Kelvin and Priscilla could see the anger rising in James as Jeremy stood in front of him.
Jeremy also noticed this and was enjoying every moment until he noticed a change in James's eyes.
"Hey! Calm down bro. Is this how you greet an old friend?" Jeremy said with a nervous smile.
James also noticed the anger in him was growing and he could lash out at any moment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to relax his nerves before speaking.
"What do you want? Why are you here?" James almost shouted, but stopped himself to prevent unwanted attention.
"What a..." Jeremy was about to reply but stopped when Eric turned to speak to the qualified students.
Eric had called all names on the list and a total of fifty students were now on the stage. The five best performers in the evaluation from the ten Grade 10 classes stood on the stage awaiting the next information.
"Congratulations to all of you." Eric said before he turned back to the crowd of Grade 10 students.
"Now, we've all seen the qualifiers from the ten classes. We could have easily called all the qualifiers to the assembly hall, but we decided against that so you all can see the best performers and to encourage you to study harder." Eric said.
The students' opinions were divided as soon as they heard this. There were those that smiled and those that frowned after listening to what Eric said.
"Are they trying to humiliate us now?" A student silently asked his colleague with his face scrunched.
"Pfft... they must be feeling big now. Who cares about the stupid event in the first place?"
"This just means I have to put in more effort." Another student said with a smile on his face.
"You can now wish them good luck and take your leave." Eric said—ignoring thir murmurings.
The students clapped their hands and cheered then left the hall for their classes.
As soon as the other students left, all the teachers' eyes were now on the fifty students on the stage.
"Congratulations to all of you again." The principal, Williams was the one that spoke this time.
"First thing you need to know is that the event is a team event. Therefore, I'll need you guys to form a group of five students. You can decide to stick to your class or pair with qualifiers from other classes."
"When your group has been formed, please write down the names of your teammates and give to Mr. Eric. You'll be informed about the event rules on Friday—the day the event is to take place." Williams declared and left the hall.
Kelvin, Priscilla and James already thought of sticking to the class team but were surprised when the other two qualifiers in their class left for another group.
"What? You expect us to be with a new boy we don't know? Never!" One of the them said.
"I agree." The other said.
"There is still a mental scar left by Bu... you know his name." Kelvin said, his voice fading as he was about to mention Bucky.
"You know I'm still standing here." Jeremy said.
"You haven't answered my question yet." James said with his eyebrows furrowed. He already forgot about Jeremy when Williams was talking.
"I don't owe you an explanation James. I think it's best I join this group." Jeremy replied.
"What's going on here? Aren't you a new guy?" Priscilla asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"This guy can't join the group!" James said as he clenched his fist.
"Wait! Is his name not Jeremy? The one you told me not to worry about? I heard Eric call his name and I still remember you mentioned his name," Kelvin said with his little index finger on his chin.
James was surprised Kelvin still remembered. Although it was just yesterday, James remembered he mentioned the name once.
"You said his name when I asked to be your rival, therefore, he must be intelligent. Why can't he join?" Kelvin continued.
Jeremy laughed as he heard what Kelvin said.
"So you missed me?" Jeremy asked and laughed again.
James had been trying so hard to hold himself, but every sound that came from Jeremy just loosen James grip.
"You really want to know? You want to know why this bast*rd can't join? Fine! I'll tell you!" James shouted.
Kelvin and Priscilla could now see James demeanor had changed. They both think of James as a calm and caring guy even as they've only known him for a day.
To Priscilla and Kelvin, it felt like they've known James for a very long time.
******
It was a sunny day in Middleton. The students were playing around the school and the hallway was as noisy as a market.
It was just the first semester of Grade 10 for both James and Jeremy.
James just left the class and was holding his books in his hand. He was walking down the hallway to return the books in his locker.
Jeremy seemed to be coming from the toilet and was also on the same hallway but he was angry about something and wanted to pour his anger out.
Just then, Jeremy sighted his top rival. The handsome boy that was always compared to him and manages to beat him in most subjects.
The boy was none other than James Craig.
'What other best way than to pour all of your anger on your rival?' That was the thought in Jeremy's mind.
Jeremy quickly rushed into James with his muscular shoulder.
James's books flew out of his hands and he immediately went on his knee to grab his stomach.
"Oof! Watch it James." Jeremy said with a creepy smile.
The truth was Jeremy wanted to stop it there, but when he saw the rival they always compare him with or call superior to him fall weakly, his eyes sparkled.
He wanted more.
James was still holding his stomach and struggled to speak. He felt like his inside was on fire.
"Wh... What was that for?" James asked still grabbing his stomach.
Jeremy didn't reply and just stood there waiting for James to recover from the nudge.
When the feeling in James stomach stopped, he stood up and tried to reach for his books. As his fingers almost grasped it, a foot kicked it away.
James looked up and could see a muscular guy with a creepy smile plastered on his face.
He ignored him and went for his book again, still, the same thing happened.
Other students in the hallway saw this and started giggling, but most of the laughters were coming from James other rivals.
Bullying was a very rare occurrence in Middleton, at least to James for he was always admired by other students for his beauty and intelligence and always praised by teachers.
He became popular for these reasons and not many would wish to step on his toes for fear of teachers. Eventually, many boys harbored hatred for him because of the attention he gets and would do anything to see him in pain.
In essence, seeing Jeremy ridiculing him made them happy. If anyone was to pull it off, it would be Jeremy who seemed to come from a wealthy family.
"Get up smartpant! We can't brawl while you crawl!" Jeremy laughed like a maniac and other boys that wanted James down followed suit.
Furious James stood up and stared Jeremy dead with his eyes.
"I don't want to fight Jeremy. Just leave me alone!" James yelled.
"Yeah! Pretty boy doesn't wanna ruin his face. I bet your mom can't fix it."
"What did you say?"