Chapter 8

A loud siren indicated the beginning of another day. I stood up, changed into home wear, washed, and brushed my teeth. Only after doing everything I noticed, Annie, as well as Greg were absent.

"Strange, why are they both out?" I felt that the more time I spent here, the more things I forget.  It started yesterday, I started forgetting more things than I needed, but I shook it away.

"It's better this way."

I was finally able to take a breather after trying to not do anything "out of character".

After enjoying my free time, I went to school. If I remember correctly, today we will have P.E.

I mentioned it before, but this school had a heavy emphasis on raising up athletes. That's why there were fewer "normal" classes. Students spend most of their time in the "clubs". To be more precise, those smaller buildings of different colors held different sports facilities, and all clubs had professional coaches and equipment. Different colors of the buildings indicated to which branch of sport it belonged. For example, red was for various martial arts, while blue was for any sport that included water, and so on.

So P.E. was more to the students that aimed for paperwork. Those attending clubs and trying to reach the top were almost exempted from attending 'normal' lectures and seminars. The only reason that made them attend those lessons was a requirement to fill up a short attending record.

Well, it didn't really matter to me. If it was P.E., it meant that I won't be surrounded by those sports freaks from school.

After finishing everything I needed to do, I closed the door and went to school.

It was the middle of October, but the weather was hot. Most of the passersby wore light clothes. Now that I thought about it, school here started in September. Everything that happened to this body occurred in one and a half months.

It worked for me. As I missed all the interactions with the antagonist, I now can spend my time peacefully.

I soon reached the school and went to the classroom. Unlike the first day, I already learned the route, and a few minutes later, I was sitting in my seat and talking to Jet.

"What's up, big guy?"

"Um, nothing?" I didn’t know why he would ask this.

"You don’t look like "nothing", does something worry you?"

"I don't think so."

"Ah, you don't need to hide it from me." He patted me on the shoulder. "Is it about the P.E? You shouldn't worry too much. I won't beat you too much, big guy." He tried to make a condescending face but couldn’t hold his smile off.

"Heh, whatever." His awkward attempt at cheering me up worked.

Even if I'm trapped here for some time, I still have Jet. He reminded me of Andrew, and I think his friendship with the host was real.

We talked with him about some small stuff, and it was soon time for the bell to ring. As we both greeted Elle and Joanne, I opened my study book to review everything.

That was when I got slapped on the back of my head.

"What's up, fuckhead!?"

I almost fell face-first on the table from the abruptness of the slap. While my heart nearly leaped from my throat.

"Eyy, why are you silent? You shitbag," the guy who slapped me now stood in front of the desk.

After the initial shock from the slap was gone, I instantly recognized the guy in front of me.

Short, reddish spiky hair. Brown eyes with small pupils that resembled the bead-like eyes of a white shark. He had a well-built body. I think he didn’t lose even one bit to me in anthropometry. With a smirk on his face, he stood there, securing his gaze on me. Behind him were some cackling guys. They were probably his "gang".

I've had luck, bad enough, to meet him.

Reid Jones. He was the main antagonist of the game. A young star of the school. A supernova in the world of mixed martial arts and one of the most athletic and strongest boys in the whole four grades of Birchland High. Being in the first year himself, it said a lot about his fighting capability.

In combination with the aforementioned fact, he had an influential family. I don't remember what they did in the game. But I do remember for sure that they cleaned up the mess he left behind every time.

There was a saying that acutely described what his design back in the game implied. He was the "king of the school".

And now I should do something with this situation, but what should I do? Fight back? But I never fought in real life. I was afraid of fighting, so I always evaded 'bad' companies. Even if I was cornered, I always managed to resolve every conflict with words.

Yet what should I do right now? I doubt I can resolve this with just my words.

I secretly glanced at Jet, but he shrunk back at his end of the desk and tried to erase his presence. Even if I was pissed off deep inside, I can't be mad at Jet. After all, he was even less of a fighter than me. I glanced behind Reid, I saw our homeroom teacher, but he as well turned his eyes away.

I didn’t know what to do, so I resorted to the only thing I could've done. I tried to ignore him. He talked shit to me for a few minutes after the school bell rang, but I ignored him all the time. After seeing that I won't even look at him and stare down no matter what, he finally gave up.

After he sat down, our teacher then started his lesson as if nothing happened.

"Sorry, big guy. I should've helped you, but you know how I am. I can't fight," Jet whispered to me. He looked remorseful.

"I understand."

The lesson was going uneventfully until I felt someone throwing a ball of paper. I turned around and saw Reid grinning and giggling while talking to his henchmen.

Is he in kindergarten? He would resort to this kind of thing? Well, if he doesn’t start a fight, I don’t care.

But he didn’t stop on this. He pestered me all the time, throwing things, making noises to distract me when I was answering the teacher's question, trying to trip me or bump into me on the breaks.

It was all small stuff, but my patience was running low. I severely underestimated these little dirty tricks. Thinking that he would eventually get bored, I endured everything, but he didn’t even think about stopping.

After the last lesson before the P.E., we went to the school canteen with Jet. Elle and Joanne were class representatives or something like this, so they had a task from the teacher, and we separated.

I went to the canteen with Jet to grab something to eat.

"Big guy, cheer up. It won't be long until Reid disappears again."

"Why's that? Is it because he will fill up his attendance record?"

"Nah, he only attends when he is recovering from the fights. But he heals faster than a dog that was beaten, so he will soon leave."

"That's… good to hear."

But Jet's attempts to cheer me up ended up in vain. As we went back to the table to finally enjoy our meal, someone bumped into me, and I dropped my plate full of food. Seeing Reid smiling in the distance, I could only sigh and clean up after myself. At least Jet helped me with this.

"This is nothing. I can endure it," thinking like this, I was changing into my P.E. uniform. Shorts and a t-shirt, in fact, most of the clothes I had back in the wardrobe were sporty. I didn’t really feel like this P.E. "uniform" was different.

It all started with stretching. Our P.E. teacher showed us the moves while we repeated them. After this, we went running and did some more exercises, and of course, Reid didn’t waste his opportunities to harass me every time.

I was getting tired of this. After a light warm-up, everyone who wasn't in any club went to an open-air lecture hall. We listened to a lecture from a P.E. instructor. It was about the different workouts and how to avoid traumatizing yourself.

After all, this school would rear managers or coaches. That's why all the fundamental info was drilled into our heads. As I listened to the lecture, I got hit by a ball a few times.

Yeah. As we were getting lectured about this and that, Reid and his goons got the ball from the instructor. As they were all attending clubs, they had no need to listen to the lecture. And of course, this jerk felt obliged to hit me as many times as he could.

"He's such a piece of shit," Elle, who sat near me fumed, "Why does he do this in the first place? He should just piss off and go fight another dumbass like him. Don't you think so too, Joanne?"

"Mmmh." Joanne hummed as she nibbled on her lower lip. If I had the same face as her yesterday, I could've understood why Mara let me out peacefully. Nevertheless, I didn't have enough patience to pay attention to her.

"By the way, why are you here?" I couldn’t help but ask Elle. She was a runner and attended the appropriate club. So, technically, she had no need to attend this lesson.

"How could I leave you all?"

"You made a few mistakes in the word Erlig." Jet grinned

"Buzz off, shrimp." Elle rolled her eyes at him.

Our lecture was nearing the end, and Maybe Reid got finally tired of being a scumbag as he stopped hitting me with the ball.

They missed their last shotб and the ball rolled almost to my legs. Of course, everyone tacitly ignored it once again.

"Hey, fuckhead, bring the ball back to us," Reid shouted, but I decided to ignore him. He can do whatever he wants but I won't be his errand boy.

I heard someone walking closer to where I was sitting.

"When I tell you to do something, you should do it right away."

As he came closer, I felt how Reid wanted to slap me once again. Then something unexpected happened, I didn't know why, but I stood up and caught his hand before he could swing it. Maybe it was because of the reflexes of this body?

Anyway, if my body was this good that I could stop him without thinking, I decided to stop this now. After all, I didn’t have many choices.

"Listen, you…"

But before I could finish saying what I wanted I saw an elbow coming straight to my face. I couldn't even react as it smashed my nose. I stumbled back and fell down.

Everything happened within a matter of a few seconds. Yanking his hand back, Reid took a fighting stance and hit me with his elbow. It was the first time I was hit since the time I spent in an elementary school. As I grew up, I was never punched by anyone anymore. I didn’t know what to do and froze up. It wasn't as painful as I always imagined, but the sheer fact of me being hit frightened me.

Reid spat near my face "I told you before, don't touch me you trash."

"Ah, Aaah. Teacher, students are fighting!" Jet screamed and rushed to the teacher.

Joanne and Elle hastily went to me and helped me stand up. They were talking about something with Reid and me, but I couldn’t hear a single word.

I was shocked. How did this happen?

"Oh my god, Erlig, you're bleeding." Elle quickly took a handkerchief and handed it over to me. But I was standing there absolutely stupefied. She had to stuff it into my hands and then press my hands against my nose.

"What happened here?" Finally, our teacher made his way here.

"Erlig, he got hit by Reid." Elle still held my hands for me.

"Hey, hey, he was the one who initiated the fight," Reid only smirked at her words.

"What are you talking about, you jerk. How can this be called starting a fight!"

"Enough, we will deal with this later, and now we should walk this student to the infirmary."

I still couldn’t wrap my head around everything that happened. I was hit? I?

"Class dismissed." Our teacher glanced at me and then guided me to the school infirmary. As there are always heaps of different injuries, it was more like a small modern hospital.

The school nurse… The school doctors looked me over. I wasn't following any of their words, so the teacher had to explain everything to them in my stead.

There was a cut on my nose bridge, but I was lucky enough to not get a concussion or get my nose squashed. Apparently, I was alright. But I still should visit the infirmary tomorrow after lessons for a thorough checkup. They handed me a piece of ice to hold against my nose.

As I was listening to the doctors with a muddled head, a student entered the ward. He looked the room over. When he saw me, he walked towards me.

"Are you Erlig?"

I nodded.

"After finishing your business here, you should visit the guidance counselor."