New Class... and as bad as before

I shivered. "Damn, it's chilly." The metal of my kunai felt cold against my stomach. I pulled over my hoodie and stepped out into the open.

Not much to look at. Just a forest in the distance that we crash landed in, the school and dorms, and dirt grounds. Very similar to going to a summer camp in my opinion.

Today was the first day everyone would be going to their assigned classes. Of course, I had the luck of having to walk outside to reach the building that was furthest from the dorms, which was where class A-3 was, sadly. At least I wouldn't be alone. But I'm not so sure Sebastian would be the greatest to really walk with in the mornings, and plus, we just met only yesterday. Just had to be my luck.

Just as I was about open the door, my hand on the doorknob, Sebastian called after me.

"Hey, wait up cotton candy fro. Lemme walk with you."

I lightly touched my messy hair. "The fuck you mean, it isn't THAT curly."

He didn't even look at me as he was pulling over a dark red varsity jacket. "Oh, it's curly."

I sighed before holding the door open for him. "Ladies first."

He elbowed me in the stomach before walking out the door and down the steps.

We walked in silence until we reached the main building. Even though it was only six in the morning, the area was bustling already. Everyone sort of just mushed together into one area and decided to talk, a few groups here and there. Sebastian and I weaved through the crowd, trying to get through to the door.

At last, after roaming the hallways and exploring the school, we finally stumbled upon our classroom. Sliding the door open, we went inside to find about twenty others inside. Many stood around in groups, some sitting on desks. Others just sat down and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

Then, one of the guys sitting on a desk in the back spotted me from across the room.

He tapped a guy next to him on the shoulder and pointed at us. The other guy nodded before their group—which was a good portion of the classroom, five guys and two girls— got up and walked up to the two of us.

Although they couldn't see it, Sebastian was already preparing for a fight. Behind his back, he did a series of twists and turns on his watch. It was strange because I don't really remember him using his chasm watch. In fact, I don't think he's used it at all when I've been around, even when Mr. Jovic was going on his little psychotic rampage and nearly killed me.

The one who was sitting on the desk spoke first. Surprisingly, he was tall, a good solid seven inches taller than me, at least 6'4" at a minimum.

He grinned. "Are you two new to this class? If you couldn't read it before, it said class A-3, not a daycare."

I looked over at Sebastian. "I'm a little confused. What do you mean 'not a daycare'?"

"You know what I mean, cupcake. Your in—what, kindergarten?" he kept grinning, a couple of the guys snickering behind him, "You're so short that I could give you my shoe as your new little home, Thumbelina."

His friend with dirty blond hair piped up. "Hey, don't stoop that 'low', Lee."

The whole group burst out into laughter, some making more quips of their own.

"Yeah, they're totally 'beneath' you."

"Be careful now. The little guys might jump up and punch you guys in the knee."

The ironic part was that four of them were at least an inch shorter than I was. Only Lee and two of his closest buddies were taller than me, one of them being around my height. They were lucky I haven't punched in their teeth and kicked them in their solar plexus right now. I don't do bullying, but today, I was feeling pretty good, calm even. I didn't want to sour my mood with these assholes.

I took a deep breath. "Look, sorry man, but we're assigned to this class—"

"Save it, save it," he scoffed, waving his hands to shut us up. "I don't care why you're here, just got out of my sight, short stack." He flicked his hand toward us, as if we were flies being shooed away.

This was baffling. Absolutely baffling. Sebastian wasn't that short.

I could see the veins popping out of Sebastian's neck. It didn't look like this was settling well with him either.

The words slowly rolled out of his mouth, like they were trying to digest as they came out. "Short...stack?"

Now, now, you probably all know that Sebastian is only a couple of inches shorter than me—unless of course I haven't mentioned it, haha...— but for some reason, he gets angry over the littlest things, and I guess height is one of them? I'm learning this now myself. Whatever it was, Sebastian suddenly got real upset when these guys called him 'short stack'.

He clenched his fist tightly. I wasn't much better myself.

"Oh, what are you gonna do? Punch me?" his second guy said.

Lee pushed his partner back lightly with one hand. "Never mind him. So you said you guys are in this class, huh?"

He grinned wickedly. "Well, you two are just in luck. You see, there's a small, hmm...fee, for just entering the class. Not to mention interest on the amount of time you're here, plus breathing and learning fees..."

"How much?" I sighed.

He pondered for a second before answering boldly. "Let's call it good at 100 bucks each time you both're in here. Deal?"

This guy was either all balls or zero balls. Fifty dollars a class? What did he do, smelt his balls into steel?

"Thanks for the offer, but we're gonna have to pass it up—"

The tall one fixed his gaze on Sebastian now. He pinned his hand against a wall right next to Sebastian's head. He stared him dead in the eye, paying no attention to me now.

"Who said it was an offer?"

Sebastian was shaking now with rage, clearly trying to hold back, but from what? Why was he not breaking, even after all the insults they threw at him? He isn't the type to sit idly by while something infuriates him. I mean, neither am I, but still. You would think he would be the type who gets irritated easily, a feisty one even.

"Now, we'll start today. Hand over the money, will ya?"

Sebastian wasn't moving at all. He turned into a statue, condemned to standing still in that one spot.

"Oi, didn't you hear me? Pass up the money, now."

I cut in, trying to get his attention. "Hey, I'll just pay for both of us. Just leave us alone man. Besides, he doesn't have any money on him." I reached for my pocket, but the second dude stopped me. By now, everyone in the classroom was watching in silence, just waiting for something to unfold. Even Lee's buddies weren't talking now.

"Wait your turn," the tall guy said before turning back to Sebastian. "So you don't have any money today, huh? Well, I guess you'll just have to pay some other way."

The tall guy shifted his hand onto Sebastian's shoulder, and in a single minute, hell itself broke loose.

"Since you don't have a hundred dollars, you'll just pay with a hundred slaps." He began to laugh maniacally and brought down his hand to smack Sebastian in the face, but it was stopped midway by a hand. Sebastian's hand.

And that was the last time I heard the guys voice.

He spoke for the first time since we got here. "Andrew, you've probably been wondering this whole time why I've been holding back, right?"

His eyes were no longer the pretty sea green they once were. They were replaced by the hideous glow of crimson red.

He twisted the guy's wrist in a gruesome way, an eerie snapping sound echoing throughout the room, along with the yelling and screaming of him and the pink-haired girl in his little clique. I mean, she really had vocals, holy crap. Or maybe it was Lee, I dunno. Sebastian tackled him to the ground and began pounding at the center of his face maliciously. Blood began spewing out of the guy's nose like a river, his good hand desperately trying to get Sebastian off, but it was no use. He was dead set on really hurting this guy.

Lee's buddy tried taking Sebastian off, but he only ended up getting beat down too. After one swing the poor guy was knocked out cold. Then he went back to beating in the tall shit's nose, each punch seemingly getting worse than the first.

The tall guy wasn't even conscious anymore, and yet Sebastian kept beating him, brutally too. It was starting to get out of hand. At first, I wasn't afraid of throwing hands myself, but this? This a little more than what I bargained for.

"Hey, Sebastian, he's knocked out. If you keep pounding him like that, you might actually kill him—"

He turned his head, blood spray-painted all over his face, his jacket now shining when the light hit it. But what was shocking was that there were tears in his eyes.

"Shut up before I beat you too."

He went back to beating up the guy, but then stopped short after throwing one punch. He sat there like he was planning something. After a few moments, he got up and pulled him up by the right leg with one hand. He looked around at the class who were frozen in fear before looking at me.

He stood there, just holding the guy's leg, tears filling his eyes. Why was he doing this? Why was he the one crying when he just brutally beat the crap out of a guy?

He kept staring at me, a kind of fear in his crimson eyes. Suddenly, he spoke, his voice shaky.

"You think...I'm a monster...don't you?" He asked.

"What?—"

"Say it... you think I'm a monster..."

The hell? That's not even compared to what I've seen and where I've been. On a brutality scale, I'd rate it at a seven, tops. What was he going on about?

"Dude, you're fine. No one thinks you're a monster just because you beat up a couple of guys—"

He bent the guy's leg in an awful way, another snap loud of enough to wake him up, sending him into a screaming fit. "SHUT UP AND SAY IT! I'M A MONSTER!"

He dropped the leg and came barreling towards me. In a moment, he was on me, before I could even stop time. Sebastian raised his fist above his head and brought it down on my forehead, tears streaming from his eyes and down his bloody face.

I yelped with pain, the impact worse than I thought it would be. He pulled back his fist to again to attack, but before he could bring it down, a man with glasses walked in and grabbed his wrist. He wore a black button-up shirt untucked, and a tie that wasn't really put together properly. His blonde hair was slicked back, the back winging upwards. If anything, he looked like nothing more than a high school professor.

Sebastian turned his head to see who was putting his mission to a stop. Before he could say anything, the man karate chopped him on the neck, and Sebastian slumped to the ground in a heap of red.

"Please be seated. You—" the man looked at me. "Can you go get the nurse for me?"

I winced, rubbing my head before standing up on my feet. "Yeah yeah, sure. Just don't make me miss anything.

"Oh don't worry. We'll just be discussing the rules for the first fifteen minutes of class."

Damn, this school had rules? I couldn't really tell with how much fighting happens around here. I thought military schools were supposed to be about teamwork and working together, not against each other.

"Alright, please take your seats. My name is Vincent, but you may call me Vinny or Mr. Vin, nothing more, nothing less. I will be your academic and homeroom teacher for the next three years. I look forward to teaching you all. Now, first things first, we will be handing out uniforms as of now before I get on with the rules..."

Looks like this year was going to be just absolutely 'fantastic'.

His voice trailed behind me as I ran out of the classroom and towards the main office. But there was one question that was still lingering in my head:

Why did Sebastian keep calling himself a monster?