1
Jude thought his last year in senior high school would be different and less heartbreaks, but his presumption turned out to be nothing more than an illusion.
The bullying grew worse with each passing day, and no one knew the devastating toll it had taken on him.
For him, going to school felt so heavy and demoralizing.
It was a dilemma he carried with him every day despite his profound love for academics.
It was a gloomy and windy afternoon. A moderately cold atmosphere enveloped the whole town due to constant rain for the past few days.
Jude checked the weather before going to school this morning.
Tomorrow, the sun will be out. He had developed a habit of checking the weather forecast, which had gradually become a personal interest over time.
Although Jude loved rainy days, he also preferred coming to school not soaked by rainwater. He must walk or commute after all.
The second semester had just started. After the short first-semester break, students did not seem to have moved on yet. The school was in a total buzz. Jude, in all his might, prayed that, just like his classes this morning, he hoped this afternoon would be peaceful too.
Jude kept his gaze lowered as he carried his lunch tray, piled with vegetables and a small serving of protein, while quietly searching for an empty seat.
He half expected someone to knock the tray from his hands, sending food splattering across his face, or to trip him and send him stumbling to the floor.
But fortunately, none of that had happened today—at least, not yet.
Finding a seat in the cafeteria had become one of the hardest parts of Jude’s venture. Everyone wore cruelty so casually, including his own sister, who would rather leave a chair empty than let him sit beside her.
Mitch Finn, his only sibling, was a year older than him.
She was currently in her first year of college, majoring in a Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management.
She was one of the famous cheerleaders in school.
She had hair of pure, spun gold that broke into soft waves at the ends, contrasting sharply with his messy, black curls.
She did not wear eyeglasses, unlike him.
She got her statuesque build from Francis, their dad, and hazel brown eyes from Elvie, their mother, whereas Jude got rare, deep, vivid grey eyes from neither of his parents.
Another feature that set him apart from the rest of his family was the dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks.
Mitch was undeniably gorgeous, whereas he always thought he was not so blessed with looks, something that was obvious, why he thought he was prone to bullying and discrimination—that was what he had observed in his whole nineteen years of existence: those who have the looks are respected, and those who are deprived are treated in contrast. It was a belief that had been quietly ingrained in him since childhood, until he accepted it as an undeniable truth about himself.
As a matter of fact, many of the school’s varsity players had tried to court his sister, but she turned every one of them down because her heart belonged to Sky Granger alone.
She was popular and protective of her reputation; that was why Jude believed she kept her distance from him and never involved herself in any of his activities at school.
To her, he was nothing more than an embarrassment, someone whose existence could tarnish the image she had worked so hard to maintain.
She only talked to him at home, but very rarely, and he never felt like she truly cared about how he felt or about him in general.
She did not say she disliked or hated him, but he could feel it through her treatment.
Aside from being genetically paired, Jude could say that he and Mitch are somewhat different in attitude and overall personality.
Jude wanted to believe she was not ashamed of him, but the way she treated him made it difficult. He had done nothing wrong to deserve being cast aside simply because the people at their school disliked him. Sometimes, he could not help but wonder if they really were siblings.
“Watch where you are going, fag.” Jude returned to his trance when he bumped into a random college student wearing his aircraft’s uniform, almost spilling his lunch on the white cotton.
“Sorry.” He apologized softly, ducking his head sheepishly.
Jude could feel the sudden gush of blood going up to his ears.
Not long after, he spotted a circle of high-fashion friends leaving a table.
He quickly strode towards it after the group was nowhere in sight.
In the end, he sat by himself at the rectangular furniture, the vacant metal chairs encircling him like silent reminders of his isolation.
Nevertheless, for him, being alone felt so much better.
If there was one thing he wanted above all else, it was a moment of genuine peace, yet it always seemed to drift just beyond his grasp, always far out of reach.
He always felt cursed by a relentless lack of fortune, but in the end, what power did he have to change it?
What else could he do? He was just a mere person. Fate obviously was not on his side.
Jude fixed his thick-rimmed eyeglasses on the bridge of his nose, mumbled a quick prayer, and started eating silently.
He barely even chewed what he ate and swallowed it directly so he could leave the place sooner.
He did not look around and focused his eyes on the plate as if it were a final written exam.
Despite his focus, he could see in his peripheral vision the judging eyes of people darting onto him.
He even heard a few talking about him, spreading false gossip, and making up stories.
Some students threw balled-up papers, small pebbles, and some leftovers that hit his back.
Jude did not care at all.
This was why he always brought an extra uniform, getting used to these petty things somehow.
The senior high school male uniform he was wearing consisted of a long-sleeved white shirt layered beneath a black sleeveless buttoned blazer, paired with plain dark blue trousers and black semi-pointed shoes.
The female uniform resembled the same design as the male uniform in the upper half.
The difference lay at the bottom: a black skirt that fell just above the knees, decorated with dark blue-and-white stripes.
However, most of the students, especially those considered it-girls and brats, intentionally rolled their waistbands, turning the modest skirts into minis to show as much leg as possible.
Jude snapped out of his thoughts when silence suddenly dominated the cafeteria; the throwing stopped, the noise dropped, and that was because of a sole horrific reason—and to him, it was never a wonder.
Jude lacked the courage to find out why.
But his heart skyrocketed uncontrollably as he clung to the hope that his intuition had wronged him at least this time.
However, after all these years, his feelings were always right when it came to him.
For over five years, he had always been around him in school; his body seemed to spontaneously react as if there was a magnetic force whenever he was near or just around.
He already knew him very well. He could already sense his presence without even looking.
Jude jerked in his chair, his heart lurching into his throat as a stack of notebooks and folders crashed onto the table with a deafening slam. The sharp sound echoed through the room, leaving his body rigid with fear.
“Hey, faggot.” Julius greeted—one of Sky’s best friends. “Eating alone again?” he asked.
Sky sat right across from Jude, his hands clasped together on the table while his brows were creased, glaring at the terrified person across from him. Jude, on the other hand, only faced his plate, which was barely even touched.
“It’s not something new, dude,” Kevin, the other best friend, said.
Kevin was standing right beside Sky while crossing his arms over his chest.
“A nerdy faggot can never have friends. Such a pity.” Julius crudely mocked, snickering on the other side, while his hands were in the pockets of his pants.
Jude kept his eyes fixed on his barely eaten food, never having the guts to look at these arrogant bastards, most especially the man with suffocating perfume and intoxicating presence right in front of him.
“Brought you some of my shits,” he began.
“Since you were absent for two days straight, my schoolwork has piled up. The class will have an opening exhibition tomorrow, you already know that. Hand these to me at exactly seven at the back of the school, you got me?” he instructed with imbued authority, leaving Jude no room to protest, as if he would do that anyway.
Jude offered nothing but a silent nod, his lips pressed tightly together with magnifying tremors.
After a couple of seconds, Sky’s palms slammed onto the table as he surged to his feet.
The sudden, violent thud of the impact made Jude recoil in his chair and elicited a few collective gasps among the crowd.
“You already know what would happen to you if you don’t comply, fag.” he threatened as he leaned in with a lethal and predatory expression. “Try me.”
Sky waved a hand to Julius, signaling him to do something.
Julius seemed to know the assignment and leaned closer to Jude.
In a swift move, he flipped the tray on the table.
The food on Jude’s tray directly hit his face.
There was a joint fake shock around before fits of laughter filled the cafeteria.
Jude bowed his head. His lips were pressed, and his hands fidgeted anxiously between his legs.
Nonetheless, Jude was somehow grateful that the vegetable soup was no longer hot, as it dripped thickly down his face, soaking his crumpled, somewhat stained, yellowish uniform.
He stayed there, dumbfounded, watched by familiar eyes.
As expected, no one came forward to help.
Although Jude always said he somehow got used to bullying, when it came to Sky Granger, he easily freaked out and got extremely scared. He was awfully different. He was the exact definition of evil, and he hated him to the moon and back.
And even so, he still got hurt all these years.