The House of Izhar

Chapter 7 - Extras

The days passed faster than we thought. We learnt to brush off the bullies and get through our day. Rocket always tries to put on a brave face but I can see right through his mask. He's always terrified to return to his dorm, always keen on leaving it.

Rocket and I were on our way to dinner when our house chiefs stopped us. They motioned for us to follow them through the long corridor.

"Did we do anything wrong?" Rocket whispered into my ear.

"In trouble again Izhar?" A voice bellowed giving emphasis to the last word. Brooke and his goons smirked as they sauntered in the opposite direction towards the canteen.

I lunged toward him but Rocket held me back. He shook his head and bit his lip telling me it was not worth it.

The two men took us into the chief's office. Each chief occupied one of the four walls. Each wall has been decorated with plaques and medals of achievements from their houses respectively. The room was relatively large. In the centre of the arched ceiling draped four magnificent banners each representing one of the houses. It provided enough space for four individual large desks filled to the brim with all sorts of paperwork, a charming trophy case and a grand bookshelf. The large windows allow the glistening orange and magenta light to stream into the room in streaks. The light bounces off every possible shiny object making the whole place feel magical.

"Stand in the centre, both of you," Cornwall instructed.

He had this peculiar accent that is so vastly different from everyone else around here. Maybe he's an immigrant? The chiefs took their places behind their desks and handed out a handful of exercise books to us. Our exercise books. Why do they have our exercise book?

"Have a flip through them, kids," Danson said sorrowfully. "What do you see?"

Red, red streaks everywhere. An uncountable number of annotations filled the pages. I could see my uncle's hands furiously trembling. He could not believe what he was seeing.

"Now, I need both of you, to be honest with us. Did you have any former education before this?" Danson asked.

We shook our heads and we saw the disappointment grow within them. "As of today," Cornwall breathed, "you two will attend extra classes to catch up with your friends."

'Friends' like I have any of those. It's only Rocket and I against the world. I don't even like my roommate. She would always try and distance herself from me as much as possible. She wouldn't dare be seen with me. It was only recently that I found out she was a Connally too. Honestly, I feel like she's more brutal than her brother. She's evidently smarter and she has a way to make herself the superior one without being as physical as her brother.

"Every day, starting next week, after school, for an hour, both of you will go to class 9G. Got that?"

We both nodded and were dismissed. We made our way, keeping our chins up through the canteen to collect our food to go. We must not give others the satisfaction of taking us down with their tongues. We made our way to the usual spot as we gazed into the sunset and the rising stars. Occasionally, we would see a shooting star and we would mumble a wish. Our nook was quiet and safe.

"There are hundreds of people here, but we are still as alone as ever."

"We still have each other," I said as I wrapped an arm around him holding him tight. "We Izhar's stick together. Don't ever forget that."

The weekend had arrived and several students decided to spend it with their parents while others decided to go into town. Needless to say, the school had gone very quiet during the day. Almost nobody except the occasional staff was around. Rocket and I took this opportunity to sneak into the kitchen and 'borrow' a dozen knives. We stealthily made our way to the perimeter of the school grounds. The back end of the school was surrounded by large dark oak trees.