There Goes a Fighter

Head down low, hood up, remain quiet; that's how Chase would always walk into school. He always made sure to never attract attention to himself. But it was no use. He could already hear them, their pounding footsteps on the linoleum floor as they made their way towards him.

BANG!

He was shoved up against a locker, looking into the cold, dark eyes of none other than Nicholas Burns; who else could it be? Chase had been Nicholas's number one target ever since his first day of sixth grade. He had done nothing to attract such attention, but he got it anyways.

"So, nerd," he addresses Chase, spit flying out of his mouth and landing on Chase. "Did you do my science homework?"

"Yes," Chase whispers, looking down and avoiding his piercing gaze. Nicholas lets him go, allowing him to unzip his worn, blue backpack and retrieve said homework. Around him, he could hear Nicholas's friends taunting him, calling him mean names. He stands up, the papers clutched in his hand, and he offers them to Nicholas. He snatches them from Chase's hand and walks away.

"Thanks, nerd!" he yells out, laughing with his buddies as they walk off to their classroom. Luckily, Chase only had two classes with Nicholas; but that didn't stop him from shoving him against lockers during passing time, or tripping him and sending his stuff flying, the laughter and jeers surrounding him and filling his ears.

Chase shoulders his bag and walks off to his locker. Only six more years to go...

~*~*~*~

"Hey nerd!" Nicholas exclaims, catching Chase in a headlock the moment he walked into the school. "I missed ya over the summer! Beating you up is always fun..."

"Excuse me, Mr. Burns?" the principal, Mr. Arlington, interjects when he hears the last thing Nicholas says. "What did you just say to Mr. Hill?"

"I said that beating him at cards is always fun," Nicholas quickly says, elbowing Chase in the side as a way to keep him quiet. "Because he never beats me, sir."

Mr. Arlington sighs, running a hand over his thinning hair. "Get to class, Mr. Burns."

Nicholas releases Chase and scampers off to his first class, but not before shooting Chase a meaningful look full of pure hatred. "Chase, if you ever need to talk about anything, you just come to my office, okay?" Mr. Arlington says to Chase reassuringly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Will do, sir," Chase nods, smiling at the man before walking off to his locker. He placed his stuff inside and grabbed the books he needed for first period. He shut his locker and walked off. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure moving towards him, he turned his head to get a good look, but by then, he had already fell flat on his face, his books scattered all over the floor in front of him as people crowded around him and laughed.

That year, Chase never went to Mr. Arlington's office, no matter how many times Nicholas tripped him in the hallway and sent his books flying; no matter how many times he was shoved up agaisnt lockers. He just couldn't bring himself to tell anybody. Because he knew that if he told an adult and they talked to Nicholas about it, it would just get worse.

~*~*~*~

This was it. This was Chase's last year of middle school. Maybe next year, in high school, he would make new friends; friends that would defend him against Nicholas. And would call him to hang out and play video games together. Or maybe to just go to the park and chill. Chase would like that. He hasn't had a friend in a long time. All of the kids were too scared to be his friend and stand up to Nicholas.

Chase took a deep breath and walked inside, mentally preparing himself for what he knew was about to come. He cautiously walked to his locker, but nothing happened. He quickly put his stuff away and grabbed the necessary books for his first class and shut the locker, looking around. Chase started walking towards his first class, knowing that he would trip and his books would go flying on the way there. But again, nothing happened. Strange...