CHAPTER 2

I was relieved to see that it was Chris who was the one who touched me, he was carrying a stack of books for some reason, then after him came a teacher, they both walked into the view of the students, and the teacher was shocked to see that it was the members of the student council who were beating a helpless defenceless first year student to a bloody pulp. I stood there with my mouth hanging open in trepidation, I was trying to figure out what would happen next, the members of the student council caught in the act by a teacher, beating up a student, I'd never seen anything like it before. There was an awkward moment of silence the moment the student council members realised they had been spotted by a teacher, the first year girl they were pulverising wasn't making any sound either,she had already succumbed to the situation and accepted her fate as it was; she had already stopped begging and just layed there on the ground in paralysis.

 Besides the girl who was laying on the ground, the only person who was neither in shock nor had their mouth hanging open was Chris who had a quite straight face kept on the whole time. Then finally the teacher spoke.

"The six of you, hand me your student IDs." He demanded, stretching out his hand, palm open. Then they all stepped forward and did as he said. "You are dismissed." The teacher said after collecting their IDs. The third years all left with anxiety etched on their faces. I on the other hand was relieved that the whole situation was finally over, I didn't need to worry about doing anything or not doing anything anymore. "You." The teacher called out, looking at me. "What were you still doing here by this time of the day?" He asked me sternly, just as he did, Chris looked at me, he did so without turning his head, I bet he was probably wondering the same thing.

"Oh, I was looking for the bathroom, then I got a little lost." I responded, as soon as I did, Chris closed his eyes and chuckled a little. The teacher probably found my story convincing, he quickly turned to Chris.

"Christopher, thank you again for helping me carry my notes. You and this young lad should take that girl to the school clinic." The teacher said as he collected his notes from Chris.

"That's right, the girl!" I said in remembrance, I instinctively ran to her to make sure she wasn't hurt too badly. The teacher left once I and Chris went to check the girl, not showing much concerns towards her.

"Are you alright? Can you hear me?!" I was in distress and worried about her condition, concern etched on my face.

"Nate calm down. It looks like she was beaten up pretty bad so she may not have the strength to speak." Chris said in a calm tone. "Let's just carry her to the school clinic so she can rest there." He added.

"Alright you carry her top part and I'll carry her bottom part." I said, I attempted to lift her by her legs, then I discovered something unusual. "Wait a minute." I thought to myself. "I don't think this girl is wearing any..." Before I could even finish, a mighty kick landed on my jaw, it sent me flying backwards till I lost balance and hit the ground. "What the hell?!" I yelled out in pain.

"Nate, are you alright?!" Chris asked in both shock and concern.

"Damn, my teeth hit each other so hard, I could have lost my tongue." I said holding my jaw in pain, shock and confusion. The girl we were trying to carry, who also happened to be the one that kicked me, tried to get up on her own.

"Hey, are you sure you should be standing up right now?" Chris asked the girl, she turned to look at him but ignored and continued her attempt to standing up.

"Hey girl!, why'd you kick me like that?!" I asked in anger and annoyance. To my suprise she responded to me.

"You're a coward and a perv." She said, her voice revealed exhaustion from the beating, then she stood on her feet.

"Huh?...what the hell are you even saying?!" I asked. I didn't try to hold back or hide how pissed I was.

"Lemme dumb it down for you. As for the perv part, you took a peek under my skirt, true or false?" She asked me.

"Well...no...I mean... technically I did, but it wasn't intentional, I swear." I tried explaining.

"Likely story." She responded in disbelief. "And as for the coward part,... you were standing there the whole time, weren't you?" She asked again. I was silent for a while, I didn't know how to say that I was watching her get brutally tortured like that and did nothing. "I'm right, aren't I?" She asked in a confirmatory tone, she took my silence as a 'yes'.

"There was nothing I could have done." I spoke at last, but she just glared at me and dusted herself off.

"I'm leaving now." She said as she walked pass us.

"Wait!" I called out before age could go far. She stopped to hear me out. "Those third years, why were they beating you up like that?" I asked her. She kept silent for a while before she responded.

"It's none of your business. Just stay out of it." She said with a cold laced tone before she continued walking.

"Are you sure you can get the the clinic on your own?" Chris asked her.

"I'm not going to the clinic, I'll be fine on my own." She didn't bother stopping to respond this time. Neither I nor Chris said anything till she was out of sight.

"Well that's great, she hates me now." I lamented. Chris kept silent for a while before speaking.

"There was nothing you could have done to help her, right?" He asked.

"Exactly." I answered.

"Then that's what really matters here, the situation couldn't have been controlled. Besides, if fate has it, both of you could end up becoming friends." Chris said with a light smile on his face.

"I doubt it." I responded unenthusiastically.

"You were looking for a bathroom, right?" Chris asked me.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"I think I met one a while back from here. Take two lefts and you'll see one on the right of the hallway." He said.

"Oh wow, thanks. It seems like you kinda know your way around already, these halls are really large." I responded.

"I try." Chris said with a proud smile on his face. I and Chris departed and at long last I found the bathroom, I used it and then I remembered the study session I was already supposed to be at, I set off for the library the moment I remembered. I eventually got to the library, and in good time too, I barged in in a haste, looking for where everyone was at.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" I yelled out, exhaustion hiding beneath my breath.

"Shhh. This is a library." The librarian cautioned me in a low tone, I forgot I was supposed to be quiet there as it had been a while since I visited one.

"Sorry ma'am." I whispered back.

"Hey Nate." A familiar voice called out to me, it was Damian's.

"Oh, Damian. I'm finally here, sorry, I hope I didn't take too long." I said in an apologetic tone.

"No, no worries, you're not the only one who was late anyways." His tone quite care free.

"Really, well that's good to hear." I said with a light smile playing across my face. Damian then brought me to the table everyone was at, then he introduced me.

"Alright everyone, he may have shown up a bit last minute, but better late than never, right?" He announced to everyone. As he spoke I was surprised at who I saw there. "Let's welcome our new member, Nate." Damian said, concluding the announcement. "Nate, could we have your last name please?" He asked me, but I was lost in who I was looking at. "Nate, are you alright? There's no need to get stage fright, we're all still new to each other." Damian added, he probably thought I was nervous, but little did he know.

"You can sit next to Alice, she's the blonde girl by the left." He said, pointing at the girl he just described who just so happened to be the girl who was beaten up earlier in the hall. I quietly sat down next to her without displaying any signs of familiarity with her, it seems she also already had the same plan in mind and kept it mutual. Once I sat down she gave me a nasty glare without even turning her head to look at me, she was being even colder to me than she would to a complete stranger. We were all revising what we learnt in our maths class, during the entire study session, the girl, Alice, didn't even look at me, come to talk of speaking to me.

 Once the session was over at about 7' O clock in the evening, everyone started packing up their stuff and heading to their dorm rooms, the librarian was also getting ready to lock up as well. But before we left I wanted I and Alice to have a chat about what happened earlier.

"Hey Alice." I tried calling her before she could go far.

"No." She didn't even bother to hear me out.

"I haven't even said anything yet." I tried to catch up to heras she was leaving.

"I don't wanna hear it." Each reply was colder than the last.

"Damn she's cold." I thought. "Wait a minute." I called out seeing as she increased her walking pace and started trying to move ahead of me. I picked up the pace and got ahead of her. Standing in front of her and blocking her path, I spoke. "Would you just listen to me?" I assertively pleaded, but it didn't seem like she was any more willing to listen.

"You want to talk about what happened between me and the student council members, right? Like I said; IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS." She said before attempting to walk around me. I instinctively grabbed her by the forearm which sustained bruises, dragged her back, and squeezed it a little.

"Ah!" It was painful for her, but that was the only way I could get her to stop for long enough.

"You never went to the clinic, or the nurses office, meaning your bruises won't heal quickly, and they still hurt, don't they?" I said, squeezing her arm a little tighter.

"Ah!, hey stop!" She didn't bother struggling out of my grip, that would have only caused her more pain.

"If you don't want to involve anyone else in this, fine, but at least let me help you. I'm quite familiar with the these kinds of wounds, I know how to bandage them up, but only if you let me then I will." I said to her. She still had resolve painted on her face, but her eyes betrayed vulnerability, for a few seconds at least it seemed like she was considering accepting my help, but then she closed her eyes in resistance.

"Why won't you just get lost? I don't want your help and I don't need anyone else's for that matter!" She spoke, trying to free herself from my grip. I didn't think there was much I could do anymore, it seemed like she was dead set on handling everything on her own. I casted my eyes down in defeat.

"So you really don't want my help, huh?" I asked, disheartened and discouraged.

"Get that through your thick skull." She coldly replied. I gave in and let go of her arm, and then she left without saying anything else, just like in the hall, but this time she didn't give me a nasty look before leaving, she bowed her head and stared at the ground as she walked pass me. I genuinely wanted to help this girl, I knew the feeling of being beaten like that first hand, and I didn't want it to happen again, but she didn't let me.

I stood there for a while, sulking in my dilemma, then... another girl walked up to me, she was one of the people present at the study session, she approached me with a warm smile which contrasted the mood of the situation at hand.

"Hey. Your name is Nate, right?" She asked.

"Why yes, I'm glad you still remember my name." My reply polite, but not enthusiastic.

"I'm Irry, you may know me from the study group, but I'm also in your class."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you then, Irry." I said.

"I saw you trying to talk to Alice earlier, she exchanged your kindness with a cold attitude. I apologise on her behalf."

"Why are you apologising? Are you two friends already?" I asked.

"Well yeah I guess. It looks like she's cold like that to everyone. Well not that cold anyway, it was like she was mad at you or something."

"Yeah, something like that. She doesn't open up much either, does she?" I said as I adjusted my backpack's position on my back.

"She's just a little socially insecure that's all, she opened up a little to me, but it's seems like I'm the only one so far." She responded, a light smile playing across her face.

"I need to talk to her, but that's exactly the problem I'm having here." I said, a slight show of frustration in my tone.

"That's right, why do you wanna talk to her so badly? You crushing on her?" She asked, stepping closer to me and leaning forward, a mischievous smile lit up on her face.

"Oh hell no! It's something I'm not sure if I have the right to even the you, it seemed like she didn't want other people to know about it." I said.

"Oh, well you know, if it's that she's crushing on you... well I won't really say it's not a shocker , but hey, things happen." She responded. 

"What the...? Why is romance the first thing that's popping into your head?! Wait a minute, what did you mean by that ?" I asked putting my hands on my head.

"The point is that no matter who's crushing on who, I'm a certified matchmaker." Irry said, putting her hand on her chest and a proud smile on her face.

"Be real." I said in slight annoyance and exhaustion.

"Well I don't think you'll have much luck talking to her now for whatever reason." Finally she started talking on a serious note.

"Yeah that's true. I guess I'll call it a day for today." I sighed then said.

"Alright then, since we're already both heading in, could we walk to the dorms together?" Irry asked expectantly.

"Alright, I'm cool with that." I responded as we started strolling to the dorms pass the tall green trees surrounding the pathway, the cool evening breeze hit me in the face, it was soothing.

"So Nate, I'm curious." Irry said as she turned to look at me.

"What about?" I asked.

"I hope this isn't too deep to talk about, but what kinda family did you grow up in?" She asked.

"Oh that? Well for most of the years of my life I didn't have a mother. And my father, let's just say he wasn't a very good one." I responded, some of the memories I had back there started flooding my mind.

"Oh...uhm... I'm sorry. In fact, you know what? Forget I asked." Irry said, obviously feeling a pang of guilt but trying to ease the mood with a nervous smile.

"No, it's okay, I don't mind much." I waved my palms and smiled. "So what about you? How was your family like?" I threw the question back at her.

"Well my dad use to be a financial accountant, and my mom, a business woman. Everything was going just how it supposed to, until one day...my dad was accused and arrested for embezzling funds in the bank, after that he was taken for trial. He was found guilty and was convicted. Since he was the one who was supporting my mom's business, money-wise, consequently my mom's business started to drop, the expenses got so much that she had to sell her company, after that our two major sources of income were gone, and then we soon ran bankrupt. My tried to use my dad's reputation in the bank as a way to maneuver the situation and gain some influence, but the bank still refused to help us, no suprise since my dad was in prison. Bankruptcy turned to poverty, and here I am now." She explained.

"Damn, you must have really missed your dad, kinda like how I missed my mom." I sympathetically said.

"Yeah, but life goes on, we all have to move on from some things. If I graduate as the best student from this year, I'd use the prize money to restart my mom's business again." Irry passionately said. I didn't respond to that so there was a short moment of silence. "What about you, Nate?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh me? I don't really have any special plans with that prize money. If I gave my dad he'd just waste it all on alcohol and maybe women too. I'd be better off keeping that prize money to myself and starting my own business with it. I'd also use it to give my late sister a proper funeral." I daydreamed. Irry's eyes widened slightly in shock when she heard the part about my sister.

"You mean your sister is dead?" She asked with concern etched on her face. I didn't respond or react to that, I just kept waking till we reached the dorms, then we finally did.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable this evening." Irry apologized.

"No, it's alright, really." I replied, waving my hands, brushing the matter off casually.

"Well I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow." Irry said as she waved goodbye, walking to the girls' dormitory.

"Yeah, see you then." I replied, also waving back as I went to the boys' dormitory. We both departed from each other as we went to our respective dorms. As I walked up the stairs to my room, tears started rolling down my cheeks. I was crying. Even though I had already grown as a man and moved on from my sister's death, there were still deep seated emotions lingering in my mind, everyday whenever I remember I tell myself that I've moved on from that experience, but really that's what I so badly wanted myself to believe. The repercussions of suppressing negative emotions began to be made manifest, the memories of my dear sister lingered much deeper inside me than I even imagined, and then...I remembered the man who caused it all. "I'll never forgive you." My words bitter.