By your window

31.

WARNING: bullying. If watching the show didn't make you feel upset you probably won't have any problems reading this chapter, but anyway...you've been warned!

Chapter Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCOBeXELz-s

She saw the boy jump the barrier before anyone else: grabbing Myery's wrist, Marben (and all the crowd, by then) watched as he did the same with Allison's arm and started talking animatedly to her. The masked girl, however, didn't have to say anything for Luther came immediately to her rescue, staving the stranger away.
"GET BACK BEHIND THE BARRICADE!" thundered Arsegreeves, gesturing for the boy to remove himself from his presence. Strangely, the Umbrella Kids fled inside the Academy and the crowd became silent, to listen to what the Monocle and the kid were saying. Marben could hear it too.
"I'ts just...I was born on the same day as the Academy Kids. I think I'm like them! I must be!" she heard the boy declare in an urgent and slightly shaky voice - if that was out of fear of the imposing man in front of him or excitement, she could not tell. "I haven't quite figured out what my power is...yet, but with your help we can find out...".
Sir Hargreeves brusquely interrupted him, leaning down to be at the teen's height and saying something that got lost in the breeze. Marben saw the hateful man emphatically point his walking stick toward the other side of the street - where she and her class stood - and guessed he was once again urging the boy to leave.
"No, please, I...you have to let me stay!" cried the stranger, clearly in anguish. "I came all this way, please don't make me go back!".
Something was really wrong if the boy was begging to be given permission to stay at the Academy, Marben told herself. God knew she'd throw herself under a bus rather than being subjected to Arsegreeves' presence daily. But clearly everyone thought otherwise.
"A little word of advice, my boy" the Sir then deigned the stranger of real consideration, and even coming as far as laying a hand on the kid's shoulder he talked loudly so that everyone could hear. "Not everyone in this world can be powerful. Chasing something unattainable is a recipe for a lifetime of disappointment and resentment. So get. Off. My. Property!". Arsegreeves grabbed the poor boy for the lapel of his jacket and forcefully shoved him away, while the crowd started laughing.
"Wha'...?" rattled Marben, watching dismally as the police did nothing. She heard Myery and Diana gasp in disbelief, and Lear curse under her breath, while the boy stumbled and nearly crashed against Hargreeves' black car, avoiding the impact only by thrusting a hand in front of himself, to curb inertia. He turned to see everyone laughing and pointing at him, as the Monocle was shutting the Academy's gate in his face with a loud clang. Behind him, the Umbrella Kids had come out of their grand home to not miss the show of his humiliation.
"What the fuck is wrong, with this sodding city?" Marben snarled, glowering at the masked faces and then to the laughing ones, pervaded by a rage that felt like fire burning in her veins; Myery looked at her and didn't like what she saw.
"Hang on" the red-haired girl said then, sounding urgent, "I have an idea".
Lear and Diana, both sporting an alarmed look, hurried to follow Myery, disappearing with her in the crowd made of their classmates. Marben, instead, stayed back to watch the unknown boy's shaming with fists balled so tight her short nails carved in the palms' soft skin, and feeling unbearably oppressed by a shame that didn't belong to her.
Without warning, a distracting and gentle hand wrapped around one of hers: the blonde girl turned to look with fiery eyes at who had dared to bother her, but Myery didn't let herself get scared, and with a glance full of determination convinced her cousin to follow her.
"Join, but don't take the initiative. Let us go first".

"...I'm so worried, I'm afraid he may not be in his right mind..." Diana was whimpering as they approached the teachers; their friend was letting herself be steered over toward the street by the hand Miss Thompson had placed on her shoulder, masterfully pretending to be in anguish, so Myery, Marben and Lear followed, and walking at a brisk pace they all reached the unknown boy a few meters from the Academy's door. Ignoring the crowd's loud shouts and laughs, Miss Thompson allowed the girls to address the stranger, asking him if he was feeling alright and inviting him to follow them to the School, where he could have called home and arranged to be picked up; he looked at them, annihilated and overwhelmed with so many emotions at once, cardboard domino mask askew on his nose, and Marben caught the trembling of his lip, stubbornly kept under control but that she could never have missed. The boy was terribly upset, and refusing to show it to everyone. So he lowered his eyes and shook his head no. He said something as well, but Marben was so furious that she had been hearing nothing but white noise for a while, and only saw his lips move.
Miss Thompson spoke, gesturing to the boy to follow her. Marben saw Diana take him by the hand, coaxing him into compliance, and Lear helping her lead him. Spurred by the sudden need to do something - anything that didn't involve causing physical harm to some rich asshole - the blonde girl put her hand on the boy's back and followed the group as it turned to cross the street once again. Before taking her leave, however, she reacted to the disturbing, familiar sensation that pervaded her every time she felt Arsegreeves' gaze on the back of her neck: she turned, and when, indeed, found the old bastard staring at her, she glared back with all the fury she was capable of, wishing to be able to cause him to instantly die or at least make him get an heart attack. Something had to happen for real, since the hateful man's face suddenly slackened and then made itself astonished. Marben, though, had already turned, disappointed not to have seen him collapse in a dying heap, and did no longer deign anyone of a single glance as she left.

                                    .oO°Oo.

"What's up, pumpkin?" was the mirthful greeting little Fulvius gave her that late afternoon; seated on her favorite stone bench, Marben kept looking estranged from reality.
"I...I genuinely don't know what to think".
"What? Are you kidding me?". Fixing ahead and completely expressionless, Marben shook her head. "Wow. I...I always thought I would have never seen the day your brain would have slowed down...but then you fell in love with an arsehole, so I guess...". 
A hand landed abruptly on Marben's shoulder, and Fulvius got frozen into place by a foul look.
"If you have nothing nice to say, just shut your mouth!" said Turandot sternly. Fulvius gaped at her for a moment, then did as he was told so quickly his remaining milk teeth clicked. Among the two of them, careless of everything and everyone, Marben continued to stare into space.
"What happened, dear? Was it Hargreeves?". Marben opened her mouth and made to say something, then stopped. Eventually, she ceased looking disconnected and became frustrated. "Y...yes. No. I mean...".
"Has he tried to hurt you?" Fulvius rushed to ask; Marben snapped completely out of her aloofness and glanced at him, dumbstruck.
"What? No".
"Thank god!" said Turandot fiercely, inadvertently squeezing Marben's shoulder too much and causing the girl to wince and wriggle free with a whimper. "Oh, I'm so sorry, dear!".
"Yeah, yeah, just a mo', Spring Rolls, lemme talk with the little one, I think I know what's going on". Shooing an outraged Turandot out of his way, Fulvius planted himself right in front of Marben and looked her straight in the eye.
"You saw Arsegreeves humiliate and mock that kid on the street, today" he said, and Marben nodded. "But what's worse is that you've also seen your boyfriend - who frankly has the worse of influences on you, since by dating him you got into the habit of doing stupid things like, for example, challenging his father - do nothing to help said kid, choosing instead to laugh at him with the others". This time, Marben lowered her eyes contritely before nodding again. At their left, Turandot hissed something viciously-sounding in Chinese and spat on the ground.
"Hey, what the hell?" blurted the red-haired boy with eyes as wide as saucers. The pretty - and apparently sometimes rough - woman ignored him.
"Don't take on yourself the blame for what Five did or didn't, Marben. You've got nothing to be ashamed of". The blonde girl sighed sadly.
"But that boy went home and smashed his father's head with a hammer, only a few hours ago. How am I supposed to look at Five again and...and don't think he could have made the difference, today?". All at once, Marben's eyes filled with enraged, bitter tears. "I saw the boy on the street beg for a place to stay, and for fuck's sake, why didn't anybody else understand that something was terribly wrong with that? Five must have realized it too, I know! How could he ignore it? Two lives have gone wasted, now, and for what? He could have...if he only...".
Fulvius and Turandot watched in dismay as Marben curled on herself and hid her angered, tear-streaked face behind her hands. After a while, the tall woman sat on the bench and began to stroke the girl's back soothingly; the kid, instead, stared at the pavement.
"Well, the choice to be with him did reveal itself a nuisance since the very beginning" said Fulvius at some point, so devoid of any animosity that neither Marben or Turandot felt the need to reprimand him. "At first he used to rule you out from his life, then humiliated you for your feelings toward him and finally he has turned out to be a disappointment. He made you suffer so much...and, moreover, being close to him exposes you to his father's attention".
Marben lifted her head, at that point, and looked at him with puffy, red eyes. Fulvius stared back at her, feeling like his little heart was bleeding, and lightly caressed her moist cheek.
"It has never been a wise thing, to be his girlfriend. Maybe it's time for you to seriously think about it, little one".
Marben clenched her jaw, then glanced at Turandot: the woman looked upset, but for once didn't dispute what Fulv had said as soon as it had got out of his mouth. When at last she lifted her big, dark eyes, Marben knew.
"Yeah, I...I'm sorry, but I'm with Fulvius".
And in the end, that really had always been the issue: to choose Five at any cost, or to choose her own safety.

A/N: As promised, another chapter. As promised, trouble ahead. As always, many and many thanks for your kind (even if mostly silent) support. Love.