Whispers [complete and non-edited]

Chapter 10

The rest of Laehal's school day dragged on. Math class seemed to be the longest. They had had a substitute, and his math teacher was one of those teachers who can't be replaced. In other words, he didn't learn a thing.

Science class was boring. All they did was listen to the teacher drone on about something called a "neutron." All Laehal could think of was Jimmy Neutron. A cartoon, but an interesting one none the less.

Finally it was the last block. Laehal's last block was phys ed. A.K.A Physical Education. Laehal had so hoped that he would get a change of clothing as well as the other students who were hit with food, and yet the principal had told him to just bring gym change. How stupid was he? Apparently quite stupid.

Laehal hadn't even thought about his gym change. How stupid is that? Of course, Laehal didn't want to be smelling like a rotting sweat-plant. That was why he had tried to get a clean shirt. But no, he must be the rotting sweat-plant today. There is no way to escape it.

So Laehal strode into the boys' change room to change into his gym change.

There were a bunch of other guys in the room. Some were showering, some were shaving, some were changing, some were relieving themselves, some were writing on the gossip walls, and some were drawing in the steam on the mirrors. The usual get up. Laehal walked over to his locker to grab his clothes and then walked into one of the stalls. He didn't like it when the other guys stared at him.

He heard mumbles of "scaredy cat" "self-conscious little pony" and "he must be small", and he didn't care, but there was another voice that rang through the change room. It said "leave him alone guys, he's actually a nice guy. Quit underestimating him."

The rest of the guys began to laugh. "Do you really think sticking up for Little Pony will do you any good, Little Red?"

Little Red? Where was this coming from? Who had Kyrel nicknamed Little Red? Laehal didn't know anyone with red hair...or a name that had anything to do with the colour. Who was this Little Red?

Some guy snickered and then said, "I bet he's gay, that's why he's sticking up for Little Pony." The boys around him snickered at the thought.

What is wrong with them? Laehal thought. They hadn't thought anything that bad about Laehal when he had stood up for Deeliah. Why were they teasing this Little Red now?

Laehal heard a growl, then a crunch and a scream, followed by a bunch of gasps and frenzied "are you ok?!" "does it hurt?" and "what happened?!"s. Laehal didn't even want to know what had happened.

So after he had changed, he just stayed in the stall. Attention was his worst enemy, but if he stayed in the stall then surely the attention would turn to what ever crisis was happening on the other side of the stall door, right?

Right. The phys ed teacher burst into the room, breaking the door by the sound of it.

"What is going on in here?!" he yelled.

No one answered but the silent screams gave him the impression of rough-housing. Very rough.

"Does it feel broken?"

A whimper and cry answered his question.

"I'll bring you to the nurse. She'll be able to help for now. Meanwhile, I want whoever did this to the principal's office. Now."

Laehal heard more painful screaming and then everything was quiet. Too quiet. Curious, Laehal peeked through the crack between the wall and the stall.

All eyes were trained on Laehal's stall. Laehal couldn't see the incident scene, or the door, but somehow he knew that he would have to become a witness for the judging of whoever broke whomever's limb.