A RISE FOR GRACE

I opened my desk, and it's full of trash again today. This has been happening since the moment I arrived at this school on sponsorship. It's ridiculous that people would still be bullying others in university.

Such behavior should have been left behind in high school. It's disheartening that fully grown adults still indulge in such acts.

Unfortunately, I wasn't in the best of moods today. In annoyance, I picked up the desk, walked towards Fredrico's desk, and emptied the entire trash on him.

The whole class was shocked, but Fredrico looked angrier than anyone, like an angry lion ready to pounce on its prey. I could tell he wanted to strangle me.

"Are you crazy?" he questioned. "Why would you pour trash on me? Do you have a death wish?"

"Yes, I do," I shouted back. "Do you think I've been keeping quiet all this time because I'm easy to bully or I can't stand up to you?

If you expect me to kiss up to you like everyone else in this place, seeking to be in your good books and doing ridiculous things for you, then you've got another thing coming."

He looked stunned by my outburst, but he couldn't bear the embarrassment. He mentioned his family, as always. "Do you know who I am?" he stuttered.

"Yes, who are you? Tell me something I don't already know. Everyone sings praises about how your family is the second wealthiest in the city, but does that put food on my table? Why do I have to put up with you?"

"Look at me, young man, and open your ears. Tell your minions to stop messing with me. The fact that you don't get directly involved doesn't make you a saint.

You nag about how you hate to share the same air with a poor person like myself. Does being poor make me less of a human?"

"Yes," he screamed at my face. "Do you realize that if not for that old man insisting on me getting my education in this country, I wouldn't be in this space with you? Being in this school is frustrating enough; I can't bear to put up with a needy student like yourself in my class.

In case you don't realize it, this school is for the best in the country. We can't afford to have a beggar like yourself taint this environment. Everything about you is so cheap; even the aids in our house dress far better than you," he rambled.

"I will make sure you pay dearly for this," he shouted, storming out of the class. I hadn't realized I had exhausted myself bantering words with that jerk. I slumped in my chair, rethinking my actions. I could hear murmurs around me, questioning my courage.

I wished I could turn back time and not take out my frustration on him, but the deed was done. All I could do now was wait for the consequences of my actions. One thing was for sure: what I did couldn't end well.

It's better I take a break from school today and call in sick at work to regain my energy. I stood up to leave, but just then, Fredrico walked in with his bodyguard prancing after him, holding a shopping bag.

He snatched the bag from him and tossed it at me. It contained the clothes I had poured the trash on earlier.

"I want repayment," he blurted. I spun in his direction, really shocked to hear that from him. "What did you say?" I questioned in fear, hoping I had misheard him and he hadn't just asked me to refund him for his clothes.

The entire living allowance I get per month couldn't buy his jacket alone, let alone the entire outfit.

"Are you deaf?" he questioned with a mocking smirk on his face. "Why do you look so shocked? Can you not afford to pay for it, yet you ruined my clothes?"

"Fredrico, why are you trying to make life difficult for me? You know I'd have to save up my allowance for a whole year without touching it at all if I were to pay for the cheapest of your clothes.

Where do you expect me to get that kind of money from?"

He burst out laughing, and everyone else joined him. "Why do you look so tamed right now? What happened to the fierce lady who poured trash on me earlier? Rita, just so you know, the clothes you just ruined are a custom-made order from bougie and classy and I had barely worn it for two hours"

He's got to be kidding me. A shirt from that brand costs $1,500. I don’t need to inquire about the cost of the complete outfit. I know I can’t afford to repay him, so let me just beg him with the hope that he will let me go. I knelt and apologized to him.

“I’m really sorry, can you just let me go this once? I promise to live like a ghost henceforth, just let me go this once,” he was grinning and enjoying the sight of me making myself pathetic. “If you had not done what you did this morning,

I might have considered forgiving you in exchange for you being invisible, but you lost your chance already,” he seemed really happy at this point, to have been able to mend his ego that I bruised by embarrassing him earlier. "You're worth less than someone I could keep by my side.

I would have considered making you pay by serving me, but that would be a mild punishment. I will sell you to Club Sham, I hear they pay really well." I was mad hearing the gibberish coming from him. "Are you mad? Do you think you own me?

What makes you think I’m a commodity you can sell?" With a mocking grin on his face, he responded, "Watch me. You might not know this, but there are a lot of your type in there; you will feel very much at home. Being a prostitute will definitely suit you better than this."

“Riddle me, what did you write as your long-term dream in your statement of intention?” I looked at him with so much anger eating me up from within, but I know it will be better for me to not overcomplicate things for myself by making him angrier than he is already. So, I kept quiet.

He bent down and whispered in my ear “I hope you’re really good in bed, if you are, I might grace you with the pleasure of getting a taste of me”. I looked at him and what I really want to do at that point was grab his head and smash it on the wall.

The nerve of this bastard. I am done being apologetic at this point. To hell with him and his evil plot.

I made my way to my seat, grabbed my bag and left the class without saying another word to him but I could hear the loud sheering of my course mates praising him like he just saved a country by bullying me.