"What! " Riley was shocked when he heard that Miles hadn't come to school and that he wasn't going to come for two more days. Just what was going on? He came there to see him, but he wasn't there. 

"But why did he take leaves," Riley demanded the answer as if Miles' classmates were his secretaries and they knew all answers about him. 

"How would we know?" A guy with glasses (the class monitor) crossed his arms over his chest and said. He didn't like this guy named Riley a bit. He just came into his class and started being so noisy. 

"Then who would know? You guys are his friends." Riley changed his overly loud tone to a normal one. He knew this senior didn't like him being so noisy. Just like Dean always tells him that he becomes a headache when he gets overexcited or speaks loudly. 

The class monitor, instead of answering Riley, looked around the class to spot someone who was Miles' friend. But he barely found anyone. He had never seen anyone talking to Miles or Miles talking to anyone in the class. 

"I don't think he has friends." Monitor answered while thinking to himself if Miles really doesn't have any friends.

Riley narrowed his eyebrows, as he was a little confused by the answer. He didn't know what to say next. 

He looked around the class and saw students busy with their work. Nobody was paying them any attention. Nobody was as curious as he was about why Miles didn't come to school today. Shouldn't they worry that a guy who likes to attend all his classes suddenly didn't come to school and was going to take two more days of leave? He could be sick. They should worry about him. 

"So he has no friends?" Riley finally made out some words after a moment of silence. 

Monitor nodded in answer to Riley's question but didn't say anything. 

" Okay, then I go. Sorry for disturbing your class." Riley said and turned around to go. 

"Hey, stop." A voice came, and Riley halted. Although he wasn't sure if he was called, he still turned around.

But as soon as he turned around, somebody threw a punch in his face. 

Riley didn't see that punch coming, so he couldn't defend himself and fell to the floor on his bum. It hurt him a little, but he soon got up. 

"Everyone. Look at this guy." The boy who threw a punch at Riley grabbed Riley by his collar and brought him a little forward to show him to all his classmates. 

"This guy likes someone in our class. Look at his face, looking so innocent. But his actions aren't innocent." Lucas gritted his teeth as he spoke. He was hating even the idea that Riley was standing there in front of him. He never liked homosexual people. He always had hate in his heart for that kind of person. And he loved to bully them a lot. 

"I didn't do or say anything to you. Then why are you hitting me?" Riley asked through his hurting cheek. 

Lucas turned his face and glared at Riley as if he were going to kill him right there.

Instead of showing some kind of fear, Riley grinned upon seeing that scary look on Lucas's face. 

"Why are you smiling?" Lucas grabbed Riley's collar even more tightly. He wanted to hit Riley more but was afraid that the teacher would come and see him doing so.

"Senior, why do you look so familiar? Oh yeah! You look like a guy whom I saw kissing another guy behind the school building." Riley said, and the whole class started talking about Lucas as if he were breaking news. Though not everyone believed what Riley said, it was an interesting topic.

"What the fuck are you saying?! When did I!" Lucas was feeling like breaking the white teeth Riley was showing him, but he couldn't teach him a lesson right there. 

"Then how about two nights you spend in jail?" Riley leaned close to Lucas and whispered near his ear. 

Though the first thing Riley said wasn't true, the second one was. He saw Lucas and two other guys getting into a police Jeep after police handcuffed all three of them. Although he didn't know what they did, he found out later that those three boys were kept in jail for two days and made to pay a huge fine too. 

"What do you know about that?" Lucas yelled as he pushed Riley away a little, and now the whole class was wondering if what Riley said was true.

"You are so curious. Do you want me to tell your whole class too?" Riley smirked, and Lucas let him go. 

"Fuck out of here!" Lucas pushed Riley away, and Riley stumbled backward before he was hit by someone behind him. 

As Riley turned his head, he saw it was the teacher.

" Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. It hurts so much. Ouuuch!" Riley put his hand on his cheek and started acting as if he were badly hurt. 

"What happened to you? Who did it?" The teacher asked Riley as she squatted down next to him, moved Riley's hand away from his cheek, and checked it. 

"I said, who did it?" Her voice roared around the room, and everyone who was muttering to each other fell silent. 

Lucas was a little worried now. He knew he was in trouble. His science teacher was a little dangerous. She hates bullying and people who do it. 

"I didn't do anything, miss. He started first," Lucas said as he took a step back from his original place. He knew if he didn't lie right now, he would be in trouble. 

But his lie didn't affect the teacher. She knew who the real culprit was. She saw Lucas bully other kids many times before, but whenever she asked those kids about it, they always denied it. But today, she wasn't going to let it go easily. She will teach this brat a lesson so he stops hurting weak kids. 

 

"Come to meet me at my office after the lecture." The teacher glared at Lucas. 

" And you go to the infirmary. Brian, take him to the infirmary." teacher looked at the class monitor as she said the last sentence, and Brian nodded.

After five minutes, the class was again at peace. Riley was taken to the infirmary by Brian, and Lucas was standing facing the wall with his hands up in the air while the teacher was writing on the board. 

 

*** 

"Does it hurt a lot?" Brian asked Riley as they were both coming back from the infirmary after the treatment. 

Riley shook his head and smiled, "Not too much. It's fine." Riley gently touched his cheek. 

"Then why did you act in the class as if you were going to die of pain?" Monitor smiled. He was relieved that Riley didn't get hurt badly.

" Well. That because…"  Riley thought about what to say, but before he could think and answer, Brian spoke up. 

"You did that to punish Lucas, right?" 

Riley suddenly turned his head to look at Brian, and his eyes grew bigger with shock at how he knew. No, it wasn't like Brian couldn't use his brain and think about it, but what shocked Riley was that Brian was smiling when he said that. 

"Now… Are you going to tell the teacher after you know that I'm alright and I was just acting?" Riley asked, rubbing the tip of his nose with his finger.

Brian shook his head and said, "No. Instead, I'm happy that you did that. Normally, he doesn't just bother other classes but his own too, mostly girls. But nobody goes to complain about him. He is a total jerk." 

"But why? Our teachers are nice. If you or anyone tells them about him, they will teach him a good lesson, and maybe they can suspend him too." Riley thought for a second and said. 

"But his dad is a trustee of this school. Nobody can suspend him." Brian smiled, seeing how innocently Riley said that when he doesn't even know who Really Lucas is.

"Wow. That means I got into trouble with some rich kid." There was no fear on Riley's face, but a grin of victory. He never got into a fight with anyone famous or rich before. It was exciting for him. 

Brian raised an eyebrow as he saw that grin on Riley's face and wondered why Riley was happy. Shouldn't he be worried that he'll be the one to get kicked out of school?