welp

I know I said I was going to post this 2 days ago, but, obviously that didn't work out.

...

I don't know what to say about this.

"ROTTEN EGG FIIIIIIGHT!" Gene yelled, grabbing a basket of the foul-smelling food item and beginning to fling them at his fellow students. Brad hastily grabbed a basket of his own as the teacher left them to their battle, the copper-haired boy throwing eggs back at the red-haired know-it-all. Gene deserved to smell like rotten eggs, the annoying little brat was always bragging about how smart he was. Apparently some of the others had the same idea, as Alex, Max, Cameron, and Gabe had banded together and were pelting the redhead with eggs. Brad joined them, then got an even better idea. He would betray them. That was super evil, he had to get extra credit for that, right? Snatching up his former allies' baskets of eggs from the floor, the taller boy overturned his own on their heads, running away laughing evilly as they yelped in shock. As about half of the room was against him now, Brad ducked through a door out onto a balcony, quickly shutting the door behind him so (hopefully) no one would notice where he'd gone.

As he panted for breath against the wall, he heard a strange sound coming from the school's courtyard. It sounded like a child screaming. Curious, Brad walked over to the railing and looked down at the garden below. The Principal was standing on the front walk with a middle-aged woman and a little boy. The boy was screaming in protest as the Principal tried to remove him from the woman, whom he was clinging to tightly. The woman, probably his mother, kissed his forehead before gently pushing him away and setting him down on the stone walk. He continued screaming indistinctly as she turned and walked away, trying to pull away from the older man who had a firm grip on his hand. It wasn't until his mother was out of sight that he reluctantly allowed himself to be led into the building.

Brad frowned. Poor kid. He couldn't be more than five or six years old, which was younger than most of the boy when they came here. Brad himself had only been here a year, and he was eight. He hoped his name wasn't picked in the drawing. Whenever a new boy came to the school, one of the older boys was chosen to do something mean to them. The teachers said it was to "help them adjust faster to life here at the school", but he thought it was just because they were sadistic fiends. He probably should find it enjoyable – he was supposed to be a villain – but torturing little kids was where he drew the line. Well, if his name was drawn, he didn't really have a choice. Shrugging, Brad gathered his baskets of smelly eggs and stormed back into the classroom. He had a rotten egg fight to win.

TheArtOfRevenge

"Boys, this is Lloyd Garmadon." Whispers immediately began to circle the room as everyone's eyes fixed on the little boy peeking out shyly from behind the Principal's legs, Brad among them. Garmadon? Wasn't that the name of the super-awesome ruler of the Underworld? Was this kid his son? "Son of Lord Garmadon." the Principal continued. So he was. Cool! The Principal passed the little boy off to another teacher, who left the room with him, before producing a hat full of slips of paper. After a moment, he shuffled his hand around in it for a couple moments before picking a slip at random and unfolding it. "Gene Fitzerbert." He read out loud. Brad breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"Nah, I'm too busy." Gene said boredly. "Have Brad do it."

"What?! Me?!" the brown-haired boy sputtered. "You were drawn! You can't do that!"

"Brad, Brad, Brad." The redhead rolled his eyes condescendingly. "Have you forgotten that this is a school for bad boys? I can do whatever I want! Do it, or I'll make your life miserable." Brad groaned. Gene was right. Not only was he a huge influence where rumors and alliances were concerned, but scrawny Gene had managed to get a trio of stronger boys to act as his personal minions, and he was sure Gene wouldn't hesitate to send them to beat him up.

"Fine." He muttered angrily.

"And make it good. I want to get extra credit for this." The red-haired boy took off his glasses and began to clear them with his shirt. Brad sighed, but nodded. He already had an idea that he'd been working on for a long time that he could do. The only question was, where could he find fire ants on such short notice?

TheArtOfRevenge

Brad awoke that night to a high-pitched voice screaming in shock. Blinking in the dim light, the copper-haired boy sat up in bed to see Lloyd rolling out of bed and falling onto the floor, frantically trying to get the fire ants Brad had put there off of him. Someone started to laugh, and the rest of the large dormitory quickly followed suit. The blond boy's eyes filled with tears and he fled the room, starting to sob as he slammed the door behind him. As the rest of the boys continued to laugh about it, Brad slipped out of the room after the kid. He felt really bad. The poor kid had just lost his home and his mom, and now everyone at his new home was teasing and being mean to him. He wanted to go say sorry. After a few minutes of wandering the halls randomly, Brad located the sound of soft crying coming from a broom closet. Slowly, the brown-haired boy opened the door and peeked inside. Curled up in a ball in the corner was Lloyd, who was crying into his knees. His arms were covered with angry-looking, red sores from the ants' bites, and his face was buried in his knees as he rocked himself back and forth.

"Hey…" Brad whispered hesitantly, and the crying boy's breath hitched as he lifted his head slightly, his huge, green eyes meeting Brad's brown ones. "It's Lloyd, right?"

"…y-yeah…" the younger boy whispered faintly. That was the first time he had heard him speak. His voice was really high-pitched.

"I, uh…" the older boy stepped into the closet, closing the door most of the way behind him and sitting down against the wall. "…I wanted to say sorry."

"…y-you did that?" Lloyd asked, his voice sounding hurt as he pushed his blond curls out of his face.

"Well… yeah. But I didn't want to. Gene made me do it." he tried to excuse himself.

"…wh-who's Gene?"

"He's the smartest kid here. He's also a real bully. He's got red hair and glasses, and you should avoid him if you can." Lloyd sniffled, but didn't respond. Finally, he whispered,

"…I miss m-my m-mommy…" Brad lowered his eyes to the floor as the blond child began to cry again. What were you supposed to do with a kid that wouldn't stop crying? Pick them up? But, he was sitting on the floor too, so... Awkwardly, Brad scooted closer to the younger boy and hesitantly wrapped his arms around him. Lloyd didn't hesitate to lean into him, his sobs quieting almost immediately. That worked fast.

"Hey, Lloyd?" he said quietly.

"Y-yeah?"

"How old are you?"

"F-five…"

"Huh. I'm eight." Brad sighed, pushing his copper hair out of his face. "Lloyd, everyone here is going to be mean to you like Gene is. You're going to get pranked again. You need to learn how to fight back."

"…b-but how? E-everyone here is b-bigger and stronger th-than me…"

"You can do other things than fight with your fists." Brad assured him. "I can teach you how. Do you want me to?"

"Yeah." Lloyd looked up at him, his tears forgotten. "Like what?"

"Well, first of all, I need to teach you about revenge…"

I don't know what to say about that.

Whatever it was, I hope you enjoyed! :D

~FFF