Chapter Four

Cedric's mood today was filled with excitement and extreme happiness.Today was his day and he wasn't in for any disturbance.

He had woken up to all the staff in the house singing him the happy birthday song and, of course, a gift from his grandparents which was a normal yearly routine from them.

But as he got to the school hallway, he remembered there was going to be a bit of drama today, so his smile lessened. The attitude he got from people t today was a bit different from before; although they were still talking, they did it in hushed tones so he won't hear them.

"Hello Cedric" two girls greeted as they passed but he ignored them and moved on.

He wasn't aiming for popularity, so even though he had decided to stand up for himself, he didn't want anyone to make an intrusion in his space; they might as well start pretending to be nice, however, he believed it was fake. Why hadn't they been nice earlier, now he decided to take action, they were thinking of him as popular and wanted to associate with him. Bunch of idiots, he muttered under his breath.

On getting to his locker, he pressed his code and took out his note and other materials he would be needing that day. As he closed his locker, he turned to see Cora standing in his way, a laugh started building up in his throat but he subdued it. This girl was definitely a joke, he thought to himself.

Cora's eye dimmed as she tried to read Cedric's thought. Damn it!.He was too good at hiding and bottling them all up.

"How's my little cute doll doing today?" Cedric asked.

Cora's mind went blank. "Little cute doll", was he seriously trying to make her a laughing stock today? How did he turn the tables so fast. She was here to humiliate him and he wasn't going to get a chance.

"I'm perfectly okay but shouldn't we be sympathising with you? Haven't you noticed that people are a little bit calm on you today. Isn't that weird?"

Cedric looked at his watch and did a quick calculation, it was 7:15am and his first class was by 7:45am so he had roughly 30 minutes to end this drama in front of him. Instead of replying, he pushed her aside and started walking.

"Are you walking out now? C'mon dude, don't tell me you've chickened out so fast. Where's the tough guy I saw in action yesterday?"

This made him stop in his track and Cora smirked. She had gotten to him finally and she was one step ahead in humiliating him. This made her more arrogant and she crossed her arms.

"I heard you were ambushed yesterday after school. I felt sorry for you and helped put in a little word for you here in school....it wouldn't be bad to feel loved once in awhile afterall".

Seeing he wasn't responding or fighting back, she felt satisfied and turned to walk out but the next thing that happened threw the audience in complete awe.

Cedric was holding Cora's throat and had pushed her against the wall. Cora's eyes nearly bulged out; hadn't he been standing like he was defeated? How come he moved so fast and no one noticed anything. The intensity of the eyes peering into her only made her gulp and frightened but she wasn't going to back out easily.

"Are you now insane?" She taunted.

A slap followed immediately as her response. Now her arrogance has completely disappeared, what every one was seeing was a petite girl trying to plead for forgiveness.

"I know fully well that you instigated the ambush yesterday, so who are you going to call today?Hmm!..... Is it Richard again or probably Jill.... No, it's Dave" he snapped and looked away.

"It probably wouldn't be Andre.... I can't even remember all because you have so many of them. Do you think you have any boyfriend or friends at all?...... Better still you only have those that stick around because they have gotten a taste of this body of yours. Without your body, you are nothing,simply a piece of trash". Saying this, Cedric raised her up and held on to her throat more tightly.

"If I remember well, I did hear you say something about not being loved. Last time I checked, I'm not the one coming from a divorced and broken home. I don't have a brother that abandoned me and a mother that is fighting depression, let's not go on and on with the list because it's definitely endless."

"Cedric, you are holding on to tight" she gasped.

"So if there's anyone who's not loved it's you. You simply take out the hatred you have on people who you feel are lesser than you but you aren't better. Instead of finding help and been nice, you only show you are a product of hatred. I would really love to crush you now but I have to give you the chance to say goodbye to your loved ones".

Releasing his grip, he let her fall to the ground like a piece of garbage. By now Cora was gasping and trying to breath well but the tears flowing from her eyes were not hidden.

There were murmurs everywhere as people discussed in hushed tones, they hadn't expected to see this; those that had secrets had fear written on their faces, if Cedric knew this much about Cora then they weren't any better. Who knew whether he had theirs now, while those that had been bullied in the past by Cora and her friends felt happy. Their Justice had been redeemed and dished out well.

"Right now, it will be best if you stay alone. Richard won't probably want to see you again, and don't get much people implicated" he added and picked up his books that he had arranged neatly beside his locker.

Cora couldn't do anything but cry, Cedric had stripped her of all the integrity she had, not even a shred was left, if she had known he knew this much of her darkest secrets, she would have stayed away.

    A few of her friends stepped out and helped her up before taking her away. A lesson has been taught to all those who watched what had happened; the new Cedric they saw today wasn't one to mess with again. But what lingered in their minds was to find out the truth about his background.