"Life is a tragedy for most of us"
This was something I heard most adults say when I was growing up. I never really imagined I will be speaking the exact same words within my lifetime. I'm Nesta Smith and this is my story.
[3rd person POV]
Nesta stared deeply at his student ID card which was clenched tightly in his fist. He took into account every nook and cranny of his face which looked stupid enough to be ridiculed by most people. He closed his gently lifted his head to the sky and breathed a sigh of relief. Looking back at his photo on the ID card, he smiled profusely as his index finger dangled over it. Nesta Smith, the card displayed boldly.
"Today is going to be a good day"
Nesta picked up his pace after encouraging himself about the kind of fortune the day was going to bring. The sole of his shoe scraped the surface of the concrete floor he was treading on. In front of him was the whole of the city of Pride in all of its glory and glamour. The air was thick with the scent of coal as certain portions of the road was been maintained and catered for by some workers.
All that Nesta had to do was to cross the several streets before reaching his school. Upon reaching his destination, he tightened his grip around his student ID card with his left hand while his right hand did same to his bag which was hunched up at his back.
For Nesta, school was not a place where he find safety as others might suppose. He found the opposite of what he needed.
"Hey Nesta! Are you avoiding me?"
A deep but familiar voice which he realised immediately asked menacingly.
He shuddered when the message the voice carried had reached his ears. Turning around he could see a muscular boy of his age staring at him with a smirk on his face. What distinguished this person from those walking around the school's hallway was the menacing atmosphere created by his presence. Nesta blinked a couple of times when the boy's eyes had met his. He could make out the grey color his eyes were giving off.
"Why does it have to be him of all people?"
Nesta murmured to himself, clearly disturbed by the presence of this boy.
"I was just walking to my classroom, Jake. I didn't see you. That's all"
He replied on impulse when Jake's gaze had pulled him out of his trance. His hand were held together firmly in front of his face out of respect when he had spoken. A smile appeared on Jake's face when he made a mental note of Nesta's gestures.
"Nice, I almost thought you were ignoring me on purpose. You know what could have happened if that became a reality,right?"
"How can I ignore someone of your calibre?"
"Now be a good boy and carry my bag to my classroom"
Jake said in a friendly tone but Nesta knew full well that there was nothing friendly about the way he was seizing him up.
Nesta did as he was told and decided to grab the bag but before he could take it though, a fist had collided into his face causing blood to trickle down his mouth. He fell to the ground instantly and held up his nose which was now bleeding profusely as a result of the intensity of the punch. In the first place, he was not ready to receive a punch this early in the day.
He felt a tight grip on his shoulder and could feel something pulling him up from the ground. Still holding on to his banged up nose, he opened his eyes to catch a glimpse of what Jake was going to next. This wasn't the first time he was going through something like this.
"Please stop"
Nesta tried his best to plead but the fist had landed in his gut causing saliva to pop out of his mouth. A couple of severals attacks followed after until the bell had rung for lessons to start. He cuddled up into a ball while trying his best to forget the kind of pain he was going through at the moment. Every inch of his body was brimming with unbearable pain.
"How can the punch of a boy my age hurt like this?"
He asked himself while gritting his teeth and trying his best to get up and move towards his classroom which was at the far end of the halway. Of course Jake was no normal person he was a champion of the school's martial arts club. One would wonder why such a prominent person will waste his time to bully others. just as it was mentioned above, Jake is no normal boy and the things he found pleasure in doing were not also that of normal people.
Nesta could remember clearly what had caused all of the troubles he was going through at the moment. All of this occurred as a result of a proposal he made to an upper class student.
"Yvonne, what was I thinking?"
He scoffed while trying his best to grab his bag from the floor. The very first time he had seen her was at the cafeteria, she was a blonde haired girl with blue eyes and glossy lips--one that every man will kill to press his lips on them. Maybe the food he had grabbed from the cafeteria was what had caused such a thing to happen. Nesta's body had clearly entered a trance when he had sat down to gobble up his lunch but his whole world was made beautiful when she had entered the place. He was immediately kicked out of his trance when Yvonne had noticed that he was clearly staring at her with affection.
Not knowing what to do, she had winked at him causing him to fall from his chair. Trying his best to look cool he had hopped up from the ground but to his dismay everyone was laughing at him. Turning his head, he had realised that she wasn't even winking at him but rather a girl who was sitting at a table which was at the back of his own. Although the wink was meant for another person, it had still left an indelible mark on Nesta's heart.
Since he had used all of his savings to buy gifts for his love interest in an attempt to express his love for her. In the end he and Yvonne became friends. Their friendship became the talk of the school. Both the seniors and the juniors were all talking about it. Nesta was proud of himself for once but he still wanted more and by more he wanted to propose his love to Yvonne who was a year older than him.
The date was set in his mind and he had gotten his hands on some roses from his neighbour's garden after offering to mow the garden for him. With a heavy heart, he had gone to the cafeteria with a smile on his face while waiting patiently for Yvonne to appear. When she had though, he sprang out of his chair while grabbing the flowers from his bag. He presented the flower to her but in the end what he had received was a slap from her. Just then Jake had entered with a couple of his friends from the martial arts club. Once they had seen the spectacle which was unfolding in front them, they had jumped in to help calm the tension. Meanwhile Nesta's was now aware of the mess he was in. It was the worst kind of mess there was in the school's history.
Jake had held Yvonne by her waist while asking her what had happened. Instead of addressing that fact that someone was currently holding her waist at the moment, she had decided to put all her disgust on Nesta who just openly expressed his feelings to her. He had tried his best to stand up but before he could though a well calculated roundhouse kick had been planted in between his eyes which were currently tearing up.
THUD!
The sound erupted as he crushed back into the floor where he was trying his best to get up from. Immediately his back had touched the floor though, a terrifying scream had escaped his lips. He held on to his forehead where blood was trickling profusely from. His vision started to blur out and before he could get up he had already fainted.
What happened next was all a blur and in the end he had been told to wear medicated lenses due to the kind of damage Jake's kick had caused to his eyes. So in all, our main character didn't get the girl in the end but rather got a slap and a roundhouse kick in between his eyes.
"I don't blame myself for this situation, I blame this worthless heart of mine."
Nesta blurted out after finding what to push all his blames onto. Dragging his body across the cold tiles of the hallway floor he had made up his mind to get to his class before the 5 minutes mark. After this duration a student will be deemed late and will be eligible for detention. He experienced hell this morning and did not want to relive another one in a detention class.
After limping and panting for what seems like an eternity, He finally pushed his battered body through the classroom door and could feel several gazes fixated on his body.
"Why I'm I naked?"
He asked aggressively to the hearing of all those who were sheepishly staring at him as if he was a mannequin at some boutique. Hearing what he had said, the teacher folded his arms while staring deeply at Nesta who was still trying his best to stand firmly without shaking.
"Mind your tongue. Mr.Smith. Do not mistake my leniency for weakness. Since you are late you will be facing detention for the whole week."
Nesta's mouth was left ajar as his worst nightmare had come to pass. Thinking of what had happened to him today he could finally understand that life was indeed a tragedy but he still wasn't ready to say it yet.