"Sean, what have you heard?" Zac pressed his friend, seeing that Sean was hesitant to tell him what he knew.
"That... Maybe it's better..."
"No. Tell me what you heard." Zac was firm.
Sean made a not-so-good expression but revealed what he knew. "Well, they say that Dario and his group followed you to the Grim Bridge after the music lesson.
You tried to escape with Amos, but they caught him halfway. You can imagine what happened then. They said they beat you both up.' Sean looked at the black marks here and there on Zac's body.
Even though Zac didn't look that bad, and his worst injuries were probably under his clothes, Sean noticed some marks on his friend's face and neck.
"They say they forced you to drink the water from the sewer..." Sean added, imagining the polluted stream under the Grim Bridge, a bridge next to Eastside High School.
Zac looked into his friend's eyes, not remembering anything but sure that Dario was capable of it.
"That fucking son of a bitch!" He said in a louder tone, attracting the attention of a few people passing by on the neighborhood's main street.
Sean ignored the schoolmates and strangers staring at them and said. "Is everything okay with your medical tests? If you don't remember anything and everything's fine, maybe you should pretend it didn't happen, man."
"I don't know. My sister is the one taking care of it. But I can't pretend it didn't happen. Do you know how much hospital debt my sister has to pay?"
"I'm sorry, but what can you do?" Sean said as he sighed, feeling sorry for his friend but knowing that Zac's options were slim.
Zac wasn't popular, had few friends, and was considered strange for being an educated young man in a class where probably no one but himself would have a good future. Even Sean, who hung out with Zac, wasn't promising and sometimes saw his friend as someone from another world. How could others who had no empathy for him treat him well?
Zac was practically alone with no friends and many of those who bulled on him studying in the same class. On top of that, Dario was the typical bully who had his own gang and got involved in things he shouldn't have.
What was Zac going to do about Dario?
Unless he went crazy and did something he'd regret later, he could do nothing.
Sean couldn't help but try to calm his friend down and prevent Zac from hurting himself anymore. "Forget it, man. Just keep your head down and keep studying and avoiding those people. The school year will be over in three months, and you'll have some peace.
Next year will be our senior year, and after that, you probably won't see your classmates again. UNC only has hard-working students like you. At such a time, you'll be surrounded by people like you."
Sean was sure that Zac would get into the most prestigious university in the country when he graduated from high school, Ushal National College, UNC.
UNC was an outstanding educational institution that only the cream of the most intelligent and prepared students who graduated from Ushal schools had a chance of getting into.
90% of UNC students had excellent futures and became renowned experts in their country and the continent.
'As long as you hang in there for a few more months, everything will be fine, Zac.' Sean thought as he looked into his friend's eyes and touched Zac's right shoulder.
"That's very easy for you to say, Sean," Zac said as he pulled Sean's hand away. "Your position is comfortable. Half the school loves you. The other half doesn't care enough to bother.
You don't understand my situation." Zac didn't look back as he walked away from Sean, heading towards the school, thinking about Dario's face, feeling angry and wanting to confront the guy.
As he felt his heart beating faster and his body heating up, sweating all over his body, young people using their smartphones near him felt their devices stop working.
The cars on the street stopped working, with some vehicles spinning out of their drivers' control.
Crash!
"Aaaagh!"
"Damn it! An accident!"
People on both sides of the street shouted as they saw a car slam into the back of another vehicle.
The drivers of both vehicles got out of their cars, one angry at seeing the back of his car destroyed and the other with a confused look on his face, not understanding what had just happened.
Zac continued on his way to school, not hearing anything around him as he felt his vision change.
He still saw people naked on his way. But while his eyes seemed to be beating like his heart, every few split seconds, he saw the lampposts and walls in his path become partially transparent.
The light bulbs on the lampposts in his path suddenly started working, even though the day was as clear as a summer's.
'Damn you, Dario! I'll make you say whatever happens, you bastard!' He thought. 'Just you wait until I get a better handle on what's happening to me. I'm going to find out everything that happened that day, and I'm going to take revenge for everything you've done to me over the last few years!'
Sean stayed behind without saying anything, distracted by the accidents that suddenly happened on the street.
He didn't notice any connection between these accidents and his friend and stood there for a few minutes, watching the surroundings, until he realized that he had a lesson in less than 10 minutes.
As he hurried to the school, a young blonde girl of the same age as Zac and himself appeared in his path.
"Sean?" The young woman said as she saw her love interest running. "Did something happen?"
"I'm almost late for geography class, Mia. You too!" Sean said as he took one of her hands.
Mia laughed, rather liking Sean's attitude. But she was shy and found a subject to distract her mind from how he touched her.
"I heard that Zac is coming back today. Do you know anything about that? Is he okay?"
Sean smiled and said. "Yes, I saw him a few moments ago. Physically, he seems fine, but..."
"Is he shaken up?"
"Yes, and how could he not be?"
"Do you want me to talk to him?" Mia looked into his eyes as she suggested.
Everyone at Eastside High School knew that Zac liked her!
Sean knew that, and he also knew that Mia liked him.
He agreed with her. "Yeah, try to talk some sense into him before he does something stupid. Dario is involved with The Vipers. If Zac tries something, I'm afraid something worse could happen to him".
Mia immediately understood that she had to get Zac away from Dario, or the local gang could make life even more complicated for Sean's friend.
"Don't worry, I'll convince him."