THE EXORCISTS ACADEMY

The fight.

 The next morning, Vincent woke before the sun rose. He did some pushups and situps, exercising his body. While under the act, his alarm clock rang, he quickly stopped exercising. An alarm that was meant to wake him up, now served as a reminder that he needed to freshen up. He walked into his bathroom to take his bath.

 Few minutes later, he walked out of his room, dressed in his school uniform, a white short sleeved shirt, dark blue trousers, dark blue tie, a pair of white shoes and a bag hung to his back. He gently walked down the stairs, heading to the dining table. As usual his mouth was dishing out the meal. They exchanged greetings, and he ate his breakfast. 

 

He hurriedly rushed down their building, assuming that his friends were outside, waiting for him. It was when he was outside, that he remembered that Jordan was still at the hospital. His face wore a saddened expression. He surveyed his surroundings, searching for Brian. But the latter was present.

 "That lazy bones isn't out yet!" Vincent exclaimed to himself. He decided to go to Brian's house to fetch him. Before heading to school.

 He got to Brian's house, but he wasn't at home. Brian's mom informed him that Brian had already left for school.

 "I thought he went to your house. I mean that should be the only reason why he's out as early as he woke." She responded. She was surprised that Vincent said that Brian didn't show up at his house. "I hope that brat isn't getting himself in trouble. He had been speechless after you left yesterday. Am even surprised you recovered, given that you're closer to Jordan than Brian."

 Vincent left Brian's house, headed for school. On his way he thought about what Brian's mother had said. 

"Sorry ma, but I too haven't got passed it yet. I'm very sure I can't recover from that haunting memory." Vincent muttered to himself.

 He wondered why Brian left home so early in the morning; 'What's he up to?' Vincent thought to himself.

He arrived at the path close to the alley, and the corner where they encountered the monster. Glaring at the environment, he could see the incident that had happened to them the day before yesterday, playing out in his eyes, in a holographic form. 

Sigh!

He hissed a sign of stress. Walking away.

 

 He soon arrived at school, and headed to his classroom. The class was already half filled. But it wasn't as lively as always. He headed for his desk, he took his seat, dropping his backpack atop the desk. He relaxed his back to the seat, and shut both eyes to meditate. It was then that he heard several voices mumbling in front of him. It was as if they were in front of his desk, very close to him. He pathed a single eye, to take a sneak peek, and his theory was proven right. 

 A group of his classmates had gathered around his seat, chattering. He quickly opened both eyes in shock, adjusting himself to sit properly.

"Hey Vincent, I heard Jordan was attacked by a wild animal the day before yesterday. How's he doing now? Is he okay?" A boy in medicated glasses spoke first. He was probably one of Jordan's allies, a nerd as well, one of the front benchers.

"We haven't received any information concerning his current health, by the school administration. I mean if we hadn't heard about his predicament from rumors, we wouldn't have known yet. The school didn't bother announcing it." Another student voiced out, this one was a female.

   "Emily, you're acting as if you're unaware that this school only cares more about the nobles, than the middle class people and commoners. It's literally not a new case to bother about. The school administration is filled with corrupted heads and staff who discriminate." A blonde hair boy responded.

Vincent watches them complain and complain, rant and make noises, disturbing his peace. He was already very familiar with the discrimination that enveloped the school, the mistreatment given to middle and low class citizens, and the royal treatment given to the noble children. But, he thought that, since Jordan's case was different, maybe the school would have no choice but to announce Jordan's predicament. Given that the lad survived a tragic incident, that was the trending topic in every news channel. 'Turns out the staff are more corrupt than I measure them to be.' Vincent thought to himself.

During the chattering and ranting, their classroom's interconnected speaker rumbled, for a few minutes, before the rumbling sounds came to a stop.

"Good morning, great students of wonder ville high school. Every student is expected to gather at the assembly grounds, we're expecting a visitor from the press, please do well to coordinate yourselves. We want everyone of you in your best behaviors." An announcement came from the broadcast room, inside of the school building. The announcement was made by one of the senior students from the third year class. A prefect at that.

The students of all classes, gathered outside, on the assembly grounds, where a platform stood. The platform was occupied by the principal of the school, Mr Parker, a representative for the press, and other staff. There, they addressed Jordan's incident, and then informed the students of his recovery. They furtherly said that they interrogated Jordan, and he gave them a full detailed description of his attack. They promised the students that such an incident wouldn't happen again, that they had dispatched officers to eliminate these wild animals that roamed that town.

 So after thirty minutes of addressing the students and conveying information to them. The students returned to their classes to continue their lectures.

  Returning to class, Vincent was immediately summoned by the principal. He headed for his office to find out why he had summoned him. But he knew that whatever the reason was, it was trouble.

Arriving at the principal's office, he spotted Sharon, he immediately frowned his face, the latter just rolled her eyes.

 "Good day Mr Parker, you sent for me." Vincent greeted, in the most polite way he could think of. Seeing Sharon's presence, he knew not to let his guard down. 

"Yes I did. Miss Nelson here, said you assaulted her, the day before yesterday, at the basketball court room, where according to eyewitnesses, said that you slapped her. A slap that made her unconscious." Mr Parker repeated the report that was stated to him. "Is that true Mr Alexander? Did you skip school yesterday because you were avoiding punishment? Several students witnessed the scene."

Sharon smirked, she knew he wasn't escaping this. This was probably the best payback she could ask for. She couldn't wait to see his face when he's being punished.

"Yes sir, it's true. I attacked Sharon here purposely." Vincent spoke out, boldly.

Sharon was shocked, she didn't expect him to agree that easily. At some point she was beginning to regret reporting him to the principal. Not like she wanted to, she indeed wanted to set boundaries between them both, so she won't get on his bad side ever again. But Henry had forced her to file a report, ensuring her that she would get her revenge. At the very moment she felt uneasy, sweat beads rolling over her face. Even Mr Parker was surprised. Even if the school discriminated against their students by the number of digits in their parents account, he would still swear that Vincent couldn't just attack a female student, he knew something must have triggered the lad's action. He was more shocked when he found out that the victim was Sharon. Who didn't know how close Vincent and Sharon were, even when they weren't friends.

  But for the moment he was glad the lad took responsibility. At least they won't see him as being partial. He had gotten a request and token from Sharon's father, requesting that the boy who slapped his daughter be suspended from school, he even wanted him expelled, but the principal reasoned with him. So even if Vincent had denied the accusation, he would still push him. In that way he was sure to get more tokens from Mr Nelson.

"Alexander Vincent, you're hereby given a two weeks suspension from school. And when you return the third week, you shall seek the forgiveness of Nelson Sharon for the entire week. Before your punishment would be lifted." He smirked, awaiting the boy's reaction.

"Okay!" Vincent replied, he was bothered, he felt that even if he pleaded, the principal wouldn't have a change of mind. He was sure the principal's voice of judgment had been bought.

Again! Both Sharon and Mr Parker were surprised. They had assumed he would go down on his knees and beg for the punishment, to be lifted or lightened.

"Anything else?" Vincent inquired, with a bold tune. Surely this was one of his several personalities Jordan had spoken about. This was him being carefree, feeling out of concern.

"No, that's all. You may head back to your classroom." The principal ushered, raising a brow.

Vincent excused himself, heading back to his classroom.

   Sharon was terrified, she felt as if Vincent had an alternative plan of getting back at him. She was frightened by his behavior, and knew something was off, and that she wasn't safe.

***

It was lunch break, but instead of heading to the cafeteria, they all gathered within the school premises, witnessing a scene take place. Puzzlement surfaced on their faces, they were surprised by what they saw. 

 A fellow student with a bat on his possession, confronting the school's greatest bully and his goons. They didn't expect to witness such a scene, given that the student with a bat was no other person but Brian. 

 All students were shocked when they first saw him threatening Henry, and now he had come for a fight, inside the school's premises. It was as if he was prepared for whatever outcome befall him, ranging from getting beat up by the people he attacked, to being punished by the school authorities. 

 "You're the reason why Jordan almost died. You almost caused me and my friends to lose our lives. And now you've succeeded in putting Jordan on the hospital bed, without a second leg. You're pure evil and heartless. I will teach you a lesson you would regret in your entire worthless existence." Brian cursed, tightening his grips. The students present were numb, they didn't understand what Brian said when he meant that Henry was the reason why Jordan was admitted in the hospital. Didn't the news say he was attacked by a wild animal?

"Oh! I didn't realize. I was expecting you three to die a miserable death. I for one was shocked that you too survived." Henry responded, confidently, surely he didn't feel a bit of remorse for them.

"Am going to shred your own leg, so you would experience how Jordan felt." Brian immediately responded, lunging towards Henry in attempts of smashing him with the bat, but one of his goons grabbed the bat, stopping it in mid air, another delivered punches to Brian's abdomen. The latter spits out blood, just immediately. 

 Brian staggered backwards, after escaping the range of the bombarding fists. He launched forward, attempting to attack again, but he was head-butted to the ground, just immediately.

One of the goons walked up to Brian's lying spot. He lifted his foot, swinging his leg towards Brian's head, with the thought of kicking his face, but his leg hung in mid air, unable to move further. He looked to see that Vincent had appeared from nowhere, grabbing his foot with one hand, disallowing the goon from moving freely. He lifted the goon's entire weight, swinging him backwards, where he crashed to the school's building. 

 He sized the other members up. No one needed to tell them what to do, they immediately picked to their heels, knowing that their last encounter with Vincent wasn't favorable. They ran leaving Henry behind.

The latter was terrified, he was already sweating profusely all over his face. To everyone's surprise, he knelt down before Vincent, pleading to be spared. The latter eyed him wickedly, before slapping him hardly, with his foot, the impact resounded throughout the surroundings. Henry fell to the ground unconscious.

 The former lifted his head to gaze at the crowd in front of him, he was shocked to see that the principal and other members of the staff had been watching him from the very start. He was mute.