Masquerade of Madness: School Lesions

Creed hated mornings the most. The birds outside his window whistled and tweeted. How can something that has wings be this annoying, he wondered?

Spike kneeled beside his bed, her elbows resting softly on his mattress. Her eyes watched him, studying him. She just needed to be close to him.

Creed became aware of Spike's presence. "How long have you been there?" he asked, extremely irritated with her disregard for his privacy, not to mention her staring.

"Since two a.m.," she replied.

"Great," Creed murmured with attitude, as he pulled the covers up over his head.

Spike stood up. "You can't do that. You need to get up."

Sue was busy trying to get ready for school and handling her morning responsibilities. She almost forgot about Creed. Suddenly, remembering him, Sue shouted, "Creed, get up! We're going to be late for school!" she yelled through his door.

"Oh, no!" Creed darted out of bed and dressed quickly. He wanted to put more thought into how he presented himself on his first day of school with the Humans, but now there just wasn't time. Grabbing his shoes, he ran to the front door, where Sue sat putting on her boots.

Creed could not wait for her; he was too excited. He quickly made his way past her, trying not to knock her down. Then Creed burst out the door, still holding his shoes.

Sue gasped, as she had not even noticed him. She had other things on her mind – like how bad the situation was at her school, like the gang they ran into yesterday.

"Creed, wait!" Sue hopped to him on one foot, trying to get the boot on her other foot. "You don't know the way, and besides, you're carrying your shoes!" She finally got her boot on and chased after Creed, who had stopped to wait for her.

Creed sat down on the grass to finally put on his shoes. "You are right, I don't know the way," he said, feeling depressed and disappointed in himself for his youthful exuberance.

"Sheesh!" Sue grabbed him by his hand and led him out the gate impatiently. She noticed that he was not wearing his overcoat. A fleeting thought went through her mind, wondering if that was a good idea. The autumn day was only chilly right now, but she had heard rumblings in the sky.

They went passed the large tree and into the bazaar area, then down through the homeless district. They cautiously approached the area "owned" by the Bulls. Soon they reached a richer looking section called the Capital District. Sue pointed up the hill to a huge classic building. "That's our school!" she shouted to Creed.

Creed felt overwhelmed, seeing the school for the first time. It reminded him of his old school in Casalynn.

Sue released his hand as they ran to the school gates, where a happy Crystal waited excitedly for them.

Sue smiled and waved. Catching her breath, she asked, "How's Yin?"

"She's fine, and her name is Ashley now," said Crystal.

Creed felt uncomfortable. "You changed her name?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, isn't it adorable?"

Creed shrugged his shoulders. In Casalynn, your name is your bond, he thought. The frivolous action left him cold.

They walked through the gates. A thin-faced woman with even thinner lips stood on the other side, taking names. "Sue, check. Crystal . . ."

Crystal interrupted her, announcing, "Present."

"Well, isn't that nice," she sneered. "And who are you?" she asked, looking at Creed over the top her glasses.

"Creed Angelus. I am supposed to start today."

"Very well, follow me."

Sue gulped. "Miss Darlene seems meaner than usual today," she whispered to Crystal. She silently made a wish for Creed to be okay.

The girls walked to their class. Meanwhile, the thin-faced woman took Creed to her office.

"Hello. My name is Miss Darlene. I understand your brother homeschooled you. Your scores on the home review are amazing. You should be at least at a college level, but your brother refused, suggesting you might feel more comfortable in a school with students of your age. Do you agree?"

Nervously, Creed nodded. "Yes, ma'am, I am in no way prepared for college yet."

"Do you want to prepare, because by next year you could excel at college?"

"No, thank you." Creed tried to sound gracious.

"Look," she again stared at Creed over her glasses, "this school is rough, and you seem like a nice boy. I am pretty sure you could easily get mixed up with the wrong crowd."

Creed glared. He was beginning not to like this woman. Maybe she meant well, but something about that speech, where he would fall in with the wrong crowd, irritated him. He stood up and slammed his hands down on her desk, almost yelling, "I am not like the Humans that go here."

The principal was taken aback. "You are a very rude child!" she said, regaining her composure. "It is a well-known fact around here that a child who has never been in a crowded area before, will follow the crowd's patterns."

"What are the numbers, the ratios? Not every single child will follow in just any footsteps of others." Creed was having trouble keeping his wings under control. Good thing he was wearing a sweatshirt that had no accommodations for his wings.

"Hmmm." A teacher with black hair and red eyes interrupted them. "Excuse me. I am here to escort the new student to class," he announced.

"Go ahead." Miss Darlene seemed frustrated.

Creed followed him. The teacher turned around to face Creed, anxious to speak. "It has been a long time. You probably don't remember me; you were just a tike then." He lit up a cigarette and leaned against the wall.

Creed smelled it and held his nose in a graphic display of distaste. "It smells harmful. I do not think you . . ."

"Stop right there. People around here do not care as long as it is not the students," he blurted defensively.

"How do you explain your red eyes?" Creed thought he needed to change the subject.

"Congenital disability," said Terrence.

"And they believe it, Terrence Magnus?"

"So, you do remember me," he chuckled with a big pat on Creed's back in a display of sincere affection.

"How is Vincent?" He stopped at a door labeled Mr. Howl's room.

Creed stopped, his eyes openly displaying his sorrow. "He was captured, but he told me he is okay for now."

"I figured as much," Terrence said, wanting to console Creed. "Vincent would have been in contact with me by now. He worries about your safety. But if you ask me, he raised you just fine. You seem to manage to take care of yourself very well. Before I let you go in there, who are you staying with?"

"Sue Azure," said Creed

Opening the door, Terrence nodded in approval. "She is a nice kid. Terrence, bring in the transfer student," he shouted.

Mr. Howl looked at the doorway as Creed entered. His balding head made Creed swell with anger – it reminded him of the council members. "Welcome to Capital Academy," he said in a bored tone.

Terrence put out his cigarette and left, closing the door behind him.

Creed scanned the classroom. He noticed that a few broken windows that were taped off. There were plenty of empty desks. The students were not paying attention, either. He saw Sue, who smacked a guy yanking vigorously on her ponytail.

Creed pointed back at Sue's dilemma. "Are you going to do something about that?" he asked Mr. Howl.

"About what?" the teacher snorted and blew his nose on a tissue.

"You mean you do not see that?" Creed pressed him.

"I see it but why should I interrupt kids being kids? If society doesn't care, why should I?" He wasn't sure why, but the intensity of Creed's eyes made him insecure about his position as the teacher.

Terrence stood outside the door listening. Creed is going to cause a stir, he thought to himself. He walked away, lighting another cigarette as he went.

"You are wrong!" Creed roared. "You are the teacher! Exert some control over your students!"

The teacher became infuriated. "Why should I risk my life for these students? That's not written in my contact."

"It is part of your duty of being in charge of the students and as an adult."

The student pulling on Sue's hair stood up, yanking Sue out from her desk. "What are you going to do about it, transfer student?" he demanded angrily. His messy brown hair fell to his shoulders. His mustache made him look older than his high school years.

"My name is Creed," he replied coldly.

"Well, Creed, what kind of a name is that?" The student continued to taunt him.

Mr. Howl left the classroom in a fit of rage. That transfer student needed to learn his place and Brandon Smith was just the one to teach it to him, he thought smugly to himself.

Brandon's grip grew more painful, and Sue screamed out. Some of the students just looked at their desks, while others laughed. Creed could feel his wings trying to erupt. He hugged his shoulders to keep them down.

"See," Brandon laughed. "He's just a big pussy." He yanked at Sue's hair again.

"Stop!" Sue wanted to hold back the tears that began to slip from her eyes.

"You see, Doll, all of this could have been avoided if you just went out with me." He yanked again, but this time Creed walked over and seized his hand.

"What do you think you're going to do?" he mocked Creed.

Creed did not answer but continued to squeeze the hand.

Brandon lost his hold on Sue's hair. He was shocked that the geeky kid showed so much strength. Brandon saw something in Creed's eyes, something he couldn't understand – anger maybe, or fury, even depression. Brandon became scared, but he didn't want anyone to know.

He regained his confidence, on the surface anyway. "What, you want to fight me?"

"Let's take it outside," Creed replied quietly.

"The roof," Brandon announced, almost laughing, "up to the roof!"

Mr. Howl returned, figuring he would need to help Creed.

Creed continued passed the teacher, following Brandon out the classroom door.

"Withdraw. I do not wish to hurt you." Creed demanded, giving Brandon one last chance to back down.

"Shut up," Brandon roared back at him. Something in Brandon's head clicked. He has to be kidding me, he thought. That guy's not going to take me on.

Mr. Howl tried to regain control of his students, who were quickly moving to follow the fight. "Now please calm down," he said as he motioned the students to sit.

"No, we don't think so," someone's voice announced from the group. "We're not going to miss a good fight. Move out of our way, old man!" Mr. Howl couldn't see who the voice belonged to, and he didn't care. As he said, he wasn't risking his life for anyone.

Brandon roughly grabbed Creed's neck to lead him to the roof. He pulled Creed up two flights of stairs and flung open the heavy door. Warmer now, the sunlight caught both teens off guard. Shielding their eyes, they could make out the figure of Terrence. He stood in the shadows of the building's chimneys, smoking, as he looked randomly out over the streets.

The boys' sudden burst onto the roof startled Terrence. He turned around quickly to see what the fuss was about. He dropped his cigarette, stomping it out. Great, he thought, my smoke break didn't last long, and neither did Creed's first class. Maybe I should stick around. I might have to stop this. Creed might go overboard. Brandon is no match for him. Terrence casually backed up, giving the boys some space.

Brandon immediately began punching with both fists. A surprised Terrence watched as Creed took hit after hit and made no attempt to defend himself. Students began to emerge from the stairway. They ran back to the brick wall at the edge of the roof for an excellent position to watch the fight.

Sue pushed her way up the last stairway, through students still clambering to get to the roof. She couldn't stop the flow of tears from her eyes. "Please move! Please!"

But the crowd kept pushing her back, all the while chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

In the meantime, Mr. Howl went the opposite direction, to Miss Darlene's office.

"You know what's going on up there, don't you?" He pointed up, but the motion was wasted on Miss Darlene. She remained seated at her desk, focusing on the paperwork in front of her. Mr. Howl tried again. "Please, ma'am, stop this," he begged her.

Still, she continued to ignore him. Finally, she looked up over her glasses at him. Her head remained bowed, motionless. "It's not my job," she uttered stoically.

"But you are the principal!"

"So, this is his lesson," said Miss Darlene.

Even though he was ignorant of what had transpired between them, Mr. Howl knew she was referring to Creed. He understood from firsthand experience that Creed could overstep his bounds in the most arrogant manner. Still, he had to respect this young man who so innocently expressed righteous indignation. Mr. Howl retreated from the room, knowing any further persistence with Miss Darlene would be futile.

Brandon slammed Creed against one of the chimneys, then grabbed him and threw him hard onto the roof deck. "Why won't you fight?"

Brandon jumped on top of him, still punching, rocking Creed's face back and forth. Creed spit out blood but again made no move to fight back.

Terrence guessed he should intervene. He didn't understand Creed's motives. Getting pulverized did not seem like a good strategy to him.

Suddenly, Creed grabbed Brandon's hand, halting a punch. "You are useless," he uttered.

"What did you say?" In a rage, he lunged at Creed, who was standing up.

"I said you are useless!" Creed repeated, as he dodged and Brandon hit the brick wall. Brandon turned around and went for Creed again, and again Creed gracefully avoided his assault.

"You could be doing something better with your life. You do not need to prove your strength. Fighting only proves ignorance."

Brandon's rage exploded. He swung his fists wildly, only to have Creed artfully dodge every potential blow. "Quit dancing and let me hit you!" Brandon yelled out stupidly.

Creed closed his eyes and shook his head. He had no interest in macho fighting.

Still swinging wildly, Brandon suddenly lost his balance, tripped and landed face first at the feet of the student audience.

Sue finally made it to the forefront of the fight. She could see Brandon on the roof deck and Creed standing over him.

"You hit like a girl!" Creed taunted.

The crowd snickered. Sue just wanted it all to stop.

"What!" Brandon yelled, standing up. He barreled his full weight at Creed, who easily side-stepped the move.

Keeping his eyes fixed on Brandon, Creed walked slowly over to Sue. He took off his blood-spattered sweatshirt, revealing the lesions on his chest. Sue reached out her hand to touch his wounds, as he handed her his sweater. Her eyes signaled the compassion she felt.

Terrence pulled Brandon to his feet, and then whispered, "Accept your defeat."

"Oh, yeah. How'd Creed do that?"

"Years of training, that's how. And he used his brain. Something you seem to lack." The sarcasm was unmistakable. "Either way, you cannot defeat him."

Brandon gave Terrence a somewhat stupid look. "What kind of teacher are you, anyway?"

"The right kind," Terrence replied with confidence.

Concerned for Sue, Creed asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she replied, although unsure from her tear-stained face.

The crowd began to boo. "This fight was stupid!" someone called out. "Yeah, he's a sissy!" another announced.

Creed looked away from Sue and into the crowd. Their taunting had his attention. "Then do any of you want to fight me?" He held out his arms, motioning with his hands. "Bring it on!"

Sue grabbed Creed, pulling him back. "No, this is wrong. Don't fight anymore," she pleaded.

"Yeah," the crowd hollered, hoping for another fight, but no one stepped forward.

The gang members from the day before left quickly, knowing they didn't want a repeat with that guy. They sailed down both stairways and split up at the bottom. Two of them headed down the hall and into the bathroom, slamming the door into the wall.

Crystal finished washing her hands and glanced in the bathroom mirror, just in time to see trouble coming through the door. Panic flushed over her face, a fear that was not missed by the two assailants rushing toward her.

What luck, they thought with a vengeance. One grabbed Crystal by her arm and twisted it behind her. The other yanked her hair, pulling her head backward. They kicked open a stall and tried to force her head down a toilet, but she refused to let it go in. Holding onto the rim for dear life, she screamed, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" one of them said to her menacingly.

Crystal managed to get her head up and hit the guy in the chin. She screamed as loud as she could, "Stop! Stop!"

Again they held her down, trapped for sure this time, they thought. Suddenly Terrence stood over them. He had been escorting Brandon to the nurse's office when he heard her screams. Surprised, the two assailants dropped their grip.

"Need any help?" he asked Crystal, but his eyes were on the other two.

Crystal nodded gratefully.

"Wait outside the door with Brandon. I will only be a minute." Terrence reached for the troublemakers, his red eyes shining with anger.

That's all Crystal saw before she closed the bathroom door.

Brandon threw a bewildered look to Crystal. "Remind me not to get on his bad side." The noises coming from inside were unmistakable.

"Right." Crystal smiled.

"You know, you're pretty cute when you smile," teased Brandon. He chose to ignore the outcries from the bathroom.

"Really," she replied coyly.

"Let's talk about it outside."

He didn't want the fight to spoil this moment.

Crystal hushed him. "Only if you're nice to Creed and Sue, too."

"Okay, I can do that," he said with confidence. "I really like your hair."

She blinked in disbelief. "Really?"

"Really," he answered and took her hand. She didn't know what he had just been through on the roof.

Terrence emerged from the bathroom alone. He chuckled when he saw the new couple strolling hand in hand, down the hall. He had missed something.

Lifeworks fast, he thought.

Terrence reflected on the scene he had encountered in the bathroom just minutes ago, thankful he had left the action on the roof when he did. Those two troublemakers had it coming. He gave himself a satisfying pat on the back.

Just then, a computerized voice announced several times, "Class change." With everything going on,

Terrence had not noticed the empty hall, but he did now. Surely, everyone could not still be on the roof, he pondered. Alarmed, he ran back toward the staircase.

He could hear the loud noises long before he reached the roof door.

Sue watched in horror as her classmates lunged for Creed, who willingly took the hit. They suddenly dog piled him. Sue screamed for them to stop and tried to peel one student at a time off of the pile. Terrence pulled her aside to take her place. He found Creed at the bottom of the pile, not injured.

Now all the students dispersed. They cleared the roof so fast, they almost seemed to disappear. It was as if nothing had happened up there today.

Sue sighed with relief and helped Creed to his feet. "You know, I don't think Dad will mind if we skip the rest of the day," she said softly as they walked away.

Creed smiled down at her. "That would be nice." Their eyes lingered momentarily.

Again Terrence found himself watching a new couple.