When he got into class, Brendan found Mr. Benson, the Biology teacher, already inside, arranging his textbooks for the lesson.
Mr. Benson was short and chubby and had a friendly face which essentially seemed to relieve Brendan of some of his stress issues. He was wearing a red tie, a light green long-sleeved shirt, brown trousers and a pair of white sneakers. 'Okay, class, today we will be bisecting the frog and examining its internal functions.'
At this, the whole class made one word: "Yuk!" The only ones who did not say this were Thomas and Angus.
'I'm going to slowly cut mine and let it feel the excruciating pain,' Thomas said with evil anticipation on his face and Angus laughed in approval.
'That's gross,' Samantha responded to these devious and cruel words, a look of disbelief on her face.
'How cruel,' Susan joined in.
Mr. Benson went into the class storeroom which was right after the classroom door and he came back carrying a large glass cubic jar with different sized dead frogs inside: big ones, small ones, long-legged ones, and began placing each one in front of every student.
Brendan looked at his. It was brown, fat and slimy.
'Don't let it get away,' Mr. Benson chuckled as he placed one in front of Natasha Andrews. Without warning, she splattered vomit all over her desk, drowning the frog in the process.
The first "Yuk!" was made by Thomas and then the whole class followed as if in agreement.
Mr. Benson called off the lesson immediately.
The bell rang for everyone to dismiss. Brendan was walking alone through the corridor. He now took all his books home because of what Thomas had done to his locker. As he approached the exit, his collar was pulled from behind by Angus. Thomas was with him.
'You think just because you skedaddled the last time you'll be able to skedaddle again?' Thomas said, licking his lips threateningly.
'I'm not looking for a fight,' Brendan spoke with dignity and courage in his voice. The two monsters chuckled at his response.
'Don't worry,' Thomas said, changing his tone to amusement, 'It's not going to be much of a fight,' he concluded his statement with a proud correction.
'And why did you target me of all people, huh? What about everyone else?'
'Dat's only because at my school I heard quiet people are the best of fighters. I asked people here about who was the church mouse of this school…' he rubbed his chin in more pride, '…and all fingers point at you, Eriksson.'
Students of all grades were beginning to gather around. 'Fight, fight, fight!' they chanted. Simon was there too. His mouth was sealed and his eyes were filled with fright. He shook his head as if to say, 'Don't do it, Brendan, don't. He'll kill you. You're no match for him.'
Thomas had now stood in what Brendan assumed was a karate stance. Brendan, though, kept his calm.
'What's this entire ruckus about?' Mr. Sparrow, the Literature teacher had appeared suddenly from nowhere. He had short black hair, a small black moustache and blue thoughtful looking eyes. Just like Mr. Price, Mr. Sparrow always had a certain sternness in his voice and just like Mr. Price, he always wore suits but in black and a bowtie instead of a necktie. 'Who's fighting?' Mr. Sparrow asked warningly, pushing students aside to get to the center of the crowd.
'No one's fighting!' Thomas hissed at his teacher rudely.
'Watch your tone, young man,' Mr. Sparrow warned him, his moustache twitching.
'You watch yours, you old flea infested goat!' he snapped again.
All the surrounding students made a gasp of shock at the audacious words Thomas had used towards his teacher.
'That's it! To the principal's office, now!' He pulled on Thomas' arm towards the staffroom; this was where Principal Johnston's office was.
The crowd was quickly dispersed by Miss Putin who had also arrived at the scene. As soon as the crowd had been lessened to just pairs and individuals, she took Brendan to the side.