9. Harassment

[12:00 PM]

With the school chime playing in the school speaker, everyone in the class gets ready for lunch. I open my backpack and grab two lunch boxes. Before Kayla could walk away, I handed her one of the lunch boxes. "Here, I cooked this when I was making breakfast."

With a scoff, she says, "I don't want it," and walks out of the classroom. I got weird looks in return from other students. "Hey, wait up!" Ivy, the one who whispered to me calls out to Kayla as she catches up to her. Sighing, I walked out of the room and followed them. Walking a meter behind Ivy and Kayla, other students in the hallway stares at me like a wolf in a sheep's pen. After a minute or so of walking, Ivy suddenly walks beside me. "Do you and Kay know each other?"

"Yes," I answer.

"How so?" 

"We're cousins."

"Cousins!? How!?" Ivy says, bewildered.

Not able to keep silent, Kayla joins in the conversation. "Uncle adopted him! We're just cousins on paper!"

"Oh! That's why he has the same last name as Mr. Nikolai!"

"You know him?" I ask.

"Who doesn't? Everyone has seen him give a few speeches at the school auditorium as one of the biggest funders of the school. I've also met him a few times when I was with Kayla, he's a nice guy."

A nice guy that develops and manufactures highly classified weapons.

A few seconds later, we arrived in the cafeteria. Taking an empty table, the three of us sat in the chairs, placing the two lunch boxes I brought on the table. "Are you sure you don't want it?" I ask her again.

"I don't want it," she says with annoyance.

"Can I have it then?" Ivy asks.

"If she doesn't want it, sure, you can have it." I pass the extra lunch box to Ivy. Receiving the box, Ivy says "Thanks!" Opening it, assorted types of cooked vegetables and meat are neatly placed inside the lunch box.

"Did you cook all of this?" Ivy asks, which even caught the attention of Kayla.

"I did."

Stabbing a piece of meat with a fork, Ivy takes a bite. After a few seconds of chewing, she swallows it and says, "It's delicious!" Taking bite after bite from the lunch box. Grabbing my own, I start eating my lunch. Annoyed that we both started eating without her, Kayla chooses from the digital menu and picks her order. A few minutes later, an android carrying a tray of food walks over to us. With a scripted line, it says, "Here's your order! Enjoy!" Before walking back to its station.

Swallowing a piece of food, Ivy asks Kayla a question. "What did you pick?" 

"Just the usual."

"Again? You should have some variety! How about you try some of Blaze's cooking! It's seriously good!" Ivy happily suggests to Kayla, which has a reluctant look.

"I don't want it!" Kayla stubbornly says.

"How can you say that if you haven't even tasted it? Just take an itty-bitty bite," Ivy teasingly says. "Or… are you just embarrassed?"

"E-Embarrassed? No, I'm not!" Crossing her arms, she quickly tilts her head away, trying to hide a hint of red growing from her cheeks. 

"You sure are!" Ivy points out.

"Oh shut up!"

It was an interesting lunch, to say the least.

After we finish lunch, we head back to the classroom. When we walked into the room, I found all the items from my backpack strewn about on my desk, chair, and floor. When Ivy sees the mess, she looks at each of the student's faces as if she's hunting for prey. Unusual from her cheerful behavior a moment ago, she places her hand behind her back and pushes her chest out like a drill sergeant ready to yell at a poor recruit. "Alright! Who made this mess!? Come in front and apologize to Blaze right now or I will report you to the office right this instance!" She yells with an intimidating voice. 

A human man with stylish blond hair, athletic build, and piercing hazel eyes walks in front of us. Speaking in a charming and soothing voice, he spoke to Ivy, "Miss, Ivy! The pride and beauty of our class! I, Brendan Wiley, confess to making this awful mess." As he was about to grab her hand, Ivy pulled it away from him. 

"If that mess was awful, why did you do it?" A hint of annoyance can be heard in her voice. 

"The answer needs no question, for it is simple!" He raises a hand, before extending a single finger and pointing at me, "That... thing... is a hairy monster that needs to be treated like animals!"

"Ok, that's enough! I'm reporting you to the office right now!" Ivy stomps out of the room and heads to the office. Kayla, who was silent the whole time went after Ivy. 

This feels like boot camp all over again.

Walking over to my desk, I pick up my scattered things and quickly arrange them back to my backpack, activating the security lock on the zipper when I'm done. Brendan, the one who dumped all my stuff stands in front of me, giving me a look of disgust. "You! Grovel at my feet!" He says to me, which I say, "I refuse." 

He glares at me. Most of my classmates just stare at me while some look away from my gaze when I glance at them. "I said—" I immediately cut him off with another, "I refuse." As he clenches his fist, the school speaker suddenly announces something. "Brendan Wiley, please head to the office immediately. I say again, Brendan Wiley, please head to the office immediately."

Clicking his tongue, he walks away and heads to the door, saying one last thing. "I'll make your life miserable!" And leaves the room.

|

|

[04:00 PM]

|

|

With the final class over, everyone gets ready to head home.

"I'll get the car first. I'll pick you up outside the lobby," I say to Kayla. 

Overhearing me, Ivy asks me something. "Oh, you have a car? Can I ride with you!"

"If Kayla would allow me, sure." I glance at Kayla and she looks away from me, but she gives a nod. "Ok then, I'll pick both of you up from the lobby entrance."

"Yay! Thanks for letting me ride with you, Kay, Blaze! We'll be waiting outside the lobby!" Ivy excitedly says before I exit the classroom, walking to the parking lot. I got in my car and drove it to the lobby driveway. Slowly driving the car in, I spot Kayla and Ivy waiting at the walkway, which I stop in front of them. Pressing a button on the steering wheel, the right side car doors open, letting them in the car.

"I'm riding shotgun!" Ivy says as she takes the front passenger seat. Taking the back passenger seat, Kayla buckles up and closes the door. With both of them inside the car, I drove them to a mall they pointed out, even following them around into the stores as they browse and explore for an hour. Finished with the window shopping, I dropped Ivy back at her house before I drove both Kayla and myself back to the condo. 

|

|

|

|

|

As I adjust to the role of a bodyguard, my position as a student at school has dropped to the bottom of the ladder. Most students don't want to interact with me, some avoid me completely, and some want to make my life even harder, especially one person: Brendan Wiley. Every day, he tries to make my day at school worse, which I either: ignore, avoid, or counter. Ignoring insults and harassment; avoiding pranks and traps; countering hacking attempts on my phone; and making him, pay damages on my punctured tires, and even damage to school properties as a result of trying to frame me.

After five days of this back and forth, Brendan finally had enough. As I was usually sitting at my desk behind Kayla, Brendan walked up to me like a pissed chihuahua from Earth. He angrily barks at me. "You!" He points a finger at me and points it at himself "And me! Fistfight! Tonight at—"

"I refuse," I calmly say to him. 

"I'm not asking you—"

"And I refuse," I say again.

Brendan yells, "You're a coward! You, mutt!" Which I freeze; my ears standing tall, my fur bristling against my clothes, and my tail stiff. My blood starts boiling when I hear that single word. 

Then a vivid flashback emerges deep from my mind; a human man, aiming a pistol at me was shouting "—don't fucking move mutt or I'll shoot you!" 

"What's wrong, mutt!? Too scared to fight me!?" Before Ivy could intervene, Kayla suddenly stands in front of me, her back facing towards me as she places her hand on her waist, scolding Brendan. "Will you stop acting like a child for a second Brendan! How hard is it to keep your mouth shut and your ego in place!? Are you such a moron that you can't even see you're embarrassing yourself!"

As Brendan was about to give a retort, I stand up from my chair and place my hand on Kayla's shoulder. Looking at me with surprise, I say, "I'll fight." 

"Wait, what!" Kayla and Ivy both shout, the class also buzzing with activity. With a grin, Brendan tells me the time and place of the fight, loudly enough for the whole class to hear. He walks away after successfully convincing me.

"Are you crazy!?" Kayla yells. "No matter how much of a douche he is, he's still the son of a space mining CEO!"

"Sorry, but I can't let you go." With a stern expression, Ivy folds her arms. "No matter how arrogant Brendan might be, he can be dangerous when he's serious. He managed to force a student to transfer by threatening to bankrupt his family's company."

"Nikolai can handle himself no problem with his business," I say.

"It's not about Mr. Nikolai's business. I'm talking about your safety," Ivy says with concern clear in her voice.

"Don't worry, I can handle myself." 

"But—" 

I quickly cut off Ivy. "Besides, I already made my choice. I can't back out now."

Ivy sighs, "Then I'm coming with you."

"What!? No way I'm going to let this idiot drag you into this!" Kayla objects.

"He's not, I'm just making sure this doesn't get out of hand." 

"Argh! Then I'm also coming!"

It was decided that Kayla and Ivy will be looking after me during the fight.

|

|

[09:00 PM] 

|

|

Driving in the war-torn city outside the border of Aurora with Kayla and Ivy; an old stadium littered with trash, bullet casings, wrecked cars, and destroyed military vehicles and tanks are scattered around the place. The stadium was previously used as a FOB(Forward Operating Base) by the Zulaith Military before it was subsequently captured by Terran forces. Now it remains a pre-war husk where people used to enjoy watching and playing sports. 

Parking the car a few meters away from the gate, the three of us head to the crowd of people and parked cars outside the stadium. When we got closer, the familiar figure of Brendan stood in the middle of encircled cars, shining their headlights on the middle and making a makeshift arena. Multiple people watch me as I walk over to Brendan; some I recognize as my classmates, while others are strangers. Spreading his arms out, he loudly announces to everyone. "Good evening everyone!" The people shouts and cheers.

He then walks around in circles in the makeshift arena, still holding his arms out. "Tonight, I'll be showing a certain mutt who's the boss!" The crowd cheers again. "Come! Show me how weak you are!" He takes his shirt off and shows his athletic body. "I want to see you beg as I beat you! Or… you could pussy out and run away!" He taunts, which the crowd laughs.

Without hesitating, I step into the ring of cars, leaving Kayla and Ivy with the crowd. "Oh! You have guts, I must say! But you're going to regret it!" Brendan says, taking a fighting stance.