Hellscape

~ The Portal ~

Avery Hopes walked into school, her backpack shouldered as she rubbed her eyes behind her glasses, clearly exhausted. Students noticed her in the halls and snickered, whispering to each other about the snitch and the nerd, Avery. And yet none of them spoke as loud as Sebastian Brook, who looked Avery dead in the eyes as he drawled.

 "Perfect miss little I-can-do-everything," he was telling his friends, smirking. "Hey, Avery, did you learn to fly last night? The aerodynamics homework really helped with that, didn't it?" Sebastian's friends laughed at his 'clever' joke. 

 Avery scowled at them and threw open her locker, stuffing her backpack inside. Just to put them in their place, as she was taking out her science folder, Avery told Sebastian and his friends, "I didn't do the homework, actually." The looks on their faces were priceless. Avery burst into laughter, then slid the homework out of her science folder, waving it in front of their faces. Sebastian's shock quickly turned into a sneer.

 "Only doing her homework because she's scared of the teachers, aren't you?" Sebastian said mockingly. Avery stopped laughing, her expression growing deadly serious suddenly. "Yeah, you're a coward, Avery Hopes. Can't even rebel once." That struck a nerve. Avery's face grew blank, and Sebastian, thinking he had won the battle, was about to say something else when Avery suddenly tore the science homework to pieces, right in front of their faces.

 "W-What are you doing?" Charles Grey- one of Sebastian's friends- sputtered, watching the paper float to the ground. "You're gonna get sent to detention!"

 "I'm sorry, I thought you wanted me to take a risk?" Avery said blankly, fighting back a grin. Their faces were truly priceless. Avery silently promised to herself she would never forget that moment of her life.

 Supposing her life wouldn't end when a teacher suddenly walked into the hallway, witnessing the moment just as Avery tore the last bit of homework and let it flutter to the floor.

 "Avery Hopes!" Miss Brown shrieked, her face growing pale and her grey eyes popping out of their sockets. "Just what do you think you are doing?!" Avery went even paler than the teacher herself as she began mumbling protests, ignoring the snickers of Sebastian and his friends.

 "Sebastian called me a coward," Avery mumbled, fidgeting. "B-because I'm always such a goody-two-shoes. I-I wanted to prove him wrong, so I tore my science homework to pieces." Sebastian stopped snickering, his mouth agape and eyes wide as he slowly turned to Miss Brown.

"Miss-" Sebastian was about to say, but Miss Brown wasn't the one for excuses. That was what made her so feared in the school.

"Enough, Mr. Brook!" Miss Brown cried before turning back to Avery. "I am sick of this nonsense! You and Mr. Brook are constantly getting into fights! It is time you two learn to get along."

Sebastian realized his fate before Avery did. "Miss Brown, please-" he begged pitifully, but he was ignored.

"You two will report to the schoolyard after school today, where Mr. Johnson will be waiting for you. I will call your parents to tell the why you will be coming home late. Mr. Johnson will help you with some buddy exercises," Miss Brown said firmly. "Understood?" Dutifully, both Avery and Sebastian nodded, glaring daggers at each other.

"Good," Miss Brown said, peering down at the students from her long, pointy nose. "Now, off to class, all of you! You don't want to be late." With that cheerful reminder in mind, Miss Brown left the students to head off to their classes.

*

Sebastian trudged outside, scowling up at the shining sun and the bright blue sky. It was all so optimistic, he wanted to tear it all down, especially because of the situation he was being forced into.