2017 - 5 years ago.
Jamie slung his bag over his shoulder and slipped out of the door before his sister left for school. Instead of heading toward that hellhole, he turned left and skipped over the fence at the end of the Avenue. The bench old Mr Peterson had placed beside his allotment made the perfect place to hide, camouflaged behind a veil of runner beans, canes, and overgrown tomato plants.
He would wait for his sister to leave then take a slow walk, timing his arrival perfectly so he wouldn't have to linger in the courtyard before lesson one. Adam and the others were getting wise to his tricks, so he had to leave it later and later every day. Luckily, none of the teachers had noticed. They never paid attention to Jamie. Nobody did anymore.
He wore the blandest clothing possible. Scuffed, off-brand shoes and plain clothes. Anything to make him invisible.
Instead of going to the front gate, he slipped through the bars at the back of the AstroTurf field. He kept to the shadows, circling the back of the recycling bins before sneaking in through the back door of the classroom. Mrs Kendall didn't look up or acknowledge his arrival in any way—a fact he was grateful for. It gave him a few minutes of peace before the torment began.
He tried not to stare at Adam, though it was hard. Adam leaned back so far in his chair that the legs were almost breaking. His blonde hair fell away from his face—the gorgeous face that screwed up in disgust when he noticed Jamie's gaze.
The boy picked up a protractor and threw it at his face like a throwing star. Thankfully, it missed, hitting him on the collar bone instead.
"Haha, you missed," Alfie Stevens said with a snorting laugh. A laugh he knew he was a mistake as soon as Adam's attention shifted.
"Yeah?" Adam said, getting up from his seat. He picked up the box of protractors from the front desk and proceeded to lob them one after another at Alfie's head.
"Adam!" Mrs Kendall squawked. "Get back in your seat."
With a sigh, Adam sat back down, scraping the legs of his chair noisily as he did.
'Safe for now,' Jamie thought. He told himself to stop looking in Adam's direction, even when his back was turned. It was a ridiculous crush. Adam wasn't just a boy; he was the hardest boy in school and the biggest bully.
Just as he began to feel safe, water splashed the side of his face. He turned slightly to glimpse Ste taking sips of his water bottle and squirting them in his direction like some evil bath duck. Both Rhys and Zoe giggled as they noticed what he was doing.
Jamie did nothing. He knew better than to react.
"He just sits there and takes it," Zoe whispered, pursing her top lip. "What a freak."
He tried his hardest to keep his eyes fixed on the table, but as Zoe spoke to Adam, he found his eyes wandering yet again.
"He's staring at you again," Ste announced.
Adam spun in his chair and gave Jamie the death glare. "We got a problem, you weird little fagg—"
"Adam!" Mrs Kendal barked. "We don't use language like that in this classroom."
Eyes wide, face stern, she slapped the anti-bullying poster on the wall with her palm. Mrs Kendall was the only teacher who bothered to lecture Adam on his bullying. The rest had either given up or ignored it from the start.
"I disagree with that poster," Felix Grafton piped up. Felix was one of those guys who had to voice an opinion on everything. He was a creepy gothic-looking kid who was friends with just about everyone and never seemed particularly depressed despite his all-black attire.
"You do?" Mrs Kendall looked confused.
"Hmm. It says under the 'Don'ts' not to hit the bully. If someone bullied me, I wouldn't just hit them. I'd pin 'em down by their ears so they could look me in the eyes while I bit their nose off," he explained.
"Okay, Felix." Mrs Kendall nodded and rolled her eyes.
Nobody would dare bully Felix.
'I wish I were more like him,' Jamie thought. 'Why can't I be confident like him? Why can't I say those things?'
Deep down, he knew he didn't have the strength to pull it off, even if had the willpower. He wasn't big enough or strong enough. Trying to pin Adam to the floor would be like a mouse trying to wrestle a rhino. All he could do was accept his fate.
'One day I will get revenge,' he seethed in silence. 'One day.'
After the lesson ended, Mrs Kendall muttered something about covering another class, grabbed her bag and hurried off.
A wave of understanding passed through the bullies. It was almost a physical thing. Strings he could touch or ping. In silent unison, they cornered him with matching smug grins.
"I have an idea," Ste said. He nipped into the prep room and returned with a bottle marked HCL 2 Molar. The sticker on the side had the hazard warning 'corrosive.'
"If he won't stop staring at you like a freak all the time, maybe we should pour some of this into his eyes," Ste went on.
Adam shrugged, and before Jamie could even think of running, he was pushed to the floor. The much larger and heavier boy sat on his chest, pinning his arms beneath his knees so hard it was already cutting off his circulation.
"I need one of you to hold his eyes open," Ste said. Both Gary and Rhys stepped back.
"Oh, don't look at me," Zoe cried. "I can't get acid on my new gel nails. Do you know how much these things cost me?"
"Gary," Adam ordered. With an annoyed grunt, the oversized teen obliged, poking his giant thumbs into Jamie's eyelids.
Unable to move or even blink, Jamie felt tears welling in his eyes. "Please, please, don't."
"You're going to blind me. Please. Please, don't. Oh, please, I'll do anything. Please..." he begged to nobody in particular. To all of them. One of them had to have a shred of mercy.
He looked up into Ste's eyes as the boy stared down at him. His eyes sparkled with such excitement he was almost attractive.
'What a weird thing to think at a time like this,' Jamie scolded himself. He assumed the terror of being blinded had sent him insane.
Ste's grin stretched, showing his teeth and gums as he pulled the orange bung from the acid.
"Ste... I know you don't really want to blind me. Please. Whatever I did that is so wrong... I'm sorry," Jamie babbled. He saw how Ste's eyes briefly narrowed in anger and wondered what he'd ever done to offend him. To the best of his knowledge, he'd never spoken to the boy before the day he decided to pick on him.
"I beg you... please don't do it," Jamie whimpered as he watched the glass bottle tilting. He watched in horror as the liquid sloshed about the body of the container, nearing the neck. As it hit his eyes he screamed in horror, convulsing so hard he almost knocked Adam his chest.
He heard them all laughing before he realised his eyes were fine. He blinked the liquid from his eyes and tasted the droplets on his lips.
'Water.'
"Yuk!" Adam cried. He jumped up from Jamie, wiping at his trousers with his hands. "You disgusting little prick. You did that on purpose."
For a second Jamie had no idea what he was referring to. Not until he felt the warmth between his legs.
'Oh shit,' he thought, looking down at the wet patch over his crotch.
The pain when Adam kicked him in the balls was the worst thing he'd ever felt. Physically and mentally, this was the worst moment of his life. Worse than the time his only remaining friend had decided he wasn't worth the effort. Worse than the day they'd repeatedly held his head under at the pool while the lifeguard was chatting up a cute girl in a bikini. It was even worse than the day his parents had split up.
Adam continued to kick and stomp him until sounds from the hallway prompted the others to run off, pulling Adam away with them.
Knowing it would be worse if someone found him, Jamie rolled over and stared blankly in the under-sink cupboard until his eyes focused on the pile of cloths. With a shaking hand, he wiped up the water and urine from the tiles before hiding the dirty cloth in his bag and rushing into the disabled bathroom.
'I can just hide here for a bit,' he thought.
He ended up staying there until the final bell rang, fantasising about murdering the lot of them.
Alice's head lowered further and further as she listened to Jamie's tale. By the time he finished speaking, every muscle in her body had slumped so dramatically she was almost one with the sofa."And that was just one particularly horrible day," Jamie said. "Every day was like that. School was a warzone. It was hell. I spent most nights staring at a pile of pills, trying to pluck up the courage to kill myself."The thought of Adam stomping on her little brother because he had the nerve to piss himself in fear made her stomach turn. How could he be that cruel? How could anyone be that cruel? To drive another kid almost to suicide and for what? To entertain himself? To make himself feel powerful?'He was just as cruel to you,'she realised. Images of the night he tried to tie her up like a dog and pull her out into the street flashed through her mind. Then there was the time he almost let his friends rape her
Alice sat on the bus, hands firmly grasping her bag. She was travelling into the city and not to the 'so-called' good side.After her job at the gallery fell though, due to it having to close, the Jobcentre helped her find alternative employment. It was only part-time, but as an art and design technician at Rowshill school, she would at least gain experience.The area was rough. As Alice glanced about at the signs of urban decay—closed storefronts covered in graffiti and open bins spewing trash—she told herself to quit being a snob. People here were poorer than in her town, but they were still just people.'You're going to be fine,'she assured herself.As she wandered through the gates, a group of male students gaped at her. One of them said something she didn't quite catch, so she continued walking to the office, head held high.By the time
After the final bell, Mr Lowe took Alice aside and told her she'd done a great job. She smiled and thanked him, feeling silly since all she'd done was clean up and count stuff. Any idiot could excel at the tasks she'd completed today. Still—it was nice that her boss was taking the time to give her good feedback and make her feel valued.'I'm going to love working here,'she thought."I think you're going to fit in well," he said, echoing her thoughts with a reassuring smile before telling her to go and catch the bus. It stopped just over the road half past every hour, and she'd manage to get the 3:30 bus if she hurried."Thank you, see you tomorrow," Alice said before practically jogging down the hallways. Most of the students had cleared out the second the bell sounded, leaving the old building eerily quiet. Her footsteps echoed as she hurried to the main reception to sign out."
Alice tried to swallow away the lump in her throat, but it refused to budge. It sat heavy, an unwelcome guest in her windpipe that only made it harder to breathe. She glanced up, trying not to make eye contact with any of them while feeling their eyes all over her.With a sweaty hand, she smoothed down her skirt, regretting the choice to shift her legs and show off the curves of her thighs to the guy at her side.None of the guys seemed surprised when the gang surrounded them.Riley stood and fist-bumped a couple of the lads."A'ight?" he drawled before sitting again."We spotted them dudes who jumped Jay, down by the chippy," one of the lads said. He sniffed and wiped his nose before shifting on the spot, waiting to see what Riley would say."Felix?" Riley asked."I'll deal with it," Felix confirmed. As he stood from the benc
Riley dragged her for three blocks, never letting go of her wrist. The entire time her mind was dreaming up scenarios, imagining what he might do to her. What he might make her do.It wasn't so long ago she was in this exact situation, dreading what Adam would make her do next.'And you liked it,'her mind piped up.'You liked being at his mercy.'She had because deep down, she knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt her too badly. He wouldn't ruin her. It had felt like a game—a strangely erotic and sometimes scary game—but a game nonetheless.This felt different. This boy had an aura of danger and death. One false move and someone could get seriously hurt. Either Mike, Adam or even one of his own minions—the triplets. They were a dopey pair, but she wouldn't want them to get hurt.When he finally stopped moving, they w
Jamie smiled to himself as he read the text from Ste. It had taken longer than he'd anticipated getting the reply, and it wasn't exactly an apology, but it was something. It proved he was still under his spell—a victim trapped inside his web.“Keep waiting,” it read. But the words were not important. The thing was, Ste had felt the need to reply. To keep the dialogue open. He wanted to talk and stay in contact, and it was only a matter of time before he was back under Jamie's thumb.'Back where he belongs,'Jamie thought.'Crawling at my feet like a dog.'The thought excited him. He thought about Ste a lot, especially when he was alone. He liked to picture his face covered in tears and snot and twisted in pain as he made himself cum. The sad fact was, it wasn't the same as having the boy’s lips wrapped around his cock, choking on it as he forced it down his thr
Alice dreaded the thought of seeing Riley in class. It felt as though she were two different people living two separate lives that were now overlapping. On the one hand, she was Alice: the professional and adult Design Assistant. But now she was also Alice—the newest member of a teenage gang of criminals.Was it going to be weird seeing him in the classroom?'A better question is... is he going to make it weird?'Alice thought. Her eyes met his as soon as she entered the classroom. He gave a slight nod as either Lex or TK shouted, "Yo!" She still couldn't tell them apart.Alice gave them an awkward wave as she passed through the classroom, feeling like every pair of eyes was upon her. Luckily, she had some cleaning to do in the back, as well as folders filled with protocols to read through.It was dull work, but at least it was easy."I assure you,
"Time to see what you're made of Miss Alice." Riley turned back to her, flashing an insane grin. "Wh—what?" Alice stammered, running after him. It was much easier to run in her sneakers, but it was still hard to keep up with the much taller boys. 'Like a bloody herd of giraffe,'she thought, panting as she finally caught up. "What do you mean? Where are we going?" she asked. "One of the lads we beat up yesterday reckons he's getting his brothers to deck us," Riley revealed, eyes flashing with crazed excitement. "I'm going to enjoying seeing the look on his face when I destroy his older brothers." Alice's eyes widened as she nodded. The guy seemed genuinely buzzed about the idea of not only fighting but beating someone to a bloody pulp. 'I really have to make sure this psycho stays away from Adam,'she though