Even after walking out of class, the group of kids followed Faust out, they kept commenting insolent things, throwing insults at him while maintaining their distance between them and him, as if Faust was some dalit to stay away from.
"Who is the shorty of our school? It's the amazing Faust! Hahaha."
"Creepy! hey creepy! We're calling you, why do you run away?"
*You are thin and short Faust! You have diseases, prone to them."
"He is going to be a dwarf even when he grows up."
"Where are your parents? Did they die? You should have just died too."
Each kid from the group takes turns to pass mean commentary about Faust. Even the kids in the corridor bursts out in mocking laughter when they saw a kid of their age getting bullied.
"H-hey you guys, why don't you give it a rest? Let him be." Finally a kid in specs from another class stands up to the bullies yet hesitatingly.
Faust notices that someone stood up for him, his steps become smaller and he tries to see who it is from the corner of his eye. He tries not to turn his head all the way back.
His eyes gets widened at the sight before him. He immediately turns his head back and scrunched his eyes shut tightly.
Standing there, was an average-looking girl, definitely not some overbearing delinquent to 'protect' him. Her fair complexion made her silky, long, chestnut coloured hair stand out, those strands were dancing around her back, the cold breeze slightly messing them up. Her floral scent was alluring, a whiff enough to make anyone sigh in love. If she were to be described in one word, it would be 'refreshing'. Faust instantly felt ashamed of himself.
*"A girl raised her voice in a corridor filled with thirty kids to defend someone. Why can't I, stand up for myself?"* Faust is annoyed with the thought and tries to keep walking in despair, with an inner battle going on.
"Hey look who it is! the inhibited girl of the school. Hahaha, what are you going to do? Go on a rampage? Go home and take your anti-depressants, if you don't want the whole school to bully you too." A kid leading the group of bullies answers back to the girl, threatening her.
Faust stops again in his traces. But before he could open his mouth.
"Hey isn't it the rude girl Caitlyn who cusses? She even goes crazy fighting with teachers."
"Yes! It's that crazy girl, she's even selected with the top kids of our village to take the test and go to the mainland. Why is she standing up to that diseased kid? Eww! I Can't even look at that guy."
"Oh! oh! what is happening? The Noble's daughter is going to make a scene again here? Are we going to see another rage moment from that crazy girl?"
All the other kids in the corridor mutters mean things in a low voice about Caitlyn. But it is loud enough to reach both Faust's and the girl's ears.
She immediately clench her fists and bends her head low not being able to control her anger any longer and takes a long breathe. She turns back away from the group of bullies and starts walking fast. "I'm not crazy, you people made me crazy." She whispers under her breath as she walked.
Faust's ears caught the painful words of the girl, he understood that she is lonely in her own world, isolated by everyone.
"Yes yes! Keep walking without looking back before we call the asylum. Crazy chick!" Another kid mocks at her while she keeps walking. Her momentary breathing becomes faster with every step she takes.
*"It's all his fault! His fault that I am like this! I do not want to shout or yell and make everyone listen to my voice. I do not want to be enraged and slap my self later for the stupid things I say. It is all your fault dad. This is my destiny, my life that I hate so much."* She crosses her arms by placing her hands on her elbows while feeling lonely, the poor soul was insecure, afraid and scared of her fellow human beings.
"She's is not crazy! Take it back." Faust finally yells out loud, his voice resonates around the corridor loud and crystal clear.
He turns back to face the bullies. His face does not show any kind of fear, eyes doesn't even flinch for a millisecond. He stares right into the eyes of the kid that mocked Caitlyn as his eyebrows meet together.
Caitlyn is surprised and frozen in her steps. She turns back instantly without wasting anytime to see if it's really the voice of Faust that she heard.
*Two years ago in the school*
Eight year old Caitlyn is focussing on what her teacher is teaching. It is the math class, her least favourite subject. But she is still trying to focus her every brain cell in learning the lesson.
As her teacher enters into subtraction of two big numbers. Ears of Caitlyn perks up upon hearing noises from the ground which is on her left.
She is sitting next to a window on her left, so she casually lifts her head up stretching her neck, to have a look at the noises appearing from outside.
It is Physical Development class (PD in short), for the kids from other classes. Her gaze first lands on a couple of kids playing tag with chuckles and laughter. The faces of those kids are lighting up with excitement and happiness . Shifting her gaze she finds two people running quickly from point A to point B to see which one of them is first to reach point B starting from A.
"Ahh! how lucky right Kay? They get to play in PD class. And we are stuck in Math and this is a hell of a boring class." Another girl sitting behind Caitlyn talks to her while sulking on their current situation.
"Hehe, yes. I wonder who discovered this math, I want to go back in time to kill them so we won't have this math class." Caitlyn replies back with a mischievous smirk towards her friend.
"Hahaha yes girl! You read my mind. Ahh I know you all are playing, why are you all so loud." Saying, the girl looks at the same couple of guys that Caitlyn is watching.
"Well? Are you crushing over those big guys? One of them is a noble like you too." She says.
"Ah no! The game they are playing is nice! Competing to see who wins in a running race. I like competitive games. I'm cheering for the noble though, since he is smaller than the other one." Caitlyn replies while pointing to Roy.
"Ah! That is Roy, you don't know his name? I thought being Nobles, you guys know each other."
"What? No, I just saw him a couple of times. When I visited my dad's work."
"Ahhhh the other one's name is Nicholas by the way, he is the son of the chief guard.*
"Oh! No wonder he is bigger than all the kids in his class haha." Both Caitlyn and her friend laughs together.
"Oh! Wait! There are three of them!" Her friend says in a surprise.
"What? Oh yes! How come I never noticed him all the time we were watching?" Caitlyn asks while looking at little Faust.
"Oh probably cause he is too little and thin to be noticed right?" Her friend laughs while saying.
"Hmm.. you must be right." Caitlyn stares at Faust, kind of being impressed by him.
"I changed! I'm rooting for that little guy now!" Caitlyn says in an excited tone.
"Oh you always cheer the weak looking ones. Weirdo!"
"No! I like it when weaker ones, try their best and win. Strong guys already have an advantage, so I root for weaker ones."
"I think his name is Faust."
"Faust, huh…?"
"Ahhh ahhhh ahhhh I-I will win this time for sureeeee." Faust yells at Nick and Roy while trying to catch up to them.
*"He is trying hard."* Caitlyn muddles in her head, concluding from his expressions and efforts.