Damian began training acro four days a week to prep for nationals, and he got into the rhythm of school, training, gaming, eating, and sleeping, and a couple of weeks passed by with him barely noticing. He’d really enjoyed training together with the group, and he almost felt like he was part of something. Jack made training so much more fun, and it helped keep his focus on positive things in his life. He was really interesting to be around, even if he did talk a lot, and Damian was really glad that they got to hang out while training.

Rays of sunlight streamed through the crack in the light blue curtains, as Damian rolled out of bed after a restless night of sleep. Stretching his arms out wide, he let loose a big yawn, before washing his face and changing into his school uniform. Grabbing some bread from the cupboard, he buttered it and spread Vegemite lightly over the top. He packed the sandwich into his bag and headed out the door towards school.

As he walked onto the school grounds, he saw Brock out of the corner of his eye. Carefully choosing his path in order to avoid being spotted, he managed to get to his first class of the day without any trouble. After class, he walked through the school to find a quiet corner, where no one was around, and sat down against the wall to eat lunch. Halfway through the Vegemite sandwich he had packed for today, Damian rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.

This is going to hurt, He thought. As out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brock and Lucas walk around the corner of the building, heading straight for him. Damian just sat there, hoping that for some reason they would go away.

They both walked over to him, and Brock said, “Lucas, did they let the primary schoolers in today.” Damian tried to ignore them, but Lucas wasn’t having that. He snatched Damian’s sandwich out of his hands, threw it into the dust, and stomped on it.

Lucas laughed and said, “Oh no, you don’t have any lunch, so you won’t be able to grow.” He smiled sarcastically and continued, “Well it’s not like you were ever going to grow anyway, little midget.”

Damian tried his best to stay calm, but his pupils started to dilate, and his eyebrows slowly drew closer together.

Brock noticed his annoyance and let loose one more jab, “You’re so tiny and useless your dad probably killed himself out of embarrassment.” He knew he had gotten a reaction, as Damian stood up, his eye’s blazing, and his fists clenched so tight that his hands turned pale.

Brock laughed, “What are you going to do, you’re so small you probably couldn’t even hurt—” his sentence was cut off by Damian’s fist smashing into his gut. Brock was slightly annoyed, so he picked up Damian by the throat and slammed him back against the wall.

Damian mind blanked as his lungs were searching for air…

Pain flooded his body, and he felt saliva cover his face as Brock yelled at him, and in his rage something inside him just snapped, as if something had triggered an explosion. But instead of losing control, everything seemed to slow down as he exploded into action. He dug heels into the wall, and shoved Brock’s arm to the side. He launched off the wall, twisting into a spinning roundhouse kick which connected perfectly with Brock’s head. As Brock staggered back, nursing his bruised cheek, Lucas lunged forward to grab him, but to Damian it looked like he was moving in slow motion. Damian breezed past Lucas and stomped down at the back of his knee, following it up with a savage kick to his crotch. As Lucas doubled over in pain, Damian shoved him forward into Brock, leapt off Lucas’s back into Brock, and hit Brock straight in the face with his foot. Blood started dripping from Brock’s nose and Lucas was still groaning in pain, Damian admired the scene in shock.

I always knew I was fast, and that I knew how to fight, but that was crazy. I should leave.

Damian turned to run, but was interrupted by Mr. Daniel’s voice. “Damian, what’s going on?”

Damian’s mind blanked as he thought of a way to reply, and Lucas spoke first, “The little Demon attacked us he kicked me in the crotch and Brock in the face.”

“Damian, what do you have to say?” said Mr. Daniels as he shot a glare at Lucas.

“They were picking on me.”

“How?”

“They were saying rude things… and talking trash” said Damian.

“What are you talking about,” said Lucas. “We didn’t swear or say anything bad, and he just punched Brock in the gut. So Brock tried to hold him back, and he just went psycho and attacked us.”

Brock just nodded his head agreeing with everything.

“Is that true Damian,” said Mr. Daniels.

Damian thought for a second, “It kind of is… but they started it…”

“If they started it, and were honestly trying to hurt you, do you really think you could stop them? They are both easily double your weight.” Mr Daniels continued before Damian had a chance to speak. “I think we all need to take a trip to the Vice Principals Office.”

As they walked down the long corridor into the office, Damian had a dreadful sense of foreboding doom. As if to agree with him, the sun slipped behind the clouds, darkening the world below. He stepped into the room, and he could see the VP’s face drop. It was almost like she was thinking.

Damian, again… seriously, just give me a break.

The VP, Mrs. Lasko, got the same exact story the Mr. Daniels had collected outside. Within minutes, she sent Lucas and Brock out with a reminder to go get a teacher if students get violent, even if you think you can handle it.

As Brock and Lucas closed the door behind them, Mrs. Lasko let out a large sigh, “Damian, your behavior has been questionable ever since you arrived here. Today, it was completely unacceptable, you cannot go around attacking other students. I’m going to have to suspend you for a week, but this is a warning, if you continue this behavior we will have no choice but to expel you. I’m going to call your mother now, so we can have a chat…”

Damian didn’t even hear the last part. He was lost in his own thoughts.

I'm suspended? I still haven't figured out how I was able to even hurt them in the first place. I'm so small that even if I hit them with everything I had it probably wouldn’t hurt them much, and how did I move so fast. It doesn't even make sense…

The phone clicking back into place, roused Damian back from his thoughts.

Mrs. Lasko spoke, “I’ve spoken to your mother, and she’s not impressed with your behavior. She’s told me that she’s busy at work and can’t come to pick you up. So you can walk home now, and she will be talking to you about this tonight. You’re dismissed.”

Damian picked up his bag and trudged out of the office. Torn between feeling great because he’d finally stood up to Brock and Lucas, but also a bit nervous about how his mum would react.

What even happened back there? It was crazy I was just a tiny bit faster and stronger, and I absolutely wrecked them.

Soon he arrived back at his home, where he unlocked the door, and went straight up to his room. Taking off his school shirt he noticed an odd ink spot on the bottom corner of his shirt. It looked magenta in color, but Damian didn’t have any pens that color. He wiped his finger across it to see whether is would come off, but it seemed to have dried onto his shirt.

Weird, but not as weird as me taking out Brock and Lucas, and then getting suspended for it.

Feeling overwhelmed, he grabbed the orb off the dresser, and collapsed into his bed. He stared at the orb and let his emotions and thoughts run loose, causing tears to pour to down his face.

I wish Dad was here, he’d know what to do. Mum’s going to be mad when she gets home.

Absolutely exhausted and emotionally drained from the crazy events of the day, he lay on his side and gazed at the orb, it made him feel like Dad was still with him. Eventually his eyes began to slowly close and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.