The Squad

Now near the school gate, the boy sees multiple people standing about in their own groups. The boy, now embarrassed of his big and bruised face, realises that he needs to avoid the attention of everyone else. He points his head down, relaxes his body, and walks as fast as possible. The boy continues to walk through the crowd and surprisingly, no one noticed him! Though, through the crowd, he did notice a slight snicker from the corner of his view, but he didn't pay it any attention. The boy walks through the main door and is now in the hallways, which is even more packed than the outside. He is now more nervous than before, but nevertheless, he steels his resolve and marches towards the crowd. The boy's nervousness is now dissipated at the realisation that nobody could see him because there were too many people moving about and squished together. Now close to his locker, the boy sees three people hanging around right in front of his locker. Afraid that if he were to tell them to go away, it might attract attention to him, he reaches for the bathroom instead. The boy decides to stay there until the bell rings, then, he'll only have 5 mins to pack his bags in his locker and make it to class, before he is late.

10 Minutes Later…

*ding dong ding dong…*

"Oh, the bell's off. Gotta hurry"

The boy opens the stall door and looks around. No one there. He runs outside the toilet doors and darts for his locker. He takes off and unzips his bag and takes out his books and materials. He unlocks his locker and quickly puts his bag in and then closes and locks the locker back. He runs to his class for dear life and as he looks at a clock he stumbles upon his run, he realises he only has 1 minute left to reach his class before he is considered late by the bell. He starts to run faster but as a result, he trips on his foot and faceplants on the hard stone floor. He stands back up as quickly as possible and shrugs it off. He runs as quick as before, not fearing for another fall, and he reaches his class and opens the door. He looks at the clock and sees that he's still 7 seconds away from being late. He breathes a sigh of relief and walks into the class. He sees that everyone is already seated and the teacher is already standing on his podium. As to not disturb the class any longer, he quickly tries to go to his seat on the back but is interrupted by the teacher.

"So you're not going to say sorry?"

The boy, now confused, stop's in his tracks. He looks back to the teacher and doesn't say anything.

"Get up here, right now."

The boy, afraid of being yelled at even further, follows the teacher's instructions and walks up to the front of the class.

"Now tell me, why were you late?"

The boy, now nervous and confused, nervously replies to his teacher,

"B-but, I came in 10 seconds before the late bell"

"OOOH, now you're talking smart? Just like how the bell doesn't dismiss you, I do. The bell also doesn't tell you you're late, I do. And right now, I'm telling you that, you're late. Isn't that right, At--"

The boy flinches and the teacher notices. He corrects himself

"Isn't that right, boy?"

"Yes sir"

"Now what do you say, when you're late?"

The boy quietly says

"S-sorry"

"What was that? Can you say it again please? Maybe a bit louder and clearer this time?"

"I-I'm sorry for being late"

"Good, now go back to your seat and stop disturbing everyone. Also, what the hell happened to your face? It's bruised like hell."

"Um, my mom, uh. Ummm. She…I just tripped and fell down when I was walking"

"Ok, clean yourself up later in the toilet. Even your clothes are a dirty mess. I want to see you clean again later after lunch. Understood?"

The boy, without saying a word, nodded. The teacher now turns his back on the rest of the class and whispers,

"Sigh, late and a mess, he just can't do anything right"

The boy, who heard that last remark, ignored the statement and just continued to rush to his seat. Passing through the class to get to his seat at the back, he hears various whispers and snickers throughout the class, undoubtedly about the boy. He reaches his seat and sits down and places his books and materials on his desk. Then he hears a whisper, directed at him to his left.

"Hey, dude, you ok? That was pretty harsh what he did to you up there"

Then to his right

"Yeah. Like, 'the BelL dOeSn'T tElL yOu YoU'rE lAtE, i Do.' Such bullcrap"

Then to his front

"Yeah, that's such a dumb thing to say. If that's the case, then what's the bell for? Amiright?"

The boy replies with a smile on his face.

"Haha yeah, thanks guys."

The boy at the front says

"Haha no problem. He's always stupid. Now let's stop talking, I don't want to get in trouble"

To the left

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Oh here comes the teacher's favourite. Always coming in 10 minutes late. I already hear his footstep outside"

To the right

"Ugh yeah I hate him. He always comes in 10 minutes late and just says 'oH, sRy. TrAfFiC wAs BaD, blah blah blah blah blah'. Like what traffic? You go in your car when your house is like 2 blocks away, you can just walk if traffic is acting up. Like, your story doesn't make sense and yet you somehow still get away with it? That's bull sh*t I tell you, straight up absolute bull sh*t."

*creak*

"Oh hear you go, he's going to say the 'TrAfIc WaS bAd' catchphrase"

"Sorry, traffic was bad. There was this car that wouldn't go after the green light and it changed back to red light so I had to wait again for the next light and then there was this other car th….."

To the left

"And there he goes"

To the front

"Just babbling on and on like he's not just late"

To the left

"Yup. And the sh*tty thing is, the teacher's just going to let him go for it. Whereas you had to get embarrassed in front of the class."

To the right

"Yeah. That sh*t happens every time. Watch, bet he's gonna say something like 'oh yeah. Just go and sit.' Like he always does every day."

To the front

"Oh, here he goes. Three, two, one"

"Oh yeah sure. Just go sit I guess"

The class favourite nods and enthusiastically walks to his seat at the front.

To the left

"Boom, now the morning routine is complete"

To the front

"Haha yeah, I guess so. By the way, what actually happened to your face?"

The boy replies nervously

"Oh it's ok. Nothing important"

To the front

"Oh ok then. Also, did you guys read the new chapter that went out yesterday?"

To the right

"Aaah noo, not yet. I've been meaning to, but the shop that I usually go to to buy the new chapters hasn't stocked up on the new ones yet."

To the left

"Ooh really? Then just go to my shop. They always stock up on the new chapters the moment they're released. Like just ask Mike, he goes there too"

As he points to seat in front of the boy

To the front

"Yeah. But they're really pricey. Like $5 per chapter."

The boy says

"Ok, ok. Let's discuss this later. I don't want to get into any more trouble with the teacher."

His friends agreed to his proposition and focused back on their notebooks…

To Be Continued… at lunch so we can skip all the boring studying parts