Chapter 3

She had asked him to meet at a famous garden. As he got there, he waited anxiously for her arrival. Some students were present and he could feel eyes all over him. But he didn't care.

"Hey errand boy!" A manly voice called out snapping Ivan out of his thoughts.

He looked in the direction of the caller only to realize it was Charlie.

"Yeah?" He answered, frowning.

Charlie placed his arm around Tara's shoulder "Get my girlfriend a drink will you?" He ordered, throwing money at Ivan.

Tara, unable to look Ivan in the face, just stared at the ground.

Ivan immediately became flushed with anger like his blood cells were replaced by it. "What did you just say?" He asked, his whole body shaking in anger. His eyes still wouldn't leave Tara's.

"You heard me, or is there something wrong with your hearing?" Charlie asked as he broke into laughter and some other students joined him.

"But…" he swallowed hard. There was a rigidness in his chest as he fought for the right words to use.

Tara had only called him at the center of the garden to embarrass him!

But why?

Students laughed at him, some of them teasing him for ever thinking he could get a girl like Tara as a girlfriend.

"But why?" He said at last.

She sighed, and although she was quiet, it didn't look like she regretted her actions.

"We made a bet. She was going to pretend like she was caring, then ask you to go out with her just because I asked her to!" Charlie said, roaring in thunderous laughter, clearly amused by Ivan's shame. "It's funny that you thought you could be with Tara, ha! So stupid of you."

Ivan bit his lips, but said nothing. He didn't want any trouble so he just turned to walk away, but Charlie stopped him pulling him by his collar. "And where do you think--"

There was a pause in the atmosphere. Everything stopped, the air around him was nothing but a soft whisper to his ears and the roaring and thundering mocking of the crowd came out as a mere echoing of quiet singing. Then anger began to simmer in his lungs and the only thing his brain could focus on was the fact that he was raging.

Without hesitation, Ivan threw his fist at Charlie's face knocking him to the ground with a bloody nose and he tasted a surge of coppery blood in his mouth. None of the students could believe their eyes.

Charlie's minions wanted to step in to help but he stopped them. "This is between this rag and I." Charging towards Ivan, he stumbled forward reeling from the hit, swinging blindly but managed to land a punch on Ivan making him collapse to the ground with Charlie towering over him and throwing punches from every corner.

Right before Charlie landed his finishing punch, a lecturer walked in on the gory scene and immediately separated them else Ivan would have taken his last breath.

Ivan was treated and as soon as he opened his eyes was taken to the director's office. Without being given a chance to explain himself, he was suspended for two weeks and wasn't allowed to attend the school dance.

"You're not even going to hear me out?" Ivan asked.

"Is there anything I should know?" The director answered with another question.

"That bastard almost killed me!" he yelled out slamming the table.

"No you attacked him first didn't you?"

"Yes but--"

"--but you did, which means Mr Graham was only trying to defend himself don't you think?"

"That's not it, there's more to the story--"

"--and I don't want to hear it."

Ivan wished he could find a way to change the director's mind but all would be in vain since Charlie was his nephew.

He stood up and walked away but the director stopped him. "You're a good kid Ivan, that's why I'm not rusticating you. You're lucky it's just suspension."

Ivan wanted to turn back and throw a punch at his face but that would get him rusticated and maybe even prison so he just walked away without looking back.

He went to pack his clothes but on his way out, Charlie stopped him. "This ain't over freak, I'm going to end you."

Ivan kept mute glaring at Charlie who continued in an erupting laughter.

"What! You wanna punch me again? Go ahead, come on, don't be shy." He teased as he poked Ivan in the chest.

Ivan shoved him aside and continued towards the exit while the other students murmured. He sighted Tara talking with a friend who pointed him out to her but she just ignored him and he walked away.

****

He needed a short cut and decided to pass a lonely looking alley that would lead him to the hospital faster. A few strange looking men passed by his side, making him glare suspiciously.

He noticed a few familiar faces from school and it made him curse out loud, it wasn't the kind of faces one would anticipate to see, they were Charlie's boys. He decided to turn back but some others were behind him and they had him surrounded.

"Fine, what do you guys want?" Ivan yelled.

"What we want is for you to get your butt out of our school." One of the guys responded.

"He got me suspended, isn't that enough?"

"No it's not." The leader of the minion answered.

He walked closer to Ivan and pushed him while another hit Ivan on the head.

"Arghh." Ivan groaned, falling to the ground.

"You don't belong in our school and we want you out–" He paused after reading through a message on his phone. "--we've got a message from Charlie. Boys, let's give it to him."

They all started to beat Ivan, punches and kicks from all directions and Ivan just laid on the ground crying in pain but there was no one to come to his rescue. One of them kicked Ivan in the gut making him spit out blood and he was already bleeding from his nostrils.

They beat him to their satisfaction which meant half to death and left him there. Before leaving, one of them said. "Next time you cross the line, we'll show no mercy, you'll die for real."

After lying on the ground for about five minutes, he picks himself up and heads to the nearest pharmacist to tend to his injuries before heading to the hospital.

He went straight to the accountant to deposit twenty thousand dollars from the money he had raised.

"Mr Shay!" A womanly voice called out to him.

He turned back only to notice Abigail jogging towards him "Oh hey doctor Abigail."

"Thank God I saw you before leaving, are you okay?" She asked, placing a hand on his face.

"Yeah I'm fine." He replied gently, removing her hand from his face and then covered up his wounds with his hands.

"Oh-kay, I just wanted to let you know that my boss wants me to put all your parents' treatment on hold until you deposit at least fifty percent of your parents' bills." She explained feeling guilty.

"Oh my! Fifty percent! Where am I gonna get such an amount of money?" He yelled out in fear.

I'm sorry." She replied in an empathetic manner.

"Here I was thinking the deposit I made today would go a long way." Ivan added with sad tears rolling down his face.

Abigail knew nothing she would say could ever comfort him so she just kept quiet.

****

After putting his parents to sleep at exactly eleven thirty at night, Ivan decides to get some coffee and walk around to clear his head before heading home. He took out his phone and searched for online jobs on the internet. Scrolling through a long list of online jobs, Ivan notices a black Bugatti la voiture noire that seemed to have been trailing him since he left the school. He decided to just ignore, maybe they weren't following him.

The faster he walked, the quicker they followed. He realized they were following him and instantly, fear gripped him.

The streets were quiet and empty that very night, even if he screamed for help, nobody would've heard. He decided to not act suspicious and hopefully find a taxi to drop him home.

Ivan tucked his phone into his pocket, beads of sweat already appeared on his forehead. His heart pounded and his knees wobbled but he didn't let it weigh him down.

He began jogging slowly and the car followed. He picked up the pace and ran as fast as he could without looking back, there wasn't a single taxi in sight and midnight soon approached.

Before Ivan could make a right turn leading to a dark alley, he felt a tight grip around his wrist, pulling him back with full force and Ivan was unsure of the next move to make.