The next day, Margaret was unexpectedly late. Although she had the first hour free, that was not the reason for her tardiness. It was because she was rather uncomfortable walking with a brace on her leg. Her left foot was firmly wrapped in a black ankle brace and stuffed into navy blue vans.
Yesterday, because of her 'de-tour', it took Margaret over an hour to reach home. And by the time she got back, she was extremely tired and her leg was visibly swollen.
Noticing the pain on her face and swollen foot, Margaret's mother inquired about her injury. Margaret didn't know what to say for a moment. She didn't want to reveal her miserable college life to her mother, and since she kept silent for a year already, she wasn't willing to spill her beans now. So she concocted a lie that she 'slipped and fell'.
Margaret was usually an honest and sincere girl, so her mother believed the white lie without any doubt. But she insisted that Margaret visit the doctor and get a proper check up on the degree of injury.
Despite Margaret's numerous attempts at reassuring her mom, she couldn't convince her. And so in the evening, she had to accompany her mother to the hospital. The young and handsome ortho diagnosed her injury to be a moderate sprain and put her leg in a brace. He advised her to take it easy for the next two weeks or she could make it worse.
- - - - - - -
And so, with a black brace wrapped around her foot, Margaret walked into college with a new mindset. Taking it easy.
Today she was wearing a light colored one piece dress that ended below her knees. And she wrapped herself with a long sleeved jean jacket replacing the torn cardigan.
Since she still had half hour of her free period, Margaret was slowly making her way through the long corridor, onto the direction of her next class. A few students in the hallway noticed her but no one came forward to greet her.
Ah, the joy of having no friends! Nobody would disturb you and so you don't have to answer any unnecessary questions.
As she reached the end of the corridor, she heard a commotion and saw a crowd in the cafeteria. As it was on her way, Margaret decided to stop by and find out the cause for this mob gathering. But apparently, she wasn't the only one with that idea. A couple of guys rushed past her, one after another—and Margaret, who was in their path, was shoved aside rather rudely.
She stumbled to the side and held on to the wall and supported herself to stand straight again. As she was grumbling curses in her mind, she heard the excited chatter of the guys passing by.
"Tyler and Paul are here? Really?"
"Yeah, I heard they were in the cafeteria."
Ah, so the devils made an appearance. But for some reason she was having an uneasy feeling about it.
Premonition?
About an impending doom?
Hmm. Something along those lines.
Margaret slowly hobbled towards the crowd, and as she reached the cafeteria, it was unusually quiet with only one voice speaking. Margaret, who obviously can't squeeze through the crowd, stayed a fair distance away and focused her attention on the loud voice.
"By the time we realized what was happening, we were completely surrounded." The husky voice spoke in a telltale manner.
From the random whispers and small chatter floating around, Margaret deduced that the voice belonged to Paul, the current football team captain and Tyler's 'best friend'.
"There must be 10-15 guys, covered with tattoos and scars all over, with knives and chains in their hands. They took us to an abandoned alley and there we saw Arthur, with a few more guys standing behind him. He threatened us to hand over everything we have or they will take it by force. Tyler didn't want to escalate the matter and let anybody get hurt, so we gave them all our money and mobiles."
"But who would've thought." Paul sighed, recounting his 'traumatic experience' – or rereading the script he prepared beforehand. But either way, he was doing a great job of keeping his 'audience' hooked and highlighting themselves as righteous, all at the same time.
"When we tried to leave, one of them suddenly attacked Ryan and knocked him out with a single punch. Then they pounced on us from all sides and we had no choice but to fight back. But they were too strong and too many, Bobby and Jimmy couldn't handle them and were injured very quickly. And so, Tyler and I were the only two left standing, facing all of them."
Inside the crowd – Paul sat comfortably at a table, surrounded by the naïve students, watching him as if he were their idol. He had a grim expression on his face, but no one noticed the delight and amusement in his eyes. He calmly looked around at his 'spectators', gauging their reactions.
"Then what happened? How did you get out?" some impatient chick asked, unable to control her curiosity. But the rest of the crowd were asking the same question inside their minds too.
Paul let a small smile to show on his face, as if a wise old man amused by his young ignorant disciple's curiosity. He then spoke in a calm and unhurried manner. "I was thinking of all the ways we could get out of the mess. But deep down I was having a really bad feeling. And why not, it was clear – only one side will walk away. Either we beat them down or wait for them to do so. I was calm on the outside but I was starting to get nervous inside."
"Then I turned to Tyler and he looked at me with a smile. He didn't say anything, he only just smiled, but I understood what he wanted to say. 'I got your back. So let's fight till the end and drag them down with us.'"
Some of the guys in the crowd took in sharp breaths as if they could feel themselves in that dangerous situation. They were trembling with pride and anxiety. Even when in a terrible situation, Paul and Tyler chose to fight and not run away. That was true brotherhood right there. As a result the guys watched them with a renewed respect and admiration.
"And then?" someone asked in a hushed whisper.
"And then we fought." Paul smiled, with a hint of pride and arrogance. "We fought like we were mad, if they hit one, we hit two. We didn't know how long we fought but when those guys started to back down, we realized we already took down a lot of them. And they got scared, so they stopped attacking us. Arthur called his dogs back and ran away, tucking his tail between his legs. But he dared to bark that they'll deal with us next time. As if we are afraid of him."
The crowd were in a jubilant mood by the end of the play. And they were thoroughly satisfied with how the 'brave heroes' valiantly drove away the evil villain and his gang.
Outside the crowd, Margaret was staring blankly at the crowd with her jaw slightly open.
She then closed her mouth and took a deep breath. Damn, that was one hell of a story. Kudos to whoever thought it up, it had everything an interesting story should have – a high point, low point, and an emotional build up that lead to an epic finale.
Although she expected something like this to happen, judging by the rumors they spread around, but she did not think they would distort the truth to such an extent. They made up the entire 'assault' and were spreading fabricated lies without any fear of being exposed.
"You guys are really amazing. But, weren't you scared, Tyler?" Some random chick in the crowd asked, admiration laced in her voice.
Tyler snorted before he spoke up. "Scared? To fight a coward like Arthur? No. So what if he had his gang of losers? When you have a trusted friend like Paul watching your back, it doesn't matter how many guys we go up against."
All the guys' eyes lit up with admiration and respect, while the girls were going sparkly eyed at him. Margaret on the outside however, was rolling her eyes, unable to tolerate their fantasies and mostly, the over the top reactions of the audience.
"Haha, you don't need to be so modest, Tyler." Paul quickly spoke up, rubbing his nose and laughing proudly. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have come out of that situation so easily."
'Okay that's it!' Margaret blew out a frustrated breath and walked away to go around the crowd. These shameless self praises and open boot-licking were too much for Margaret's fragile heart.
She had no more interest in listening to their 'heroic deeds'. And it was really annoying to see everyone listen so eagerly, without even a hint of doubt. These people couldn't even bother to use their lousy excuse of a brain to think for a change, instead of readily believing everything they hear.
"That injury on your head looks really bad. Are you really okay, Tyler?" A girl's concerned voice rang out from the crowd. "Shouldn't you be resting at home instead?"
"And even Paul is hurt." A random dude spoke up. "I heard Coach Jeff is really upset about his injury. I hope he can play in the upcoming exhibition match."
"Arthur really went too far this time." Some other guy piped in, hiding in the midst of the crowd. And as if on que, many others voiced their disapproval against Arthur.
Margaret halted in mid-step and turned to the crowd. As there were far few people on this side, she was able to look through the gap and get a view of the 'Main Characters' inside the crowd. They were sitting at their table, wrapped up in bandages and wearing braces.
Oh and Jacob was there too, standing behind Tyler and Paul.
Wait. What the hell!
Why do they look like they just survived a horrible accident?
Tyler looked dandy even with a bandage around his head while Paul sat beside him, his wrist secured in a brace. The guy behind them had his arm in a sling and another had his leg in a cast. They were 'showing off' their obviously fake injuries like they were some war scars. But unfortunately, everyone around seemed to believe them and looking at them like they were heroes.
They were using their perfectly made up injuries to justify their story and making Arthur to be a bad guy.
And where was the 'bad guy' in question?
He was nowhere to be seen. He must be sleeping peacefully somewhere, oblivious to everything.
Come on Arthur, get your sleepyhead out of dreamland and grasp the bitter reality.