It was the last day of school before winter break. It was cold with a soft breeze, enough to feel like your face was burning. I love winter and everything that it brings to the table. Hot beverages, a lot of blankets, and free time to stay inside and finally do what I do best. Read novels and play video-games.

My name is Yurem Truesdale. I’m 17 years old and I’m a senior in high school. I live with my sister, Ciara. My parents left us 2 years ago to fend for ourselves after they succumb to an illness. That being gambling and drugs. They actually wanted to sell the house so they could afford their addictions but thanks to Ciara working as a secretary in a law firm, let’s just say that they were tricked into giving her the house deed. Way to go, big sis.

Ciara is 19 years old. She has been working for 3 years now at the same place. She got her job thanks to one of her friend’s father. He knew about our situation and offered to help out. Thankfully she is an amazing woman so she now has a steady job and she’s thinking of going to college as well.

As for me, she doesn’t know since she works from 12 to 16 hours shifts but I work part-time at a grocery shop. I don’t get paid as much but the owner made me a deal. I’ll take the groceries that I need at all times in exchange for less salary. It’s a pretty good deal since I can take everything I want when I want. Can’t afford to miss work though. My boss is nice but because she is, I don’t want to compromise the trust that she implemented in me.

I have decent grades, a not-so-bad part-time job, a sister that loves me, a nice house to go to at the end of the day. Everything sounds amazing. Except I get the short end of the stick in school. Meaning, you may ask? Let’s just say that I suffer from what you may call bullying. And why? Being short, kinda heavy, and not so close as being a handsome 17 years old probably tells you why. And since I have decent grades, I am the class nerd or geek. Which makes no sense whatsoever but I let it pass.

Since I don’t have any friends at school, my refugee ended up being anime, video games, and novels. I am a self-proclaimed Otaku. Which is funny since I’m not bullied due to being one. I don’t hide it but my classmates still haven’t found out. Even though I don’t have friends at school, I do have a nice group of friends online. We share the same tastes and we even do movie nights. Sometimes we go on trips together. I’m grateful for them.

The day is almost over and I’m waiting for my sister to pick me up. Since it’s the last day, her boss invited me to go and have dinner with them as a form of celebration. It’s her anniversary at the company and she asked me to go. That and she knows I’m being bullied. It rarely goes into physical violence but when it does, it’s harsh. Not everybody does it. It’s the same old group of jocks and popular kids that participate. However, everyone sees and has no reaction whatsoever. And yes, the principal and the teachers know. But since no one testifies, there’s nothing they can do. So I told myself that I could hold on. It’s just a couple more months and I’m off to college.

Ciara texted me saying that she is going to be a bit late, so I decide to empty out my locker since I always bring books with me to pass the time on lunch break and recess. My English teacher and I actually have an agreement. She’s on her way to becoming an otaku as well so we often trade novels so I have plenty of the books she lent me that I need to take home.

It’s getting late. It’s better if I meet her halfway.

That’s why I decided to step outside. Big mistake. It’s so cold and my face is freezing. Since I always dress heavily, my body doesn’t resent the cold but my face is a different story. Time flies when you listen to music, right? Time to put on my headphones and make way. But of course, life isn’t going my way and I find out that they ran out of battery. However, they do warm my ears so I’m going to keep them on. I should make haste, right?

Wrong.

As soon as I try to leave for good, I get intercepted by who? That’s right. The popular kids from my class. How cliche does it get? The leader of this group is Logan. Also 17 years of age, ace of the football team. He is loved by the ladies and also loved by the guys. In order, if people were to bet on someone who could succeed in life, they would vote on him. With him were Mark, Ashley, and Naomi. The 4 of them always walk in a group which in itself is a bit weird but it must be what having friends is like.

“Teacher told me to pick you up, she has something to talk with all of us.”

I simply nod and walk with them. I open the door and my entire class is there. I’m quite confused since the teacher isn’t there. As soon as I enter I get tripped by your local bully, Ben. Ben flunked last year so he is repeating the entirety of his senior year. The reason Ben gets physical with me? According to him, ‘fatties like me don’t need grades like mine’. Does that make sense? No. But to him? Yes. He is the only one who tries and actually beat me.

“C’mon, be nice. I didn’t bring him here so you could hurt him.”

“You brought him because I made sure you won your last game by beating the other’s team ace, plain and simple.”

Oh, I’ve been had. I look around and everyone from my class is there, so I don’t really understand what’s happening. I struggle to get up but as soon as I do, Jimmy, Ben’s number 1 lackey pushes me to the ground again, and my phone manages to leave my pocket.

“You’re staying there right now, fatso.”

I manage to sneak a glare and I manage to let out a big sigh.

“Did you seriously brought me here just so you could have fun on the last day?”

“Oh, wouldja look at that, fattie is smart.”

My phone starts ringing. It’s probably my sister telling me that she is here and we need to go or we are going to lose our ride. But when I was about to pick up the phone, Jimmy was faster. The first mistake he made was picking it up.

“Hello? Yeah, he’s with me. No, no. I’m his friend, we are just playing, he’ll be right there.”

Second mistake. Telling her that I have a friend.

As soon as he hangs up I manage to let a chuckle. Ben didn’t like it well and decided to kick me with quite a bit of force. And when I manage to look around, I see a few phones pointing at me.

So this is how it is. Keep filming and put it online. That’s enough evidence for the lawyers that my sister has. Ah, I shall come on top after this.

When I thought it would end there, I feel something harsh hitting my face. Yeah, I just got kicked. And now I’m bleeding. A lot. I’m used to getting hit but I never drew blood so this is quite inconvenient. Bloodstains are hard to remove. For some reason, I smell burnt wood and a weird mixture of gas. Or maybe my broken nose is playing tricks on me.

When I manage to regain my composure I hear footsteps. Every step is closer and closer. I only focus on that sound and I just hope that it is the person I want. And when the handle of the door goes down, there she was.

“YUREM!”

You are a bit late, the hero is supposed to arrive before I get hurt. You play the same games, you read the same novels and you watch the same animes that I do, how can you get that part wrong? Huh? Why are you with Jasmin? Ah. Jasmin is the top student in our entire school. She happens to extremely beautiful. She also happens to be the only student who actually doesn’t mind doing school projects with me. It’s quite a funny story but not for now.

“Tsk, you got off lucky, fattie.”

Yeah, keep poking the bear while Ciara is there. She might do you a favor and rip you to pieces.

“Are you sure you want to keep up that attitude while I’m standing right in front of you? And all of you, if I find out that the pictures and videos you recorded are going online, get ready for a lawsuit.”

There you go, you tell’em sis.

The longer I stay here, the stronger the smell of gas is. I don’t think this is because of my blood. Jasmin helps me up and glares at Logan for taking part in this. He simply shrugs his shoulders like he was saying ‘I have nothing to do with this’”

“Is it my broken nose or is something actually burning?”

As soon as those words leave my mouth something fell on the corridor. The next thing all of us heard is a loud BANG and everything went black.