, there was gossip. Reagen had thought this was all going to happen, before he decided to go back to school.

The teacher stopped right in front of the class, which was when Reagen saw the sign that read 'seven B'. "Please come in, your class is here," said the teacher curtly.

Reagen turned his head to the side, right at the wide open classroom door. He could see the students in the class, who were initially very busy and busy with their own business, immediately became silent when they saw him and the teacher coming. They all looked strangely at him. Reagen unconsciously gulped. For some reason, his guts suddenly shrunk, even though returning to school was his own decision.

"Come on in," said the teacher again.

It snapped Reagen out of his daydream. He looked at the teacher and nodded immediately, then he started to walk into the classroom. Reagen immediately got a strange look, he was confused about what to do. Should he introduce himself first or should he just sit in the empty seat at the back? For a few seconds, he just stood in the classroom while his eyes scanned everyone there.

"This is your new friend. I hope you guys get along well." The teacher who had escorted Reagen finally came inside and explained to everyone who was feeling very confused in the room.

"What? Our new friend? But he looks older than us?" asked one of the students.

"Never mind, don't ask that. Anyway, he's your new friend," answered the teacher. "You can sit in the backseat."

Reagent nodded slowly. Then he walked over to the chair the teacher was referring to, as he headed behind all the pairs of eyes following his movement. It made Reagen feel uncomfortable. Until Reagen was sitting on the chair and everyone was still looking at him, Reagen became confused.

The teacher had already left the class. He did not teach in this class. It was just that the headmaster had told him to take Reagen. "Isn't that the weird kid living on the plantation?"

"Right, he's that weird kid."

"Why do I have to be in the same class as him?"

"Why does he have to be in our class anyway?"

"We must protest!"

The whispers began to ring in Reagen's ears. The man could only keep himself busy with his bag, but he didn't know what to do.

A boy came to Reagen's bench and pounded hard on the bench. His face looked very haughty, he held his hand there then drew himself closer to Reagen. "Why do you have to be in our class, freak boy?!"

Reagen just stared blankly at the boy. Their eyes met with each other, but he didn't reply.

"Are you deaf? Why are you in this class, huh?!" shouted the boy.

After that, a boisterous voice was heard agreeing with what the boy said. Reagen also received scornful looks from everyone, but Reagen still looked calm. "The principal sent me here. If you don't like it, you can talk to the principal," he replied at last. He still maintained his straight face and spoke quite calmly.

If this had been little Reagent back then, he would have cried in the corner, burying his face in his hands. But now it was different, he was more able to deal with all this ridicule.

"We are sure all classes will not accept you! How can the principal choose our class? This is unfair. Everyone already knows who you are! You are a weird kid! You don't belong in this school!"

"That is true!"

"Just get out of this school."

"Troublesome."

Reagent didn't respond to any of that. He prefers to be silent. After all, if he retaliated, it would be bad for him. It's still his first day of school, he doesn't want to cause trouble. Friends who were annoyed at not getting a response from Reagen could only curse.

Suddenly, the teacher who filled the first hour had come. That made everyone calm down and settle down in their seats, though Reagen could still see the disdain in all of them. Reagen didn't want to bother with it all, he had to focus on the lesson. He was so far behind in his studies, he needed to catch up soon.

During the study, the conditions looked very calm. However, several times, he got tossed paper or an old food container. Reagen just snorted at that and tried to stay focused on the lesson. This was so hard for him, but it couldn't be helped that his luck was so very bad.

Reagen was afraid of what he would say to Alena when he got home. His mother would surely rail against Reagen with all sorts of questions. The boy was confused about what to say, his first day of school didn't leave a good impression. In fact, this is like the second half of him being bullied at school.

Alena would definitely scrutinize every change in Reagen's face and could guess all of them. Reagen was afraid that later he would not be able to lie to his mother, because her instincts were always right. Reagen didn't want to make his mother worry and later made him change his mind, so Reagen was told not to continue school anymore. Reagent didn't want that to happen.

***

The doorbell rang two minutes ago, but Reagen was still firmly in his seat. More precisely, he was still finishing his unfinished writing because he had been getting distracted from his friends while writing. Reagen was also not in a hurry to go home, even though Alena was already waiting for him at home. Reagen also wanted to create a fake story that he would later tell his mother so she wouldn't suspect anything.

All his classmates had left the class, only Reagen was left. He put his book in his bag after finishing everything. Reagen was grateful that everyone had gone home, which meant he wouldn't have any more trouble after that. Finally, Reagen could breathe a sigh of relief and would go home in peace.

Reagen started to walk towards the outside of the classroom. The atmosphere seemed a little quiet, all the children were very excited about going home. Reagen was a little sad because on the first day he had not found any friends, and Reagen was also sure that this time no one wanted to be friends with him either.

He had arrived in front of the school gate, he walked towards the west. He deliberately slowed his way, occasionally he also kicked the small pebbles that appeared on the road. His mind wandered thinking about what he should tell his mother later.

After a long walk, Reagen started in a quiet place. The road to the plantation is indeed very quiet because there are rarely people passing by.

Suddenly, his body was pushed hard enough from behind. The surprised Reagen immediately fell forward with the hand that landed early. As a result, several small rocks stuck in the palm of the man's hand. He grimaced at the pain in his hand, then he turned his face. Reagen found a group of his classmates already there with their arms crossed over their chests.

He stood up, he cleaned his hand which was stuck in the rocks. Seeing there are bloodstains stuck there, some have even come out. "Why are you doing this?" Reagen asked, holding the pain in his hand.

"Because we don't like you in our class!"

"I told you, head---"

"Damn it! That's a lot of talk," interrupted a friend, then smacked Reagen's cheekbones hard enough.

The man immediately staggered back a few steps. Reagen's cheeks immediately flushed red from the blow. Reagen hadn't had time to open his mouth to defend himself but a second punch hit him again.

The attacks came so fast that Reagen couldn't retaliate. Reagen was increasingly cornered and could only sit while fortifying himself with both hands.

Reagen had no idea that he would experience this again. After ridiculed from the morning that continued to fill his head, now it was worse, he was physically abused directly. Even though Reagen was older than all of them, they were braver and not afraid at all.

He was confused whether his decision to return to school was really wrong?