Highschool. Where teenagers gathered in loud locker banging halls, talking about the latest movies, fashion trends, musical artists, and so on. Instead here I am. In the cafeteria by my lonesome, doing my work with dilig–
"Whoops!" A random guy bumped into my table, causing my hot coffee to spill all over my worksheet and pants. The moment the hot liquid touched me, I jumped from my seat, pulling the hot wet fabric away from my skin.
"AGH!" For a split second I could feel the scorching liquid burning my skin. I turned my head to the perpetrator, and it was none other than Neil Haynes.
"Sorry Lulu, didn't notice you there" Neil said with a smile, mockery laced all over his words. His band of goons laughing along with him.
As much as I wanted to scream at Neil and shout at him. I knew better than to screw with someone like him. More or less, he was going to beat me up. A standard bully M.O. Even with that in mind, I was more concerned about my work. I reached out to grab it, but one of Neil's goons beat me to it.
"Oh what do we have here?" He picked up my paper report, dangling it in between his index and thumb as if he just picked up garbage from the floor.
"Give it back!" I shouted, moving forward to take back papers. My efforts were rendered futile as two, yes two, goons had to shove me back.
Neil took the papers from his goons hands, flipping through it with disinterest. It was clear that he didn't even bother reading it. If he could read at all. He ended up just yawning and throwing the papers behind him, letting it all disperse out onto the cafeteria floor. "Just some nerd crap probably. You're smart right? Just make another one"
There wasn't anything I could do. It was one versus five. Hell, I can't even handle one of them. I could only stand there, my eyes focused on the blue and white tiled cafeteria floor. I heard them laugh as they walked by me, not missing a chance to bump my shoulders as they did.
"HEY EVERYONE! LULU JUST PISSED HIS PANTS!" Neil got in one more jab at me. I looked down, and because of the coffee spill, it indeed looked like I just wet myself. Talk about adding salt to the wound.
I didn't move until the sounds of their laughter was cut by the cafeteria doors closing. I didn't dare to look up. I could tell my peers were just staring at me, bystanders as usual.
I gritted my teeth, clenched my fists and took small steps towards my papers that were now sprawled out on the cafeteria floor.
I knelt down, picking up the coffee stained papers one by one. I stared at the cover of my paper. Theory of Programmable Matter. "What did I do wrong..."
"Lucas? Lucas, oh my god!" That voice I recognized. It was the lunch lady Mrs. Harris. I turned to her and watched her run towards me with the cafeteria door closing behind her.
I like Mrs. Harris. Pretty much treats all the kids in high school as her own. Except for the ones like Neil, to which she always shakes her head when she sees him.
"What happened?" She asked, kneeling down and helping me pick up my papers. I didn't respond, I didn't need to. The silence was more than enough to give her an answer. She let out a sigh, placing her hand on my shoulders. "You have to tell someone, Lucas."
"Who?" I responded, my voice cold and distant. "His father owns the school. There's nothing I can do."
I really appreciate Mrs. Harris' help, I really do. A part of me wants to believe that telling someone will help. However, that's wishful thinking.
"You've been working so hard on his report too" Mrs. Harris flipped through the many sheets of paper.
"It's okay" I replied, looking at Mrs. Harris with a smile, a weak one. "I just need to...I just need to do it again."
I got up from the floor, all of my papers not organized. I took the papers Mrs. Harris had in her hands, looking up at her, grateful for her help. "Thanks for the help Mrs. Harris. I'll see you next week" I began walking away, staring down at my hard work, now all gone.
"Lucas?" Mrs. Harris called out to me, making me stop in my tracks.
"Yeah?" I replied, turning to face her, trying my best to keep it together.
"I know it won't probably fix things but..." Mrs. Harris walked towards me, her eyes looking at me with warmth. "I still have some of those double chocolate cookies in the back if you wanted some. On the house"
Usually I would outright refuse it. However, seeing how my day was going, I really needed the pick-me up. A smile formed on my face, a weak but genuine one. "That... That sounds good"
Mrs. Harris made her way behind the counter, on the cooling rack there were at least six cookies on the tray. Much to my surprise, Mrs. Harris grabbed all of them and began putting it inside a take out container.
"Mrs. Harris, that's! That's way too much. You don't need to give me–"
"Oh hush Lucas. You're one of my favourite students in this school, might add a lot of teachers' favourites and for good reason." Mrs. Harris began, taking the tray towards the oven. "Besides. You're going to need a lot of energy writing a new paper don't you?"
I let out a sigh of defeat, but there was a smile growing on my face. "My mom isn't going to be happy with amount of sugar I'll be consuming"
"Then don't tell your mother" Mrs. Harris replied, short and simple. Her response only made me chuckle more, shocked by her words.
"I don't think that's something a school staff member should say" I replied, taking the container of cookies regardless. Mrs. Harris also looked like she was enjoying it as well, a chuckle escaping from her.
"How has your mother been doing Lucas?" Mrs. Harris asked, "Good, I hope?"
It took me a while to come up with a response. I fiddled with my hands a bit before answering. "She's... She's doing well. Same old, same old you know?" I responded, my smile now fading.
"I just... I just want to get this paper in and get that scholarship. Then... At least my mom and dad don't have to worry about expenses." The words I said had such a weight to them. Anyone could see that.
Mrs. Harris placed her hand on my shoulder, a look of assurance directed at me. "You'll get that scholarship Lucas. I know you will"
"Take care on your way home okay?"
I nodded my head, balancing the box on my forearm. I turned around and began walking away. I stopped in my tracks, I spun around, Mrs. Harris looked at me with her eyelids raising up. "Thanks Mrs. Harris...For... For looking out for me all these years"
"Anytime, Lucas"
...
I strolled through the hallway, passing by people who were snickering at me. The stupid coffee stain was still on my pants and there was nothing I could do about it. I just prayed I'd get to my teachers office soon... This time around, it just looked so far away.
"Lucas!" A loud boisterous voice echoed throughout the hallway. My shoulders tensed at her loud voice. I could hear her loud footsteps approaching from behind me. She was walking towards me with a purpose.. I can tell...
"Lucas!" She said once more, grabbing both my shoulders and turning me around. Here I was eye to eye with one of my friends, out of the five I have. Her name is Ororo Munroe, and she is one of the most beautiful girls in my school.
I know what you're thinking. I'm the nerd of the school, how the hell am I friends with a popular student. Well, it's 2017 and things change, and the word popular is being used loosely. Some people are considered popular because maybe you have certain aspects that catch a lot of people's attention.
For example, Ororo is not only beautiful as hell, but she is also very smart. Not as smart as me, but she can easily get into top tier universities. Plus, she is a social butterfly. Easy to approach and talk to, making her popular.
Others like Neil are popular because he's known for being the principal's son. Become friends with him, and you are pretty much guaranteed safety from any bullying. Notoriety does earn you popularity, even if it's bad.
"What the hell happened? I heard people talking about..." Ororo trailed off and saw that my report was covered in coffee, along with my pants. I could see a vein popping out of her head, her fists clench, ready to rain down hell on whoever did this. "Who was it?"
"Ro'..." I began, letting out a sigh. It was clear I didn't want to talk about it. Knowing Ro' however, she wasn't going to leave it like that.
"Don't you Ro me" She responded, copying my demeanour when I said her name. She gave me an expectant glare, her arms on her waist and foot tapping with impatience. "Was it Neil again?"
"Yes, it was. Please don't go after him" I begged.
Ro' sighed, knowing she really can't do much about it. Like I said, Neil's dad is the principal. Unless you want to get expelled or have your university applications affected, you don't want to mess with him.
"Look, the school year is almost done anyways. I won't have to deal with him anymore" I said, trying to shift the conversation to a more positive note. "Then I will be done here, no more high school bullshit"
Ro let out an amused smile and nodded her head in agreement. "You're right about that." She then looked at my attire and her mood once again fell. "Do you have any change of clothes?" She asked, still worried about me.
"It's okay... It's almost the end of school anyways. Just need to uh..." I glanced at my coffee stained papers, bringing it up beside my face. "Inform Ms. Beaubier of this debacle."
"I'll come with you" Ro said, or more like demanded. Not that I minded. Having Ro around me always made me feel safer. No one screws with her, therefore no one screws with me.
"Thanks" I replied, smiling at my friend with great appreciation.
The both us walked to Ms. Beaubier's office, taking the stairs to the 2nd floor where the science and math department was. As you could probably tell, no one really hangs around the second floor given the subjects—unless they really need to.
I stopped at Ms. Beaubier's door, knocking on the door three times and stood back. Not even a few seconds, the door opened up and out came my science teacher.
"Oh Lucas?" Ms. Beaubier looked pleasantly surprised when she saw it was me. She then turned over to Ro, and waved at her. "And Ororo? What are you two doing here?"
"Uh... Well" I winced and brought up the papers. Ms. Beaubier did not look pleased at all. Her kind face soured and a defeated sigh came out.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Neil happened, that's what" Ro said, saying his name with pure disgust.
"Sacrament..." Ms. Beaubier sounded angry. Not even because of her tone. It's the fact she spoke French. If a class ever starts talking over her, the Quebecois in her emerges from her and starts swearing up a storm.
Ms. Beaubier composed herself, or at least tried to. "I'll try to talk to the representative of ESU. Tell her what had happened."
"Thanks Ms. Beaubier, sorry for the trouble" I apologized, feeling bad that I had put my teacher in that type of position. Especially since she set up this whole scholarship thing for me.
"You don't need to apologize, Lucas. It's not your fault" Ms. Beaubier placed her hand on my shoulder, reassuring me.
"Yeah! It's that big dickhead Neil's fault!" Ro shouted, sounding very passionate about it as well.
"Ms. Munroe" Ms. Beaubier looked up at her, her face emotionless, her hands on her hips. Ro looked kind of nervous, even if Ms. Beaubier is pretty chill, she doesn't like students swearing in her presence. She then raised her hand, and pinched her finger and thumb together, barely a centimeter between the two.
"Little"
Ro and I both looked at each other widened eyes. Ro was the first to look away with a happy grin, while I was still in disbelief.
"Damnnn... Ms. Beaubier, you straight cold" Ro looked really pleased with what our teacher just said. I was just as guilty. Couldn't help but let a stupid grin grow on me.
Ms. Beaubier let out a giggle, one that soon disappeared once she faced me. "I'll do my best to talk to them. Just focus on that report okay? I know you'll knock it out of the park"
"Thanks Ms. Beaubier. I'll try my best" I said, a genuine smile reappearing on my face.
...
Ro and I left the second floor, using the stairs to get back to the first floor. The bell finally rang, and I swear I can hear the sighs of relief every time it goes off. Along with that, students come rushing out of their classrooms, some sooner than others.
I began to pick up my pace walking through the hall. Ro picked up on it and began to match my pace. I needed to get out of here before the ocean of people swarmed the hallway. Not only because I hate crowds, but because of the stupid stain on my pants.
"Oh? Roro! Lucas!" A handsome boy called out to us. Meet my second friend, Alexander Shin, an international student from Korea. Ro and I watched as he had squeezed his way through a bunch of girls surrounding him. The two of us laughed and shook our heads as all the girls groaned as he left.
Alex is a really good looking guy, smart as well. If yellow fever had to be a person, specifically a guy, I would nominate him. He could probably get any girl he wants... If he wasn't as dense as a brick.
"Hey, Alex. I see your fans were waiting for you outside as usual" Ro joked, pointing her attention at the group of girls.
"Oh them? All of them wanted to know about the literature question we had today in class. Thought I would help them out" He smiled, and I couldn't help but snicker as I watched Ro roll her eyes. "It's surprising, all six of them had the same problem, insane right?"
"Boy you a trip" Ro shook her head.
"Oh! Oh! Where are we going?!" Alex bounced up and down on the spot. It took everything I had to not bust out laughing. Alex's reply paired with Ro looking like she wanted to punch him was golden content.
"Eugh... Whatever... Let's go Kpop" Ro said, gesturing for him to follow.
"Oooh! I'm excited!" Alex exclaimed, clapping his hands. I laughed as I heard Ro groan again, following behind the two.
"You got another one?! Where the hell did you get the money?!" I can recognize that voice anywhere... We walked around the corner and met with my remaining friends. The pretty Latina over there is Ava Ayala, and the boy beside her, Aaron Leung.
Ava is just as beautiful as Ororo, extremely athletic and our ace in our schools volleyball team. You can probably tell she's popular among the boys, but man she is cold. I think she rejected around 60% of the boys in our school. The other 40% are probably too scared since she can be scary to approach. Though, in my opinion Ava is the sweetest person alive, she was the second friend I made right after Ro'. Also helps that I didn't hit on her the first time we met... Not that I had the balls to do it anyways.
Aaron here is actually the newest friend among us. He moved here from New York a couple of months ago. He's a really laid back person, knows how let loose and have fun. Sometimes it can be a little too much and incur the wrath of Ava and Ororo. He also seems to be from a well off family since he always has expensive items on him.
Ava noticed the three of us walking towards them, she sighed and beckoned us over to her. "Guys... Ron here got another tattoo"
"Damn... What is that? Like your sixth one?" Ro asked, shocked to hear that our friend got more ink on him.
"Fifth, actually." Aaron corrected, rolling up his sleeve to show the new ink. From my knowledge is looked like the vermillion bird from Chinese mythology. It was placed close to his shoulder, and it was actually pretty nice. The colours were vibrant and the line work was amazing.
Ava shook her head with her arms crossed. Her eyes then went on me, and there she noticed something strange on my pants. "What happened to your pants Lucas?" She asked.
"Huh? Oh this?" I replied, a nervous chuckle escaping me. "Uh... C-Coffee accident"
"Caused by Neil Haynes" Ro added, crossing her arms, waiting for our friends' reactions. "What makes it worse? Spilled on his report too. The one he's writing for ESU"
"Huh?!" Alex turned to me in utter shock, a little bit of anger mixed in as well.
"Wait WHAT?!" Aaron shouted, and I could just feel how pissed he was.
"¿Que chingados?!" Oh no... The Spanish is coming out... If I learned one thing about Latina's from being friends with Ava, they will swear until the sun goes down and back up. I had to stop her before she went ballistic.
"V, don't worry about it. I just need to rewrite it. Most of the stuff here is still eligible. I can just copy off of it" I said, trying to calm the two down. Ava and Aaron know I don't like being confrontational, especially when others do it for me. That being said, it feels great knowing my friends will always have my back, and I love them for it.
"Such bullshit... Guy is the son of the principal so he can do whatever he wants..." Aaron spat. I could tell just thinking about Neil pisses Aaron off.
"Whatever. He's graduating soon anyway. Once he's in university or wherever else, he won't have daddy backing him anymore" Ava pointed out, and knowing that is more than enough for me. Neil might be the most powerful here, but it's all even playing ground once he is out of here.
The five of us made our way to the front doors of our school, exiting to the parking lot. There we could see cars coming in and out, it honestly looked like Costco on a weekend. Busy as hell.
"So! Are you guys doing anything this weekend?" Ava asked, sounding way chipper now compared to before.
"Nope"
"Nothing planned yet"
"Are we going on a trip?!"
"Trip?" Ava asked, looking at Alex with a confused look.
"Ignore him" Ro said, waving it off. Looks like a headache was coming on for her."You had something in mind?"
"Yeah!" Ava then turned to me as I was the only person who hasn't replied yet. I just raised up my papers, that was my answer. Ava looked really disappointed when I did so, but there was nothing I could do. "You really can't?"
"Trust me V, I do but... I really need this scholarship" I replied, sounding quite desperate as well. "Maybe next time?"
"You promise?" She asked with a frown on her face, a cute one at that.
"Te prometo" I responded, making Ava smile as bright as the sun. I feel really bad... Haven't been hanging around them as often due to the whole university spiel.
Our group talk was interrupted as a car pulled up in front of us, two light honks grabbed our attention. All of us looked at the vehicle, there we saw Ro's older brother Elijah.
"That's us. I'll see you guys tomorrow" Ro said, gesturing to me to follow her into Elijah's car. "Oh! Text in the group chat so everyone knows what's up tomorrow"
"You got it." Ava replied with a thumbs up. Her along with Alex and Aaron waved us good-bye as we got into the car, with us doing the same.
"Thanks for the ride Eli" I greeted with an appreciative smile, getting into the back seat and putting my seat belt on. Eli would be my sixth overall friend, outside of highschool. We got along pretty well the first time we met, since we were both interested in gaming, and the same games might I add.
"No problem man, anytime" Eli looked back at me, and once again... His eyes moved down, he could only let out a sigh as he began driving away from the school premises. "Dammit man, Neil again?"
"Why does everyone keep looking down?" I asked, wondering how their eyes always end up at my crotch.
"It's giant dumb coffee stain man. Looks like you pissed yourself" Eli laughed, only to be hit by Ro'. "Ah, damn chill, I'm driving!"
"It's not funny Elijah. Neil has been doing this shit since you left" Ro said, saying his name with spite. And just like she said, Neil has been bullying me more ever since Eli left the school. Ro and Eli's family consider us to be a second family, so Eli treats me like I'm his little brother. When he was still in high school, he and his friends looked out for us. Now that he's gone... Well, I just became a juicy target.
"If I could do something I would. Still don't understand he always chooses you" Elijah said, shaking his head. Getting angry just thinking about it.
"Because Lucas here is the star of the school, that's why" When Ro said that I couldn't help but smirk. "Legit, all the teachers rave about him all the time. Amazing grades, perfect attendance. Pretty sure Neil is tired of hearing that, so he just goes after him."
Elijah just nodded his head, a big dumb grin on his face. Ro' was quick to notice and gave him a stank look. "What?"
"Nothin'. You really like talking storm up when it's about Lucas huh?" He said with a chuckle. From where I was, I couldn't really see Ro's expression, but I didn't need to as Elijah earned himself another smack.
"Shut it"
"Aight damn..."
...
We finally arrived back home after a couple minutes of driving. Elijah parked underground and the three of us took the elevator up to our floor. Killed some time talking about miscellaneous things such as games with Elijah and music with Ro'.
We said our good byes when we got to our respective rooms. As soon as I entered my home, all the lights were turned off. Closing the door behind me, I let out a sigh. Whether or not it was out of relief because I was home... Or it was sadness because no one was home.
I turned on the lights, and walked inside our place. It wasn't much. The essentials were all there and it just looked like any other normal Chinese household. Shoe rack by the front door with slipper rack next to it. Never walk into a Chinese persons home with your shoes on. Unless you want some angry Chinese lady staring daggers into your soul for the rest of the day. Inadvertently also causing said angry Chinese lady to lecture her son or daughter.
I went over to my room to change out of my clothes, finally being free of my coffee stained pants. I took off my contacts and put on my glasses, the ones that made me look like a discount Asian Harry Potter.
Throwing my dirty clothes in the laundry bin, I went back to my room. Taking out a new notebook to write my report. I laid out the stained papers on my desk and began writing the report again, taking the cookies Mrs. Harris made for me as a little pick me up of energy.
I just needed to finish this report. Hand it in and hope for the best. If I get the scholarship, mom and dad won't need to pay for anything. Just one step closer to making my parents life easier.
If it was only that easy.