CROWNED - unOrdinary

1♛

    "Do you plan on staring at those bushes until they catch fire?" Rei jokes. Arlo turns his fierce gaze over to Rei instead. "Oh, so now you want me to burn too." Rei says, stifling a laugh. Arlo internally sighed. His mentor was powerful, he'd give him that, but he wasn't what Arlo had expected.

    "Why did you intervene in that fight?" Arlo said, straightforwardly.

    "The one with that mid-tier?" Rei asked, becoming a little more serious. Arlo nodded. "Well, what else did you expect me to do?" Arlo was confused. Was he playing dumb? Or was he just too naive to understand how this world worked?

    "You should have ignored them. It's completely natural for the strong to stand above the weak." It was Rei's turn to look baffled.

    "What do you mean? Even if he was stronger, that doesn't mean he was in the right. It doesn't matter what they disagreed over, he shouldn't have had to beat that other mid-tier up just for the sake of getting his way. Being strong doesn't always make you right, you know."

     It was about a month into the school year and Arlo had already taken the position of Jack. He now worked alongside Rei, to maintain order in the school. If you could call what they had "order". Everything in the school seemed to be upside-down in terms of hierarchy. Prior to his arrival at Wellston, Arlo had seen those born with power stand above those without, and he had come to accept that this was the way of society. The hierarchical disorder at Wellston simply vexed him as a result of this. Now he had found the source or it. The way the low-tiers acted, as though they were on par with everyone else, the elite, who were forced to hold back and become complacent. The root of it all was their very leader, Rei.

     Arlo opened his mouth to answer Rei but the passing bell sounded, cutting him off. "Looks like that's the end of my free period. See you in a bit, little guy." Arlo increased the ferocity of his glare, out of annoyance but Rei had already walked away. Among the variety of attributes he found dislikable about his mentor, his tendency to give Arlo cretinous nicknames such as "little guy" or "buddy" was one he particularly despised. Arlo sighed and stood up to head to his next class. He exited the courtyard, as the sunlight began to fade into dark, overcast skies. "It's going to rain soon." he thought.

. . .

     The hallways were unusually quiet. Unusual to any Wellston student except Arlo. He had recently become a popular point of discussion for those in the Wellston hallways. They spoke about him as if he couldn't hear them. He, of course, was used to this by now. Having been King in his middle school, he had been scrutinized and surveyed by the entire student body, until they deemed him fit to lead them. The talk at Wellston though, was quite insulting, to say the least.

 "Wonder how a lame kid like that could defeat our Jack."

 "Ugh, we better not lose Turf Wars because of him!"

 "He probably won by fluke."

 "He's so short! Is he really even a first-year?"

     Arlo was offended by the last one in particular. His height was a somewhat sensitive topic, though he'd never admit so. Had this happened at his previous school, he would have no trouble silencing the students. Here though, he kept himself from snapping at them, and reminded himself that he wouldn't tell them how powerful he was, he'd show them. He knew that adjusting to someone new in power was difficult, and he was experiencing similar problems with his new mentor. He doubted Rei's ability to lead and Arlo figured that the same reasons applied to the Wellston students, and their lack of confidence in him. There was nothing Arlo could do now except wait for them to see him in action.

. . .

     Rei, like many other students, chose to stare out the window as his teacher droned on about the topic of their lecture. The lecture itself was quite boring and only the few exceptionally dedicated students in the class were scribbling notes. Rei instead watched the rain fall rhythmically against the glass pane. The sky was a dark gray now, far from the bright blue color it had been when he spoke with Arlo in the courtyard. Rei let his mind drift off. "Arlo. He sure is strong but he seems like everyone else when it comes to the school's hierarchy. How can I change his ideologies about society? I want him to continue to fix Wellston and instill peace even if I'm not here, but that's harder than it seems. The kid's dedicated for sure, but he doesn't see things from my point of view. We can't work together if we aren't working towards the same goal. I've only got a year left here, and I already spent so much time preparing the previous Jack to take over. I'll have to start from scratch and-"

THUD!

    Rei flinched and looked down to find that his elbow had slid across his desk while he was in thought, and knocked his textbook off his desk. "Ah, sorry sir." he said to the professor who was giving the lecture. He picked up the book and placed it back on his desk, taking care not to knock anything else over in the process. Rei had always wanted to leave his mark on Wellston. He wanted to be known for making it a safe place, and hopefully, influencing others outside the Wellston environment, to take initiative and act with the same degree of respect and kindness as they would under his rule.

     Initially, he had never really taken interest in becoming King. His plan was to study at Wellston and find a good career. Of course, he knew that he was among the stronger division of society, and growing up, he was shielded from seeing the struggles that low-tiers were subject to. His first year at Wellston opened his eyes to this and he wanted to do something. He had never imagined how hard it would be to change the entire structure of the school and now that he was to leave Wellston soon he wanted to ensure that it would stay safe and peaceful for everyone. The key to this happening would have to be Arlo.

✒ Thank you for reading

-annalycheee