Chapter 1: The monsters are back

Xavier's POV

Xavier was getting ready to go back to the school which he absolutely hated, right after spending a small stint in prison, together with Zach, his so called ex-best friend.

Xavier looked at the reflection in the mirror, even his prison term couldn't fade away his aura of being privileged.

Smirking to himself, such were the perks of being wealthy. If it had been someone else, who had burnt down a mall in City Centre, they would've probably spent a good few years in prison.

What was it that his lawyer had said? "Minor? Prison overcrowding? Good behavior?"

He put on his tie, while still smirking, being part of the most wealthiest and influential families in the country certainly has its perks.

Xavier's uncle and sole guardian had never once asked him, "why did you do it?"

Instead, he just hired the best lawyer's money could buy to represent him, and get him a mere 3 months in prison for his arson charges.

Xavier didn't blame his young uncle, he did the best he could being faced with raising his late brother's only son at the mere age of 20, his uncle truly did the best he knew how.

Xavier usually thought of his uncle as sort of his older brother, rather than them having a "parent-son" relationship. Although his parenting skills may be limited, Xavier could commend him on his business skills, his uncle inherited a large portion of the business which was his father's legacy, Xavier's grandfather.

But the main inheritor of everything was left to his one and only grandson, which was Xavier. On his 18th birthday, Xavier was to inherit the largest industrial conglomerate in the world, which was Royal Business.

Royal business had shares in every trade imaginable, from hospitality to real estate, to harbor trade, to oil rigging, to construction, to fishing and mining. The list went on and on.

Yawning, Xavier looked at himself, with the royal school uniform on. What a joke he thought smirking to himself. Wearing a uniform like he was an ordinary student, while all the while everyone from the principal down to the cleaners were scared of him. It got tiring to be honest. It was like there was no limit to what he could do.

There was no one who really objected to him in any way. So the fake smiles he had to face every morning from his teachers to his fellow pupils made him angry, because they didn't like him, nor did they care for him, they just endured him.

Maybe it was this endurance he was trying to test when he set the Mall on fire. Or maybe he was just starting to get restless living this cocooned life. It wasn't so much living as it merely existed, it got so overwhelmingly tiring.

He walked down the stairs, taking a last glimpse at his mansion, the porcelain tiles were already freshly polished, a gourmet made buffet breakfast set out for him while the head chef waited eagerly to serve him.

Xavier stepped into the dining room. He could smell a whiff of pancakes. There were at least 20 dishes or so on the buffet table, with clean plates in the dish warmer of every size and shape. He looked at his chef.

"Morning young master, today I have prepared for you the buffet breakfast option, we have croissant, chausson aux pommes, strawberry tart, apple tart, chocolate éclairs......"

Xavier held his hand up, signaling the man to stop talking, taking half a look at him, it must be the French chef today. It was all too much for him, he took one croissant and started chewing.

"Thanks, I'll be late for school on my first day." he said, walking away, looking at the disappointed look on the chef's face.

He took the flight of stairs down and saw the driver standing out of the SUV waiting for him.

"Good morning young master." he said pleasantly, while opening the door for him.

"What's so good about the morning Jeffrey?" Xavier asked rhetorically. It was always the same 2 line conversation he had with Jeffrey every morning, and always Jeffrey would smile at his response and never respond back.

The drive to the school was somber, a lonely road, as he never had any company, for as long as he could remember he had always gone to school alone together with Jeffrey.

He had two bodyguards who would meet him at his school so that they could accompany him to the actual school entrance.

The drive from his house to the school was relatively long. Xavier's father had bought a large piece of land, just outside the suburbs of the city where he had built his dream home, almost like a little town of its own. It was equipped with everything one could need to live the life of luxury in solitude.

Apart from the enormous mansion, which was their house, their little "town" had its own hospital, car showroom, zoo park, hair studio, industrial space, everything you can imagine, except for a school.

His father wanted Xavier have a "normal" school experience. However, with the type of lifestyle that he had, Xavier had never once in his life felt "normal".

-----

They finally reached the vast school gate which read "Royal High school" with a gold script. Underneath the name was their logo "Educate" and "Empower" in big gold letters, across the black tall gates.

There were hundreds of cars in the parking, much more than usual. Xavier frowned to himself, was he missing something?

The drive from the gate to the actual school building was a small one. A small paved road which had immaculately trimmed green velvety grass on either side.

When they finally arrived at the building, Xavier exasperated loudly, as he could see what the cause of all the commotion was. It was the paparazzi.

He had totally forgotten about them. They must be having a field day, he could just imagine their headlines, "Royals heir, fresh out of prison" or "The royal arsonist…ready for the heat of school......"

Pressing his fingers lightly on his forehead, Xavier looked out the window. Yep welcome back to the real prison, he thought to himself. He glimpsed at Jeffrey, who had a soft worried expression on his face.

"You'll be fine, young master, just ignore them." he said gently. Xavier rolled his eyes, he could see his bodyguards had arrived, he stepped out of the car, ready to enter the jungle, which was Royal High School.

"Xavier! Are you looking forward to coming back to school after your criminal activities?" One reporter shouted, trying to squirm her way through the wall his bodyguards had put around him.

"Xavier! Xavier! How do you feel after spending only 3 months in jail for such a serious crime? Don't you think you got off too easy?"

"Xavier! What do you feel about the standard of our prisons, since having lived in one?"

The reporters kept asking and yelling on top of their voices, waiting for a response from Xavier, but he however had been well coached since he was of a young age. One thing he did learn from his father was "Always say nothing, no matter what." he continued to walk.

For the first time all morning a smile crept on Xavier's impassive face. Standing at the entrance, looking like some type of fashion model gathering were his friends. Xavier hastened his pace towards them.

"There you are, sucker!" Nico said, giving a big welcome back hug to Xavier. Nico, almost as tall as Xavier, had a slim athletic physique. He was wearing the royal school blazer but with obvious modifications on them to make it look as though he were wearing a slim suit.

Next to him was Taylor, who unlike Nico had a big bulging figure, he opted to wear the royal school baseball jacket, with the pale khaki school pants. He had earrings in both the ears, and earphones hanging loosely around his neck. Xavier gave him a high five.

"Seems like you missed me a bit too much." Xavier said, laughing at his friends.

"Of course, we were waiting for our royal heir." Nico said, doing an exaggerated bow.

"How was prison? Did they give you the royal treatment there too?" Taylor asked.

Xavier gave him a playful punch, "Of course they did. There's no place impenetrable by money and prison is no exception." Xavier replied back cheerfully.

Joking, they made their way into the building of Royal High School.

Royal high school lived up to its name, the hallways were equipped with a red carpet which was replaced every day so that they could maintain the plush velvet look. The walls were embroided with gold carvings, and the whole school had frameless glass for walls, reaching magnificent high ceilings.

"What's our first class today?" Xavier asked.

"Should be maths I think." Nico replied while flipping through this timetable schedule.

Xavier quickly grabbed his flip file. "Hey, don't embarrass me! why are you carrying that thing around?" he asked while throwing it into the bin nearby.

"Hey, that had all my other homework in it!!" Nico said, running to the bin.

"What? Homework? What did I miss while I was gone? You doing homework now? What's next? Soon you will be studying?" Xavier said with mock shock.

"It's not so much that he is doing the homework, it's who he is doing the homework for." Taylor said mysteriously.

"Really? and who might he be doing homework for?" Xavier asked curiously.

"It's a certain new teacher, which has caught the attention of our little pupil here." Taylor replied, putting a hand on his heart making Nico and Xavier laugh.

"Ahh... that explains it!! I almost thought he was a lost cause…" Xavier said jokingly.

-----

They ended up entering the last class at the end of the corridor. There was nothing ordinary about the class though. From its shiny marble tiled floors, to the majestic drapes for curtains, the coffee machines at the front, with various types of tea bags, different types of milks, from low fat to extra creamy, all lined up neatly on the counter.

The class was equipped with sleeper couches at the back. All the desks (if you could call them that) looked more like mini executive offices and were equipped with touch screen computers inside of the desks.

Xavier moved right to the back, where his desk was. His was one of a kind, as it had his name engraved in it. In small golden letters it was written "Xavier Johnston" on a plac card.

That was one of the unspoken things of Royal High school. It all revolved around social class. It was a norm there, where everyone knew their rightful place. The elite, the richest of the rich people, sat at the back, this is why their desks had gold encrusted names of the owner.

And although to the untrained eye, the differences would be subtle, the differences were still there. While the seats were all executive office seats, the ones at the back had a more regal look, they were for sure custom made, and the colour was slightly different to those in the rest of the class.

The pupils were not all equal, in fact, some students were more important than others.

"How was prison?" Pearl asked, sitting next to the Xavier's executive chair.

Xavier exhaled a big sigh, "Pearl, don't you know this side of the class is for the VIP?" he emphasized, not looking at Pearl, flicking through his home screen on his desk.

"Xavier, don't you know my father's company's share is now up by 31 percent, making me among the top richest heirlooms of the globe?" Pearl retorted, swishing her brown straight hair back and rolling her pretty eyes.

Xavier smirked, maybe......just maybe he almost missed her when he was in prison?

Xavier and Pearl had a strange relationship of sorts, not much of friendship, more of a comradely. They were forced to be friends since childhood, her parents had both hoped it would bloom into something more, which in potential could allow them one day to marry, bcause of one of the biggest industrial mergers of the world.

However, Xavier had never entertained that thought for even one second. His argument was always, Pearl's family was rich and influential but still limited. The possibility of a merger would be more beneficial for them than it would for the Royal Conglomerate.

"That's great, but let me know when you are upgraded from one of the richest in the globe to thee richest in the globe." he responded, without sparing a glance at her.

"Whatever, I see prison didn't teach you any manners." she responded haughtily, getting up and making her way back to her seat, which was situated on the second last row in the class.

Pearl was beautiful......of sorts. But like every other rich girl at Royal High School, who could afford the best hair, had personal makeup artists, they almost all looked good. Plastic surgery was a norm amongst them, though it was taboo to discuss it.

One thing which irked Xavier the most about his life style was that he was the most eligible bachelor at Royal High School. Their disingenuous attempts to capture him was almost joke like for him, but then again another thing at Royal High School, relationships were based on status and not on feelings.

-----

"She's here…" Taylor whispered, smirking at Nico.

Xavier turned his attention to the front of the class to see who had entered. It was a young slim women. She couldn't have been older than 28. Dressed conservatively, with a brown jersey and pin skirt. She had a slightly stern look on her face, but equipped with her messy hairdo bun and geeky glasses, she looked like your typical teacher.

"Good morning class." she said in haste as she placed her clipboard and small briefcase on top of the empty desk at the front of the class. There was no response from the students. She turned her attention onto the front of her class, bringing her eyes to Xavier.

"Oh I see we have a new student here today! Please introduce yourself for us." she said in a friendly voice. The class burst out in laughter. Looking confused, she put her hand up for silence.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" she said, looking stunned at her class's response to their new student.

"Please do introduce yourself to us." she resaid gently to Xavier. Xavier smirked to himself, she looked like a softy, she wouldn't last too long in this jungle of Royal High School.

"Xavier! go ahead and introduce yourself for us!" Nico smirked.

Xavier got up. The class turned into pin drop silence. "My name is Xavier." he said briefly, while sitting back down.

"Oh come on! That won't do at all! Tell us a bit about yourself, where were you before? are you a transfer student?" she continued asking.

Xavier took a huge breath in, gosh, she was really clueless, he thought to himself as he got up again. Maybe he should just tell her to avoid such cases with any of the other new teachers.

"Yeah Xavier, do tell us if you are a transfer student." Nico replied back naughtily.

"My name is Xavier Johnston, heir of the Royal Group. And no, I'm not a transfer student. I was in prison. I set a mall on fire." He responded. He could see her face turning red by the second, and finally he could see hints of insight dawning on her.

"Oh..." she said.

"Any further questions?"

"Emm…no…that will do just fine…thank you…you may have a seat..." she stuttered awkwardly while the whole class started laughing at her again, but yet this time she didn't ask them to stop.

The class droned on from there, Xavier losing focus almost immediately. In Royal High School, teachers were openly mocked by their students. Usually because they belonged to the working class and the young peers of Royal High School saw them as a low social status.

When the bell rang, he almost immediately jumped from his executive desk, making his way out of the corridor. The whole morning went the same way. The only thing he missed was his friends, when he was in prison.

As for Royal High School, it was like a concrete jungle, beautiful and expensive looking, very different from an ordinary high school.

On the outside it looked like a dream, it was equipped with different cafeterias with professional chefs, and spa service if they needed to relax after school. It even had a mini supermarket inside the school called as the Royal Mini Mall. Everything of course courtesy of the Royal Conglomerate.

But Royal High school was filled with animals. Ruthless animals, who were only interested in the rat race, things like friendships were a rare commodity here.

The so called friends were chosen simply based on the social status, the wealth of their family, how much influence and power they have in the world beyond the walls of Royal High School. What they were really looking for was not friendship after all, but mergers. That being said, it made Xavier Johnston the biggest merger opportunity that there was.

-----

The final lunch break bell rang, signaling end of the morning sessions. Xavier, Taylor and Nico made their way to the cafeteria.

"Gosh, what a boring morning, thought it would never end." Taylor said, sighing loudly.

"Guess what we need is some entertainment." Nico said, concurring with Taylor.

Xavier's handsome face broke into a cruel curved smile, "think I just found it…." he said.

"What?" Nico asked.

"Entertainment." Xavier replied, smiling.

In walked the charity kids, as they were called at Royal High School. The kids who got admission based on good academic records, from a poor background, and were on scholarships at Royal High School.

Royal High School had a strict social class system. The charity kids had to sit on their own table, which was close to the buffet tables, where the smell of the roasted eggs was most prevalent, and where all the cooks stood to serve the students.

They were also the most vulnerable, Xavier looked to the table, someone had placed a big plac card on the table, it read in big letters "beggars" smirking to himself again, the little devils are at it again. Being part of the charity group meant you were open to humiliation from just about anyone in the whole school, the senior charity group kids to the most junior ones, there was no one safe.

Xavier started the whole system back then, with who used to be his best friend, Zach.

Zach went to prison along with him, they were both found to be guilty, as Xavier burnt down a mall owned by Zach's Conglomerate, and Zach burnt down one of the Royal towers, he was sent to a different prison, by his father. Probably afraid that there could be room for only one rich boy in prison at a time. His term was about to end next week, and then they would be at each other's throats once again.

Xavier and Zach had a strange relationship of sorts. They still had too much love for each other to truly hate each other, but had hurt each other in so many ways to ever go back to the way they were. School will be interesting when he comes back, that's for sure.

Xavier got up from his table which was at the furthest end from the beggars table, and walked towards them. He glanced at them, there were about four of the beggars sitting at the table. One looked like he couldn't be further than the 9th grade, big glasses which were held up by sellotape in the middle, and rough hair.

Urgh yuck. Xavier thought to himself.

Then there were the other two, they looked much more senior than the small kid. They were talking amongst themselves, and looked like they were leaving the kid out. They were laughing and as he walked past their table, one of them caught Xavier's eyes and quickly looked away, while whispering something to the other one.

Xavier walked on, as a strange thought occurred to him. Never had he ever seen a charity case girl student though. Maybe the school management thought the girls wouldn't be able to endure the bullying. The bullying was the one big elephant in the room which no one really spoke about. It was as though there was nothing to acknowledge, everyone bullied the charity kids, and each other depending on the social status.

Suddenly there were big shrieks of laughter from the nearby table. Xavier looked up while getting himself a waffle. Someone decided to throw potato mash onto one of the senior beggars face. He closed his eyes whilst wiping the mash off his face slowly.

"So this is what's been going on while you have been gone." Nico said, helping himself to some waffles too.

"We have left the school's state of ethics to these amateurs." Taylor walked this way.

"Didn't we already do the potato mash in like 7th grade?" Xavier said.

"We sure did, they should start to get more creative, this is so boring." Nico said, chewing his waffles.

"Like what? Burning malls maybe?" Pearl said, moving into the conversation.

"Yeah maybe…but I doubt they will be able to pay off the legal fees to stay for just three months due to overcrowding. Or pay off the judge, or the Judicial ministry…" Xavier said.

"You paid off the Judicial ministry?" Pearl asked, being surprised.

"Why so surprised?" Xavier retorted.

"Didn't know you could even do that." she replied.

"Yeah it was approximately the size of a gdp of some small country, I doubt you can afford it though." Xavier said. Pearl gave him the death stare.

"I'm just saying." Xavier said, shrugging.

They left the cafeteria, walked to the class.

There was pin drop silence from the moment the new girl walked into the room. The whole class stared at the newcomer. Xavier turned to see what the commotion was all about.

"Well, finally I think we have a game changer…" Tyler said, smiling to himself, while looking at the new classmate.

"What do you mean?" Nico asked.

"For the first time in Royal High School, we have a girl charity scholar, and look at her...she's..."

"Beautiful." Xavier finished off, while staring at the newcomer.

Tyler looked at the other girls reaction to their new competition, Pearl stood there with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Oh…I smell trouble."