After Chase signed himself in at the school's reception, he headed to his lesson and hoped that the teacher wouldn't question him too much. He took a quick glance at his watch: 9:25am meaning that he was now 15 minutes for second period. He quickly rushed to class, knocked on the door and waited for his teacher to let him in. After the door opened, he was met by his Business teacher; a tall man with a burly figure who appeared slightly confused upon Chase's arrival.
He inquired about Chase's lateness but he wasn't particularly mad about it, what he was mad about was that Chase had interrupted his train of thought. He ushered him to sit down at his desk so that he could continue with the lesson as he wanted to continue with the lesson because they had a lot to cover.
10:20 was usually homeroom, so as Chase's class ended at 10:15, he quickly made his way over. He entered a building called the Jubilee block and climbed the nearby stairs all whilst brushing past a couple of students coming out of their classrooms. One of them, a clean shaved older guy bumped into Chase and didn't bother apologising but as he decided to start something the bell rang which left the student scowling at Chase. Chase was grateful that the bell intervened but it also meant that he was late for homeroom which led to him speed walking up the stairs. Chase made his way to the top floor and opened the light doors blocking his path before entering the first opened sliding door classroom to the right.
The classroom was well lighted and it was buzzing with chatter and laughter.
As soon as his figure was visible, all conversations ceased and 30 pairs of eyes were locked on him. Chase tried not to look at the faces of his classmates as he stepped into the classroom.
"Good morning Chase." Said a cheerful voice coming from his right.
Chase turned to face the voice that had called out to him and saw the smiling face of a young woman sitting in front of a PC.
"Good morning Ms Marina." He replied with a smile.
Emma Marina was a striking 25 year old, dark skinned teacher who radiated an aura of pure elegance. She had long smooth black hair, pretty brown eyes. she was caring, passionate and energetic. She was Chase's homeroom teacher and was also popular amongst the students for being kind hearted and a good listener. She also had this atmosphere around her that made her English classes enjoyable as well as the respect that she gave every student regardless of their status or backgrounds. No one under her teaching had ever failed their English tests.
Chase walked towards his window seat at the back on the right while trying to ignore all the piercing stares.
"Are you alright, Chase?" Her voiced laced with concern as she noticed him wincing in pain.
"Yes." He simply replied as he took his seat. His classmates lost interest in him as soon as he had sat down, not that they were ever interested in him and they resumed talking amongst themselves.
Ms Marina shushed the class and took the morning register. About 5 students from the class were not in school but except for them, everyone else was in. As she approached the end of the register, she paused on Chase's name, got up from her computer and circled the one late marking on the lesson he had missed.
"Chase?" She called out as she looked at him. He focused his eyes on the circled parts on the register and realised that it was about him not attending lessons.
"You weren't in your first lesson today?" She asked while erasing the touchscreen board.
"I am sorry Miss, I overslept." He said, feeling suffocated as his classmates glared at him.
Ms Marina asked sweetly, "We wouldn't like your attendance to go down now would we?"
"No Miss, it will be the last time."
"Good, I don't want to start calling your parents in because of your poor attendance and I'm sure you wouldn't want that either."
Chase nodded silently. It was nearing the end of September, and Chase had already missed several lessons. If his parents found out, it would make his life very difficult, a situation the other students would find amusing, given their awareness of the strained relationship between Chase and his parents.
For the remainder of homeroom, Ms Marina let the kids talk amongst themselves as she sorted out some files and all Chase wanted was to go home. The bell for break finally rung at 10:50 and the students all stood behind their chairs with their bags waiting for the teacher to dismiss them.
"Alright then, have a good day everyone and I'll see you tomorrow!" She exclaimed as the students headed towards the doors, they exchanged "See you tomorrow's and bye Miss" as they all exited the classroom and headed downstairs.
Chase was the last person out of the classroom but before he could leave Ms Marina called out to him. "Chase, come with me for a bit." She said as she moved away from her computer and ushered for him to follow her.
"Where are we going?" He asked as they headed down the flight of stairs.
"You'll find out soon." They descended to the bottom of the staircase and continued straight on towards a door at the far end of the corridor leading them outside. Exiting through a door 10 metres in front of them, they made a couple of turns then at the end of the corridor, opened a set of double doors and turned left. They had passed by the school's reception but they were heading somewhere else. Finally Ms Marina stopped in front of an open door and ushered Chase in.
A huge whitewashed room stood in front of Chase and as he looked around, a dozen beds were placed two metres from each other and he knew where he was; The infirmary. A nurse sat behind a computer and looked up as soon as she heard the door open, welcoming the familiar faces in.
"Miss, I really did not need to go to the nurse's office..." Chase asked as he turned to face his homeroom teacher. "I'm fine".
"I've seen you wince in pain enough times to know that something's wrong." She said calmly before she greeted the nurse.
Gemma Jones was in her mid thirties and married. Despite her age, she still looked younger then her age, with her blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to look deep inside you. She had worked at a national hospital for about 10 years before being offered a better job opportunity at the school. It was her third year at the school and she seemed to enjoy taking care of children as she also had children of her own.
"Hello Ms Marina, Chase." Mrs Jones replied before gesturing for Chase to sit, "Let me take a look at the injury." She quickly followed up as she grabbed a couple of bandages, a bottle of antiseptic and an ice pack nearby.
Chase took off his shirt and tried not to glance at his darkened bruise.
"At least it's better than the other times." Mrs Jones said as she instructed him to hold the ice pack to his bruise which caused Chase to flinch a bit but he toughened up to not show any pain.
"Who did this to you this time?" Ms Marina asked as she studied his bruise.
"I fell down a couple of stairs." He replied sheepishly.
"I don't understand why you're so secretive about it, we need to-"
"You do not need to worry about it Miss, it is a personal problem." He quickly interrupted.
"Stop squirming, " Mrs Jones said as she was getting ready to bandage him up, "It's very hard to work with your fidgeting."
"Sorry Ms." He said.
"Do not worry Ms Marina, " he started, "I will deal with this myself."
Ms Marina folded her arms and given him an angry look. "And how are you supposed to that Chase?!" She furiously asked. "One of these days you're going to get yourself killed!"
"She right, " Mrs Jones said as she finished wrapping the bandages around his body, "You can't properly defend yourself, Chase. And as Ms. Marina pointed out, you're at risk of getting seriously hurt if you don't tell us about what's happening." Her voice softened, contrasting with Ms. Marina's earlier tone.
Chase put his shirt back on, strapping his bag over his shoulder and fixed his gaze on the floor, mindlessly. Despite the urge to speak up, his mind was a blank canvas as he heard the worry in their voices but had no way to reassure them. In truth, what the teachers were telling him were not wrong, he knew that he wasn't the strongest kid around which made him prone to bullying. What began as verbal taunts quickly escalated into physical assaults. Despite having martial arts experiences, he lacked the strength and speed to match his opponents. In any confrontation, he knew he would be outmatched even in a 1v1. As someone born powerless, he was looked down upon ever since his fifth birthday and there were only a few people who actually cared about him.
"I guess we'll go see the principal, I hope she's there." Ms Marina said before she thanked Mrs Jones for helping Chase out and headed towards the door. She didn't spare any time for Chase to protest and motioned for him to follow her, Chase quickly thanked Mrs Jones and followed behind sulking.
"Chase?" Mrs Jones called out, giving her his attention.
He turned around, "Yes?" He asked.
"It pains me to see you come here always injured." She said as she looked at him with pity and sadness.
Chase didn't know how to answer so he stayed quiet and exited the room, following Ms Marina who had been patiently waiting for him.
Mrs Jones sighed, placed the bandages back where they belonged and prayed for the boy's safety.