Although Theo had a scholarship for swimming at Aurelian Academy, it wasn't an official subject there, so he still had to take another class. Considering exercise was all Theo really knew, he had chosen sports science.
On this particular morning, he was sat in a lecture about nutrition for endurance sports. Theo had always found school boring, but compared to math and history lessons, sports science was actually quite interesting. He wasn't planning on becoming a personal trainer or anything, but he could apply what he learned to his own diet and training, allowing him to become a better swimmer.
Theo opted to sit at the very front of the lecture hall. He used to sit vaguely in the middle, hoping it would allow him to become lost in the crowd, but he quickly learned that bullies had eyes like vultures. They would often throw things at him, trying to hit him with pencils or get gum stuck in his hair. Theo eventually realised that the closer to the front he was, the more people were hesitant to mess with him, in case the lecturer noticed.
He continued to take notes for the majority of the lecture, slightly losing focus towards the end. He wasn't a good student by any means, but he was trying. When the lecture wrapped up Theo quickly packed his things into his bag and tried to weave himself into the middle of the sea of students, keeping his head down and looking at the floor. Theo and Jess had made plans the evening prior to meet up after class and hang out. They decided to meet in the abandoned district again, as they both walked home that way. Jess promised to be more diligent this time, and to make sure nobody was following her so they could suddenly jump and beat the shit out of her.
Theo hadn't realised it before, but whilst he was shuffling along through the crowd of students, it occurred to him that after being constantly pranked, tormented, and attacked for over a year, he had developed a series of strategies to help him through his day. Not setting foot in school toilets or changing rooms, walking the long way home through the quiet area, sitting at the front of the lecture hall, spending more money than he could afford on clothes to avoid wearing the same thing too often. It all boiled down to a few basic principles: avoid bullies, stay anonymous, always be alert.
He thought he had gotten pretty good at that last one, but as the sea of students left the lecture hall and started to part as everyone went their own way, Theo received a kind reminder that no matter how vigilant you are, you're never fully safe.
THUD!
He reeled forward as a stone struck him in the back of his head.
"Son of a bitch!" he whispered under his breath. He had fucking had enough of this.
He turned around to look for his attacker. About thirty feet away he saw George, Daniel, Sam, and a few of their friends who had all taken part in fucking with Theo in one way or another at some point. Apparently, almost drowning him the day before wasn't enough for Daniel and Sam, as they had now recruited their gang of merry dickheads to help with round two. George was Daniel's older brother, and one of the 'top dogs' at the school. He was the one person Theo wanted to avoid at all costs.
Apparently being born as the first son of the CEO of one of the biggest construction companies in the world wasn't enough. Neither were his model looks, incredible athleticism or above average intelligence. George had it all, but just over a year ago, he'd gotten luckier than ever. George had stumbled upon a glove laying in the middle of a field, which turned out to be an artifact. If he wasn't popular enough before, he sure was now. This glove allowed him to have perfect aim with any projectile he launched, whilst also increasing the speed and force of it. It didn't just work on things he threw, but with things like bows and arrows and guns too. He was currently in the HTP, or Hero Training Program. A government lead program for wannabe heroes to test if they have what it takes to become the real thing.
I didn't think they'd be too impressed, however, if they had seen him use his artifact to launch a rock into the head of an unexpecting passer-by. That said, George could probably buy his way out of any trouble he got into.
After their laughter died down, the group of delinquents started to approach Theo. As he wasn't born yesterday, he didn't hesitate for a second before turning and sprinting in the opposite direction.
He instinctively headed for the abandoned district, hoping that he could lose them in the labyrinth of alleyways. The gang of bullies immediately started chasing after him, with George leading the charge. He felt like a boar being hunted for sport, no doubt something these rich pricks did during their countryside holidays.
Theo ran with his hands clasped at the back of his head, after realising George was going to continue his barrage of perfectly aimed rocks even while he was running. That stupid fucking glove. Luckily the rocks didn't hurt as much as he was already moving away from them when they hit him.
Although running wasn't Theo's chosen sport, he was definitely a decent all round athlete, and was able to maintain a good distance between himself and his attackers. As he approached the district of abandoned buildings that were all too familiar to him, he was confident that he would be able to lose them.
His heart suddenly dropped as he was hit with a wave of realization.
I was meant to be meeting Jess here, and I'm fucking leading them right to her.
Theo suddenly changed his course, foregoing the the abandoned district and heading for the forest that surrounded the campus. He reached the tree line quickly, only having to endure a couple of rocks pelting his back. He dashed between the trees and plants, trying to be as irregular as possible, in hopes of losing the bullies.
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He ducked under hanging branches, jumped over roots, and sprinted through nettles and tall plants. He could hear the voices of the hunting party getting quieter as he put distance between him and them.
Almost done it, just a bit further, then I'll hide, I can do thi-
His foot caught on a tree root, sending him flying down a hill. Sharp thorns ripped at his clothes and skin and rocks bashed against his head as he continued to roll down the hill, his momentum carrying him all the way to the bottom. As he lay there, a concussed mess of blood, bruises and cuts, he only wished that he hadn't made too much noise on his decent.
"I THINK I HEARD HIM! THIS WAY!"
Shit.
Seconds later, Theo saw George and Daniel at the top of the hill.
Daniel locked eyes with Theo and grinned, before turning to George.
"I'll go get the others, make sure he doesn't go anywhere."
"I'm pretty sure we can take him on our own you pussy, look at him", George replied.
The two brothers started carefully making their way down the hill. They were talking too quietly for Theo to hear, either that or he was too concussed to focus on their conversation. His head was pounding and he could feel blood running down the side of his face. He wanted to get up, to run away. Every ounce of his instincts were telling him, no, begging him to move, but his body wouldn't listen.
Daniel and George were halfway down the hill, when George suddenly flew forward, landing face first on the floor, just shy of where Theo lay.
Theo painfully pulled himself into a sitting position and tried to get his eyes to focus. His head was spinning, but he could just make out the shape of a figure running down the hill behind Daniel, who was now rushing to his brother's aid.
"FUCKING RUN THEO!"
It was like the words slapped him awake. He shook his head and looked at the girl running towards him.
"Jess?"
Theo shifted his attention to the two boys just a few feet away from him. Daniel had flipped George onto his back, who was groaning in pain and confusion, with a large blood-covered rock laying next to him. It was apparent Jess had given him a taste of his own medicine.
"George! Can you hear me?"
"Wh- what?"
"Are you ok?"
"I'm, I'm fine. Fucki... Fucking kill them" George muttered, slurring his words. He clearly wasn't fine, but Daniel obeyed his older brother and stood up.
"You fucking bitch!" he shouted, as he reached for Jess, who was helping Theo up.
Jess slipped out of Daniel's grip, took a step back, and kicked him in the stomach.
"We gotta go!"
Theo and Jess turned and ran away. Theo still didn't feel all there, but the adrenaline seemed to be numbing the pain enough for him to move at a decent pace.
Daniel quickly recovered and started chasing after them.
"This way!" Jess shouted, grabbing Theo's arm and yanking him to the side.
They continued their escape, but Theo was clearly more injured than he realised, as Daniel was effortlessly gaining on them. It wasn't long before Theo felt a hand grab the back of his shirt, violently pulling him back and to the floor.
"Theo!" exclaimed Jess and she turned around to help him up.
Daniel hastily stepped over Theo and punched Jess square in the jaw. Theo climbed to his feet, but Daniel wheeled around and delivered an elbow to his face, sending him to the ground once more. Jess wearily stood up. As she did so, she spotted a thick branch on the floor. She grabbed it just as Daniel turned to face her, and swung it with all her might, hitting Daniel in the side of the head with a satisfying THUD. He stumbled but managed to grab onto a tree and maintain his footing. His eyes were glaring with hatred as he let out of guttural scream of fury. He charged for Jess and grabbed her by the throat, using his momentum to slam her onto the ground. He pulled back his arm before punching her in the nose with the weight of his whole body. He sat on top of her, pinning her down, and continued to deliver blow after blow to her bloody face.
Theo's ears were ringing and his vision had returned to a blurry mess. Every inch of him hurt, with pain worse than he had ever felt. His eyes were getting heavy and he wanted nothing more than to succumb to the painless void of unconsciousness, but he had to save Jess.
He scrambled on the floor, trying to steady himself so he could stand up.
His hand felt a small metal object in the grass, and he wrapped his fingers around it, when all of a sudden his head was flooded with a voice that sounded like liquid gold. The voice was warm, it reminded him of a family he never had.
“You have found an artifact. This coin may look ordinary, but you'll find you can flick it at an opponent with quite some force. Flip it in the air and catch it however, and you'll get a pleasant surprise.”
Before he even registered what had happened, Theo obeyed the voice. He fumbled with the coin, placing it on the side of his index finger. His thumb curled under the coin, which he then extended with all of his might.
In an instant, the coin was gone from his hand, and he heard a loud BANG as is crashed into Daniel's face. He was violently thrown off of Jess, collapsing on the floor.
Theo pulled himself to his feet and rushed to his friend's aid.
"Jess? Are you ok?"
She sat up, and spat out the blood in her mouth, "Yeah I'm fine, he hits like a fucking pussy".
"You sure are something...", Theo replied.
Jess looked over at Daniel, who was lying motionless on the floor.
“Have to admit Theo, I didn’t think you could punch that hard. Looks like he’s out cold”
“I uh, didn’t punch him”, replied Theo, “I actually… I found an artifact.”
“Shut the fuck up! When? Right now? You’re shitting me?”
“Yeah I literally just found it on the ground, it was a coin, and it told me to flick it at him, so I did. I didn’t even see it leave my hand it was so fast!”, a wide grin grew on Theo’s face.
“Theo…”, Jess said, her voice suddenly timid, “are you sure he’s just knocked out?”
Theo hadn’t even thought about it. The coin did hit him pretty hard, but he’ll be fine… right?
Jess and Theo slowly got to their feet, and cautiously stepped towards Daniel. Theo was staring at his bully like a hawk, hoping for any sign of movement, even the slightest breath.
Daniel was lying on his side, facing away from them. The pair continued to creep closer. It wasn’t that they were scared of waking him, heck Theo was even wishing that was the case at this point, but more like they were both terrified of what they might learn if they got too close. Eventually, Theo got close enough to the body that he couldn’t put it off any longer. He stepped over to the other side of Daniel, and looked down at him. What he saw was a sight he would remember for the rest of his life.
The lower half of Daniel's face was completely gone. A mangled mess of torn skin hung just above where his jaw used to be. Blood was still dripping out onto the floor. His eyes were wide open, a feint hint of fear lingering in them.
As the dead bully remained motionless on the floor, Theo and Jess shared the same, simple thought:
What.
The.
Fuck.