Soaring High school James resumed from was just like any other school, only a bit larger than his former school. Soaring High School had a considerable population, and females populated the school more than males. In James class, out of the twenty-eight of the students, including him, nineteen were females.
James sat down at his seat and brought out his textbook. The school forbade the use of gadgets, so James could not bring his tablet, but he didn't mind. He was not going to benefit much from the class anyway.
"Alright students, quiet down. I will be pairing you in threes for the project. Remember, you all have to build your robot as a team, like everyone, I mean everyone has to participate. Do you understand?" the teacher said, emphasizing the 'everyone' word and intentionally looking at Nathan who was talking to his friends. "Yes aunt!" the class chorused.
"Nathan, I will be personally pairing you with James Smith and Ana Nicole, the rest of you, select your teams and begin the project. You are to submit it by Monday, good day." The teacher then packed her books and left the class.
"Oh great, I get to join the nerd clusters, again!" Nathan spoke loudly, causing his friends to laugh. James stared at him on his seat and shook his head pitifully. He felt sorry for Nathan.
Nathan came from a relatively wealthy family, his father into investments, and his mother practising medicine. Nathan's three elder siblings were out of college pursuing their careers, leaving only Nathan still in school. Most of the time, the label Nathan as the black sheep of the family, not because he was not smart, although it was part of the reason, but because he almost ruined his mother's doctor's license out of anger, causing the family to despise him.
Nathan had wanted to be a hacker all his life, so he began studying hacking basics when he was five and started infiltrating his friend's phone. From there he proceeded to hack his classmate's gadgets, targeting the females specifically to find possible nudes on their phones. When they eventually found out, it was immediately reported to his parents. This event further cemented their dislike towards James, so he was expelled from his private school.
His parents did not know what to do with him, so they dumped him to Soaring High school and bribed the principal to put him on any acceptable grade, and so that was how he landed at grade eight. Nathan was already sixteen years old at that time.
Despite all that happened, Nathan didn't sober up at all. As soon as he started from this school, he terrorized his classmates and on higher grades too because of his size, including females alike. This also caused him to be suspended five times, and almost expelled from school when he tried to flirt with one of the female teachers, but his parents kept pouring the money to pin him in school.
Someone dug up the past atrocities Nathan had caused in his private school, and the news spread throughout Soaring High school, which disgusted classmates and teachers alike, so he was labelled as "the Pervert", and as a result, his peers steered away from him, leaving him with people who only wanted him for power and his money.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
"Who are you looking at like that man, what's wrong with you" Nathan spoke with a fake accent, slowly approaching James. James knew what he wanted to do, but he stood his ground. He was not going to be bullied this time. "He's coming, quick, run to the teacher!" Ana whispered to James in apprehension.
James pretended not to hear her and waited for Nathan to approach him until his shadow covered him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Nathan said word for word. James sighed and ignored him. "What if you beat me now, you might be satisfied, but what about later when I submit our project and convince the teacher to give you a zero score like I did last time. You think the teacher would let this roll over this time?"
Nathan emotions flickered and he hesitated a little. James words had put fear in him, but seeing his friends looking at him, put on a bold face and held James collar. "You're threatening me? What if I tell the teacher that I participated and she gives me a score, and I beat you like pulp in the end?"
The whole class fell in hushed silence. They began watching the unfolding drama, but no one wanted to step forward and save James, but James did not appear to be in trouble, and as an alternative, he smiled. "Do you think the teacher would believe the word that comes out of your mouth? Ana and I are the ones that can validate your participation in this project, and so if you beat me now, even if you 'manage' to put in some work, I'll still report to the teacher that you did not do anything, bet?"
Nathan left James cloth and coldly stared at him for a few seconds. Then he climbed on a fat boy's table faced the whole class and spoke loudly. "As you can see, James is threatening me of my well-deserved points. He wants me to fail again, but trust me, it's not happening this time. I want you all to bear me witness when I say, I am going to build the entire robot myself!"
The class began to mumble to each other. After Nathan finished talking, he then faced James and lifted him off the floor abruptly. "If I complete this robot before the due date, I have the permission to draw blood out of your stupid black skin!" he threatened him and dropped him on the floor. James winced a little at the impact, before standing up and dusting his trousers. "Ouch, so you're racist now."