'You doing anything tomorrow?' he changed the subject realizing changing Simon's mind was impossible.
'What did you want to do?'
'Well, there's something I saw in the forest that might just interest you.'
'Does it have anything to do with magic?' He looked excited. Anything supernatural was Simon's best subject when it came to conversation.
'It's something that has got something to do with that,' he responded.
'Great. I was supposed to visit my mother but I can go today, so…what time?'
'I'll meet you at our crossroads at ten-thirty.'
'Okay,' he agreed.
Brendan moved his eyes towards the entrance of the cafeteria and saw Thomas pacing straight towards them, a sea of students following closely behind him.
There was a scar on his lip and a bandage on his finger and he was breathing heavily in fury. He stood beside Brendan but Brendan did not look up at him. He just kept a calm expression.
Simon had escaped, not wanting to face a violent human being like Thomas.
'You think you're smart, don't you, orphan? And for your information, dat was a python. You obviously couldn't tell, could you, orphan?' He began slapping Brendan at the back of his head. He only used half the length of his fingers which made the sound of the slaps louder. 'You think you're tough?' he teased. 'Not so tough now, are you, Eriksson?'
Students were gathering around them. Samantha was there too. There was complete silence from everyone's mouth. The only sound came from Brendan's head as Thomas slapped it repeatedly, sending echoes through the entire cafeteria.
Brendan decided he was not to be humiliated. He quickly got up and faced him. 'And who told you I put that snake in your locker, Bradley?'
'Isn't it obvious? You're the only one I've got beef with.'
'Well, I wasn't there when it happened,' Brendan denied this allegation.
'When what happened, orphan? The planting of the snake or when it bit me?'
'What I'm trying to say is…I wasn't there when you made your girly screams.'
Whack!
This was the sound of Thomas slapping him hard on the cheek. Brendan's heart blazed with rage. He swung a right punch at Thomas but he blocked it with not much visible effort. He swung his left fist next which was also blocked easily by Thomas.
'I think it's my turn,' Thomas whispered loud enough for him to hear.
Punches started raining heavily on Brendan. Each punch landed on different parts of his body: one on the nose, one on the cheekbone, one on the eye and others on the same or several different parts. He tried summoning every bit of strength inside him but Thomas was just too fast and strong for him. All he could hear now were the pleas and cries coming from the girls watching.
'Stop it! You're hurting him, Thom!' this was Natasha Andrew's voice, grave concern traveling with it. No one was cheering on but only staring in solemnity.
Brendan now realized that beating Thomas would be impossible, even with the basic boxing moves Howard had taught him. He finally gave up. He was now breathing deeply in exhaustion and his whole body felt numb. Every single eye was on him.
Thomas had put on a disgusting smirk on his face and he was soothing his knuckles as if thanking them for a job well-done.
Brendan felt so much anger and hatred building up inside him on top of humiliation. He began jogging to the doors of the cafeteria. He bumped into Miss Putin by the exit.
'My child!' She exclaimed in shock after having captured a glance of his scars. 'What happen?'
He felt embarrassed. He ignored her and proceeded with his jogging, heading straight for his classroom. He grabbed his books and stuffed them in his backpack and fled from the school.
He had been fighting back tears. As he jogged, he constantly wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. He was so angry at Thomas…and even Miss Putin! He was angry at her because she had arrived at the scene too late. If she had arrived earlier she would have saved him the humiliation. He did not care that he would miss the rest of the lessons.