Chapter 92 - Bullied

The atmosphere in class the following day was a little weird. Elfie didn't know where he should sit because Scarlet, Alex and Jasper were already seated in their usual places. Scarlet was seated beside the window, Alex in the middle and Jasper to the side nearer to the door. The special class had enough seats for all the registered students but Elfie didn't know if it was right to be taking any random seat because it might be the regular seat of another classmate.

Scarlet saw the hesitation and nudged Alex who caught onto what her sister wanted.

"Good morning, Elfie! Come sit with us!"

The hacker wasn't sure if he should accept Alex's extended invitation after how she looked at him yesterday. Still, the name-calling hasn't happened yet and the boy was thankful. Maybe his new classmates were playing the long game trying to get him to warm up to them before they bullied him.

Elfie took a seat next to Jasper who was silent as usual. Unlike Alex, the other two classmates did not greet him good morning. The hacker didn't care. If anything, he preferred if they treated him as invisible. Not attracting attention to himself was often a good thing. Elfie had gotten so used to hiding from the people who were looking for him that any direct attention he received would send him into mild panic attacks. Alex's greeting made him freeze up for a moment but eventually, the programmer took a seat beside the mysterious boy.

Boys were better than girls to some extent. At least Elfie was somewhat more comfortable being in the company of boys compared to girls. back where he worked, there were no girls. When he went home, there were also no girls. The only girls Elfie knew were those in the class but even then, he only knew them from the screen and their portfolio files. Elfie never interacted much with them and from yesterday's incident, he learnt that they reacted differently from boys.

Danny came into the classroom with his chirpy personality and Elfie found himself unable to get used to the work personality his father put on. The programmer was more used to seeing a highly cautious, serious and analytical Danny. The informant never made jokes that weren't morbid around him and hearing Danny spout lame one-liners non-stop with references to the internet meme culture made him cringe so hard. He felt second-hand embarrassment for Danny who was trying too hard to appear hippy.

While the programmer was slowly dying on the inside, Scarlet was observing him from behind her textbook. As usual, Dany's lessons were interesting whenever he drifted to other side topics. She was well-prepared for the mid-year examinations and decided that she would help the delinquent class study for the exams.

Elfie looked painfully awkward and Scarlet wondered if it was due to his side jobs overseas. She didn't think he interacted much with children of his age at all and that made her think back about her life before the Wilde's adopted her. She didn't miss that earlier look of fear either when the boy first walked into class. He looked as if he was deciding to sit somewhere or run away and if Alex didn't call out to him, Scarlet thought that Elfie would have bolted if given the chance.

The writer thought that it was a shame the programmer couldn't experience a more normal childhood. Scarlet didn't think any part of her current life was normal but she was happier. Maybe if Elfie were to join them for their crazy activities after lessons he would feel less guarded around them. If there was a group of people capable of making anyone feel accepted, it would be the class of misfits.

With determination to include Elfie in their after-class activity, Scarlet wrote down her plan on a piece of paper that she tore from her notebook and passed it to Alex when Danny had his back turned to them.

Elfie caught sight of the note being passed but remained silent. It was none of his business if these students didn't want to pay attention to the lesson. With the mid-year examinations coming up in a few weeks, they had to be rather confident to not pay attention.

Alex who read the note had a hard time finding an opportunity to pass the note to Jasper. Danny kept moving back and forth the four of them and didn't have any indication that he was going to write anything on the whiteboard for a while. The teacher had launched into a tale about Indiana Jones while giving a history summary about aborigines. The Wilde princess was frustrated but tried not to let it show on her face. They still had another twenty minutes before class ended and she wanted Jasper to know about Scarlet's plan before they lost Elfie.

Finally, the opportunity presented itself in the last five minutes of class as Danny rushed with the rest of his lesson plans, scribbling furiously on the board as usual in complete silence. Scarlet's pen moved non-stop as she copied whatever was on the board like a pro. Jasper was distracted when Alex shoved a crumpled piece of paper into his hand. It wasn't like the blonde girl to write notes during class. If anything, he knew that the Wilde heiress was the most diligent who tried to keep up with the lessons.

When he unfolded the note, Jasper smiled a little. He recognised Scarlet's handwriting and was impressed by her suggestion. Truth be told, any extra hands he could get would be very appreciated. Elfie looked like he was smart enough to ace the exams without much studying but the same cannot be said of the neanderthals in the delinquent class.

Jasper still had problems explaining how 2x is not the same as x to the power of 2. Those kids were meant to be older than him but Jasper didn't think they were very far off in terms of intellect. Half the class could understand it and Jasper didn't worry about them failing the exams. However, the failing half of the class made Jasper feel a sense of helplessness. He didn't want to give up on their brains but most of them had already given up on themselves. The first miracle no longer inspired them and most of the failing students have written it off as a blessing by the Gods never to be repeated again.

"And that's it for today's lesson. For the rest of this and next week, I will be in the counselling room if you require any studying assistance. Class dismissed," the counsellor smiled and left.

Elfie packed his things with every intention of leaving the trio behind. He would study with Danny in the counselling room or work on something in the school library after borrowing a computer if he was bored. The programmer had zero intention of spending time playing friends with them but he wasn't fast enough to leave when Alex trapped him with a question.

"Hey Elfie, you're a programmer, right? does it mean you're also good at Math?"

Unable to lie, the boy nodded and hurried to put away his book.

"That's fantastic! We need more people good at Math to help. You can join us, we're just about to help some students study for the upcoming exams!"

"But I-"

"I'll be heading down first. Scarlet, you lead them both to the classroom. Don't rush, your leg is almost healed. It would be horrible if you hurt it now. Sorry, bro. Could you help Scarlet carry her things over? I need to hurry before they escape my classes again."

Elfie wasn't given time to respond when Jasper slung his heavy bag and dashed out of the class. Alex was also quick to react and held onto Elfie, pushing Scarlet's books into his arms just as the boy intended to leave. The hacker secretly resigned to fate, unable to refuse with the pressure of the girls' stares.

Once again Elfie found himself reduced to becoming the lackey. It wasn't even his first week and the hacker was already getting bullied. He knew he hated children and school. Maybe taking on Mr Wilde's offer was a bad thing. His children were nothing like him at all!