The Evolution

22

"Wolf, I was told that you bended the rules a bit for my little sister." Donald almost scorned, but was still calm.

Wolf simply shrugged his shoulders with the same bored, cocky expression he always carried, unless he was pissed or extremely delighted about something. 

"So what? You expect her to walk around Eunjang completely mute?"

Donald respired and tapped his pen against his temple. "Wolf, am I sensing a bit of empathy? You haven't gone soft, have you?"

"Pfft," Wolf scoffed, "I was in a good mood today, okay? Plus, and I don't mean to be rude, but the rules you establish are sometimes really over the top."

"Well," Donald leaned back in his pricey leather chair to stretch out his body. His chair leaned back with him and pulled straight up with him in sync as he sat back up, "you're the one who allowed this. So I expect you to keep a good eye on her and make sure she won't take advantage of the freedom you gave her."

Wolf didn't like being commanded back and forth, but he didn't have the energy to protest against his leader. He agitatedly sighed while hanging his head down. 

"Don't worry, I already gave her a warning about that. I'm not sure what you did to her, but when it comes to bringing up her friends as a threat, she instantly submits to any order like a dog."

*******

The classroom was dead quiet, like a graveyard. The only person talking was the teacher, even though it seemed like he could sense the eerie vibe. But he chose to continue teaching because 1. that was his job, and 2. it would be very awkward if he chose to close his mouth and the classroom would be even more dead quiet, as if it was abandoned. An abandoned graveyard

When he excused his class (and himself to his office) for independent study for the last remaining fourty-five minutes, Gray headed off to the bathroom again, since he went there in the morning as well.

Stephenie was busy stealing glances to the left at Rebecca across the classroom, who was finishing copying down the notes on the chalkboard. She looked away a second before Rebecca would turn her head to see who kept giving her the feeling that she was being watched. Although she caught nobody, it was obvious Stephenie was the one.

When Stephenie was about to make one last attempt, her eyes locked with Rebecca's. She caught her. But neither of them moved. They just stared at each other as if they were playing that staring game. Rebecca's eyes were filled with apology while Stephenie's had plead all over them. 

'I'm so sorry.'

'Please talk to me.'

But the entire classroom was shooken up when the door slid open. Philip Kim walked into the classroom he disrupted with a small group of upperclassmen behind him, all of whom had their backs slouched and hands in their pockets. 

This time, both Rebecca and Stephenie were prepared. They had heard various stories of Philip and his many incidents on bullying many students. But it only took a few beatings to diminish his sandcastle of pride and injustice.

He stopped in front of Rebecca, but she continued writing her notes calmly. The rest of the class, including Stephenie and Eugene, had their eyes focused, waiting for what was about to happen next.

When Rebecca couldn't remember the next few bullets to write down, she tilted her head up to meet Philip's eyes.

"You're in the way of the board. Please move," she spoke. Her eyelids were flat and her voice was expressionless but demanding. 

Philip smirked and leaned forward to place his face in front of hers. He was so close that Rebecca could even smell his smokey breath through his black mask.

"I see you've gotten tougher. How 'bout you join my gang? We can introduce you to our favorite wimps, and maybe even challenge those who actually have the balls to talk back to us. You know, get a little bit of fighting in you and give you a taste of what the Union might be like."

'Bitch, I am the Union. I will even be the Union someday.'

Rebecca stood up, placed her palms on her desk, and leaned even closer so that her forehead was touching Philip's. "How does a fucker like you even get the audacity to approach me after those times you gotten your ass beat? Did those punches and kicks knock the braincells out of you? Or maybe I'm assuming that you think I'm not aware of this crap. Well, love to break it to ya, you assumed wrong. Big time, buddy. Just because I wasn't there to witness them, doesn't mean I'm stupid. "

Philip broke into a cold sweat, even when he kind of knew, and feared deep down, that she would bring this up. Thinking of a next move would've been the smartest thing to do. Even his brainless goons would know that. But Philip's overfilling ignorance buried that thought deeper and deeper all the way down below the soles of his feet. Now, he was exposed and humiliated infront of a classroom teeming with students who didn't even know which side of the playpen smelled the worse. And they were snickering at him behind their books and hands. For his goons, they wouldn't have join him if they weren't stupid enough to actually be convinced to side with such a coward. So they were equally humiliated.

"Now step out of my sight. I don't want to see you anywhere from now on. Or else, I'm going to take you down my own way. I may not be a natural fighter, but that doesn't mean I'm completely weak." She pointed her finger right in front of his sweaty nose behind his mask. "I suggest you don't test me. The goes for the rest of you shits as well," she eyed the boys behind Philip, who nodded their heads.

'She's definitely a natural Na, though,' they thought together. If there was one thing she and her brother had in common, it was pure leadership. A five-foot freshman from one of the lowest ranked schools recorded in Shuttle Patch with almost no meat on her bones just made six tall, buff upperclassmen kiss her feet under ten minutes with simply words and words only. What a record.

They left defeated. Gray, who happened to arrive just at that moment made them speed up their pace, which left him slightly puzzled. There weren't any fresh cuts or bruises from what he could tell. But there was a scar. A very deep, permanent scar of defeat, surrender, and over power.

When Gray walked in the classroom, Rebecca sat back down nonchalantely and continued writing bullet points down. Gray noticed how Eugene was as taken back as the rest of the classmates except Stephenie. Stephenie had a motivated smile on her face.

'You go, girl.'

"Hey, what happened?" Gray whispered as he scooted into his chair.

Eugene and Stephenie leaned close to Gray. 

"Philip paid a visit while you were gone and tried to get Rebecca to join his stupid gang," Eugene said.

Stephenie snickered, "But she told him off pretty quick like a boss." Eugene couldn't contain his laughter either.

Although they were both whispering, everyone in the class was able to hear them. Eugene gave up on holding it in and suddenly burst out howling with laughter. Small drops of tears formed at his eyelids. His laugh eventually made Stephenie break into a fit of giggles.

"That son of a bitch," Eugene hicked between his laughter, "will probably never approach anyone again. And he didn't even get punched!"

That comment had the class cackling. They slapped the desks, cried behind their notebooks, and played the video of Philip being told down repetitively. Each time never seemed to get old. The classroom was so loud other people came to see what all the ruckus was about. The students quickly exchanged videos. Now, more people from different classrooms were trying to catch their breaths from laughing so hard. Gray couldn't help but cover his mouth and chuckle along. Rebecca sounded like she was crying because she was containing her laughter more than anyone else, though she wasn't sure why. Her head was burrowed in her arms, but peaked through a small gap, looking at Stephenie. Stephenie returned her glance. Both laughed continuously while gazng at each other. Nobody could remember the last time they've felt so glorious.