The Spark of Malice

[CONTINUATION]

Fae Harlow: (Angry) “JAMES BELFORK!”

James Inner Monologue: (Scared) “Isn’t that Fae? Why would he be calling me at a time like this? I didn’t do anything, did I?”

Fae Harlow confronted James Belfork as he left the class to proceed to the next one. The attention of all the students in the hallway went towards James and Fae, as Fae had shouted James' name loud enough for most classes to hear the commotion.

Fae Harlow: “BELFORK.” Red in the face.

James Belfork: (Nervous) “Fae? What do you need?”

Fae Harlow: (Serious) “What's your relationship with that new transfer student?”

James Belfork: “...” Thinking

Fae Harlow: “What, you can't hear me or something?” Threatening voice.

James Inner Monologue: (Nervous) “How do I respond to this? Should I tell him the truth, or just pretend to be ignorant? If I say something wrong, he might hurt me.”

James Belfork: “Uhh, she's a childhood friend of mine.” Shaky voice.

Fae Harlow: (Pissed) “A childhood friend? Do you expect me to believe that someone like her would be a friend of yours willingly?” Shouting.

Fae slightly raises his hand and steps forward.

James flinches slightly.

James Belfork: (Intimidated) “You can ask her if you don't believe me.” He takes a step back.

Fae Harlow: (Calms down) “Okay, and what if she says otherwise? Do you think I'll let you go, if I find out you threatened or use some other means to get her to talk to you?” Intimidating James.

James Belfork: (Scared) “I suppose you wouldn't.” Sweating buckets.

As Fae is about to say more to James, a teacher came out of a class to tell the two to stop arguing and head to class unless they want extra after-school work to do.

Fae left first, and James waited a bit before going to his next class, where he was more irritable than usual.

[SCENE CHANGE FAES POV]

Fae and his goons (friends) left and are heading towards class after his confrontation with James about why he's so close with Clover.

Fae Harlow: (Annoyed) “Who does that bastard think he is?” Glances at his friend.

Goon 1: (Non-caring) “Yeahh, who does he think he is, trying to take the girl you like for himself.” Fake pissed.

(As it stands in this world, one's partner is chosen for them at the age of 3. Fae also got a partner; however, they died the year after because of illness, and because of this, Fae is looking for someone to be his new partner. Those who have partners all regardless of whether their male or female, wear accessories that signify their being taken; these accessories are often earrings or rings, along with equipment.

Clover doesn't wear any accessories, as the engagement between her and James was nullified when James was found to have F-rank aptitude. This is why Fae wants to get with Clover.)

Fae Harlow: (Irritated) “I swear, if i ever catch him near Clover again.” Clenches Jaw.

Fae and his friends eventually to class.

[SCENE CHANGE JAMES POV]

James walks to class while being a reasonable distance from Fae and tries to figure out why Fae confronted him about Clover.

James Inner Monologue: (Nervous) “Why’s Fae after me? I didn't do anything. He luckily let me go when I said, Clover is my childhood friend, but I can’t trust that she’ll back me up if anything happens.”

James gets to class, where Clover starts a conversation with him again, after their done with the lesson. Clover asks James if he was doing alright, as he took a long time to get to class, and she was worried about him. James said he was ‘’Fine‘’ and just got lost since he hadn't been to the class they were going to in a long time.

Clover was skeptical of what James had said, as he had been in the school for many years, and she knew (due to various reasons) that the school doesn't normally switch around students and teachers.

Eventually, James and Clover's conversation ended, and they went through the rest of the day's schedule, with Clover mainly being the person to initiate conversation between her and James. After classes, when it was the end of the normal school day, James left class after saying goodbye to Clover and started to head back to his room. As James was going to his room, he got abused by Fae and he's goons (friends).

(SCENE)

James leaves class and starts heading towards he's room.

Fae starts following James as he leaves.

James eventually gets to the turn before a hallway that's lost to his room where the aren't many people around.

Fae sneaks up behind James before he turns at the end of the hallway.

James is about to turn and enter the hallway where there aren't many people.

Fae kicks James from behind as he enters the empty hallway.

James falls on the floor and tries to get up.

Fae kicks James down again and tells him to ‘stay down’.

James realises that Fae is the one who kicked him down and tries to find him with his eyes.

Fae and he's goons go in front of James as he's still on the floor.

James looks at Fae's shadow as their going in front of him and eventually locks eyes with Fae when he's in front of him.

Fae kicks James in the face when he gets in front of him.

James takes the brunt of the kick and asks Fae why he's doing this.

Fae Harlow: (Pissed) “You wanna know why I'm doing this? Why do I need a reason to beat up trash like you?” Looks down on James.

James Belfork: (Scared) “But I didn't do anything to you, tho.” Looks at Fae while still being on the floor.

Fae Harlow: (Angry) “YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING? What did I tell you in the morning, in between classes?”

James Belfork: “You didn't tell me anything, you just asked me about my and Clover's relationship.” Irritated.

Fae Harlow: (Angry) “Yes, and I told you that if you did anything to her, I'd make you regret it.”

James Belfork: (Supprised) “But I haven't done anything to her?”

Fae Harlow: (Irritated/Jealous) “Then why does she keep talking to you, the weak, pitiful, most useless person that's allowed to be at this school? No one in their right mind would want to associate themselves with someone like you.”

James Belfork: (Loud) “I have no control over what she does.”

Fae kicks James in the face again.

Fae Harlow: “Maybe you don't, but this is a formal warning to you from now on, if I ever catch you near Winslow (Clover) again, getting beat up will be the least of your concerns.” Kicks James in the face a third time.

Fae Harlow and his goons (friends) leave James slightly bloody on the floor while the still aren't people around the area.

After Fae and his friends left the area, James stood up and proceeded to go to his room like he had been planning to do from the begin.

James enters his room and treats his wounds, as this hadn’t been the first time he had gotten jumped and beaten up at the school. After treating his wound,s James then goes to do the training he normally does, so he can stay pbysically well, and take the beating, tho he doesnt like how things are goimg for him, he isn’t much he can do about the situation with Clover, so he prepares himself for the possible beatings hes going to get.

[THE NEXT DAY]

James wakes up in the early morning as he normally does, and looks at the bandages he put on his face the day prior. He's wounds hadn't healed, so he had to go to class with a new set of bandages on his face.

Before James changed the bandages that had been on his face, he left his room and started to go towards the training area, so he could continue with the training he'd been doing for the past couple of ears. An hour later, he finishes up and goes back to his room to take a shower and change the bandages on his face before he starts heading towards class.

James finishes skating and changing his bandages and heads towards class to sit at the corner where he normally does, he stays the alone as the first to class like normal for 10's of minutes before anyone else was to shows up in the class.

Eventually, people start showing up in pairs to sit at their seats, and most don't pay any mind to James, even tho he didn't look the best (He's face is covered in bandages). Soon, half the class is full, and eventually, Clover enters the class. When Clover entered the class, the first thing she saw was James' face covered with bandages, and then soon after, as he tried to approach him.

(SCENE)

Clover, with a worried expression, starts walking toward James's desk. Fae, seeing that she's going towards James, calls out to Clover with a disarming smile, trying to get her attention so she doesn’t go and check up on James.

Fae Harlow: "Hey, Clover! Can you come here for a second?" He smiles and waves at Clover.

Clover Winslow: “I’ll be the in a moment, I just want to check on something first.” She waves back and proceeds to go to James.

Fae Harlows Inner Monologue: “If I try to distract her more than I have, given I haven’t done much, she might suspect something of me since I’m making her not go to James. I doubt that pushover will tell Clover anything about me, so I should be fine even if she goes to him.”

Fae Harlow: “Alright then.” He smiles at Clover.

Clover Winslow proceeds to walk to James after sharing a few words with Fae Harlow.

Fae Harlow glares at James while Clover is walking toward him.

James Belfork notices Faes’ glare but doesn’t think much of it, as it isn’t anything unusual.

Clover reaches James' seat and looks at him from behind for a second, then starts a conversation with him.

Clover Winslow: (Concerned) “James!!”

James looks back to see who's calling him and notices that it's Clover.

James Belfork: “Clover?” He looks back and sees her emerald eyes and matt black hair.

James Belfork: “What do you need?” He says in an unfriendly tone.

Clover WInslow: “What happened to you!!, When did you get hurt and why are those bandages covering your whole face, except your eyes and mouth!?” She asks him with genuine concern.

James Inner Monologue: “All of this happened because of you, yet your still asking me why I’m hurt? If you didn’t show up at this school, at least my life would have been a little bit better, but now it's like this, cause that B***h Fae won’t let me rest, cause you're talking to me.” He blankly stares at Clover whilst thinking such thoughts.

James Belfork: “I just fell of some stairs yesterday, it's nothing to be concerned about.” He laughs whilst he eyes are closed and his head is slightly tilted in an attempt to ease Clover and show her that he isn’t that hurt.

Clover Winslow: “Okayy, but you can’t let yourself get hurt like this again, I don’t want to see you in a hospital bed one day, cause you fell off the stairs.” She says sternly to James.

James Belfork: “Alright, I’ll make sure to take care from now on, so you won’t have to worry about it in the future.” He says whilst smiling at Clover to show her that he's acknowledging what she's said.

James Inner Monologue: “At least I’d hope, I know Fae’s probably going to beat me up again after this since she came up to me again. It seems like my middle school will not be as nice as I’d want, and I’ll still be made the person who takes the brunt of bullying from everyone in the class.” He slightly depresses himself cause of his realisation that he's going to continue leading a hard life.

[TO BE CONTINUED]