Another day at this hellhole of a school. I hate it here. All I want is to get through this day, hand off this stupid flask to my mom, and be done with it. She asked for it since she's stuck at work again, probably buried in that project of hers. I don’t get why she’s so attached to this thing, but she mentioned it was a gift from someone important, so whatever.

Everyone here is a pompous ass, so wrapped up in their own self-importance. It's like they’re drowning in their own delusions, thinking they’re better than everyone else. But I get it. People who bring nothing to the table, who know deep down they’re worthless, they lash out, trying to tear others down just to feel good about themselves. It’s pathetic, really, and it pisses me off to no end.

As I walked down the corridor, I heard whispers trailing behind me.

“Hey, they’re back,” someone muttered.

“I guess they returned from that meeting with the other schools,” a guy next to me whispered to his friend.

He then looked at me and sneered. “What are you looking at, loser?” His eyes flashed menacingly, trying to intimidate me.

“Nothing, sorry,” I mumbled, quickening my pace.

“See? Just a fucking rat,” he snickered to his friend. “He’s the worst in this school.”

I kept my head down and hurried into my classroom, but as I entered, I bumped into someone. “So-rry,” I stammered, freezing when I realized who it was. Sarah, one of the Void twins—quiet, but with a wild side.

“Did you just bump into me?” she said, glaring at me like I was the most disgusting thing she’d ever seen.

“Sorry,” I repeated, bowing my head.

The room went quiet as everyone watched the exchange, gossip buzzing around us.

She sighed and shoved me aside. “Just because you’re tall enough to look down on me doesn’t mean you can treat me like I’m beneath you. Know your place, boy.”

As she walked off, the class fell silent. I glanced around, noticing that Dwayne wasn’t here, and neither were Ashylene and her new friend Sandra.

"I'm screwed," I muttered, feeling a heavy hand clamp down on my shoulder.

"Ahhh, little Tinashe, what did you do to my angelic beauty?" a voice whispered in my ear. I turned and saw him—Garry, the seven-foot monster of the school.

Garry was part of the top ten, ranking at number eight. To my left, his cronies, Taymour and Boru, were grinning at me. Boru was number nine, and Taymour held the tenth spot. Together, they were the ultimate asshole trio.

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"Looks like Dwayne and that new girl Ashylene aren't around," Garry said, rubbing my head with an unnerving intensity. "You know what that means, right? Hohoho," he chuckled, and the whole class joined in, their laughter echoing in my ears.

"You know the drill," Boru added, nudging my head with one hand while his other hand slid into his pocket.

I stared at the floor, my breath growing heavy. "Oh, you're angry, huh?" Garry sneered, his eyes closed as he grinned. The unspoken threat in his expression was clear: If you don’t comply, I'll break you.

I reluctantly took off my bag, and Boru snatched it from me, grinning as he let it drop to the ground. I heard something shatter inside. "FUCK!" I yelled, shooting to my feet.

"Why the hell would you do that? There’s something important in there for my mom!" My voice shook with fury as my body trembled. I clenched my fists, the rage boiling over as my face twisted into an expression of pure hatred.

"Huh?" Boru said, picking up my bag. He opened it, his smirk widening.

"Seriously? You brought a flask to school? You do know lunch is served here, right? Or are you too broke to afford it, tea boy?" He laughed, and the class followed suit, their jeers cutting into me.

"It’s my mother's. She needed it," I shouted, my anger spilling out.

The room fell silent as Boru froze. Garry’s expression darkened.

"Did you just raise your voice at my friend?" Garry growled, his hand suddenly around my throat, squeezing until I gasped for air. His grip was iron, his hand engulfing my entire neck.

"You’re getting too cocky. Just because Dwayne watches your back doesn’t mean you can talk however you want," Garry snarled before hurling me into the air. I saw energy swirling around his fist, and then it slammed into my stomach like a wrecking ball.

"Ahhh, fuck!" Boru cursed as Garry's punch sent me flying across the room, crashing into the back wall. The impact reverberated through the room—those walls were built from the strongest metal in the world, yet I felt like they could have caved in from the force.

"Like Sarah said, you little fucker, know your place," Taymour sneered, standing over me.

I was about to rise, rage bubbling to the surface, when the voices of my classmates cut through the fog.

"Why is this guy even here? His mom can barely afford coffee at work, and she's desperate for a flask of all things," someone muttered from the left, their words twisting the knife in deeper.

"He’s got such low energy, totally useless in a fight. Why is he even here? This school isn’t just for teaching people how to use their abilities," a girl to my right sneered.

"HA-HA-HA-HA, if I were his mom, I’d dump him in some random school and tell him to be an office worker. I mean, his abilities are straight-up worthless," she added, her laughter cutting through the air.

"For real," someone else whispered, their words laced with contempt.

….ha-ha-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA, I heard the voices of people laughing at me at every direction no matter where I looked at I only saw eyes glaring at me as if they where asking me to disappear.

I grabbed my bag, my whole body buzzing like I was on the verge of exploding. My hands clenched into fists, teeth grinding against each other. I swear, even the hair on my arms was standing up.

As I left the classroom, the voices behind me started to fade. "Look at him," I heard two girls whisper as they walked by. "He's the weakest person in the whole school. Even the weakest first-year could take him down."

I headed straight to the training room, planning to skip the rest of the day. I couldn’t stand being around those assholes any longer.

“Hey,” a voice called out, interrupting my thoughts. “Hi, Tinashe, right?”

Great, just what I needed—another one of these jerks.

“If you don’t remember me, I’m Tanaka, Sarah’s twin sister,” she said, her tone oddly calm, making me wonder what she wanted.