Fighting Back

Prologue

The dark brown eyed boy stumbled, scraping a large chunk of skin off his dirty, sore knee. The others surrounded him, making him feel claustrophobic but exposed simultaneously. If they really were my friends, he thought, they would help me. Their harsh glares bore into his eyes as he looked away, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

The schoolboy picked himself up quickly, whilst his 'friends' went back to their 'incredibly important' conversations... too important for him to be included, of course. They acted as if nothing had happened. It was always like this, wherever he went, whatever he was doing, whoever he was with. Always excluded from the group. Always the odd one who never spoke.

The weirdo.

The freak.

It was even the same at home - but no-one was interested in hearing about that.

Walking slowly towards the maths block whilst still limping slightly, he felt the all too familiar sensation of warm blood trickling gently down his leg, like a raindrop on a window pane. His weighty bag was continuously banging against his weak body, making the simple job of putting one foot in front of the other a difficulty.

"Aww... having a little bit of trouble there, are you?" a high voice called out from the other side of the field. "Need help?" it chuckled.

"No..." the boy mumbled. He looked over to see two tall, blond haired girls laughing hysterically.

It wasn't the first time the dark haired boy had actually been grateful to walk into a maths class. At least the teacher cared about him... maybe a bit too much, sometimes. It was his chance to escape the constant feeling of being treated like an outcast, even though he sat far away from everyone else. It gave him time to think about things other than being teased. Well, that all changed today.

"Oi, what are you doin' 'ere, by yerself, No?" a rowdy boy shouted into his ear.

"Erm... v'always sat here." he replied.

"HAH! Always. Yer've only been 'ere a week, and yer think yer can sit where yer want?" The boy was silent, bowing his head. "Well, yer wrong. Now, if yer know what's best f-"

"Now, now, Billy. Leave Noah alone," the fair haired teacher ordered in a stern yet calm tone. Billy whispered into the new boy's ear.

"Yer got away this time. But yer better be careful. Next time, yeah?" He smirked as he walked briskly away.

Noah bowed his head further, trying to hide the many sparkling tears forming in his eyes. If he was going to survive in this new school, he would have to get tougher. This had happened for too long. He needed to fight back.