chapter 3

Finn’s Pov

There is something no one ever wants to see. No one wants to know what it feels like to be in front of the police station, eyes bloodshot red from tears as you beg for your mother to be freed.

And there is something that shouldn’t be seen. A picture of my lowest, the mugshot of my most embarrassing moment plastered on the walls as people laughed as they stared.

My body trembled, it felt like I couldn’t breathe as I stared at the pictures that decorated the walls.

“trailer boy! Do you think your mother would take a dollar to blow me off?”

“You'd better hope those lips don’t give you herpes!”

They jeered. Laughed as they said more than enough to force me blind with rage.

“Walk away,” Zale whispered behind my back.

I didn’t listen, I shoved through the crowd, my elbow hitting anything that stood by the side as I tore down the pictures. They could taunt me all they wanted, but my mother? That was the one thing that I didn’t want to listen to.

“Look at that, such a cunt,” a voice sneered.

I turned. Anger vibrated through my veins, as I grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer to my body, “What did you just say?” I growled.

He smirked, his eyes, flickering behind me, “How does it feel to know your mother does nothing but suck….”

He didn’t complete the words, didn’t get to say it to the end, my fist slammed hard against his jaw, knocking him down.

The crowd oohed, enjoying the drama that was about to unfold.

“Fight!” they chanted.

Zale rushed through, his hand grabbing me, “Don’t do this, don’t play into…”

I was too far gone in my rage to stop, this was far beyond logic, this was plain out anger. I huffed, ready to strike again, but the silence in the hallway made me freeze.

“Mr William!” a loud bark echoed through the walls.

The boy, the one I had punched, was screaming, his hand holding his nose as he tried to stop the blood from overflowing on his face. I blinked back the shock that I was feeling.

“My office now!” the dean snapped. His eyes turned to Zale, “Mr Brook, can you take him to the clinic,” he said.

Zale gave me a soft look, as he helped the boy to his feet. It didn’t end there, “I am going to have my father sue!” the boy raged.

The headmaster stared at me, his eyes filled with disappointment and anger, “My office, Mr William,” he said, walking away.

I saw them. Ace, Calista and Knox.

It all made sense.

They had planned this and I fell right into it.

A FEW MINUTES LATER.

“Do you know what it means to hit another student?” the dean asked, his eyes dripping with anger.

I could already tell he was thinking about what would happen with the fact that the boy was threatening to sue. He had what to protect. And me? Nothing. No one protects a charity case.

“They… he insulted my  mother, posted a picture that…”

“Mr William, if you are being bullied, you know what you are meant to do, there is a form and a….”

I drown out his voice, of course he would say that, a form to fill, while they ignore the horror that goes on behind their walls.

“I said it before and maybe I need to remind you. When we opened up our doors to you, you had promised that there would be nothing about your life that would disrupt the school’s peace,” he said, his eyes narrowed.

There it was, the one thing that always makes me guilty.

The trailer kid.

“It will not happen again,” I said, slowly bowing my head to the pressure.

He smiled, “Good, because if it does, we will have no other choice than to take away your scholarship, we have to protect our own,” he said.

Tears formed in my eyes, but I held back from letting them roll. He wouldn’t see me cry. They didn’t deserve to see me cry.

“Thank you,” I said.

I was out the door before he said anything else. I wasn’t sure of what I would do if he said anything more.

 ***

My phone chimed, I pulled it out of my pocket, my eyes widening as I stared at the screen, “Mom?”

Her loud sob echoed through the speakers, “They laid me off! I gave them my life and now I have…”

The world tilted, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move.

“What?” my voice quaked.

“They didn’t have the decency to…”

“Mom…”

“They have taken everything Finn, we have to… I have to find a place where I can put your brothers until we are…” The call ended, abruptly, scary.

I could call her back, but what was I going to say? That I was going to leave school? Try to find a job that would sustain us?

I was barely even holding on here.

Zale had been right, messing with Knox Cole would cost me more than I can fathom. And now, I had learnt the hard way, it has cost my mother her job.

“Mr William?”

My head snapped up, looking at the dean’s secretary. She didn’t smile, never has to me anyway. “Yes?” my voice was soft, low.

What more did they have to offer? What other trick did they have up their sleeves?

“Here, your dormitory reassignment,” she said.

I blinked, “What?”

“An aid will take you to your new room,” she said, walking away as if she was scared to catch what I had.

A misfortune, that was it.

I stared at the official letter, a dormitory change in the middle of the semester? This shouldn’t happen. Unless….

Knox Cole.

His silence hadn’t been for nothing. He had been planning, moving pieces, while I chased shadows. Throwing fists like what they knew I was.

A trailer boy.

Nothing worthy to be in their presence.

Everything was spinning and I was barely holding on.

I was finally understanding the elite world. They weren’t loud. slow, a poison that kills fast.