ALEXANDER CURRY

Alexander tried his best to block himself from her attacks but she purposely hit the back of his hand which Fredrick had stepped on and injured, causing him to drop his guard so she could continue to slap his face.

After she had gone for long enough, Fredrick cleared his throat, drawing her attention.

"Alright Cherry, that's enough. The bell rang less than two minutes ago and the other students will be out any moment. Don't do anything that'll make them bring their ugly faces over here" Fredrick instructed.

Though Paul and Cherry were the School's Student President and Vice President respectively and as such were meant to be the top in the hierarchy of students, Fredrick was the only student who was above both of them.

The reason for that was because of the family he came from.

Actually, Coker Wake was a school owned by the Dove family, and as such, Fredrick has been the most influential and popular student in school since the day he enrolled.

All the students adore him and all the staff respect him because a word from him can terminate their existence in Coker Wake. He was basically a king and everyone his subject

Knowing this fact gave Fredrick an unmatched sense of pride and courage to do whatever he wanted.

He could have been the Student President if he wanted but he didn't want the responsibility that came with it. So, the position was given to Paul and Cherry but he still makes them obey his will.

Cherry scoffed and then stood before spitting on Alexander's face and returning to stand next to the other two.

Paul laughed after watching everything while Fredrick chuckled.

He looked at Alexander, seeing the pitiful look the young man had and he became serious again.

"So Alex, now that all that has been done to you, I hope you understand and accept that you brought it on yourself. After all, we wouldn't have had to reprimand you if you hadn't gone against my instructions now would we?" Fredrick asked.

Looking straight at his assaulter's eyes and breathing heated breaths of rage, Alexander could only think 'Reprimand? How dare you use a word like that when what you've done can never be justified?'

Fredrick raised a brow, expecting a response with a face that showed he was running out of patience.

Alexander replied "I understand. All of this happened because I went against your wishes, Master Fredrick"

Suddenly, Fredrick who had heard what he wanted to and was satisfied by it smiled from ear to ear.

"Good boy. If I remember correctly, I had told you not to write the college entrance exams but what did you go and do?" Fredrick asked.

Alexander gulped and replied "I-I didn't listen to you. I tried to write it anyway because I want to go to college just like everyone else"

Fredrick scoffed "You stupid worm. Did you think you'd be able to get away with it because I wasn't going to show up until the exams were over?"

Alexander blinked multiple times "Um, well, Umm… Since I know that you don't have to sit in the hall as the rest of us and your father, Master Dove has already made preparations to have you pass the exam without you doing anything, I thought I could just write my paper very fast without you knowing"

Just then, Paul chimed in "Hey stupid"

Alexander looked at Paul whose arms were crossed.

"Did you really think I and Cherry wouldn't find out what you were trying to do and inform Fredrick about it?"

Cherry chimed in "Yeah, stupid. The Student President and Vice President go through the list of students writing the exam with the teachers. It's our job to make sure that everyone's names are spelled correctly so what did you think was going to happen when we found yours?"

Alexander looked down and then cleared his throat.

"Well, I thought the two of you wouldn't care enough to know my name so even if you saw it then maybe you would have overlooked it. I had no other choice—" Alexander said but was cut off.

"Alexander Curry. Even if we could give two cents about a pile of dog shit like you, your name is still very easy to remember. If you weren't getting second place behind Fredrick since your enrollment then I would have said you aren't very smart." Paul said.

"Not that it matters now. The bell for the College entrance exams to be over just rang and you weren't able to write it because we stopped you. Guess you're not going to college, you fuck" Cherry said then laughed.

"All this effort and for what? For nothing. Instead of studying your head off and trying to go to college, you should put all that effort into trying to become the perfect servant for Fredrick and his family. After all, that's why you were born into this world. The child of servants will always be one so what makes you think you can change destiny?" Paul said and then laughed along with Cherry.

Looking at Alexander on the floor and seeing the sadness and self-hatred in the young man's entire body, Fredrick shook his head.

"I've gotten bored of staring at this monkey. Come on, you two. Let's go make sure that the principal has submitted our solved answer scripts to the examiner" Fredrick instructed then took the lead in exiting the premise.

Paul followed and Cherry spat at Alexander once more before she joined the exit, leaving Alexander to wallow in misery and shame.

Alone and covered in blood, bruises, and dirt, Alexander could only reflect and as a result hate the life he was born into, questioning that maybe Paul was right.

As a child born into servitude, there was no easy way of escaping and making a good life for himself.

The only light he saw for giving himself a good life was getting into a good university.

By studying a well-desirable course and getting a good job after graduation—unlike his parents who were generational servants and as such never even stepped a foot in a university classroom— Alexander's life would at least become better than what it currently was.

His pursuit of a good life was why he risked getting beat up and punished to write the college entrance exam. He had even planned on doing well enough in the exam to hopefully receive a scholarship from any of the multiple colleges he applied for.

If successful, Alexander wouldn't have to worry about paying fees and as long as he does well to keep his scholarship, his entire school tuition would be set.

All he had to do was find a part-time job that would earn him enough money to survive for the years that he would be in college. He didn't want to depend on anyone for financial help because it would mean revealing the fact that he was going to college.

It would also reveal which college he went to which was the last thing he wanted the Dove, most especially Fredrick, to know.

They would make sure to drag him back to the hell he managed to escape from.

Unfortunately, his plans were foiled at the beginning stage by those bastards, Paul and Cherry, and now that Fredrick had become aware of what he planned to do, he wouldn't be able to attend college again.

Fredrick was going to make sure of that.

Alexander sat in silence for a couple more minutes before standing up and cleaning himself as much as possible. Sadly, there was so much he could do to conceal what had been done to him.

The dirt stains and blood were still present on his uniform but at this point, he no longer cared.

Alexander walked defeatedly to the front of the school where he saw other students celebrating how well they did in their exams and saying what colleges they would like to get into.

Though he wouldn't say it, deep down, he felt jealous that they got to live his dream even though it was something as simple as attending college.

"Wait a minute. Isn't that that loser, Alexander?" Said one student on sighting him from the distance.

"Look how rough he looks. What the hell do you think happened to him?" Another asked.

"Maybe he tried to force himself on one of the students and her boyfriend or brother beat his ass up," Another said.

One after the other, comments and speculations about what could have caused him to be the way he was started to fly around, and then it finally started.

The laughter.

They all mocked him and his current pitiful state and then, mixed in with the gossip was the truth that he didn't write the college entrance exam like everyone else.

His classmates were the ones who exposed it.

Everyone made fun of him that he wasn't going to go to college like they were and hearing them say that stung Alexander like a thousand needle piercings.

After spending so many years in Coker Wake High School, Alexander had always known that they hated him because of his poor family background. He also knew that they were jealous of the fact that he got second position for every term since enrollment and if it wasn't for cheating, he would have been first place in front of Fredrick.

Alexander lowered his head, holding back the tears as he walked between the crowd of laughter and shaming slurs, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

Unfortunately, that was never going to happen.

Just as he got to the middle of the courtyard, a black Mercedes Jeep drove and parked in front of the school.

Out from it came a tall gentleman in a black three-piece suit who had an uncanny resemblance to Alexander.

"Dad?" Alexander mumbled when he saw his father looking as sharp as always. A criterion of working for the Dove family.