The Nation's Jackpot Girl (BWWM)

Chapter 65

MARCEL'S POV

Jocelyn looks at me in sheer shock. Her hand tightens around her handbag, and she sighs.

"Why are you suddenly wanting to help me? You really shouldn't, you know?"

  "But I want to."

"I am drained. Can we talk about this tomorrow?" She asks.

   I nod immediately and smile at her. "Sure. You need all the rest for tomorrow. You'll be getting introduced to your department,"

   She smiles at me and nods before climbing up the steps.

   As soon as she's gone, I place my briefcase on one of the numerous couches in the large living room before going over to the mini bar on the other side of the room to pour myself a drink.

   Chuckling to myself, I take myself back to high school days when I used to be bullied by the notorious four; Julian, Davin, Damien, and Jamal.

   We used to be friends in middle school, and suddenly, they all came back in junior school, looking taller and more handsome than they used to be. I was still skinny and tiny, wondering why I hadn't grown like my friends, but that didn't matter because they were still my friends. Everyone was different.

   I remembered running towards them on the first day of school and calling out after them. I was so excited to see them, but they didn't seem to be.

   Julian looked at me in shock, asking if I was still the same as I was from last summer. The rest of the boys, who were my friends, laughed. I also laughed with them because I thought it was the random jokes we made at each other.

   Not until I fell into line with them and Julian told me that I couldn't be with them any longer. It had sounded like a joke to me at first until I was pushed aside by Davin, who asked me to go back to middle grade to check if I had left my height there.

   They had all walked away, laughing out loud while the girls admired them.

   And that was where it had begun; the bullying: the insults and cusses, the beatings and everything.

   At one point, I asked myself if we were friends. I had tried talking to Jamal, who was the nicest of them all, and all he had replied to me with was: "You don't belong with us anymore, dude. Get over our closeness in middle school."

   I had watched him walk away from me, and for the first time in my life, I had shed a tear over a bunch of my friends who had suddenly pushed me out of their circle.

   I suddenly became quiet at school, rarely speaking to anyone in class as the boys had made them see me awkward and stunted. I had stopped attending social activities for fear of seeing them again. It was a war between me and myself because I couldn't get over the fact that they had pushed me out of their friend group.

   My parents became worried when they started getting calls from teachers concerned about my sudden quietness, but I didn't tell anyone that I was like this because of my friends.

   My parents were friends with their families, and I didn't want that awkwardness or any forced relationship with the boys because they didn't want me. There was no need to move anything.

   But somehow, my parents found out that they were bullying me. My father was a calm man, and he had talked to their parents about it. Leela, bless her soul, had apologized profusely and proposed that the five families have dinner so we could listen to the children speak.

   I had wanted to stay home because I was so afraid to look in their faces. They were still going to bully me in school no matter what my parents did, but then, my mother begged me to go with her, and I did.

   Dinner had ended quite nicely, and the boys had apologized to me. I was shocked at how fast they had done that, but I was also delighted that I would be having my friends back. They had suggested we go up to Julian's room to play, and I had gone immediately, wanting to show them that no matter what happened in the past, I had forgiven them.

   Not until we got to his room they all took turns hitting me and muffling my screams for help. While the adults spent time together downstairs, I was being kicked in the guts and called a coward and mummy's boy for telling my parents. Julian said that no one would ever want to be my friend because I was ugly and short, and after all that, they had pulled my weak body up and pushed me into his closet, locking me up for hours.

   I remembered Leela coming into the room and requesting me because my parents were going home, but I couldn't speak because they had tied my mouth up and thrown me into his closet.

   "Mum, he's in the bathroom. Besides, he wants to stay over with us tonight,"

   "Are you sure?" She had asked. Then I heard the click of her heels. "Let me see him for myself."

   Julian had spoken up immediately. "Don't worry, mum! Have you forgotten that they were teenagers already? So is Marcel. Just go and tell him, Mum and Dad."

   "Alright, honey. Make sure you all behave yourselves. Is that clear?"

   "Yes, ma'am."

   I stayed there for hours, crying and begging for my release till I was too tired to. I had slept off and woken up to myself on Julian's bed and his mother screaming.

   My parents had gotten into a fatal accident, and both had died on the spot. She had asked about the bruises on my body, and Julian lied that I had gotten them from a stunt we were doing last night.

   That was the day I lost myself. That day I was filled with this blanket of darkness, swearing never to stop till I had my revenge.