When Kurtis opened his eyes he was met with a surge of pain causing him to flinch. Slowly and carefully he sat up, immediately noticing the soft springy mattress ,he realized he was in his room. He looked around, taking in the warm nostalgia of his room before checking the state of his body. It was then that he noticed that he had a bandage and broken nose cast over his nose and his forehead was bandaged up tightly. He looked down at his body and saw his chest was bandaged as well, along with both his shoulders and his left arm was in a cast. He tried getting up into a sitting position but received a stab of pain in his gut in response.
He had a large room, as expected since he and his mum did own the largest house in the area, his bed was positioned in the middle of the furthermost wall from the door, right above it was a large rectangular slide-to-open window, next to his bed he had a large maroon coloured mahogany bed-side table ,on it was a rectangular digital clock, which also told the date and the foretold weather. The floor was covered in rich ,soft ,dark purple carpet. Off to his right from the bed there was a large see-through glass slide door that led to a large bathroom with a shower and toilet. The left wall wasn't a wall but a row of Large light blue closets of all sizes spanning the length of the entire wall, with a gap in the middle where there was a big square mirror and dressing table. On the dressing table sat a huge framed picture of Kurtis and his mom from 5 years ago ,it sat alone with nothing else on the table but a single pen. In front of the bed was a tall, brown table with shelves and on it was a large 75" TV and Kurtis' iPhone 12 Pro which he never used. On the first shelf was a White PS5 and controllers, the cables spilling out and connecting to the large TV. On the shelf under was a Virgin media TV box, the wires tangled up with the PS5 cables. Behind the TV ,on the same wall as the door, to its left was a large Blue book case filled with books ranging from fantasy series like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, to triple science revision work books. The walls were painted a dark blue and on the same wall as the sliding door leading to the bathroom was an extremely large poster of the Straw Hat crew, Kurtis' favourite group from his favourite anime.
"For fucks sake..." groaned Kurtis, his throat hurt when he tried to speak and he had an extremely potent head ache. He looked at the clock, it was currently 1:30pm on Tuesday 17th of February 2021, so he had been unconscious for a day now. With his right arm he felt around on his bed before finding and grabbing onto the curvy Black Virgin Media remote. He switched on the Tv and began watching Stranger Things ,but hadn't even been watching for 3 minutes before his mum came rushing into his room after probably having heard the Tv.
"Kurtis!" she shouted in an elated voice "your awake, are you okay? What am I saying? Of course your not okay, your all bandaged up! The doctor said it will take up to 6 weeks for all your injuries to heal completely, 6 weeks! as for the child that did this to you-" she finally paused for breath but before she could continue Kurtis intervened.
"Mum I'm okay" he paused for a second then continued "actually no ,I'm okay, does that mean I'll be allowed to stay home for the next six weeks?" He said in an unusualy cheerful tone, this had turned out better then he had expected, when he spat at Bela, the most he had been expecting was a three day exclusion, if he had known he could stay at home for the next six weeks and not see the others, then he would've happily taken a beating like that sooner.
His mum however, was not stupid and picked up on his tone, she had known her son was having some trouble at school with some of the other students but she had thought nothing of it, having dismissed it as silly teenage arguments, especially since her son never spoke to her about it. However, after what had recently happened she had become concerned. Previously when she had asked her son if everything at school with the other students was going okay, he had simply muttered "everything's fine" and changed the subject ,but "everything's fine" doesn't get you a call from the school telling you your son had been sent to the hospital unconscious and injured because another child had beaten him up.
She wasn't dumb and knew this was probably a sensitive subject for her son so decided to approach it carefully, donning a soft and careful tone she looked her son in the eye and said:
"Kurtis, tell me honestly, is everything fine at school"
" Yes mum, I've told you before ,everything's fine, what happened yesterday was just a misunderstanding, OK" Kurtis new where this was going and didn't want it to go there. It wasn't as if he didn't trust his mum ,in fact she was the only person in his life he had ever trusted, it was just that he didn't want to worry her, he knew if he told his mum about the bullying she wouldn't be able to sleep at night properly and would probably get into another even bigger argument with her sister, Blaise's mum.
His mum however wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer, this time round she wanted to know the truth and would not give up until she got it.
"Kurtis don't lie to me, I know something's going on at school so just tell me"
"nothings happening mum"
"Don't lie to me"
"nothing's wrong"
"did you get into an argument?"
"no"
" I can help you"
"There's nothing to help me with"
"was it over a girl?"
"no!"
This back and forth went on for a while between mother and son. After a few minutes of trying to get him to open up to no avail, Geneva Baliol (Kurtis' mum) began to grow impatient, it was obvious her son did not want to tell her at all costs so she decided to be strict with him since it was the only way to get him to talk.
"fine then, you don't have to tell me. Your right the doctor recommended you stay at home and avoid moving too much for at least 4 weeks, so that's what you will be doing, but-" she started as she got up from his bed and made her way to the TV "he didn't say you needed a TV, or a PS5, or a phone" she began unplugging the wires from the TV. She then stopped and made her way to one of his wardrobes and opened it, she filed through his clothes quickly before emerging, carrying both his MacBook's, his tablet, his iPad and his second iPhone, before adding "or MacBook's, tablets and iPad"
Kurtis' face paled, one reason he didn't mind staying at home was because when at home he still had connection to the internet and stuff to watch, play and do. If there was on thing he hated almost as much as getting bullied, it was boredom. Was it really all worth it if it meant he would just have to lay there, in bed, helpless and bored for six long weeks? No.
"W-wait!"
Geneva turned around, a slight smile on her beautiful face, she looked expectantly at her son "what is it?"
"I-I'l tell you okay?" Kurtis sheepishly muttered, avoiding eye contact.
And he did, he told her all about how he got bullied everyday, how he was always getting beaten up, his possessions always getting vandalised, his money stolen, and how he was always getting spat on. How he had no friends either because he was always being mocked and ridiculed or because everyone knew if they tried to become friends with him they would get bullied aswell, or even because he had been framed so many times that alot of people came to heavily despise him. He told her all about what had happened yesterday morning and why he had spat at Bela and so on.
The more he spoke ,the more Kurtis felt like a massive weight was being lifted from his shoulders as tears slowly trickled down his cheeks. He kept on stumbling over his words and stuttering. unable to control his crying as he sobbed into his mum's shoulder as she gave him a tight hug.
Geneva was livid, she was angry with Kurtis for not having told her sooner, she was angry at the school for not having put an end to it sooner, she was angry at the students who made her son's school life a misery, in particular her nephew Blaise. She knew Blaise and Kurtis had never gotten along for some reason but she didn't know it was this bad. But most of all she was furious with herself for not noticing sooner, this was worse then she possibly could've imagined, all along her son had been forced to cope with all this on his own and she had been of no use. Unintentionally, she found herself hugging her son tighter and tighter before she heard a shriek of pain from him, causing her to snap out of her anger and release him. Her heart and face melted when she looked at Kurtis' crying but weirdly relieved face.
She now knew what was happening at school ,but maybe even more then that she wanted to know why. Why were these kids treating her son so poorly. She refused to believe that kids would just treat each other in such a way without a reason, whether good or bad. So once again she looked her son in the eyes and said to him.
"Kurtis?"
"ye-yes?"
"can you tell me why. Is there any particular reason why these kids keep treating you this way?"
Kurtis paused, the tears continued making their way down his face, he didn't know how to answer her question. He had to think hard about it but eventually he realised he didn't really know why ,but he had his own speculations.
" I don't really know why but I think it started with B-Blaise"
Geneva had a feeling it had something to do with her nephew, and his son confirming it made her face turn pale with dread.
Kurtis explained to his mum how Blaise had always hated him, he explained how it probably had something to do with the fact that Kurtis and his mum were really rich while Blaise and his family just about had enough to rent a house and eat.
This was true, Geneva Baliol was really rich, she was a land owner who owned a lot of land in Keshford city, including the wealthy area they lived in. This is why they owned the largest house in the area and why it was coloured blue instead of creamy White like the other houses. She easily had enough to buy a much larger house but chose to live a more modest life. Geneva had worked really hard to get to where she was now and was reaping the fruits of her hard work.
Her older sister ,Laiva (Blaise's mum), instead of working hard like Geneva when they were younger, preferred to go out constantly with her friends to parties, hangouts and the such and was always bottom of her class. Whereas Geneva was always the top in their year and had been considered the smartest in their school at the time.
As a result of her lack in work and care for education, Laiva had failed all her GCSE's, had no A-levels and was forced to work three jobs at McDonalds, Tesco's and T.K Max. She was always begging for money from Geneva who, being the kind hearted and loving woman that she was, found it extremely hard to refuse, so she gave her money ,money which instead of using to support her family like a responsible mother, Laiva would spend on gambling and buying drugs and cigarettes. This lack in responsibility meant that Geneva ,who couldn't simply sit back and watch her nephew and niece struggle, was forced to pay for their education and clothes.
Yes, that meant Blaise, the only reason he could afford to go to such a prestigious school such as King Henry the eight was because of Kurtis' mum. Instead of being grateful, Blaise hated his life ,he hated his irresponsible mum, and the fact that his clothes were all bought by his Aunt. This made him feel inferior to Kurtis and as a result he had decided to take his anger out on him.
Kurtis then explained how Blaise had always lived next door to Joden.
Joden had always been a promising athlete and good at all sports in general, in particular his favourite sport Football. He dreamed of one day becoming a famous and successful footballer and playing for the Chelsea and English national football team. He had extremely promising talent in the sport and was arguably the best player his age in Keshford City ,having been scouted a total number of 11 time by professional football team academies such as Arsenal, Manchester City , Leicester City and Liverpool. However he lasted barely two months in each academy because of two reasons; his poor behaviour and small fuse and most importantly his appalling grades. All the academies had standards in regards to these and ,despite his extremely rare talent in the game, were forced to drop him after trying their best to fix and improve him. Because of this when Joden met Kurtis who always had impeccable behaviour, was incredibly patient, kind hearted AND was the smartest student at their school, he hated him immediately, after all he was all Joden needed to be in order to become a footballer ,he was jealous.
In addition to this, Joden's family as well weren't very blessed in the money department, when he had heard that his best friend Blaise was going to King Henry the eighth, he had begged his parents endlessly to let him attend as well. Luckily he was an only child so his parents could just about afford to pay the tuition. But Kurtis served as a constant reminder of what he wasn't and what he wished he was.
Though Kurtis didn't know all this, he just assumed the reason Joden hated him was because Blaise told to hate him.
Kurtis explained how Joden and Blaise were always together and how Blaise's immense hatred and jealousy for him had fuelled Joden's own jealousy and hatred, resulting in their constant bullying of Kurtis. He also included Bela who didn't have any reason in particular for bullying Kurtis and was just doing it because Joden and Blaise did it. He told his mum about them being the most popular in their year and how the other students looked up to them and wanted to always be on Good terms with them so also joined in.
"and uh... Yh. Thats about it I think, though I'm not sure if its true" concluded Kurtis, giving his mum a weary look. She had a look on her face as if she had just gone through enlightenment as she pondered what to do next. Then a look of anger took over her expression as she got up and headed towards the door to leave.
As she left she said "thankyou for telling me Kurtis, now I'm angry ,I've had enough of Laiva and her son, how about I give them a call" before closing the door and leaving Kurtis to wipe his face in silence all while sniffing and groaning in pain. He went to turn on the TV before realising that he couldn't because his mum had unplugged all the cables and had forgotten to reconnect them.
He didn't have the energy to shout after his mum so after taking a deep sigh of exasperation ,he carefully lay back down and closed his eyes.
He lay there peacefully for around an hour and a half before loud shouting from downstairs made his eyes immediately flutter open.
"What are you teaching your son!"
"what do you mean teaching my son? My son hasn't done anything!" Response Laiva Zalo. She was of the same physique, height and skin tone as her sister Geneva, they shared the same slender eyebrows, petite nose and small plump lips but Laiva had bleached ,blonde hair and darker blue eyes. If you were to ask someone to describe her looks in comparison to her younger sister's you'd expect her to look just as beautiful. However, it wasn't like that, looking at her you could tell that she was once just as beautiful but her face had been changed by multiple wrinkles as a result of drugs and continuous smoking and she smelt constantly of cigarettes.
"oh he hasn't has he? Then explain to me why my son is currently in bed with a broken nose, a broken arm, a broken rib, a cracked skull and multiple bruises all over his body!"
" that has nothing to do with Blaise! You said so yourself on the phone earlier, It was that other kid! Instead of blowing your top off at me you should be doing something about him:"
"OH TRUST ME I'LL GET TO HIM LATER, BUT RIGHT NOW IM ASKING WHY YOUR SON HAS BEEN MAKING MY KURTIS' LIFE A LIVING HELL FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS!" Geneva was fuming and you could hear it clearly in her voice.
"What are you on about?" Questioned Laiva extremely confused.
" you know full damn well what I'm on about, I'm on about your son and his childish, idiotic friends bullying my son and making it impossible for him to live a normal life!"
"What? Blaise is this true?"
...Silence
"You heard her boy, speak up, you have a voice when your pestering my son in school do you not? Where's it gone now?"
......
"You young man are testing my patience! ARE YOU OR ARE YOU NOT THE REASON MY SON IS BEING TORMENTED AT SCHOOL!"
"Ye-ye-yes " came a timid voice.
Kurtis couldn't help but snigger, he never thought he would hear such a tone of voice come from Blaise of all people, he knew his mum could be scary when she got angry but he had never heard her this angry.
Downstairs the two women stood in the middle of the entrance hall facing each other with Geneva's back facing the wall, while Blaise stood awkwardly to the left of his mum
"what? You, young man, have a lot of explaining to do. When we get home your telling me everything" said Leiva half-heartedly.
"Is that it? Is that all your going to say to him after all he's done? Even if this time round he wasn't the one who beat up my son ,he's done it before! How dare you! After everything I've done for you and you can't even take this seriously?"
"what do you want me to do about it? What's done is done, at least this time he didn't touch him, it's not my fault your son's a pussy if you don't want this to happen then get him to toughen up ,maybe then he wouldn't get picked on!" Said Laiva in an irritated tone.
*snort* Blaise let out an accidental snort of laughter at that last part.
Silence.....
Even from up in his room Kurtis could feel the tension downstairs right now. 'Thank God I can pretend I never heard any of this' thought Kurtis to himself as the silence stretched on.
Downstairs Geneva was glaring at her sister and nephew.
"what did you just say?" She whispered in a dangerously quiet tone ,clear signs of danger and anger emanating from her, Laiva however either did not pick up on this or did and just decided to dismiss it, after all ,why would she fear her little sister? What could she do that she couldn't stop her from doing?
"You heard me, I said your son is a pussy, and you should teach him to toughen up so he won't get picked on" she repeated, this time in angry tone.
"that's it! Get out both of you! I've had enough of you both, Laiva you obviously refuse to change and he seems to be finding this whole situation funny ,so I now know talking isn't going to resolve the problem ,I'll be taking measures now to ensure my son doesn't get bullied." declared Geneva
"wh-what do you mean" uttered Laiva, concern creeping into her voice
"Laiva, never come asking me for money ever again, it's been a long time coming. I always give you money and not only do you never repay me, putting you in heavy debt to me, you keep spending the money on drugs and gambling instead of your family. As for you Blaise." She said, turning towards him "I've decided to stop paying for your tuition fees at King Henry the Eighth, speaking of that school, I've decided I'll file a law suit against them ,not only them but that other kid, Jaden was it? Yes ,that way he will probably get expelled, with both you and him out, maybe then my son can get a taste of what a normal secondary school life is like"
"What! You can't do that!"
"why not, its my money and my son, don't worry I'l keep paying for kaya's University fees, that girl has potential and a future, is grateful and has always been kind towards my son and I. It's a shame the same can't be said for him" Geneva commented while giving Blaise a disdainful look.
"But I'm your sister!"
"And so what? That very same reason is why I tolerated you nonsense for so long but I've had enough. Now leave!"
"Wa-wait auntie" said Blaise realising the serious situation he and his mum now found themselves in" I-I'm s-sorry" he uttered begrudgingly.
"See! He's apologised! Now there's no need to do all of that!" Exclaimed Laiva desperately
"Yes but it's clear he doesn't want to, plus I'm not the one he should be apologising to. Its too late anyway, I'm not changing my mind"
"but Geneva I-"
"-get out!"
" but-"
"-get out"
"please?" Laiva pathetically begged
Geneva marched over to the door and flung it open, the cold wind rushing in adding a chilly tone to the tense atmosphere "OUT!"
"Geneva think it ove-"
"wa-wait auntie, before we leave can I use your toilet, we live far from here and I desperately need to go" interrupted Blaise
"Fine, you have 2 minutes"
Blaise headed for the stairs and left his mum pleading with his aunt ,all while with an angry smirk on his face
He didn't actually need to use the toilet, there was something he needed to do before he left.
Climbing the richly carpeted stairs and walking along the spacious, luxuriously decorated and designed landing toward Kurtis' bedroom door, he was reminded of why and how much he hated Kurtis. It just wasn't fair, he got to live in a massive house with lots of money and a beautiful mum while Blaise had to live in a cramped house with little money and a mum who would look beautiful if it wasn't for all the drugs and smoking making her look older then she really was.
Once he arrived at Kurtis' door he banged on it twice and slid a folded piece of paper underneath it.
Having achieved what he came here for, he made his way back downstairs to to his defeated looking mum and left the house with nothing to think about but what free public school he was going to have to attend and eagerly anticipating the approaching afternoon.