“What’s…wrong with me! Why do I never learn!”, Jayden shouted with exertion as he sprinted across another street.

He’d spent the night before, down a rabbit hole browsing the internet for the dumbest video he could find. In doing so he’d forgotten that tonight was a school night and, by staying up as late as he did, he’d succeeded in digging his own grave the next morning. The morning was a mess. He’d awoken to the sound of his alarm blaring its deafening tone throughout the dreary room. A groggy swing in the general direction of his alarm awarded him a silence, which was quickly broken as realization hit him with all the force of a speeding train. A single, loud, continuous shout stretched from his bedroom to the bathroom as he rushed through his morning routine and threw on the clothes which lie in a pile on his dresser. The moment he slipped into his shoes, he was out of the house and bolting towards his school.

I can’t be late, I can’t be late, he chanted, a frantic hymn coursing through his mind reminding him of the dire consequences which failure would bring upon him.

He felt his blood course through his veins. The consistent thumping of his heartbeat shifted into an erratic pounding, deafening him to the world outside of his singular mantra. His legs let out a silent roar. His arms swung wildly, oblivious to their internal complaints. Jayden gazed behind at the horizon before him and felt the drumming of his heart spike, Delilah Martin Middle School, lay just beyond him. He was going to make it on time. He was actually going to make it.

…

“Mr. Danielson”, his teacher Mary Tress screeched, her face puckering as she addressed him.

“Yes, ma’am”, he whispered.

“When you walked into my classroom twenty minutes late on Monday, what did I tell you?”

“You said that it was-”.

“I said that you did not present the best first impression, but it was acceptable given that it was the first day back from summer break. Then you were late the day after and I gave you another pass, and then the next day. Mr. Danielson, you have been late everyday this week. You see the issue with this, am I correct?”

“Yes, ma’am”.

“Don’t give me apologies Mr. Danielson, give me progress. I have given you multiple chances to correct this behavior and each time you have failed to do as such. So how do we move on from here? Your peers are all punctual, as expected. Do you want me to give you special treatment?

“No, I’m s- no ma’am”.

“Get to your seat Mr. Danielson. You’ve interrupted my class enough as it is. And I want to see significant improvement on Monday”.

Without saying a word, he glided across the room, practically running as he half heartedly attempted to hide his face from the penetrating states of his classmates. He only made it halfway across the room before a leg shot out directly into his path. Before he could even recognize the obstruction in his path, he was sent tumbling to the ground, bringing an occupied desk crashing down with him, creating an obnoxiously powerful crash and a whirlwind of assorted papers.

“Are you okay?”

He’d had a good idea of the identity of the leg the moment he collapsed to the ground, but hearing his voice in its clear, arrogant tone made his blood boil. Marcus Barnes, that giant bastard, ever since their elementary school days had taken it upon himself to act as his personal tormentor. If his wallet ever seemed too full or his confidence seemed too high, as if by some mythical force, Marcus would show up and systematically make his life worse. And here he sat standing over him with a barely contained grin hidden by mock concern. His eyes flowed with malice and annoyance as he glared down at Jayden.

Marcus offered him his hand and Jayden saw red. He swatted the arm away with an audible crack, jumped up and shoved Marcus with all of his might, sending the man stumbling back a few inches. With that done, Jayden raised both of his arms to his head, preparing himself for the inevitable retaliation from Marcus. He knew from past experiences that the smallest act against him would end in a bloody nose at best and a few broken bones at worst, but today was that last straw. He couldn’t take it anymore; he wouldn’t. Marcus stared unflinchingly at Jayden, and though his expression seemed calm, Jayden swore that he could see death in his eyes, a look of promised pain shimmering just beneath the surface. However before anything else could happen, Miss Tress’ voice rang through the classroom, making him along with many of the other students wince.

“Mr. Danielson, what on earth is the matter with you?!”

“It’s his fault. He’s the reason I fell over! He tripped me, he-”.

“That’s enough Mr. Danielson!”, she screeched, “From what I saw you just attacked the only student who bothered to help you after you fell, something, might I remind you, that you seem to do frequently”.

“But, ma’am I-”, he tried in vain to defend his outburst.

“Do not interrupt me! Your actions today have been completely unacceptable. If you don’t apologize I will have you sent to the office”.

Jayden stared back at her in disbelief, in embarrassment. His erratic breathing grew more and more disorderly as he struggled in vain to calm himself. His scarlet skin beamed a brighter red, and his body physically clenched as a roaring fury buried within the pit of his stomach grew with each passing second.

He wanted to scream, to bury Marcus in every insult that he ever launched at him, but what good would that do. He’d already been embarrassed enough for one decade, any action he took right would only make him look like more of an idiot.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed all of his aggression back into that pit, reigning in the crimson beast and driving it to the depths of his core.

“I’m sorry I was acting like an ass, thank you for trying to help me”, he said in a short voice.

“Don’t worry about it”, Marcus assured him, flashing him a toothy grin.

“Now that we’ve wasted ten minutes of class, both of you get to your seats. We will be discussing the Leviathan”, Miss Tress said before quickly adding, “We’re discussing the monster which terrorized the shores of Aqualine during the 16th century, not the villain that rose to prominence during the 90’s.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Before Jayden could move towards his seat, Marcus pulled him in a tight hug, an overly tight hug and whispered in his ear, “That was a good apology Jady, but you should have left out the swearing. After all, don’t you kiss your mom with that mouth?”

Chuckling to himself as he picked up the desk, Marcus sat down and stared directly at Jayden’s retreating figure as he walked to his seat.

…

“Are you doing okay?”, Guinevere Spuru asked, making an effort to match his pace.

“Yep”, he responded.

“What happened this morning?”

“Nothing”.

“Are you going to say anything other than one word answers, or is this what we’re doing today?”

“Are you going to say anything other than questions?”

“Oh nice comeback there pal. Now that we’ve gotten all of that sarcasm out of your system, are you going to answer any of my questions?”

“Nothing happened, so you don’t need to worry about it”.

His tone might have been more forceful than necessary, but that didn’t matter right now. He was angry, his blood boiled at the memory of this morning, his ears rang with unspoken fury. He wanted to lash out at someone, at anyone, to curse the world for the trouble it had caused him. Yet, when he stared at his best friend, his anger cooled. Guin didn’t deserve that. She’d always been nice, that one streak of sunshine amidst a torrential downpour. She was the one person that he could count on, it wouldn’t be fair to treat her like that.

“I’m sorry”, he apologized, “This morning I got to school late, got chewed out by Ms. Tress, and got tripped by Marcus on the way to my seat”.

“And what did you do?”, she asked, the soothing tone remaining in her voice.

“I blew up. I shouted at him, and made an even bigger ass out of myself in the process. I just got so angry that he could embarrass me for so long without anyone doing anything that I-”.

Jayden was cut off in the middle of his sentence by Guin who pulled him into a tight hug. He knew that that such an action would do him any favors, He realized that he should have been strong or the rumors would spread, giving Marcus more ammo to use against him, but in that moment he teared up. It had been so hard to relax, to forget about this morning for even a second. But with that single act, she gave me a moment to forget.

“Thanks”, his voice quivered as he delivered that single word.

“Well look at what we have here”, a familiar voice called out from behind me.

In response to the involuntary tensing of my body, he heard Guin whisper into my ear, ”Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this, okay”.

I couldn’t respond, wouldn’t because I knew that if I opened my mouth, I’d only dig a deeper hole for myself.

“What do you want Marcus”, Guin, snarled, her tone shifting, growing colder and more bitter.

True to her words when Jayden turned to face them he saw Marcus flocked by two of his gym friends, that same condescending smirk from this morning plastered into his face.

“Hey what’s with the hostility? Am I not allowed to walk around my own school?”

“We both know what you’re about to do, so save everyone here the hassle and get the hell out of here”.

“Look princess, your family might give you status that the rest of us commoners might not have, but here and now you can’t make me do anything. After I'm not doing anything wrong. I just want to talk to my little buddy over here”, he emphasized that last sentence with a “playful” punch to his arm.

“Don’t touch him. You’ve done more than enough, leave”.

“Make me”, he challenged.

“What?”, she asked, taken aback by his request.

“If you really want me gone so badly, make me. Or does little miss blueblood not know how to throw a punch?”

He’d cornered her. It was no secret that as higher ups in AEGIS, Guin’s family was associated with some of the most influential people in the country. A level of status which her parents potentially valued more than her. If word ever got out that the daughter of the Purus family was engaging in fights at school then whatever bruises she got from taking Marcus’ challenge would be the least of her problems.

“Why would I want to fight an idiot like you?”

“And why would I let some prissy…little…brat like you tell me what to do?”

Getting involved would definitely be a stupid idea. He should just let Guin handle it, after all that’s exactly what she told him to do. Getting involved would be stupid, getting involved would be stupid-.

“Hey Marcus”, Jayden said, his voice dejected, “Just leave us alone”.

“Why? I’m just trying to help you out man. The little princess over here doesn’t think you're strong, she thinks that she has to be your bodyguard when that’s not true. I know you. You’re tough. You can take a few hits without falling over”, he accompanied the taunt with a strong shove to my midsection, “All I’m doing is proving her wrong”.

“Well I don’t need your help okay, so just leave”, He growled.

“Where’s this hostility coming from?”, he asked seemingly bewildered, “I'm just trying to be your friend here, and I don’t think it’s very nice that you’ve been attacking me the entire day. Maybe I should tell that stuck up teacher about the problems you’ve been giving me, have her embarrass you in front of the class again. But then again, given how much of an idiot you looked like when you walked into class this morning, I probably won’t have”.

“Shut up”, he said, more firmly.

“You always have a way of making yourself seem like

“Fuck off and leave us alone”, Jayden snarled him, his eyes glowing with rage, his face twitched as adrenaline coursed in his vein.

“Wow, what a mouth you have. I’m guessing you got that from your mother”.

With that single line Jayden felt all of the aggression leave his body. He felt cold, as if ice had replaced his blood. It was typical of Marcus to use cheap shots to get into his head, however the knowledge of his intentions didn’t make his words hurt any less. He felt nauseous, sickened by the fact that they were yet again using such a sore subject to taunt him, to ridicule him because of actions which were out of his control. His breath caught in his throat and he forced himself to choke in sour wisps of air. He had to get as far away as he possibly could from this hallway, from Marcus and all the piercing eyes that followed him, because if he didn’t he’d either embarrass himself even further by crying in front of the school, or he’d get beaten to a pulp in front of them. So he did the only rational thing that he could have. He ran, away from the piercing eyes, away from Marcus, and away from Guin who shouted in vain for him to come back. Jayden Danielson ran until Delilah Martin Middle School was merely a hazy visage in the vast horizon.

…

By the time Jayden stopped running to catch his breath, he was in front of his house. A two story stretch An absence of cars in his driveway denoted that his parents were off somewhere, however that mattered very little to him as whether or not they were home, they’d either be too hungover to acknowledge or in a trance determined to repress the events of the night before.

Given that the confrontation with Marcus had prevented him from getting lunch, Jayden walked into his kitchen with the express purpose of finding something to eat. Sitting on the counter he found a stale bologna sandwich with a single folded piece of paper resting on it. The note was very sloppily written and took a few seconds of close deciphering before he was able to read it. The message was brief, but that didn’t stop his face from growing stormier as he read it,

Jayden,

We’ll be back late again, busy working, so you’ll have to make due until then. Don't destroy the house. We'll see you in a few hours.

He took the note in his hands and ripped it clean in half before dumping it as well as the sandwich in the trash. With his appetite well and truly gone, he climbed the stairs before walking into his room and slamming the door behind him with a single loud crash.