Wicked Games Academy

CHAPTER 42

The boys in the academy began to bully me, stuffing things in my locker, pelting me with snowballs, but I didn't care to fight back. If Clive was there he would have chased them down and beat them for bullying me, but now the Rottings boy, me, was an easy target.

We even began to practice for our final exam. Boys paired off and for our team we took turns sitting out. Our professor would call numbers and boys took off on the horses.

I wasn't feeling well but our group rotated. With Will we took time to wear out the other pair while with Wyatt, we ran into chaotic brawls as he refused to talk to me.

Boys looked at me different and cleared their throats when I was there. I was sick of playing along so I'd stay where I was, so they had to scoot away from me.

It didn't matter. Hearing the news of the best teams were making me anxious, knowing we were nowhere near the top. Cory and Hale were good, as well as Arthur Mannings and Kieran Murrows.

They were going to be the big show of the academy and people whispered their bets on who would win. Cory and Hale really grew and were now around my height, both in harmony and kept their rivals busy defending.

When we ate lunch boys would walk by and hope to make a good impression on them or get them to go easier on them. Cory would smile along as Hale would tell them sorry, they were busy. It seemed like I was staring at Clive and me in the past. I thought my friends would've asked me more, such as when I liked Clive or what we did, but they respectfully didn't.

At dinner I mostly stayed silent but they seemed to pity me, along with Will, and they would ask me to tell them if I was fine.

I wasn't. Wyatt kicked my bed away from him dramatically, saying I was a boy-lover. The younger boys were forced by the older boys to put what bugs they could find in my clothing locker. It was my physical education uniform and for it to be dirtied I would have to both wear the nasty brown juices of smashed up cockroaches but also do extra laps. I learned later to borrow Will's locker for my clothes. I never opened my locker up again but it smelled sour when I passed by it.

***

I headed to the Headmaster again, uneasy that night. I couldn't sleep, and studying later than one would annoy Wyatt so I didn't. I ended up sighing and changing out of my clothes to go to the office.

I knocked but it seemed strange. The light wasn't on, and I tried to force the lock but it was locked. The next day I asked a professor and they said they had checked the office that morning and the Headmaster was alright.

"Maybe he needed to sleep early, Rottings," my professor said. I couldn't bring myself to shake the uneasiness.

I went earlier the days after that. The Headmaster would speak with students but no matter how I knocked, he would lock his door and be oblivious to my knocks and shouts.

"Please, open the door!" I begged. No response. "Let me see Clive! Just once!"

I knocked, sobbing, and a shadow fell over me. I pulled up my head and squinted through the tears to see Wyatt.

It should've been embarrassing but I continued pounding weakly at the door, sobbing.

"Shut up, you dumbass," Wyatt said.

"Get him to open the door," I begged hoarsely. "Headmaster! Please!"

I fell down to my knees. I was crying, weak and without an appetite although the exam was in a week. I couldn't bear the academy just forgetting about Clive like this. Where was Clive in our exam boards? Would he not be by my side anymore?