Divide and Conquer

Chapter 4

Slight trigger warning (body horror)

I felt a heavy weight fall down on my shoulders. I knew exactly what it was so I didn't bother responding at first. My eyelids were simply too heavy. So while my arm was holding up my head, I had my eyes closed to let at least something rest. After the festival I had a horrible time sleeping at all during the weekend. So now it was Monday, possibly the worst day of the week, and I had barely gotten ten hours of sleep the entire weekend when usually, I sleep for double that time. I had the feeling I was going to be walking around like an undead creature for the next few days. I started to feel the cause of the weight shaking me and let out a sigh. I should've just stayed home...
"Peterrrrr" Max groaned from behind me.
"Max why are you in my geography class?" I asked him as the boy continued shaking me.
"You have geography in the algebra classroom?" he asked and finally let go of my shoulders.
"Huh?" I opened my eyes, looking at the front of the classroom, "crap!"
I must've actually dozed off during class and forgot to go to the right classroom. Quickly, I got to my feet and grabbed my stuff before hurrying to the door. "Damn! I'm gonna be late!"
"Wait Peter!" Max groaned and followed after me.
I slipped my phone out of my pocket and looked at the time. I definitely had geography class right now. I could still make it on time if I hurried. My eyebrow lifted on its own when I realised I had gotten messages from my guardian but I didn't bother to read them yet. Instead I looked at the hallway ahead of me. Max was still following me, trying to get my attention but I had no time for him.
"Please Peter I need your help!" Max continued and let out a sniffling sound.
"What do you want from me Max?" I huffed.
"I accidentally accepted a race against the trackteam leader!" he exclaimed.
"You did that accidentally?" I asked and raised my eyebrow at him.
"We were having a heated conversation about Zoom and I just couldn't with that guy!" He said, "in what world is Zoom faster than The Flash from the comics?"
"In the world where Zoom is an actual person that exists," I pointed out, "And The Flash is a drawing in a comic book."
"But come on! Zoom barely reaches his speed, you gotta agree with me," he said.
I sighed and shook my head a little before walking up the stairs, "and how did you end up in a race against him?"
"Well.. I told him that if he really thinks Zoom is faster, he'd easily win against me too then. And he took that as a challenge!" Max placed his hands on my shoulders again. "I'm screwed."
"Literally. You're a guy with two left feet and he's the track team's leader. Just admit defeat," I said to him and sighed. What kind of a child was he?
"I can't just admit defeat! The Superhero fanclub always wins!"
He really was a child.
"Then race against him. Give it your best go," I said and let out a sigh of relief when I noticed my classroom up ahead. If I was right the second bell hadn't even rang yet.
"Well actually," Max slipped in front of me, "I was hoping you'd help me?"
I squinted my eyes, "help you?"
"I've seen you during PE," Max said. I noticed his cheeks turn pink, "I know you're pretty fast and I know you won first place in your last school's tournament. So maybe you could race for me?"
Was he that embarrassed about asking me for help with this? To anyone passing in the hall it'd either seem as if I just smacked his both cheeks really hard or he was confessing his love to me. Though if they knew Max they'd know he was very much taken. Poor girl.
"Will you, please?" He asked.
"Not a chance," I said and walked past him.
I heard him whine behind me and turned on my heel, taking a few steps back as I spoke up "look I-" before I could finish I bumped into someone's side. I couldn't help but flinch when I felt cold liquid run down my back and I quickly turned when I realised what I had done. "I'm so sorry!" I immediately said, first looking at the half empty bottle of soda I caused to spill. "I'll get you new soda if that's.." I stopped when I realised who I had bumped into.
Slowly I lifted my gaze to meet with that of the bully from the other day. Immediately I moved back, reaching Max' side. The boy was as tall as the bully but nowhere near as scary.
The other boy glared at the two of us, me especially. The brownish liquid dripped down his arm as he held the bottle tightly in his hand. He started gripping the plastic so tightly, more of it started to spill out.
"You little brat," he grumbled at me. Yeah okay, I was smaller than him. But I knew for a fact I was older than him now. Katie told me about him while we worked at the same food stall on Saturday. His name was Thomas Kean. He was a sophomore. So that meant he was definitely younger than me. But his inhuman height still made him seem older than me. Along with his muscles to paint the picture.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't see you really!" I quickly tried and looked down at the ground. I really didn't want to fight this guy.
As I kept my eyes on the ground I heard the boy huff and eventually walk away. I let out a sigh of relief and felt Max relax next to me.
"That guy is scary.." the president said with a sigh.
"Tell me about it," I said and shivered a little, uncomfortable at the feeling of my wet shirt.
That's when my attention was drawn to the second bell and I quickly turned to Max again, "I gotta go! I'll see you around!"
"What? What about my race!?" Max squeaked.
"You'll figure it out!" I quickly shot at him as I hurried to my classroom.