Chapter 4: Beggars table

Leila wanted to cry, sob actually was more like it. She didn’t know where the toilets were, so she just rushed back to the entrance steps. What was this place! Were these people even human beings? How could they be so cruel to each other like that? She didn’t know why it hit her so hard, but she couldn’t help the tears from flowing. They were falling down like a waterfall, and she didn’t care if anyone saw her. Royal high, the place where teachers were ill-treated by their students, where everything seemed to be based on how much money you had, and from the look of things, the more money you had the more vicious you got. Leila didn’t think she would be able to endure the rest of the day. Wiping her eyes quickly, she heard the bell ring, taking out her timetable, she saw it read “History”, room 107. Great at least she knew where that class was. She could already feel her eyes puffing up, and the worst part about her face, was that it had tell-tell signs of her crying, her eyes would be red even up to a day. They were sure to be happy, that they could break me down in one morning? Leila walked back into the main corridor, down the same staircase, seemed like the class was already full, she could hear them making a noise. Taking in a deep breath, she turned the knob and walked into the class.

She was almost getting used to the reception she was getting. The ogling, the looks of disgust from pearl, Alicia and oliya. There were only two vacant seats left in this class, which seemed much smaller than Ms. Judy’s. Leila knew instinctively that her seat would be in the front, that’s where the most simple desks were, and most importantly there was no one else sitting in the front row, the rest of the class were all occupying seats either starting from the middle all the way towards the back which looked like mini offices. She didn’t bother to look at the class, she placed her bag down and sat quietly waiting for the teachers arrival. The door opened again, and in walked the same guy she had seen earlier in the corridor, the one taunting his scholarship student. He had a mischievous grin on his face, and he stood at the door with his hands in his pocket. His handsome face breaking into a beautiful smile, showing near perfect extra white teeth. His eyes wandering all the way down, till they caught Leila sitting at the front desk.

Smiling a cruel smile, he walked over to her, took out a chair and sat next to her. The whole classes attention immediately went onto them, “Hey ! I don’t think you guys are being very welcoming to our new comer here ! “ he yelled to the back of the class. Everything about him, made Leila very uneasy. He smiled at her, and put his hand out, “New student ! Nice to meet you ! My name is Zach..” he said, with a boyish charm. She didn’t know whether to take his hand or not, but with the whole class staring at the two of them, she gently took his hand and shook it. “ Hello, my name is Leila…” she said shyly.

“Ah Leila…what a name…” he said, his eyes scanning her face, as though looking for something. Did everyone just stare unashamedly at people here? Leila thought to herself.

“what are you looking at?” she asked timidly.

“at you….it’s my eyes, I can look at whomever I want to..” he said, again mocking her.

“you’re blushing..” he said, there was a slight amusement in his voice. She put her hands onto her cheeks, yep again there it was the tell-tell signs. She could feel her cheeks burning. He aggressively grabbed her hands which were on her face, ‘don’t …do that…its almost cute..” he said, again, there was a hint of amusement in his voice. Leila stared at him in shock. Did he have to be so blunt? Trying to move her hand, to loosen his grip, “let me go..” she said softly, aware that everyone was intently staring at them. “I’m barely even holding on..” he said, though there was a wicked playful smile crossing his face. She tried again to loosen his grip, blushing even more.

“oh my…come on ! this is already starting to get too fun ! “ he said with wicked excitement. Leila stared at him, was she going to be his next target? It sure looked like it. Suddenly he let her wrist go, and stared at her, again unabashedly, she looked down at her wrist, there were already imprints of his hand on her wrist, the blood was starting to come back. She looked at him, with mild dislike already starting to form.

He too looked down at her wrist, and his eyebrows went up in sincere surprise, he suddenly moved closer to her, till he was bare inches away from her face, Leila held her breath “was I too rough with you already for our first time?” he said, while his handsome face broke again into a cruel and yet beautiful smile. Leila took a huge gasp, and this time there would be no hiding it, no matter how hard she tried, her whole face had gone red. Before she could react to him, the door opened again, and in walked a short plump old man. Who was bold except for shocking white hair just around the circumference of his head . He was shorter than his teachers table, scanning the class with mild interest, he stopped immediately when he saw Zach sitting in the front row, and then his eyes turned to look at Leila, and he evidently looked surprised.

“ Zach Williams ! are you back from prison already?” he asked.

“Im back, knew you’d miss me too much so I couldn’t take too long “ Zach replied, again with his mischievous grin.

“Huh ! Its good you sit here in the front ! at least I can keep a watchful eye on you “ he said, while the class started giggling. “where is that friend of yours?”

“which one sir ? Im so popular..”

“you know the one I’m talking about..” Just than the door opened again, and in walked Nico, Taylor and their friend. “Ah there he is!” the teacher said, his eyes on the newcomers. He walked up to them, looking even more short as he stood next to them. Turning his neck almost vertical he looked straight at the one in the middle, the one Leila recognized from Ms Judy’s class, and gym class which they had together. “Xavier ! I want no more trouble from the two of you, you hear !” he said sternly, shaking his small finger at Xavier, “You too should sit in the front, next to our new student, where I can keep a watchful eye on you !” he finished. The boy called Xavier, looked at where the teacher was directing him to sit. He looked at the front seat, as though it were filled with dirt. His eyes than moved to Leila, he stood there staring till it made Leila uncomfortable.

“Oh come now ..buddy…you’re making her uneasy. Can’t you see?” Zach said playfully, except that in his tone, was anything but playful. Xavier’s eyes finally reached to Zach, and his expression twisted into rage. Zach smiled cruelly at him while giving him a wave “ Long time buddy…see prison treated you well?”

“as it did you..” Xavier responded. He looked at Leila again, taking a deep breathe, he said to the teacher, “I’ll sit next to her..”

“ah..there’s only place for one..” zach said. “sorry.” Making an apologetic baby face.

“Well than that’s my seat you’re sitting on” Xavier said smilling at zach. His smile caught Leila completely off guard, it was shockingly handsome, it changed his whole face from cruel to almost human like.

“Funny how I don’t see your name on this seat..though.. I do remember a certain seat having your name right at the back over there..” zach said, Leila turned to look at the back, and sure enough on the executive seat was a small plac card reading Xavier Johnston.

“Hmm…strange because I thought I saw a seat with your name on it at the back too?” Xavier retorted, Leila turned around to see another in the executive row, which also had a plac card on it which read Zach Williams, they must be in the same social status.

“ Hey there, take this empty desk and move it to the front..” the teacher said. Xavier walked to the corner of the room and aggressively dragged the chair and desk and placed it next to Leila. There was electric tension between the two, their dislike for each other couldn’t have been any more obvious. Taking a huge sigh, somehow it just seemed like Leila’s day went from bad to worse, what did she get herself into?

The teacher turned his attention onto Leila, looking down his glasses at her with a stern look he said “sorry about putting you in between them..let me know if they cause you too much trouble..”

“Don’t worry sir, I’ll take good care of her..” Zach said with a wide smile. Leila blushed again, and turned to the other side, to see Xavier was not at all paying attention to the teacher, but instead was staring at Leila like he wanted to pounce on her.

The class started on a funny note. It seemed as though the two of them, were intent on keeping up the tension, and none of them let their guard down even for a second. Leila was the only one taking notes, while the two seemed to be in their own separate worlds. Xavier spent the rest of the class either staring at Leila, or playing with his cellphone.

While Zach spent the rest of the class, drawing random cartoons onto a piece of paper. Shockingly the teacher didn’t seem to mind either one of them being inattentive, he seemed to be content with the mere fact that they were not causing any trouble. Leila was still busy taking notes, when she felt eyes staring at her again. Taking a huge sigh, she put her pen down and turned to Xavier, he didn’t even bother to look away. “Any reason why you might be staring at me?” she asked meekly without looking up at him. Zach stopped drawing his cartoons, waiting for Xavier to respond.

His face broke into the handsome smile again. “Am I staring?” he said in a quiet gentle voice. Much different to the harsh tone he had used with zach earlier.

Leila didn’t know how to respond after that smile. She picked up her pen, as her hand started shivering. Her body was always an open book. Xavier smiled again at her “You’re shaking..” he said, in his surprisingly gentle voice.

“Yes….because you’re very scary…” Zach said, in a comical face. Leila stared at Zach’s comical expression for a brief second and burst in a small giggle. Zach and Xavier both stared at her, and it seemed the whole class stared at her too. She quickly put her hands over her face half in embarrassment half in regret, and she could feel her whole face turning red. Leila decided not to look at either one of them, for the remainder of the class, and when the bell finally rang, she was the first to get up, pack up her bag and rush out of the class. She could still feel eyes boring at the back of her.

She checked her watch, it was 12 o’clock, looking at her timetable, there was a huge block which said “Lunch” on it between 12 – 14hoo. She walked back up the corridor, to her locker. At least she remembered where that was. Just as she was opening up her locker, she found another girl on the opposite lane who too had hers opened. In it was a big mirror, clothes hangers, different hair brushes, small bottles (which Leila supposed could only contain things like lotions, ointments), and right on top, were an assortment of expensive looking handbags. She saw Leila staring at her, smirking she loudly banged her locker shut. Sighing to herself, Leila opened her locker, and stared at it for a second. There was nothing in there, absolutely nothing. She just dropped her bag in, took off her blazer, placed it on top of her bag, and closed it shut. She jumped a little to find a small cute overweight curly haired boy next to her locker.

“Hey there!” he said excitedly. He couldn’t have been older than 13. Instead of long school pants he wore shorts, he had a file in his hand which looked too large for him, he had an ordinary school bag with normal amounts of dirt and dust on them, and huge big glasses. He beamed at her stretching out his hand “My name is justin, nice to meet you!” he said. Leila beamed back at him, finally her first normal response of the day. “Hi there justin ! My name is Leila, nice to meet you too!” he stood there slightly blushing at her response, “come on, its lunch time I’ll show you the cafeteria..” he waved at her, Leila smiled at her new companion, as she followed him. They walked out of the main entrance, past the glass like building where she had her gym class earlier, and continued walking till they reached an almost mini mall like looking building. At the front, in bright flashing lights it read “Cafeteria”

“wow” Leila said looking up at it

“I know right? I had the exact same reaction when I first saw it”

“how long have you been here?”

“about a year ago, I started in 8th grade here.., but you’re the first charity girl here at Royal high school. Everyone’s been talking about you!” he finished excitedly.

“Me? Why?” Leila gasped in horror.

“ Well firstly people like you and me…the normal people, the people who are not heirs to big conglomerate companies, are called as charity cases…..because we come here on scholarships…and secondly they have only ever given scholarships to boys before…well……before you..”

“what ? Why have they never given girl’s a scholarship before..?” she asked, starting to get worried.

“well…you’ll see what I mean. It’s hard to explain. But here’s the thing: the whole school is subdivided here , there is a strict social status laws if you will. And us the charity cases, or beggars as they call us are right at the bottom. The beggars are always picked on….and I mean always. But even the beggars are subdivided into Xavier Johnston’s beggars, and Zach William’s beggars…and their allies can in turn bully whomever they want..” Leila stopped walking as she was struggling to take all of this information in. “The whole school is talking about whose beggar you’ll be…” Justin said smiling. Still in horror, she couldn’t believe he was smiling at her while sharing this information.

“and whose beg- whose charity case are you?” she asked meekly

“I belong to Zach Williams..” Justin said beaming again.

“Zach and Xavier started this whole school system, they belong to the two most powerful families here in any case..” he said whispering dramatically. Leila was starting to feel queasy, “let’s go in shall we?” Justin said opening the door to the cafeteria. Stunned for a second at the look of the cafeteria, she quickly composed herself and entered in, following Justin. The cafeteria looked like a picture from an architectural magazine. The floor was glistening white, there were beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, with almost a romantic white glaze. The tables which looked like mini dining room sets were all lined up in perfect symmetry alongside each other. All tables except for one, which stood out like a log of woods alongside gold. It was made of white cheap looking plastic, equipped with broken white chairs. It seemed all the chairs were sellotaped together. Right in the centre was a big plac card which read “beggars table” equipped with a smiley face.

“hey that’s strange!” Justin said looking at the plastic table, “today its placed in the centre, usually they leave it closest to the fried egg’s table” he said. Not knowing if it was a good thing or a bad thing, Leila took a big gulp of air in, trying to calm herself down, she followed Justin to the buffet table. Luckily they were early, and literally the only two students in apart from the people standing at the tables to serve the food. But even the kitchen ladies seemed to know about her, she caught them staring at her and covering their mouth obviously while making loud whispering sounds. Justin however just seemed to carry on as he filled his plate up with almost everything till there was no space. Leila followed suit, losing her appetite, she just put on toast, and jam. They both went to sit on the beggars table.

“so why are all the beggars divided into zach and xavier’s team”

Shrugging while stuffing his mouth “ Well, they absolutely hate each other…they constantly get into fights about …well…everything, to call it a truce, the school decided to separate the beggars into either ‘zach’s beggars’ and ‘xavier’s beggars’ “ he said.

“What the school decided that?” Leila said in shock, choking on her toast. Still eating Justin nodded his head, ”uh huh, well actually it’s like Xavier..or his family own Royal High school, he is the inheritor for the whole Royal empire ….this school was first created by one of his forefathers or something, where they could train and develop the future inheritors of all of the world’s largest conglomerate….so I guess you could say he kind of owns the school…” he finished, now digging into his scrambled eggs. Suddenly there was a big influx of kids that started to trickle into the cafeteria, and Leila could feel eyes boring onto her. It seemed like being the first girl charity case was a really really a big deal here.

“so being Zach’s beggar…what does that actually mean?”, Leila asked, still struggling to understand how the whole school was divided into two groups, belonging to just two teenagers.

“well on the positive side…I don’t get picked on by Xavier’s people..”

“and on the negative side..?”

“I get picked on by Zach’s people..” he said solemnly.

“when you say picked on…what exactly do you mean?”

“well…here let me show you..”Justin said, suddenly moving closer to Leila, he started taking off his school blazer, wearing only his half sleeved school shirt, he started to unbutton the first few buttons, and then moved the shirt aside making Leila gasped. There on his chest, in bright black ink was a huge tattoo which read “Zach Williams..” . Leila just stared at it in horror, “he made you get a tattoo with his name on it?” Leila asked in a whisper.

“well he did the tattoo himself, it happened about a year ago, when I first arrived here…” Justin said,

“why didn’t you report him? Didn’t you tell your parents?” Leila asked in disgust.

“Both my parents work for his father’s company, he told me if I were to tell them anything, he would get them both fired…and as for the school…everyone knows what Zach and Xavier get up to…” Justin said softly. Suddenly looking past Leila, Justin gasped and started buttoning up his shirt hastily again, turning around Leila saw that Zach had walked in the cafeteria with a group of friends. He was staring intently at them, and as he saw Justin buttoning up his school vest quickly, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Hi there, nice to meet you ! My name is Thomas.” Someone said to Leila, she looked up to see a hand reaching out to her, and another friendly face. Though he looked a lot older than Justin, he must be a senior for sure. Leila shook his hand “Hi Thomas, nice to meet you, I’m Leila..” she said. She could still feel Zach’s eyes boring onto her. Thomas sat down next to Leila, bringing his plate closer to him and started digging. “We’ve all heard about you! “ he said enthusiastically. Justin shaking his head as though in agreement “Really?” Leila said surprised, not sure what exactly they could have heard about her. Soon before she knew it her table…the beggars table was full with scholarship students, ranging in age from 8th graders till seniors 12th graders, and each one of them ‘belonged’ to either Zach or Xavier. What was the worst discovery of all for Leila was that all of them had tattoos embedded onto their chest, which read either “Zach” or “Xavier”.

Just as she was finishing up, she saw a group of guys coming up to their desk. Leila could see already from their strut that there were hints of arrogance etching off of them. They walked up directly to Thomas, he bent low, so that his head came in between Thomas and Leila, “Happy Birthday Thomsie..” they said to him. Thomas all of a sudden went very still, as though waiting to see what would be their next move, as though he knew that there was going to be a next move. Justin too, didn’t make eye contact with them, he just sat there staring at his plate, though his face was pale white, and his fork was shaking. Now that Leila looked all around their table, she was the only one, who was actually looking up to see what they were about to do to Thomas...