CyberWorld (Original)

CHAPTER 05

Class was pretty empty when I arrived. Then again, not much people came to school at 6.30am, considering school started at 7.30. I could hear the usual class chatter that filled the classroom, even though I was outside my classroom. When I opened the door, there was only one complete  group of friends, a few acquaintances of mine, and Jon.

Among my present classmates was Dedrick Williams, the all-time jerk at my university, and he was sitting on his desk, flirting with a bunch of popular and catty girls. Every time Dedrick cracked a joke, they all giggled and snickered at the same time.

Jon spotted me standing at the doorway, and he waved me over. I knew what had to be done-sneak over to my table without being noticed by Dedrick. I tried to make as less sound as possible with my sneakers, but one of the girls, Brittany Cruz, saw me and whispered something into Dedrick's ear.

"Oh, crap." I mumbled.

I glanced at Jon, who was standing up to confront Dedrick with me, but I shook my head slowly and mouthed 'No.", signalling that I didn't need backup. Jon sat on his table and mouthed "You're screwed."

Dedrick turned around on his desk and shouted, "Well, if it isn't Mike the Tyke, that ain't nobody like!"

I rolled my eyes and tried to make my way to my seat, but Dedrick rushed towards me and prevented me from walking any further. It was clear he wasn't letting me go without getting insulted.

"Cute jacket! Which donation bin did you dig it out of? Let me guess-Salvation Army?" Dedrick taunted.

Dedrick's comment gained some chortles from the girls, but I wasn't done yet.

"H&M, you jerk. I thought all of you rich sophisticated assholes would have heard of it." I shot back.

"Actually, I have," Dedrick replied. "But I prefer to get my clothes from a place that doesn't sell stuff for dogs. Got that, dude?"

"Ohhh!" The girls yelled in unison, and Dedrick gave me a smirk that made me want to slap it off his face. When I looked back at my other classmates and Jon, they looked back at me sympathetically, as if they were saying "I'm so sorry you have to go through this shit."

As Dedrick made his way back to his seat, I did the same as him, and dropped my backpack on the floor, leaning it against my desk. Jon stared at me as I sat down, and said, "I could have helped, you know."

"Sorry, but I don't need it, really," I replied. "If you help me the next time I'm in a pinch, Dedrick might start targeting you too."

"Well, if you need help, call me."

"Thanks," I said. "What do dumb morons like him find in insulting other people for no reason?"

"He might not be as dumb as you think," Jon explained. "Yeah, sure, he sucks at most subjects, but surprisingly, he's good at art and-"

"How do the hell do you know so much about Dedrick?"

"I'm in charge of collecting everyone's report books to submit to the teachers. Couldn't resist taking a peek at his," Jon said. "I'm not a creep, Mike."

"Huh. Interesting," I said, and we paused for a moment, before I asked another question.

"What's the other subject that Dedrick's good at?"

"Uh, business and accounting. His dad, runs a company called Lucrative Enterprises. He probably wants Dedrick to take over when he retires."

"Don't bother learning about Dedrick," I said. "That info won't come in handy any time soon,"

"You never know, man."

Jon started taking his textbooks out from his bag, when he got interrupted by Janice Chua, our chairperson.