Isolation

Misgivings

Whitley's shoulders stiffened as he felt a hand firmly press against his shoulder. He turned just enough to see the face of someone he truly loathed. Jasper Steele, one of the many ignoble fools his father insisted he should keep within his orbit. Leave it to his "father" to come up with the brilliant idea to send him to a private academy filled to the brim with sociopaths. He hated them, all of them, yet the show must go on.

The grey haired boy grinned, "Whitley! Buddy, we should skip lunch today and head to the arcade. I missed our outings during break. Earl and I tried to reach you, you know?"

Whitley's mask slipped into place, "Jasper, it is great to once again make your acquaintance. Are you insisting we should make this outing at this exact moment?"

Jasper applied pressure to Whitley's shoulder as he looked around the school hallway, "Come on, Whitley. Lighten up, will you? You're going to make me look bad here. Are we not friends? Friend's hang out you know, so we're going."

It was tempting, incredibly tempting, to let the truth roll off of his tongue. Unfortunately, he knew such a response would cause him more harm than satisfaction. Jasper and Earl were both fifteen, two years older than him. They were physically stronger and their father's held important government positions within Atlas. Relying on the influence of his father or an alcoholic of a mother to deal with these fools was a pointless endeavor.

Whitley nodded his head, "We shall go then."

Jasper's hand moved from away from his shoulder to mockingly pat Whitley's head, "Good boy. Why should we bother to stick around for dumb lessons? We're not learning anything important here. Not like we'll get in trouble. You're treating today to make up for forgetting about us."

Whitley had to hold back his scoff. The nerve of Jasper was astounding. As if he wasn't forced to treat those two every time he was forced to go with them. Lien was never the issue, rather the sheer disrespect from the two was irritating. Forcing him to pay was a petty power play by the two older students.

A false smile grew on Whitley's face, "Very well, contact Earl and lead the way."

The duo became a trio as they exited the school grounds. Whitley buttoned his academy issued blazer closed in an attempt to ward off some of the cold. He followed closely behind Earl as Jasper trailed behind him. Earl's red hair poked out from underneath his tuque as he confidently marched the group to the side of the road before pulling out his scroll.

Earl spoke with sickening confidence, "Worry not gentlemen, I contacted my driver as soon as I got your message. He should be here any moment."

Jasper clapped his hands together, "Good call, man. I'm freezing my ass off here. Should have brought some gloves."

Earl looked at his scroll for a few moments before speaking, "Indeed, you should have. It's a miracle you even remembered to wear socks. You are utterly hopeless, Jasper. How was your break, Whitley?"

Whitley reached into the pocket of his blazer to pull out a pair of black gloves, "Enlightening. Father spent much of it continuing his tutoring of the inner workings of the company."

There was no reason to entertain Earl's question any further. A simple reminder of who Whitley represented would hopefully be enough to keep the manipulator content. The last thing he wanted was for Earl to dig any further into his life.

Earl pocketed his scroll before standing in front of Whitley. Earl reached out and brushed the snow out of Whitley's hair as he spoke, "I'm happy to hear that. You must be ecstatic to have the opportunity to learn more about your family business. Perhaps, you shall be the heir of SDC after all? A beneficial position, to be sure."