It was 7 a.m in the morning and Clay Somers was asleep, the loud ringing of his alarm sounded in his ears. Tiredly, he turned it off. Getting up, he headed to the bathroom.
After a few minutes, Clay came out and put on his clothes, after which he stepped out of the house. As he came out, the bus was just leaving, he ran after it but the distance was too much for him to catch up with it. So he walked 8 miles to school. He arrived at school at 8:15 a.m and he headed to class.
After their history class, he walked toward his locker to get his bag when Connor De La Vega and two other boys walked to him. "Hey, Clay " Connor said. Clay decided to ignore Connor as he knew Connor was nothing other than a bully. As he walked away, one of the boys with Connor walked up to him and threw a punch at Clay who whined and held his bleeding nose. He still decided to ignore but then Connor and the boys started beating him brutally. Clay tried to stand his ground but Connor wouldn't let him. He kept punching clay until Clay ran away.
Clay got home and went into his room without saying a word. What he had passed through was worse than the other times. He was on his bed, wondering why people hated others. He got up from the bed and walked to his reading table, he was studying for his test the next day.
The next morning, everything happened the same as it did the day before that, Clay woke up, got into the bathroom, chased the school bus and ended up walking to school.
It was like Clay was stuck in a time loop, where everything that happened had to be repeated. As Clay walked out of his classroom, he kept on watching his six, he didn't want to get beaten to a pulp again.
While he was being cautious, he noticed that Connor was nowhere near him and he decided to leave school without getting spotted. As he got out of the school premises, he wasn't just attacked by Connor and the two boys, they had multiplied in number, making them much more dangerous threats to Clay and other nerds in their school.
Clay did not expect to see them laying an ambush for him, he got more than a broken nose this time. Connor and his friends ran towards Clay using wooden baseball bats and all sort of means to beat Clay. Clay wanted to fight back but he thought that if he couldn't stand up to Connor, how could he fight everyone of the bullies.
After much fight, the bullies ran away leaving Clay to his fate. Clay went home in pains, with blood on him and a few broken bones. His step-mother, Jane Ann was furious and made up her mind that she was going to meet with the principal of his school. She was angry to the extent that no one could even calm her down, no matter how much they tried.
The next day, Clay and Jane Ann had already arrived at Brookshire high. In the principal's office, they was a domestic conflict. Mr. Lucius Redmond, the school principal was involved in a heated argument with Mrs. Somers. He didn't want to believe the fact that his school was a nest for grooming bullies.
Mrs. Somers on the other hand was upset and ordered that the bullies be expelled. Although, Mr. Redmond tried to explain to her that his students were well-behaved and well-mannered and maybe it was Clay that picked a fight with them, but his words fell on deaf ears, Mrs. Somers didn't listen to him. She explained to him that even as she wasn't Clay's biological mother, she had known him for a while, she knew that Clay was a lone dog, He didn't like speaking to people, nevertheless, fighting them.
She further told Mr. Redmond that if he didn't expell the kids and Clay was bullied again, she would withdraw him from Brookshire and sue them.
Mr. Redmond was a middle aged man, he was bald and had a chinstrap on his face, he was known for taking threats as a joke, but no one in Tinsel Town could say they didn't know the Somers family, they were folks who loved staying away from trouble but if they were ever messed with they wouldn't take it likely. One thing people also knew was that they don't make empty threats.
The story of the Smith family was a warning to everyone. Vincent Smith was a businessman, he was the owner and founder of Smiths Consolidated, a tech company which funded other tech companies. Together they built and designed technological advancement. Their goal was to make their country more developed and maybe expand their brands to other countries.
Vincent was involved in a business with the Somers family. After they had put in a lot of efforts and money into Vincent's business, he tried to double cross them.They not only destroyed his business, they destroyed his associates businesses also. His company was bankrupted and his family was crippled.
It was also said that no one even knew where the Smiths were currently residing.
Mr. Redmond knew that Mrs. Somers' threat was going to be effective if anything went wrong. He could endure losing one student but losing his school and business wasn't an option. "I...I assure you...I assure you that no harm will come to Clay again. You have my word. " Mr. Redmond fearfully said. "I don't need your word, it's worthless to me. What I need, is to see that nothing, I mean absolutely nothing bad happens to my son. " Mrs. Somers said and stormed out of the office.
Meanwhile, Clay was waiting in the hallway when Jane Ann walked to him. "There's gonna be no more bullies, you can head to class now. " Jane Ann said and Clay walked to his classroom.
After class, Clay was waiting for the bullies to come and they did come but before they could even get six feet close to him a voiced called from afar "Connor De La Vega, Danny Scofield, Reed Lawton, report to my office immediately!! ".The voice echoed angrily leaving Connor's trio in shock, it was Principal Redmond who had called them.They began to tremble because they knew that if the principal found out about their acts as bullies they were in big trouble.
Connor walked to Mr. Redmond's office without showing any fear, although he was afraid, he tried to hide it. As Connor proceeded, the others followed. Soon after, they got to the office.
"Mr. De La Vega, you seem to be their ring leader. You know the rules, Connor, 'If anyone is caught acting as a bully, defaulter's risk is expulsion'. But.....I can lighten the punishment for you all. All I need to is the names of everyone that helped you and it's just detention for you all. " Mr. Redmond said with a smile on his face. The boys looked at each other and kept quiet. Mr. Redmond waited for few minutes and finally he spoke and broke the silence.
"You know, The Somers are not people to be toyed with, you would have been expelled by now but I chose to beg on your behalf, I vouched for you that you were not bullies. Only for you to prove me wrong. The next time Clay is bullied the Somers will not hesitate to lay waste to my business, they will cripple my organization and they will bury your families. I don't want that to happen. So, if I don't get names in the next 24 hours, prepare to leave Brookshire. "Mr. Redmond said and signals that they leave his office.
The next day, Connor walked to Mr. Redmond's office and gives him a paper which he opened. "These are the names of everyone that has, well... bullied anyone in Brookshire. " Connor said. "Now, was that so hard? " Mr. Redmond asked. "I didn't just rat out myself, I rat my friends out, So, yeah...It was hard." Connor explained. "Detention for you all. " Mr. Redmond said as he watched Connor leave his office angrily.
Clay was active today. Knowing that bullies still existed but felt untouchable, he was more than happy. While standing by his locker, he got confronted by Connor. "Hey, Connor. "Clay said with a trademark smile on his face. "Clay, you put me in this situation, detention for four weeks. If I could strangle you, I would. "Connor said.
"Why can't you? Don't you have hands? " Clay said and the trademark smile crossed his face again. "Hey! Let it go, you're not the only one vulnerable. Our asses are on the line too. "Danny said as he had hurriedly come to Connor and he pulled him away looking very much scared.