The next day of school was a sullen start, but Kudzai had already mastered the art of internalising his problems, carrying his poker face with him, which always made him appear like a happy youth. Morgan Freed, the man who had served the family for 25 years could easily see through the youth's forced facade, something he had gotten accustomed to due to working several years in his trade. The butler didn't try to pry into what was going on in the mind of the young master but rather ignored it, hoping that the young master would soon find a resolution within his own internal conflict. This concern was something that these two were mutually sharing as they drove off to St. Calteco high for day 2 of school.
Class was going to start in the next 10minutes! That was always a ghastly scenario for anyone who was caught up in the early morning traffic jam. They were probably regretting having not driven earlier than what was commonly sanctioned by the laws of the road, getting into early morning road rage as they watched the clock ticking to their dismay. Kudzai was fortunate to be punctual like the rest of his peers, evading the armada of cued vehicles in transit and arriving to find the same flashy cars from yesterday all parked at the school drop off zone. Upon arrival he could not help but notice the attention, he was getting from a couple of form 4 girls who giggled at the sight of him. They teased him calling him 'Tendai junior', and seemed to be glowing as they were gawking at him. He felt objectified like a nude model in the view of countless perverse eyes, going from enjoying his attention to feeling uncomfortable. At first, he thought it was some form of group jeering, but in actual fact, it was a silly juvenile taunting of the opposite sex. He inadvertently smiled, but felt embarrassed as he headed towards class. The girls saw this and began to giggle even more, shamelessly scoping Kudzai who immediately trotted fast, heading to his class with a classic face palm as he tried to alleviate himself from that awkward moment with the two giggling girls.
Upon arriving outside his classroom, he saw Neo who had a fixed and serious face, the one commonly found on badly taken passport photos. Tracy was tagging along beside her friend with a sullen face, something that gave Kudzai the impression that today was going to be a bitter day. As they entered class, Kudzai soon realised that these two had come from the direction where the class prep Dionne was. Dionne was with her cronies: Clarice, David, Michoone, and Alice, discussing vehemently about something as if they were in a political gathering. Having been noticed by his 5 classmates he instinctively waved hello at them and they all did the same under Dionne's instruction. He soon enough entered his classroom to find cliques engrossed in their own forms of discussion. Jonathan and Lisa were at the far right corner at the back of the classroom, talking to Melissa Keaton. Kudzai was puzzled and wondered what their discussion was about. The estranged Melissa Keaton had given him discomfort the day before and he didn't feel obligated to converse with a pale emo girl who was prone to daydreaming and sketching random art on paper during lessons. As he surveyed his environment, the muscle spasms from his regular early morning routine workout had surprisingly taken noticeable physical strain on him. He was fatigued more than usual, and even though he could hide his ominous feelings with an optimistic face, he couldn't fake his body language. He walked stiffly, heading towards the back role and found Neo with his clique of athletes, all bunched up in deep conversation. Neo was with Randal, a chubby and a bit firm, squint eyed boy with a plump accent. He had green eyes, freckles on his nose and cheeks, curly pulled back hair and was medium height in disposition. His entangled hands and rough frame made him look as if he was a red neck in restraints. He was constantly nodding at Munya, who was saying something that had the name Dionne spouted as a motif in his dialogue. Munya was an ebony light skinned tall and physically fit boy. He had lime light enormous eyes that were complemented with black nerd glasses. His eyes were a bit milky from what Kudzai had noticed, but he had neatly done corn rolls. Tracy who was part of this meeting began to utter words in a conspirator like manner, which then quickly enticed Kudzai's curiosity. He amplified his hearing perception to a tangent that made all of Neo's clique's subtle whispers and intermittent shouts into an extremely audible horn. Upon eavesdropping, he began to hear them each utter their sentences, but the dialogue soon revealed to him an already existing conflict within the class.
"That little twat Dionne is so full of herself; this is the problem of aristocrats. Unlike the sons of the genuine nobility, she has no approved claim or entitlement to say that." uttered Munya with an expression of protest.
"I propose we humiliate her in public and destroy her pride. She is just a nuisance that girl! Rude and conceited twat indeed." uttered Tracy whose eyes would go blood shot to express her anger.
"She has gone too far Neo, why do you let her trash talk you like that? You're way cooler and better as a person than her. You should tell her head on... " said Randal before being interjected by Neo whose frustration was seething inside of him. He was happy that his friends had shown him support, but the support did not thwart the truth he knew deep down inside. The truth being that he was a commoner who was lucky enough to get a government scholarship to attend St.Calteco high. It was an achievement that he attained from working hard and showing athletic aptitude, but no matter how skilled and talented one was in both academics and sports, someone would still overlook those achievements and only see their humble begins.
"Stop both of you," said Neo who was rattled inside by their hate speech, "Dionne is an elitist twat as you say, but it doesn't change the truth about me."
"Neo you know we don't care about that strung up stuff, we both like you the way you are, you're talented, and you lighten up the mood..." said Tracy who sounded as affectionate as a mother who was consoling her child.
"You say that because of my skill set, but if it wasn't for that you'd treat me different right?"
"Neo we aren't like the rest of the snobby brats in St. Calteco high, we are your friends, don't insinuate stuff like that." said Munya who was astonished by Neo's odd remark. Dionne had said something venomous as usual, but this time it had tipped the scales on the Asian boy's thick skin.
"You shouldn't get mind screwed by Matthew Logan. His your team captain for tennis and your friend, but he has issues. Don't let his way of thinking rub on you and make you say stuff you don't really mean." said Randal who grasped Neo's shoulder, reassuring him that all was well.
"Neo, if you don't take her on you will just bottle up all that anger inside and vent it out on us like what you're doing now. We are your friends." said Tracy who looked deeply into Neo as if trying to draw out his inner most affirmation of trust in her. Neo eventually admitted to have spoken out of personal bitterness, smirking and apologising to his friends for having suggested that they weren't genuine. Neo rose up and said, "I think it’s time I accepted where I have come from and not use it as a sob story to fuel my personal insecurities." The remark instantly widened the smiles of Neo's inner circle, but what he did next was unexpected. He left the classroom to confront Dionne. As he was leaving, he greeted Kudzai who had been static during his eavesdropping. He was smiling more than usual as he shaked Kudzai's hand, exchanging concise words before leaving his sight. The cordial greeting was surely brief, but what lasted longer was Kudzai's anticipation of a violent reaction between Neo and Dionne's clique. The very idea of something cataclysmic happening entered his mind as Neo left the classroom. Kudzai's brief distraction from other events taking place in the class as a whole made him not see Melissa Keaton who was on her way to talk to him. She had that pale vampire look, a bit cute for those with a fetish for gothic Lolitas, but a look that would shrivel a sane boy's libido. She nudged his shoulder and quickly asked, "You never came to where I had stated, why?" Kudzai who was always startled by her appearance reacted in a kind of subtle shock, which she could have easily misinterpreted as revulsion. He didn't hear her first utterance and instantly greeted her, saying, "Hi, its Melissa right? What's good?"
"Um all right. You didn't make it to the place where we were supposed to meet?" she said with a dazed look as if she was high on heavily saturated shrooms.
"Huh?" he asked, taken by surprise by her sudden remark.
"I had told you to meet with me at the courts, why didn't you come?" she asked, this time with a more sullen and hurt tone, but her facial expressions didn't blend well with what she uttered. Even though the tone of the question was chagrin, Melissa's expressions were too apathetic to the point that it gave her an intimidating aura. Kudzai having just realised that she had been speaking in code the day before, paused as he glanced at the empty doll like expression of Melissa and then asked, "So you were using a coded speech?"
"Yes, the fact that you know this means that you intentionally didn't come. Please tell me why?" she said, still lacking any appropriate facial expressions to match her appeal.
"Well the honest truth is that I didn't think you spoke coded speech, so forgive me, but next time just ask me using simpler methods." he said, horrified by the thought that he would end up socialising with this girl alone in the near future.
"I thought you'd be quicker witted about it like your brother." she said with a passive tone. The remark struck a nerve on Kudzai, who to his own surprise was shocked by his own reaction towards Melissa's statement. Kudzai with a loud and somewhat enraged voiced replied, "I AM NOT MY BROTHER DARN IT, WHY DO YOU GUYS ALWAYS INSIST THAT WERE THE SAME! DON'T ASSUME RUBBISH LIKE THAT AND END UP THINKING THAT WE'RE THE SAME!"
The students of 2B1 who were already in class were taken by surprise by this sudden roar of disapproval that had emanated from Kudzai. Jonathan and Lisa were astonished and wondered what in the hell was going on. It was the same for Neo's cliques who were down casted by this unexpected melt down. Kudzai soon realised his impulsive behaviour had proved to be detrimental. He was being eyed by everyone except by Jake Cavendish, the class hikikomori who was self-absorbed in his portable gaming device, embedded with wireless ear plug phones that looked more like black circular ear muffs. He had, a slender disposition, narrow but refined face that looked effeminate due to everything about his facial components being small. He had small eyes, a small nose, miniscule ears, and small lips, the very definition of a living dwarf. His grey eyes, blonde shaggy hair, short height, and mystic vibe were what summed him up in totality. He had not heard Kudzai's sudden outburst and was seated two desks just after Melissa's desk. He was jamming buttons on his video game with enthusiasm, oblivious to what was going on around him, but the same didn't apply for the rest of his classmates. Everyone had halted what they were doing and wondered what on Reverie had Melissa said to provoke the golden boy of 2B1. Melissa who had been emotionless like a blank emoji suddenly began to show tangible human emotions. It was as if it was her first time showing any signs of life on her pale face, frowning like a child on the verge of pouring tears of insurmountable vexation. Jonathan whose discussion with Lisa had been abruptly interrupted and was now also a part of the audience watching Kudzai, decided to break the awkward silence by saying, "Everybody I have exciting news on my school tabloid! It’s about Regina Shaw; you definitely gotta read about it!" The name Regina Shaw quickly took the lime light and made the rest of the class briefly forget about what had just happened. Melissa walked away from Kudzai who was about to apologise for his impudent behaviour, but she didn't give him the time of day. Randal and Munya watched this spectacle whilst the rest of the class began to gossip upon hearing news about Regina. Jonathan went on to even say, "Get your phones out and quickly download the video along with the article on my Jona XOXO link hash tag Regina Shaw breaking news."
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"You should have said this sooner Jonathan, why the impromptu nature, this isn't like you to randomly spout your new updates. You should be more professional since it’s your dream to run your own prolific popular magazine in the future." said Benjamin Baker, the male prep of the class. Like Dionne, his attention to neatness and posh disposition was quite flamboyant. His black hair was all oiled, shiny and cut exceptionally well as if handled by a majestic barber. His hair style was a refined specimen deserving the applause of a king and queen. He was generally handsome: blessed with a chiselled frame similar to that of an ancient Greek statue, the kind that had been worked on by the hands of an unrivalled craftsman. He was a pretty boy who carried himself well, but unlike Dionne, he seemed more debonair than the usual repugnant prep. His uniform looked different from his peers; the colours of the uniform were all the same, but the materials used to produce his look were of the highest quality in Reverie. It was custom made and even smelled nice. Benjamin who had noticed the perplexed Kudzai about to follow Melissa to beg for forgiveness decided to halt this act of commiseration.
"Mr. Mhike I would suggest that you don't waste your strength on that girl. Whatever you said to her will not be compensated well by you following her." he said with a plump voice, one that emanated from a mouth that was well fed since infancy with a silver spoon that lived up to the merit of unmatched affluence.
"What do you mean I can't...?” he said before being interjected mid speech.
"Trying to console a girl like her is like trying to stop the wind, an unstoppable force that even a tamer like you wouldn't be able to resolve." he said, taking out his mathematics text book and his tablet out. Kudzai paused and glanced at Benjamin whose composure made it seem as if what he was saying was fact. Benjamin then ended off his discourse with Kudzai by saying, "I am Benjamin Baker the 2nd, it’s a pleasure to meet you Kudzai Mhike, son of Vice Admiral Moses Mhike."
"Yah it’s a pleasure to meet you too Benjamin." he said before being yanked by Jonathan who took him to the corner where Lisa was. Though Jonathan was gay and at times exhibited overly effeminate traits, his physical build was not atrophied at all by his demeanour. Kudzai felt like he had been grabbed by a polar bear, which had a very strong grip as he was dragged just in time for a lecture from Jonathan. Jonathan hissed into Kudzai's ear, "What was that Kudzai? Honestly you soldier boys are too temperamental."
"Hey hold up," he said breaking the hold Jonathan had on him, "chill out man, it was just a misunderstanding. I can get this resolved..."
"I think you weren't listening when Benjamin was talking. Melissa might feign being emotionless and an odd ball, but she is very sensitive."
"Sensitive?"
"Yes. She is very sensitive to the point of being mentally challenged. Just don't lash out at her. Her idiosyncrasies can be much to take, but you have to be patient with her." he said, gazing into Kudzai's eyes emphatically to get the point across him.
"What's wrong with her?"
"It’s a long story which I will explain to you to avoid another outburst with her."
"But if she has a serious problem then why did you insist that I shouldn’t apologise to her? I mean it’s my fault but that Benjamin guy even stopped me."
"Trust me on this, the last thing you'd want to do would be being next to her when she is unhappy." he said, pulling down his right sleeve to unveil a ghastly scar.
"How the hell did you get that?" he said, shocked by what he had just witnessed.
"I learned the hard way," said Jonathan who was now pulling up his sleeve, "you don't have to or at least you don't have to force yourself to be put in a position where you'd have to harm her out of self-defence."
"Darn it Jonathan, if she is bat shit crazy, then why would she be learning with the rest of us?"
"Her doctor said her psychosis or something like that can be managed to the point where she can be efficient in class. That's just about much of the details I know about her condition, but the rest of the class has adapted for her sake. It’s our fault we hadn't told you sooner about her behaviour. Just don't lash out at her when she says nasty things, she is just coping with her illness."
"Okay... I guess I over did it back there."
"That my friend is the biggest understatement," he said, now averting his attention to Lisa, "Lisa as I was saying, I couldn't find the guy with the Asian anime merchandise you wanted, I will try again later tonight."
"Oh... well, that totally sucks, I was planning on having my complete zanpaktou collection. I only need Yamamoto's sword."
"Your obsession with Asian cartoons even gave Meiko a scare when you called her a yandere, whatever that means."
"It means a special kind of girl right Kudzai?" she said, glancing at Kudzai at the same time blushing.
"Huh?" he asked, without any inclination to what she had just suggested.
"Never mind, anyways what was that about with Melissa, I didn't expect drama this morning."
"It was a misunderstanding, I will get it fixed soon." he said, with a contrite face.
"You don't have to get touchy man, it’s okay, you're officially now well acquainted with this class now. Melissa's episodes shouldn't be a shocker anymore."
"Oh... Okay." he said, surprised by her complacent tone.
"Jonathan you might as well tell him about your plans of making him a partnered confidant. “ she said, looking at Jonathan who was staring back at her with a dubious look.
"Um, Lisa… you do realise I was planning on asking him later, why did you have to spoil the process." said Jonathan with a now upset face.
"Oops, my bad," she said, pouting her mouth, "I did it again."
"This is why your world of Warcraft avatar is always being assaulted by your gaming buddies online, always spoiling things for others." iterated Jonathan with a glare.
"You're so naive Jonathan, boys online obviously want to talk to me. A male gamer's fantasy is to have his female gamer girl. Then again, the force-98 really wanted to destroy my allotted territory and stored up mana." she said as if daydreaming in between talking.
"What on Reverie are you two talking about?" asked Kudzai whose lack of knowledge in the area of discussion was beginning to annoy him.
"Video games Kudzai, you do play them do you?" asked Lisa who seemed to be squinting her eyes, anticipating a yes from Kudzai as she blinked intermittently.
"Yah I do, but I prefer those FPS games and maybe online fencing sometimes when um free. I usually play with my brother."
"But why not strategy games?" she asked as if she was undoubtedly struck with chagrin.
"I don't find them interesting. They require too much time to invest in... Anyways, thanks for the notes Jonathan, you guys are 2 topics ahead of the Heyzafolt boys from what I noticed." said Kudzai who shrugged off Lisa and averted his attention towards Jonathan.
"Really, you guys hadn't ventured into seismic activity and river systems?" said Jonathan with a perplexed look.
"Yep, pretty much. Anyways, who’s Regina Shaw?"
"Oh that girl, she is a commissar’s daughter, but she tends to leave nasty trails of her nudes and promiscuous behaviour at Lindenbergio (An infamous night club in Sky Colossus known for strippers and lots of shady activities)."
"Lindenbergio, wow, she is really that freaky?" he asked, stupefied by the degree of depravity, which this girl had exhibited, "are all the girls in this school crazy?"
"Not all Kudzai, but a select few in the whoredom ladder." he said with a modulated voice, to accentuate the necessary wit required.
"Come on Jonathan! Watch your potty mouth for Sentient One's sake!" interjected Lisa who had noticed the foul venomous words Jonathan had uttered.
"You don't have to yell at me Lisa, I get it, my tongue has a tang of black mamba, but you know what it's like in the school."
"Regardless of that, I can't believe you kiss Walter with that mouth, it must really be a stain that requires a very efficient detergent." said Lisa with a clear and exaggerated bass. They all burst into laughter upon hearing the joke.
"That was really funny Lisa, I didn't see that one coming," said Kudzai who was chuckling, "by the way Jonathan, how is it that you always have access to this information?"
"A very good journalist never reveals his sources." he said, flexing and feigning a business like pose.
"You mean professional right Jonathan?" asked Benjamin who had overheard their discussion. The question he asked was out of patronising him for having not used the exact words to convey his sentence.
"Why don't you quit it you elitist linguist!" shouted Jonathan who was annoyed by this jibe at him by Benjamin.
"If you're going to say it right at least get it right on the first try. I could always turn on the class LCD screen to outline the appropriate vocabulary to aid you in your speech." he said with an air of great disdain. Jonathan glared at him and gave him the middle finger. Benjamin unmoved by this insult quickly retaliated by saying, "Well you could always devolve to the use of sign language, you seem to be showing ample talent in that department. Good day to you Jonathan."
Kudzai noticed this unprecedented mockery of Jonathan and wondered why the sudden exchange of sour words occurred. He simple commented, "What's his problem?"
"His my rival in linguistics in class. You could call it a healthy rivalry."
"Healthy?" asked Lisa with great bewilderment.
"How is that healthy?" asked Kudzai whose chagrin was mutually shared with Lisa.
"Trust me on this one, a rival is pretty much your best friend." said Jonathan with a smug on his face.
"If you say so Jonathan," said Lisa who seemed doubtful of her friend's stoic stance on things, "anyways Kudzai, you're a tamer right?"
"Obviously, he is Tendai Mhike's younger brother. The royal powers should be in him as well." interloped Jonathan who was annoyed by the naive nature of Lisa's question.
"Hold your horses’ girlfriend. Um just making sure, we don't just tag him as one. Do you remember what happened to Timothy Harrington? The boy whose sister was a tamer... he felt the pressure to be a tamer when he was skipped by the family genetics."
"You don't have to go crazy about my status, um a tamer, haven't been skipped at all by genetics except for my little sister." said Kudzai who wanted to end these two's squabbles before they morphed into something ugly.
"Oh wow that's so cool, sorry about your sister.” said Jonathan.
“Maybe she is a late bloomer." said Lisa who wanted to console Kudzai's tragic family misfortune.
"Well time will tell. By the way, are there any other potent tamers besides me in the class?"
"Well only two more. Dionne and Neo." replied Jonathan.
"What? You mean that girl is a potent tamer?" shouted Kudzai who was beyond shocked by this revelation.
"Yep, the class bitch is a potent tamer. It makes it hard to believe that people as pretentious as her would be that talented. Um honestly jealous." said Lisa who was clearly bothered by that fact.
"Well it’s really not a big deal... " said Kudzai who had tried to be modest.
"At times not flaunting the obvious is bad. You don't have to be humble, we all know that potent tamers are special," he said abating Kudzai's noble attempt at moral decency.
"You guys really like the pompous?” asked Kudzai.
"Nope, we just like it when you don't keep things that are obvious, to yourself.” replied Jonathan.
"Kudzai could you demonstrate some of your tamer talents for us?” asked Tessa Lake, a girl who was seated at the far middle left of the classroom. She was a petite and dainty girl, one who also seemed as if she had not reached puberty due to her youthfulness. She had a balloon rounded face, ebony dark skin, squint eyes and a million credit smile. Kudzai had wondered why he hadn't noticed such a beauty before in the class. In that moment he realised that, his infatuation for Meiko now had a contender.
"You want to see me demonstrate my taming abilities?” he asked thinking that it was just some harmless taunting.
"Yes.” she said with a more than alluring modulated voice. The girl that Tessa was sitting next to, Simone Iverson stood up and shouted, "Guys Kudzai is gonna show us his taming tricks!” In the background, the rest of the class began to talk about what Simone had just announced and then looked at Kudzai who was once again in the spotlight this morning. Kudzai at first didn't notice the now observing eyes for Simone's appearance had caught him off guard. She was a towering stocky girl who looked like a female version of Goliath. She was average looking facially, though her extremely well defined jaw made her look like a Russian dominatrix, a possible transgender model. If she had a nickname, the one they would give her would be Helga.