𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐧 - #𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤

#1 - THE OUTCAST.

TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️

There were lots of flowers and postcards on his desk again and I didn't even need to move closer to know what they had written on the cards. RIP, We hope you're happy there, We miss you, Love you, and all that, when in reality, they had never loved him. They didn't even know his name. They all called him The Outcast. They'd been calling him that for so long that lines had blurred and sometimes, I was sure even he must have forgotten his name.

I can still remember vividly when it all began, every single detail that led up to this moment. It all started on the first day of SS1, the first day he stepped into this school...

He was the new student, the newly transferred student that the students had heard about a week before his arrival. The one whose social affiliations they'd been trying to gauge. They were already labeling him way before they met him, if he'd be rich enough to belong to the IT circle, if he'd be one of the middle students; or the "just there" students, the students who weren't enough to be anywhere.

But they all didn't have to bother when they saw him that Monday morning. Why bother trying to gauge his social status when he looked like that?

His looks already solidified where he belonged, which could only be among the lowest of the lows because boys weren't supposed to look the way he did.

Boys weren't supposed to look flabby, they weren't supposed to have round chests that looked like they were growing boobs.

They weren't supposed to have asses that jiggle as they walked.

They weren't supposed to look that feminine.

And when he opened his mouth to introduce himself in front of the class, the whole class burst into laughter at the sound of his voice.

Loud, derisive, mocking laughter, one that made him bite down on his lower lip to stop the tears from falling because he knew why they were laughing. He had dealt with it in his former school and now, it looked like it would be the same thing all over again.

"This one is a girl in a boy's body," A loud masculine voice that belonged to Jude sneered at him, "I mean, just look at that body. Even some girls are nowhere near this endowed."

"That's enough, Jude," The teacher snapped at him. "You guys should be nice to your new classmate. That's an empty seat right there," the teacher turned to the new boy, pointing to an empty seat. "Make yourself comfortable."

But he couldn't make himself comfortable. How could he even be comfortable when, with each step he took, the whole class shook with laughter? How, with each step he took, they tapped each other and pointed at him while giggling hard?

"Wow, big yansh dey shake oo." Another guy that was sitting beside Jude piped, causing the whole class to double up in laughter and my heart bled for the new boy as he dragged his body towards the empty seat.

But I did nothing.

No one did anything.

I said nothing.

No one said anything.

We all just let it happen.

************

That was how it started and that was how it continued.

Jude and his minions had singled him out to be the object of their deriding jokes and pranks.

And well, the rest of the class enjoyed it. They had a good time laughing at his expense and the others that didn't enjoy it dared not speak up.

Speaking up would mean defying Jude.