Zenil was walking through the hallway of his school.
Today was the final day of Zenil being a part of Verid High School. He was here just to sign some documents along with his guardian. With Vincent set to arrive in the afternoon, Zenil opted to spend the day attending classes instead of heading back home.
Since this morning he had been feeling different. The feeling of grasping something had vanished, instead, currently he felt the sensation of a lingering power within him. This feeling wasn't as strong as the feeling he got when he was beating his opponents in the playground, but nonetheless, it was still present.
'What the hell was that dream?'
While walking, his steps suddenly stopped.
"Look who decided to show up," Gary said with a smirk on his face.
At this moment Gary and his group stood in front of Zenil, blocking his pathway.
All the activity in the hallway had stopped, and everyone was currently looking towards Gary.
Soon, one of the boys from Gary's group walked to Zenil and stood with his hand on Zenil's shoulder. The boy continuously tightened his grip while smiling.
"Where were you all this time? Zen, my boy?" The delinquent said, "Jack had to fill in while you were away, you should apolog-"
"Don't touch me," Zenil muttered, interrupting the youth. Zenil's eyes were currently making direct eye contact with the delinquent.
"Huh? Did you say anything?" The delinquent asked sarcastically.
"I said, don't touch me," Zenil said loudly, as he took a step back and launched a punch, sending the delinquent a few steps back and making him trip. Zenil had directly hit the youth's nose.
Everyone in the corridor was shocked, their eyes wide open. Gary was astonished by this event.
"You!" Gary shouted as he and the other boy in the group leaped towards Zenil.
Fury was written over Gary's face, while there was clear indifference in Zenil's eyes.
'I didn't mean to start a fight.'
Zenil was still not confident in winning against Gary. The reason he even took action this time was because it was his last day in this school, and …
There was no other concrete reason, maybe it was because of the fact that he was feeling stronger at this point in time, or maybe because of the fact that he was feeling confident, no over-confident because of being crowned as the representative of the second strongest school. Lana actively resurfacing in his memories, could have also played a factor.
Or, maybe he had finally given up holding back, he had lost his patience. In the past, he didn't fight the bullies because he had no adult to support him, not because he was weak. He didn't know how to properly fight, but he wasn't weak by any means, average at best. He just didn't want Vincent to help him out, as he had already done enough for him.
Yet, today he chose to fight. After all, Vincent was coming today as well.
In truth, Zenil had been irrational and had fallen into the trap of power. This was the first time in quite a while that he hadn't just put on a poker face and moved on with a slight beating.
Looking at the two opponents in front of him, instead of retreating, Zenil chose to push forward.
He felt no fear.
***
In the hallway of Verid High School, a crowd of students was gathered around a fight, no, a one-sided beat down.
"What is going on." A female teacher said as she struggled to walk through the crowd of students. Every single member of the crowd was engrossed in seeing what was happening in front of them.
Finally, after struggling for a minute or so, the teacher made it to the front of the crowd.
Her eyes widened as soon as she saw what all the fuss was about.
In front of her lay three students on the ground, while a relatively healthier student was sitting on one of the students and continuously punching his face.
To shock her even more, the person getting beaten up was Gary.
She didn't teach Gary but he knew who he was, not because he was infamous for being a bully, but because of the fact who his father was.
At the start of every year, all the teachers are given orders by the director of the school, to not get on the bad side of certain students due to how powerful their parents were, and, Gary's name was on that list.
If she was not wrong then, Gary's father was a high-ranking official in the city's mayor's office.
"Stop!" She shouted. "What do you think you are doing? Bullying weak students like that?"
***
In the principal's office, Zenil stood in front of the principal, and the teacher who had brought him here.
Zenil had lost himself while beating Gary, he didn't mean to hospitalize him, but all the frustration within him made him like that. Yes, Gary got hospitalized, as a few bones in the ribcage were shattered due to Zenil sitting on him.
"How dare you terrorize the school!"
Currently, the principal was scolding Zenil. He had already informed Gary's parents and was waiting for them to come.
"Sir, we should rusticate this brat. Student's like these are why parents don't want to send their kids to school." The teacher commented while looking at Zenil with an obnoxious look in her eyes.
Zenil took a deep breath and calmed his mind. He avoided making eye contact.
'Why did I even try to fight?'
Suddenly, a shrill voice came from the entrance to the room, "Where is the brat who hospitalized my Gary?"
A short, fat woman with curly blonde hair entered the room with a look of frustration on her slightly wrinkled face. A middle-aged bald man wearing a professional suit followed her.
"Calm down." The man said, "Principal is this the boy who fought my kid?"
"Yes Mr Button, we have detained him. We didn't let him escape." The principal said.
Louis Button, Gary's father nodded and then looked at Zenil with rage in his eyes.
"Who the hell do you think you are to hit my son?" The shrill-voiced lady screamed at Zenil.
"Do you even know who I am? How dare you hit Gary?" The father said.
"Sir, we will-" The female teacher said but was interrupted by Louis.
"Didn't your parents discipline you?" Louis Button said.
Zenil was still ignoring all the screams and the anger-filled shouts in the room. He just stood there looking at the ground beneath him.
"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me? Haven't your parents ever disciplined you? They are usele-"
Hearing this Zenil looked into the eyes of the bald man, "My parents passed away a few years back, sir."
"That explains it. Did your parents commit suicide after seeing a failure like you? To be honest, it's a shame they're not around to see how you've failed them." The lady said with a smirk on her face.
"It's a shame they are not alive, if they were, I would have given your parents the most torturous death they could have imagined," Louis said.
Zenil closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"One by one, I would have chopped off-"
"Shut up," Zenil muttered.
"What did you just say?" Louis asked with anger in his voice.
"Shut the fuck up!" Zenil screamed. He then proceeded to grab the throat of Louis, and then he started choking him. This happened so fast that Louis couldn't even try to protect himself.
"How dare you talk about my parents like that." Zenil said with anger in his voice.
"What are you doing?"
"Do you even know who you are attacking?" Louis said trying to escape Zenil's tight grip. By now everyone in the room and started to help Louis by trying to separate them.
"No, and I don't even care," Zenil replied coldly.
"You!" The principal shouted as he tried to push Zenil away.
"Zenil! What are you doing?" Suddenly a voice came from the entrance of the room.
Zenil looked towards the general direction of the voice, and a single word left his mouth.
"Uncle!"