The next day arrived and Brandon acted as if nothing happened. He got up, took his shower, put his clothes on and after having his bag on his shoulder, he left for classes. His butler had called a few more times, but he was not in the mood to answer just to dismiss the man.
While he was walking inside the campus, he noticed that a few people were looking at him and he frowned a bit, but thought that was nothing, after all, except from Kayle and his friends, he was not known.
“Sexy abs, huh?” Brandon heard someone say, but he didn’t think the person was talking to him and kept walking to his classroom.
“Damn skinny. He should eat more.”
“At least he seems to be quite big down there.”
“Gross! Don’t talk about it… his body is not nice…And he is weird. A loser.”
Now, Brandon was sure they were talking about him. Not that he really cared about what others thought or said about him, but in some way, it disappointed him. Going to college should have been a new start, a new life, but no. In the end, or better, right in the beginning, that was already going as bad as before.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed and he thought it was his buttler again, but to his surprise, it was a message from an unknown number. The first thing that occurred to him was to ignore, but something told him he should see what was in there, so he opened the message and it was a link. ‘You should see that!’.
Brandon’s mouth dried, because the link was from a video website, so he had a really bad feeling about that. Either way, he couldn’t be a coward now, could he? He took a deep breath and clicked on it. Yeah, that was a video of him, last night, no clothes, trying to cover himself.
His face became all red and he looked around. Now he understood why people were talking about him not because they heard something, but because they saw him, in all his glory.
‘Damn it!’, he thought. But what could he do now? Nothing. He had to suck it in and go to his class. Those videos would be forgotten as soon as something new appeared. And that wouldn’t take too long, since the internet and info were always bringing news.
Once he entered class, people were still laughing, but they had to give it a stop because of the Professor.
“Hey, loser!” someone called him from behind, when Brandon was going to the restroom, but he ignored. “I am talking to you!”
Something hit him on the back of his head. Something soft and… wet. Brandon raised his hand and touched his head. Then, he brought it to where his eyes could see.
“Is that…”
“Nice tan, loser!” Kayle said and laughed. Brandon chuckled. Of course, it had to have Kayle’s finger on it.
Brandon decided he would keep cool and wait. Things would get better, at some point. If not during college, then before. And he could try to apply to some other institution, where Kayle wouldn’t follow him.
Of course, after all that ink, Brandon could not return to classes. So, he went to the Professor’s room and asked to talk to the one who would minister the next class. He had to explain things or he would have a hole in his academic profile.
After that was done, he headed home. He was staying in this small place, but at least, nobody would bother him in there. No one except his butler.
“Not today, please.” Brandon said when he saw the car outside.
“Sir, your father just wants to see you. It's not asking too much!” The old man pleaded, but Brandon was not for that.
“Look, I understand it, but I can’t, ok? I want to build my own life, away from my family’s influence to reach the top. I want to walk with my own legs. Seeing my father will do no good to me. It will make me want to stay by his side and it will ruin everything.”
“Sir, with all due respect, this is not very clever of you. You don’t have to be bullied and ostracized to be respected by who you are, instead of what you have.”
“Just… gimme some time, ok?” Brandon asked and, this time, the butler nodded, letting the boy go inside. He was not going to keep asking Brandon to return to his family, he would not meddle with the Young Master’s affairs inside university, but he was keeping an eye on what was going on. If anyone attempted against Brandon’s life or again against the family’s reputation, he was going to take action.
After taking a shower, Brandon decided to go to that link again and start to report every video in every account he could find. Yeah, he was not going to use his family’s power to solve his every problem, but it didn’t mean he had to just endure everything doing nothing about, at all.
Once he was done, he finally decided to study what the professor told him to, in order not to stay behind classes. Next day was going to be a new day, and so, he would have a new chance to live his life at its best. With or without Kayle.
When he left the bus and entered the campus, he could see that people didn’t forget it, yet, but just like before, he was not going to let them see if he was or not uncomfortable with that.
Before the professor arrived, Brandon felt small things being thrown at him. He was just going to say something, but someone else decided to do it.
“What is that? Do you really think that is funny? That is just lame!”
“Oh, come on!” Kayle said, smiling. “Stop getting in the way, Fairfax!”
“Get in the way of your idiotice? No, thanks. And those?” She started to collect all the small papers that contained, each a joke of some sort. “Will get to the Professor and to the Dean.”
“Is everything alright, here?” The professor asked and Kayle got quiet, looking elsewhere. “No, actually, it is not.” the girl said and turned to the professor. “Mr. Sharman, those guys here were bullying our classmate.” She pointed to the respective people. “Bullying? Like in high school?” The dark haired professor asked, frowning while looking at the bullies. "Definitely. And here is proof!” She showed the professor all the small papers and flying notes. After the professor read two of the papers, he looked at Kayle and the others. “We’re gonna have a little chat after class.” He said and motioned with his head for the blonde girl to return to her seat, because the class was going to start. They spend the whole morning with Mr. Sharma, so Brandon only got the chance to talk to her by lunch time. “Ah, hi.” He called her while she was collecting her belongings. “Hi!” She smiled at him. Brandon tried to keep the thoughts about how beautiful and shining she was from his head. A f
Lucinda was with her hand offered to Brandon. He looked at her face, at her hand and decided to shake it. “Friends.” He said and when she took her hand back, he didn’t like it very much. “Have you eaten?” She asked. “Not yet.”“Neither did I… I’m starving! Wanna eat with me?” Brandon frowned. “Ah, weren’t you supposed to have eaten with your boyfriend?” “He’s not my boyfriend.” Her response was very fast, meaning she wanted to make it clear. “And he was called by his father, so he just left me here and left.” “Ah, I see.” Brandon said, nodding and looking down. Inside, he was smiling. So she was not dating the guy. He knew he shouldn't be all happy with those news, but he was, in the end. “We can go wat and I tell you a bit more about this complicated situation I’m in.” She said and smiled at him. “Shall we?” “Definitely. I’m starving as well.” They both walked, side by side, to the food court of the mall. They were not talking, just walking and Branon could smell her shampo
Lucinda yanked her arm and stood again, taking a few steps back. “As I said, you do not own me, Damon. I won’t stay here and keep listening to this. Excuse me.” She started to walk away, but Damon followed her and held her by the waist. “Lucy, come on. I’m jealous, ok? You are to be my wife and I don’t want you talking to that kind of loser.”“He is not a loser, ok?” She took a deep breath. “Look, Damon, I know our parents want us to marry and all, but it does not mean we have to.”“No, we don’t have to, but I want to. I want you.” He held her arm, making her stop walking. “Lucy, please. I want to be the man by your side.”He was looking at her with pleading eyes, but she couldn’t stand him. Yes, he was dazzling handsome and most of the girls were falling for him. But Lucy couldn’t stand his personality. “I know. But then… please, let me be for a while. I need space. And you need to stop acting like this.” Damon remained quiet. At first, he was reluctant to marry Lucinda Fairfax.
The three men turned to Brandon and looked him up and down. The taller, probably their leader, started to laugh. Brandon was tall, around 6,5”, but he was skinny and the three guys were not buke, but much stronger than him. “Sod off, idiot.” The taller guy said. “You leave her be and I’ll go with her.” Brandon answered and the three of them made weird sounds, mocking him. “She is having fun with us, now, get the fuck out of here! Unless you wanna have fun, too.” The bunker one threatened, taking a small knife from his pocket. “Bran, go and get help!” Lucy said and received a slap across her face. It busted her lips and Brandon couldn’t stand by and watch. He did something he never did for himself, he fought.Of course, he had no chance against one of those guys, let alone two of them. The third one just stayed around Lucy, trying to kiss her and roaming his hands over her body. After a while, Brandon, who was on the floor and raised by his shirt, fell to the ground with a thud wh
The next day, Lucy didn’t go to college, but Brandon did and people looked at him strangely, since he was clearly hurt, but nobody asked him if he was alright or if he needed help. Not that he would ever think they would. Damon saw Brandon and turned his head, pretending he didn’t know him. Brandon chuckled. Of course, it was all an act to impress Lucy. How predictable, huh? Brandon just walked to the building. It was Friday and he couldn’t wait for the day to be over.Nobody picked on him, but he saw some girls looking at him with a certain curiosity, but none talked to him, so he just shrugged and let it be. “Mr. Ashford, may we have a word?” Professor Ramirez asked when Brandon was about to leave class. “Of course, Professor.”The class was soon empty and the tall, dark man leaned on his desk with his back to it, folding his arms in front of his chest and looking at Brandon. “I’ve heard you got into a fight. And for what I can see, that was not a good one.” Brandon sighed befo
After they talked, Mr. Jin showed Brandon the Gym and all the places he would have to clean and what he would have to use. “Is it too complicated?” He asked Brandon, who shook his head ‘no’. “Good, good. The GYM is about to close, so you might start with the rooms already empty.” “Thank you, sir.” Brandon said and Mr. Jin stopped walking. He turned to Brandon and smiled. “You might prefer to call me Jin Sasong, since I’ll be your instructor from now on.” He said. “You’ll learn how to address properly your superiors. Don’t worry. I am a Grandmaster.” “Oh, I’ll remember that… Jin Sasong.” Brandon said and bowed. “Good boy. Now, off to work.” Mr. Jin left and Brandon went to grab his utensils and start to work. As much as the academy was not huge, he wanted to make it neat, cleaning every little halter. Mr. Jin was being very nice to him and he didn’t want to disappoint him, nor Mr. Ramirez. While he was cleaning, Brandon heard people talking here and there until he heard somet
The next day, Brandon woke up feeling so much better! He prepared his breakfast, took another shower - he liked to start his day very clean - and turned on his computer. He wanted to take a look at Lucy and maybe she had posted something about her state. She didn’t go to class and he worried she was unwell. He entered her page and saw there was nothing about her. Opening her album, he scrolled again through her pictures. Yes, he felt a bit ashamed as if he was stalking the girl. ‘You ARE stalking her!’, his conscience screamed at him, but he pushed her away and got back to what was interesting: Lucy. She was so beautiful and full of life. Even through the pictures he could see she emanated light. Her energy was clean, pure. Perfect. He had never thought of anyone like that, but Lucy had no other word to describe her. PER-FECT. After a few minutes, Brandon decided he had things to do and couldn’t waste more time. Not that praise Lucy was a waste of time. He shook his head. What the
Brandon fought the urge to roll his eyes, because he knew nothing good would come out of that. “You keep pretending that I’m not here, Brandon, and you’ll regret it.” Taking a deep breath, Brandon decided he didn’t have to hold his tongue as well. “Something you should do, Kayle: pretending that I am not here. I believe the time you spent at home was not enough, was it?” Kayle looked at Brandon with fire in his eyes. “You think you’re funny, right?” Kayle approached his face from Brandon’s, but this time, it didn’t cause any reaction. As a bully, Kayle was like those chinese finger traps: the more you pull, the more it sticks to your fingers. It was what kept him alive, fed. And Brandon was tired of giving fuel to Kayle. The difference was that he would not just stay by and get beaten. “It doesn’t matter what I think on this matter. You should try to use your time better. Like…” Brandon got closer to Kayle and whispered. “Like helping your father to make the family’s compan