Time to Recollect [Ivellius]

Hi everyone, TheDespaxas here. If you are reading this you should know the drill by now. Here's a new branch by Ivellius our professor monkey. I've read what's written so far and it's good. As always while set in the same universe the various things in each branch might not work exactly the same so differences are features, not bugs. Have a good reading.

Izix here, helping you all welcome a great new author to the fold. Ivellius has a very interesting idea for his branch, an idea I will not go into depth over case that ruins all the fun. You’re all in for a treat. All hail the monkey professor Ivellius!

The bell signaled the end of John’s first class. Well, I guess I will finish my thoughts at next class.

As the other students stood up to leave, John noticed that someone was missing. He actually didn’t remember ever seeing her in the bus. While intently observing her desk for quite a while, John didn’t notice that a shadow had been cast upon him. Not reacting soon enough to dodge, John got a very unfriendly punch to the back of the head.

“Watch it, Newman, you’re here to study and not to daydream about doing something that you are prohibited from doing. Do I need to remind you about it?” the huge slab of meat said.

Though stunned by the hit, John was amused that Frank said so much in one go. He wouldn't have thought Frank’s IQ was high enough to have accomplished such feat. He was probably practicing that line for a long time.

Even though he wasn’t quite bright, it was easy enough for Frank to deduce what John was doing, he was thinking about Amelia. A girl that Frank’s girlfriend had prohibited John from ever interacting with. The bully left before he got an answer.

Trying to soothe his hurting head, John tried to massage where he was struck. There was no need for Frank to remind him about Vanessa’s imposition, he could recollect the facts as if they had happened yesterday, even though it had been six years since.

It had happened on one of the worst days of his life. In fact, as a whole, it had been a very lousy week for him. It was when his whole life turned upside down.

You see, even earlier on in her life, Vanessa had her sights on being the queen of all at what she considered HER school, the almighty ruler with no opposition. But there was in fact a big opposition to her rule, and it came in the form of a threesome: the Scottish twins Peter and Amelia MacKenzie and John Newman. It seemed to her that they could always magically disrupt her plans. And she hated them for it. Especially Amelia, whose looks, though different from hers, rivaled her own. But that was not all that caused her ire: Amelia was among the brightest students in her school. Together, the three were untouchable and they were rarely seen at school alone.

But it didn’t last forever. Vanessa, the narcissistic bitch, firmly believed fate favored her, and it was quite evident, because she did get what she wanted, when she wanted it. Of course, with the exception of when the three were meddling with her plans.

It all started, on a Monday, with a in the twin’s family, but not just any , both their parents died. The nature of their was never revealed to John. He only knew it happened in Scotland.

And so, it was announced that after the funeral the twins were to split up. Peter would stay in Scotland and Amelia would live with her aunt Margaret in Springfield. Again, the motives for this separation was never revealed to John.

Learning about the events that were happening to the twins, Vanessa pounced at the opportunity. She formed her plan, and only a day after Peter had left, it was executed. It was safe to say that, on that Wednesday, John’s life turned upside down. First came the beatings from Vanessa’s dogs: Frank and the other jocks. It happened quickly; one after the other assaulted John as they had just left the bus and were about to enter the school. Oh, and they were good at it; they inflicted as much injury as possible without leaving any visible marks. Then, at the beginning of lunch time, out of nowhere he was shoved into the girl’s cafeteria bathroom by two older girls. Another girl the same age as John waited inside.

Obviously, that girl was Vanessa. “You’re really lucky that the cleaning lady already made the rounds today. The bowl is nice and clean.” John dreaded what was coming next. “Can you imagine having your head dunked inside a dirty disgusting bowl?” She laughed then continued with her plan, “So, here is the thing, you will stay away from Amelia, you are not allowed to talk to her, ever. Consider her out of your life, just as her stupid brother already is. Or else she will suffer as much as you, maybe even more.”

So, the three girls dragged John to the toilet bow and dunked his head in it. Down he went, emerging when Vanessa pulled him up by his hair. “There, nice and blue.” His face was all covered with the cleaning substance used just a while ago. Maybe he wasn’t as lucky as Vanessa implied, or was it just as she had intended it? He would have to stay blue faced while crossing the crowded school cafeteria to get to the boy’s room to clean himself. Most students were too shocked to laugh when they realized who it was; only the jocks and cheerleaders laughed.

It wasn’t only in this that Vanessa knew very well what she was doing. By isolating John from Amelia, she was effectively making the latter’s life also miserable. And thus, eliminating her only competition.

After appreciating her work, Vanessa added, “Maybe the blue will suit Amelia as well.”

“Yeah, and then the two could go back in time and fight the English,” added one of the older girls. Everyone, including John, looked incredulously at her for her weird remark. “You know, like in Braveheart.”

“Hum, ok. Just shut up!” Taking advantage of her new power over John, she still held him by his hair and said, “You can leave now, John. Disobey me and things much worse will happen to you and especially to Amelia.” Then she let him go.

What happened to John was, from that moment on, perceived as a warning for every other student. John was part of a group that defied Vanessa’s position and for that he was punished. The other effect of this was that John was socially outcast, as nobody wanted to spur Vanessa’s anger for having any association with him.

The day was not over. To drive the point home, just before classes resumed, he was to pass through a Polish Corridor, a straight corridor that was formed by the football team. They went on effectively implementing Vanessa’s new rule with their fists. Since then, at the start of every school year, Vanessa established the tradition to remind John that the rule was still in place by repeating the whole procedure. Of course, since it was a public display, this too was meant as a warning for everyone else.

What came next was the worst part: coming up with a way to avoid Amelia. With Peter gone, he felt there was no way of protecting her alone. Obviously, he couldn’t just avoid her, she wouldn’t let him be alone after what happened on that day. And he couldn’t let her suffer what he had just been through. If he could avoid it, he would not let her go through the public humiliations and the beatings. So, he had to end their friendship.

It was definitely not pretty. He told her part of the truth, leaving out the part that she was threatened. He told her that he felt it would be better if they went their separate ways. She didn’t need an outcast like him to be her friend, he even told her she could become an outcast as well. She was furious, mainly because she really needed him for all that had happened to her. She wanted to confront Vanessa, but he wouldn’t let her. Frustration and sadness got the better of her, and so coward was screamed a lot, almost as many times as other words. Being Scottish, she even threw in some f-bombs for good measure.

And so, it was that in three days, Vanessa managed to eliminate her main competition. John was effectively alone having been abandoned by people he had considered as friends. Losing his friendship with Amelia was the thing that hurt him the most. The only way he could feel close to Amelia was by wearing a silver ring she had given him not long before that week. It looked like two Scottish thistle leaves intertwined to form its circle. The ring wouldn’t fit his fingers anymore, but he couldn’t wear it anyway, he was worried that it would be breaching Vanessa’s rule, so he chose to wear it with a chain around his neck in a way that no one could see it.

Coming back to reality, John put his hand on his shirt just on top of were the ring was concealed, as if he was gathering strength from it to continue on with the day.