Ruòdiǎn

***Toilet stall***

Orchid starts tearing up. He plants his hands onto his face as his elbows are locked on his tighs.

'I couldn't even protect myself.' the pain from yesterday's fight still hadn't gone away. His body was still aching from all the bruises he had collected.

'Is this how it's going to be, I always thought that I could change something, maybe make them look at us differently but if this is all I got then what was all that talk?' he stares to the ground.

'I couldn't even land a proper scratch on that bastard's face.'

'This was not it was supposed to go down.'

Orchid later stands up slowly and looks at his watch, he realizes his class is about to start and walks out of the stall. He goes to the sink, turns the faucet releasing a blast of cold water into the sink, he gathers water into his palms which were cupped, he follows by splashing water on his face before leaving the bathroom.

*****

"Why did you hit him so hard?" she asks sternly and punches him on his arm. She gets ready to give him another.

"Ow, dude no, I didn't...I do that to him all the time, this is the first time I got that sorta reaction from him." he replies rubbing the red bruise on his arm while giving Racquel a pained look. He shifts back to avoid the next hit that came his way.

"Did something happen to him yesterday? he was fine the last we saw him?" Alek asks curious, the last time he saw him he was headed down the hallway to head home.

"How would I know?" giving him an annoyed look. Kicking his shin.

"We left together" she looks elsewhere to not meet his gaze.

"Dude, ow, why do you keep doing this to me!" he complains, realizing that she avoided eye contact he didn't push her any further, he knows that if it were important she would soon come out and say it so he moves on, trying to figure out the best course of action to help Orchid.

"Should we ask his parents? Maybe they know something?" she suggests, looking out the window." with regret in her eyes

"Don't think so, if he didn't tell us then I doubt his parents would know anything..." Alek explains

"Maybe we should go look for him, he's been gone for a while now, we should just ask him again." he suggests while walking to the classroom door which was ajar. As he pushes the door, it made a rusted squeaking noise. He stops his advancement after hearing Racquel's reply...

"Not yet, give him some time, class is gonna start anyways, let's do it after." she says, walking to her desk as the school bell starts to ring. She looks at him as he walks back to his seat.

'Maybe I should tell him about Jake, did he do something?' she wonders as the incident of him grabbing Orchid by the wrist and dragging him out of the school compound floods her mind. She looks up as her lecturer enters the class and proceeds to stand.

*****

Orchid enters the classroom a few minutes after. He slightly bows and scurries to his desk. He sits down, noticing Racquel and Alek's stares towards him. He gives them a weak smile to ensure them that he's okay and opens his books as their lecturer starts speaking.