You know, all of them paused eating to watch the scene. But now that it was over, they’d resumed eating again.
The cafeteria was filled with peace and serenity again. Everyone was just eating their food with the aim of emptying their plates in the next few minutes to come.
Ryan didn’t seem to be enjoying the food that much anymore ’cause there was a lot on his mind. His mind had become so busy in a matter of seconds, and this was due to the occurrence that took place a few minutes ago.
He was wondering why those guys decided to start bullying him all of a sudden again. For some time now, no one had bullied him directly, it was only in those indirect ways like the awkward stares, mocking, hurtful remarks, and so on.
‘Why did they decide to resume it all of a sudden again?’. Ryan kept asking himself this question in his mind without getting an answer to it.
He was enjoying his meal minutes ago before the occurrence, but he wasn’t enjoying it anymore…too bad.
As time passed, students started finishing their food, standing up from the chairs they were sitting on, and walking out of the cafeteria.
Ryan was eating his food so slowly ’cause his mind was filled up. So though Dylan was already done eating, Ryan was still eating. Even all the students sitting around the same table as them were already done eating as well.
“How come you’re still eating?”. Dylan uttered to Ryan after a few seconds of emptying his plate.
Ryan glanced at him the moment he made that utterance, then Dylan’s voice resounded again,
“Even all the people sitting around the same table as us are already done eating and had left the cafeteria”.
Ryan was still glancing at him without a single word flowing out of his mouth, then Dylan noticed something. And what he noticed made him speak out once again,
“Seems like a lot is on your mind, I can tell. That’s the reason why you haven’t finished eating your food, right?”.
Ryan didn’t say anything, he only nodded his head meaning ‘Yes’, then Dylan’s voice resounded again,
“And it’s because of what happened minutes ago, right?”.
Ryan nodded his head again, then silence ensued after that. The silence lasted for a few seconds before Dylan uttered again,
“Try to finish up your food so we can leave this place. There’s a solution for everything, since it had resumed again, then we’d have to find a solution for it just as we did back then”.
Ryan resumed eating his food again until he was done eating it, by now, the cafeteria was almost close to being completely empty. Only a few students were remaining in it.
Ryan stood up from the chair he was sitting on after he was done eating, and Dylan followed suit. Without wasting time, the both of them walked out of the cafeteria…
******
It had just gotten to closing hour, and students were doing the usual, which was standing up from their seats and leaving their classrooms.
Ryan and Dylan were already walking out of their classroom by now until they finished walking out of it. And right now, they were walking in the corridor.
..Now, something was happening as they were walking in the corridor.
Students were staring at them, those awkward stares were fully taking place right now. The awkward stares never stopped, people had been staring at Ryan weirdly all this while…just that it wasn’t as strong as it was before.
But it was so strong right now. Why were students staring at them awkwardly? Due to what happened at the cafeteria during break hour.
Yes, the fact that Ryan got bullied again, Dylan standing up for him, the scene created at the cafeteria…
‘Shit! It’s happening really terribly again’. That was the thought that ran through Ryan’s mind the moment he noticed that students were staring at them awkwardly.
Dylan was glancing at the students staring at them awkwardly as he was walking, but it got to a point where he took his gaze off them and was like,
‘They can keep staring like morons’.
That was in his mind, so no one heard it. It got to a point where Ryan had to do the same, he was glancing at the students staring at them awkwardly before while walking in the corridor, but he stopped glancing at them after the passing of a few more seconds.
He focused his gaze somewhere else as he kept on walking.
And that was what he and Dylan did until they arrived at the school compound. They were walking on it along with other students with the aim of walking out of it completely.
And there were still some few stares on them as they were walking on the compound, but they didn’t pay any attention to the people staring at them. In fact, they acted like they didn’t notice them at all.
They were still walking when they noticed that group of boys walking toward them. Those boys who caused a kind of distress to Ryan at the cafeteria…
They made his mind become so busy that he wasn’t even enjoying the food he was eating anymore and was eating it so slowly. Those fucking bullies who gain joy from tormenting people they consider weaklings.
Ryan and Dylan glanced at each other the moment they noticed the boys walking toward them, and Ryan couldn’t help but sigh at that moment.
After sighing, he gave Dylan the look of, ‘It’s about to begin again’. Stay connected with empire
“Let’s change direction, follow my lead”. Dylan said to Ryan after he gave him that look.
And not too long after saying that, Dylan began walking in another route, and Ryan followed suit. Well, that wouldn’t work out for the bullies, seeing that they’d changed route, they changed route as well and were still walking toward them.
“It didn’t work out, they changed direction along with us”. Ryan said to Dylan after the bullies changed route along with them.
Dylan changed route again, which Ryan didn’t waste time to follow suit, but the bullies changed route along with them again and were still walking toward them. In the next few seconds, they’d be colliding.
Dylan sighed, seems like there was nothing that could be done about it, they’d have to collide with these bullies. No matter how many times they change the direction at which they were walking, these boys would do the same as well.
After the passing of a few seconds, they collided. The four boys were standing in front of Ryan and Dylan right now as they were glancing directly into each other’s eyes…
“What is the meaning of this?”. Dylan inquired of them as they were still standing face to face with each other.
“What do you think is the meaning of it?”. One of the boys answered Dylan’s question with a question.
“Foolishness”. Dylan responded.
There was silence for a few seconds after Dylan gave that response, then the four boys began laughing all of a sudden. Ryan and Dylan glanced at each other during the time they were laughing with confused expressions on their faces.
‘What is making them laugh?’. That was the thought running through their minds during the time they were laughing.
This was exactly how they were laughing when Ryan uttered something to them at the cafeteria. And what he said wasn’t funny at all.
They laughed for a few seconds until they were done laughing, then the leader of the boys uttered to Dylan,
“You call this foolishness?”.
“Complete foolishness”. Dylan voiced out.
“Well, to tell you something, this isn’t foolishness at all. We’re just doing what needed to be done”. The boy’s voice resounded again.
“And what needed to be done is disturbing other people’s lives?”.
“Not just other people, a certain kind of people”.
Dylan couldn’t help but sigh at that moment, it would be completely useless trying to understand bullies because their thinking is really weird.
“Can you just let us pass?”. Ryan stated with his gaze focused on the leader of the boys.
“No, we can’t let you guys just pass”. The boy voiced out.
“You know what? There’s something I want to understand. What made you guys decide to start disturbing my life again? You guys stopped at some point, what prompted it again?”. Ryan’s voice resounded again with his gaze still focused on their leader.
The leader glanced at the other boys after Ryan asked that question, then he said,
“He wants to know the reason why we decided to start bullying him again”.
They chuckled after he said that without a single word flowing out of their mouths, then the leader focused his gaze back on Ryan before saying,
“We decided to resume bullying you ’cause we wanted to. We didn’t stop because we wanted to, so we’ve resumed again”.
“I guess you guys thought I was joking when I said I’d report you guys, that’s why you’re still doing this”. Dylan’s voice resounded with his gaze focused on them.
..The four boys focused their gazes on him the moment he said that.