As it was the first day, they got a leisure hour for school tour. They were appointed lockers, were taken to the labs, basketball court, library, where they got a library card so that they can borrow five books at a time, and then lastly, to the cafeteria.
They returned back to their classes and the next half hour was devoted for introduction purposes. They were introduced to the teacher's that will teach them and they introduced themselves to rest of their classmates. There was a 18-students-per-class rule, so the class room was not crowded. When the actual classes began, they were divided into pairs for almost all the subjects and likewise, Jayden and Jacob ended up being together in all of them as they were sitting next to each other.
Within no time, the bell indicated lunch time. Jayden was starving. He and Jacob followed the rest of the boys to the cafeteria. It was crowded by older students. They stood in the queue, took their lunch trays, and started searching a nice place for them.
"What did you say, sire?" Jayden asked the boy who was standing near them. He had heard someone say something, but he was not able to catch it. The boy stared him and shrugged after sometime.
"Hey! I know who you are!" A boy who was probably 15, stepped forward. He was tall with strong arms. Three more boys were standing behind him. "You visit a psychologist, don't you?" he said in a loud voice. "Well no wonder you need em! You hear things normal people don't!" He said, giggling. Jayden had gone red. No one had insulted him. It was bad enough for him to visit a psychiatrist just to please his parents. But he never wanted his schoolmates to know. That too on the very first day.
"Leave him alone." Jacob said, siding with his buddy.
"Why? You hurt cuz you visit the psychiatrist too?" He said in a mimicking tone. Jacob had gone red in the face too. Before the situation could get any worse, Jayden whispered in his ear that it is better to walk off.
The boys ate in silence. The news of Jayden visiting a psychiatrist was like wild fire. After lunch, when he and Jacob walked in the class, most of the boys pointed and sniggered.
"It's okay! They will forget about it really soon. My brother says that the bullies get tired of bullying one person and they start bullying others." Said a boy with golden hair and a sweet round face. "I am William Hughes and my brother is a year ahead of me." He said with a smile. They smiled and introduced themselves. They also noticed that this kid was sitting all by himself while the rest were either in pairs or in group of three or four
"You wanna join us?" Jacob asked him, sensing that he wanted to be with someone. His smile widened and he shifted near them.
Days passed and William's prediction was wrong. Nobody seemed to forget Jayden's secret. He and Jacob were avoided by most of their classmates. To make everything worse, Jayden was forced to visit psychiatrist once again as she wanted to check the "progress". Unfortunately Jackson-the bully saw him and insulted him with some new sets of insults. Jacob stood by his side. He tried standing up to Jackson but Jayden calmed him saying that it does not matter and he should not do anything as the bullies might hurt him physically. The night's were no good. He either had sleepless nights in which he had a feeling of being watched from all the directions or had strange dreams of seeing the same shiny box that emitted light. Whenever he tried to get near it, something would collapse. Sometimes it would be roof, sometimes trees and sometimes huge rocks would fall out of nowhere. The Whispers were getting stronger. But he still couldn't make out anything. He had a feeling that the Whispers were not in English. He had stopped reacting to the Whispers. He was in no way giving more content to Jackson for bullying.
On the other hand, Braylan, Jacob and Samuel were working hard to try and understand what was the reason. But the books that the public library had, didn't help them much. The most they did was to create a list of exorcist of all sorts, with their phone numbers, email ids and addresses. They hoped that they will not have to use them. Jayden was still under observation. He was behaving weird. There were shadows under his eyes and he was always so restless. He hadn't shared anything with them recently but they concluded that he was hiding many things.
"If Jackson continues to bully him, he will isolate himself. He will not even talk to us." Jacob said one day. He was shaking with anger. "Do you know what that jerk did today? He gave a nickname to Jayden. He called him Jayden- the deranged lunatic." His fists were clenched. Braylan couldn't take it either.
"It's all mom and dad's fault. Why don't they believe him? They are dragging a normal person to a psychiatrist. If he was not crazy before, he will surely become a looney lunatic now. Is there some sort of anti bullying department in that school?" Braylan said, pacing his room. Today was the last day of Jayden's so called treatment. He was at the psychiatrist with Jane and Marco was out of the city for the day.
"There is! But whenever I try to approach them, Jay stops me. He says he don't want Jackson to get the satisfaction of getting him." Braylan shook his head hopelessly at this statement.
"He is acting weirder than normal. Do you think something is forcing him to keep away stuff from us?'' Samuel spoke for the first time in this meeting.
" I don't want to think that. I hope we do something before that. I hope he gets like before." Braylon had finally reached the breaking point. He couldn't take it anymore. He had seen Jayden transform from a healthy, confident boy to a stammering, boy with dark circles under eyes. Jayden was introvert, but he didn't lack confidence. But seeing him now broke his heart. He let the tears in his eyes flow. He was sobbing. He wanted to hurt everything that was the reason for this change. May it be mortal or immortal.
"It's okay, Bray! We will help him. First thing we can do is stop that jerk from bullying him." Samuel said, pouring some water for him.
"Yeah. I will report the bullying and say them to keep the reporting a secret. I will ask them to act like they heard it for themselves." Jacob was pale. But there was a look of determination in his eyes. He was about to betray his best friend. He never thought he would do that. But it was for Jayden's own good.
The next day, Jayden was absent. It made the task of reporting easier. Everything was in Jacob's favour as when he was walking in the corridor, towards his cupboard, Jackson called him.
"So where is Jayden- the deranged lunatic?" He asked, laughing. A teacher was standing a few steps away and he heard everything. As Jackson was dragged to the principal's office, many bullied got some courage and they reported Jackson as a bully. He ended up being suspended for two months.
Jacob was excited. He rang the doorbell of the Smith house. Braylon opened the door.
"Where is Jay?" I have s great news for him.
"I haven't seen him. I think he is probably in the library or the park."
"Why didn't he attend the school today?"
"He said his head was hurting. His eyes were puffy so mom let him stay. But I think he cried the whole night and he dreaded going back to school with that face and the latest trip to psychiatrist."
"Well, guess what! Jackson is suspended for two months! A teacher heard him and he was taken to the principal...." Jacob excitedly shared the news. Jayden was home after some time.
"Hi! I didn't expect you here!" He greeted Jacob. He wore a strange look on his face which made Jacob and Braylon exchange worried looks.
"I was here to tell you a great news!" Jacob said excitedly and said him all about Jackson.
"That's great! I can attend school peacefully from tomorrow." Jayden said. His looks were almost back to usual. This made the boys exchange another nervous glance.
"Where were you all this time?" Braylan asked him."I was waiting for you for the past thirty minutes." He wanted to make Jayden speak up. But he knew that if he asked him directly, he will ignore him. He had done that when he asked him about how the school was and if he had any rivals in the school.
" I was in the park and didn't realise that you were already home." Jayden replied carefully, avoiding their eyes and he seemed to be too interested in his thumbnail.