Rage Quit (✅)

Chapter Five

Wednesday: The Second Worst Thing To See When You Walk Into The Bathroom

Alex crossed the threshold of the school and to his surprise, over fifty pairs of eyes stared at him. He looked at the children and teachers in the hallway, who all looked as if they were looking at a dead man.

'Such a warm welcome...' he thought as he took notice of the lessening of kids in the hallway. It seemed the only ones who were left were the remaining scholarship kids and bullies, all whose parents didn't care enough to withdrawal them from such a failing and dangerous school.

Alex walked to his first period class without breaking eye contact with any of them. They were all tough, but if they saw that Alex knew that, they wouldn't hesitate to go after him.

'If Ivan really does want me for himself, they won't cross him,' he thought as he sat in his seat just as the teacher walked in.

As class began, Alex noticed that the classroom was again very similar to the hallway. Around twenty eyes in class were all locked on him, even the teacher who was trying to give a somewhat structured, non-shakey lecture about "Aaron Burr and that guy from the ten dollar bill".

Alex was slightly disoriented by all the attention, but he was still able to focus on one certain pair of eyes.

Ivan.

It seemed like everybody could feel the tension in the air of the two rivals sizing each other up.

Soon, the class ended with a loud ringing of the bell, which vibrated Alex's brain.

As the other kids, and even the teacher, ran out of the room, Alex kept his eyes on Ivan until the boy left the room as well.

Alex kept his composure as he peered around at the kids on his way to his next class. He made a pit stop at the bathroom, looking into the mirror to see blood dripping from his nose, eyes, ears, and even his mouth.

"What's wrong with me?!" Alex exclaimed, suddenly feeling incredible exhaustion throughout his whole body.

"Well, look at that, boys! It looks like someone left a huge turd on the bathroom floor!" a voice called out.

Even before Alex turned around he could tell it belonged the Danny Depth, the kid who could usually be found at Ivan's side during schoolyard scraps.

Behind Danny stood five other kids from the wrestling team, all of whom were dressed in their usual green singlets.

"Ivan has a message he wants to give you," Danny smirks as two of the wrestlers pin the still dizzy Alex to the wall.

"Stop...this...Danny! I don't wanna fight!" Alex says with difficulty as he tries to focus his blurry vision on Danny.

Danny winded his fist up and hurled it at Alex, who moved his head at the last second. The fist connected with another wrestler on the right and blood spurted from his broken nose.

Alex used this as a distraction to turn the wrestler on his left's arm and use him as a human shield.

Alex slowly made his way to the bathroom door, but before he could escape, Danny pulled a ninja star from his pocket and tossed it right into the human shield's skull.

As if in queue, the other three wrestlers rushed Alex, who dodged the first's tackle, causing the kid's head to slam into the wall. The remaining two began swinging long, slow fists, which Alex dodged easily before he saw the glimmer of another projectile flying towards him.

In a split second, Alex turned one of the wrestlers towards the star which embedded deeply into his shoulder. Before the final wrestler could react, Alex delivered a quick strike to his jaw, rendering him unconscious.

Danny threw his third star at Alex, hoping to hit his target this time, but Alex quickly threw one of the pens Sherri had given him. Both projectiles simply collided in midair and harmlessly clanked to the ground.

They both stood silently for a moment before Alex broke it.

"Tell Ivan I want to speak with him not his fan boys!" Alex said as Danny reached for another star, but Alex effortlessly tossed a pen into the boy's eye.

Danny's screams echoed throughout the small bathroom as the sight of his eye oozing right out of his skull caused Alex to snap back to reality.

• • •

As Alex walked silently into his house, Sherri greeted him.

"Hey, pansy, I got you some milk and cookies for an after school snack," she said as Alex brushed pass her, causing her to spill the tray on the floor.

"Hey! Is this the thanks I get for doing something nice for a change?!" Sherri yelled as Alex began to sob uncontrollably.