Chapter 5 - I'll Pretend My Ship's Not Sinking

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Three years had passed since Tommy first started attacking Taylor. Taylor was not in a good place, mentally or physically. All the bullying that he had received over the past three years was taking a toll on him.

It first started after Tommy attacked him at his house; after that incident, Taylor noticed about a week after that people were starting to insult or ignore him more than usual. After a few more weeks, what started as just a handful of kids harassing him soon turned into the whole school bullying him.

Taylor tried to reason with the bullies, but it was to no avail. Tommy had spoon-fed them lies about Taylor, and they wanted nothing to do with him or to beat him up. Most kids glared at him with hatred in their eyes, thinking that he was some deranged psychopath that was too "different" to be in their school.

The only thing keeping Taylor going at the moment were his friends. Emma, Eliza, Will, and David Macks, who became his friend because he didn't believe the lies the other students were spreading.

Taylor sat alone at lunch, since his four friends were in the lunch line, getting their food. The young inkling gave up trying to stand in the lunch line, since all that would happen was him getting pushed around by the other kids.

He took a bite out of the salmonid sandwich his mom packed for him, cautiously looking around the room to make sure nobody was coming up to him. He continued to chew on his sandwich until he was hit in the head by a blunt object. Turning around, he saw a kid named Charlie Pike laughing his head off.

Taylor sighed audibly, before turning back around to continue eating his food. 'When will this end?' He thought. 'I can't go on like this anymore.'

At that moment, the rest of his friends walked up to his table and sat down. David and Emma sat Taylor's right and left, while Will and Eliza sat opposite to them.

"Well? How's it going?" Eliza asked.

"Better than usual. The only thing that's been thrown at me has been an orange." Taylor responded, half-jokingly.

"Lemme guess, Charlie Pike?" Will said with an eye roll.

"Wow, how'd you guess?"

"He's the only one with a good arm at this school. If he can't make it in ranked battles, he should go play baseball."

Will peered over Taylor's shoulder to get a look at Charlie. The bully was talking with his friends while mimicking a throwing motion, before making a face that imitated someone complaining. All his friends laughed.

"Taylor, the turf war exams are coming up," David said, as he dropped his unopened milk on the floor. "Are you gonna take them?"

"Why? I don't want to take another frickin' exam." Taylor spat.

"Well, if you pass, you don't have to come to school anymore. You can go out and start playing turf wars." He explained. "Otherwise, you have to wait until you're eighteen."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner? I'll do it."

"I think we should all do it," Emma said. "If we all pass, then we all get to leave, and get the hell away from this place."

Will assented. "I think it's a good idea. I'll sign up."

Eliza nodded her head in agreement, too busy eating her orange to speak.

"Any objections?" Taylor asked. Nobody raised any concerns. "Great. How do we sign up?"

"I think we just have to go to Mr. Humboldt," David explained. "If not, he can probably tell us where to go."

"Great. Let's go now."

The five friends wolfed down their lunches, before packing their bags and quickly making their way out of the lunchroom. Taylor had to dodge more than a couple small items being thrown at him, but luckily, nobody was hurt.

The school was small, so it was a short walk from the cafeteria doors to Principal Humboldt's office down the hallway. His door was right next to the main office, but they didn't have to enter the main office to get to him, so it was quite convenient for them.

Taylor knocked on the door three times and waited.

"Come in!" Mr. Humboldt called out to the visitor at his door.

The five friends walked into his office single-file. They stood in a line in front of his desk so he could see all of them.

"Well, hello, what can I do for you guys?"

"Hi, Mr. Humboldt, we'd like to sign up for the turf war exam." Taylor said.

"Yes, well, you're just in time. Sign ups close today." He said, pulling out a sheet of paper. "I just need you guys to write your names on the sheet, and then sign it."

They all took turns signing their names, which was a column of names, all of whom were in Taylor's grade. Taylor was the last one to sign, so he quickly scanned the sheet of names.

'Charlie Pike, that one's expected. Mitch Clamsington, he's kinda weird. Elana Marina, she's somewhat normal.' Taylor read the names in his head. 'Mia Bowhead, never heard of her. Tommy La- fuck. Tommy. Evan. Cal. Parker. Oh, goddammit.'

He handed the sheet back to Mr. Humboldt with a neutral expression on his face. The principal stored the sheet away in a filing cabinet to his left, before pulling out five slips of paper.

"Sign your names here," He said, handing a piece of paper to each of the kids. "These are your test passes. They let you get into the testing room. Don't lose them."

The kids all signed their names on the paper, before handing their pens back to Mr. Humboldt.

"The test is tomorrow in the cafeteria at eight in the morning," He said. "Don't miss it. There will be no retakes."

All five kids nodded their heads in understanding.

"Well, there isn't much else to say. Be sure to study the Ranked Battle League rules, and good luck."

"Thank you, Mr. Humboldt." Taylor said, nodding his head.

"Thanks, Mr. Humboldt." The other four kids echoed his sentiment.

The principal waved goodbye as Taylor led his friends out of the principal's office and into the hallway. Nobody said anything until they got back to their lunch table, and sat down. They sat down in the same formation they were in originally, looking at their test slips.

"Wait, so if I pass, I'm done with school?" Taylor asked.

"Yup. My brother took it a few years ago. He said it was hard." David explained. "Apparently, there's multiple sections, as well. But he didn't tell me too much."

"So if you fail, you have to go back to school?"

"Yeah."

"Aw man, that's lame."

"Relax, Taylor. You're not gonna fail. You're probably the most qualified turfer in the school." Will said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I'd be surprised if you didn't pass and Tommy does. If he even takes the test." Emma assented.

"He is," Taylor said. "They all are. Tommy, Cal, Evan, and Parker. Charlie as well."

The group went silent for a moment.

Emma broke the silence. "Well, that's not good."

There was another silence as they wondered how many kids that hated them would be taking the test as well. The rest of lunch was spent in silence until the bell rang, when Will spoke up.

"Hey, do you guys want to come to my house after school to study?" He asked.

"Sure. I'll have to take the long way, obviously." Taylor said.

"Oh, yeah. David, Emma, Eliza, can you guys come right after school?"

The three of them nodded.

"Sweet. Come on by."

The rest of the school day went mostly without a hitch. Taylor had to cleverly dodge some shoves and small projectiles that were thrown his way. He had gotten very good at ducking out of the way of things being thrown at him.

His least favorite class was math. Taylor sat in the back corner of the room, but Tommy sat to his immediate left, Evan sat in front of Tommy, and Charlie sat to the right of Evan. It was their life goal to make Taylor's life hell during that class.

During math, Taylor was working on the problems Mr. Gray had assigned. He was making steady progress, until he got hit with something in the side of the head. He looked to his left and saw Tommy and Evan chuckling to themselves. Shaking his head, Taylor turned back to the math problem on his paper.

He was once again hit in the head with something, and he looked up to see all three boys laughing at him. Taylor was upset, but used to it. He was going to look back down at his paper, but Charlie reached into his sweatshirt pocket and pulled out a baseball. Charlie rocked his arm, and threw it full force into Taylor's face, from point blank range.

Taylor fell backward, and his chair tipped over, spilling him onto the ground. The whole class looked over to see what had happened, and started laughing when they saw the poor boy bleeding on the floor.

The only one who wasn't amused, however, was Mr. Gray.

"CHARLIE PIKE!" Mr. Gray yelled. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

The class immediately went silent as Mr. Gray turned red in anger.

"GO TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE! NOW!"

Charlie got out of his seat and sulked out of the classroom. He looked extremely nervous, but he still held a slight smile knowing that he put Taylor out of commission.

As he was leaving, a second teacher came rushing into the classroom.

"Mr. Gray, is everything alright!?" The teacher asked, concerned.

"No, Charlie Pike threw a baseball at Taylor Coralle."

The second teacher grimaced. "Need help taking him to Saltsman?"

Mr. Gray nodded his head. The two teachers got Taylor on his feet, as he was still incredibly dazed, and helped him walk to the nurse's office. Blood was dripping down his chin and onto his yellow t-shirt as he walked.

As soon as the injured boy left the classroom and was out of earshot, Tommy and Evan began to cheer. The rest of the class was also happy, but not as excited as the two bullies.

"I can't believe that actually frickin' worked," Evan said, high fiving Tommy.

"That should keep him out for a while," Tommy added. "He won't be coming back after that."

"And if he does, we kick his ass again. Pretty simple." The two boys laughed.

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In the nurse's office, Taylor was laying in the same chair that he had laid in three years prior after the incident behind the shed with Tommy. With his nose still bleeding, he stared at the ceiling and wondered how his life had gotten this bad.

He closed his eyes and began to wonder…

'Why does everybody hate me?' He thought. 'I haven't even done anything!'

'There was that time Tommy came to school with a black eye… did they think that was my fault!? I can't even remember anything else. Well, after Colin Mako moved… again, did they really think that was my fault!?'

'Honestly, how could these kids be this stupid? There's no way they really believed everything Tommy told them without question. There's gotta be something else…'

'I gotta say though, Pike really can throw. Amazing that he has all that talent, yet he chooses to be a complete moron like Tommy. Not only that, but he doesn't even want to use his talent. Is he mental or what?'

'And to think this isn't even the worst I've been. It's unreal to think how much I've gotten picked on. Like that one time where I tried sneaking home through the woods. God, that was such a bad idea. I got jumped by like, what, twelve, maybe fifteen kids? Heh, that was fun.'

'Oh! What about the time someone tried breaking into my house? My mom was pissed about that one. Not to mention I couldn't sleep for a couple nights because of that.'

'Or when David said that he didn't believe the rumors about me, right in front of Tommy? Man, I thought he was going to get beat up instead of me! But I was happy to at least have a new ally.'

Taylor sighed. 'Y'know, it could be a whole lot worse. And honestly, it's kinda fun when I'm not getting beat up. Everyone just ignores me. Keeps me out of the center of attention.'

Taylor's stream of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of knocking at the door.

"Who is it?" He said with caution. He wanted to make sure it wasn't Tommy coming to finish him off.

"Principal Humboldt," the man outside the door said. "May I come in?"

The injured boy got up from his chair and walked to the door that had grown oh-so-familiar to him. He cautiously peered through the glass window in the center of the door, and saw Mr. Humboldt.

Still gripping his bleeding nose, he opened the door, trying not to spill blood on the floor. Mr. Humboldt quickly made his way inside, and Taylor shut the door behind him. Humboldt looked very nervous and wrung his hands as he made his way next to the chair.

"Have a seat, Taylor."

Taylor obliged, sitting back down in the chair, still clutching his bleeding nose.

"Taylor, what happened there?"

"Charlie Pike threw a baseball at me. Didn't anybody tell you?"

"Yes, Mr. Gray told me, I just wanted to hear it from you."

"Does this mean he's expelled?"

"Yes, unless Mr. Taningia changes something, he will be expelled and forbidden from taking the Turf War exam tomorrow."

Mr. Taningia was the superintendent of the local schools. He didn't usually involve himself with issues in the schools unless there was a serious problem. The authority to make decisions usually rested on Mr. Humboldt's shoulders.

Taylor just sat in silence as he thought about Charlie's punishment. He had everything going for him, yet he threw it all away. It was almost poetic.

"Now, I have to return to my normal duties," Mr. Humboldt said. "Rest up for the exam tomorrow."

The older inkling got up and left the room without another word. Taylor tried to say goodbye, but some blood spilled into his mouth and he went into a coughing fit. The young boy spat some blood out of his mouth, which landed on his shorts he was wearing.

The blood made a small spot on the navy-blue shorts, barely visible to the naked eye. Taylor stared at the spot in silence.

Once again, Taylor was alone in the nurse's office. He sat in silence, staring at the ceiling. He sat like that for two hours, unmoving. His day was completely ruined, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The last bell rang, and Taylor got up to leave. His nose had stopped bleeding, although his nose was still bright red from the impact. He was feeling a bit better, although he was still very upset he had to go to the nurse's office for yet another time.

As Taylor was walking out of the room, his friends walked into the room. Emma and Eliza, followed by Will and David.

"Oh," Taylor said, surprised. "Hey guys."

"Hey Taylor," Emma greeted. "We came to get you."

"How'd you guys find out I was in here? I didn't think anyone knew."

"Dude, it's Tommy. It spread like wildfire."

"How's the nose, anyway?"

"I've been better, I've been worse, you know?"

Taylor stared at the group without another word.

"Cmon, let's go to David's," Will said, breaking the short silence. "We have to study for the turf war exam."

The group of five lingered around the school for a few minutes until all the students left. Tommy, Evan, and Parker had a knack for waiting for Taylor after school to follow him home or beat him up. Fortunately, today was not one of those days. Tommy and his entourage were nowhere to be seen, so the five friends were free to make their way to David's house.

David lived in a neighborhood behind the school, which was separated by a thick forest that was about 200 meters wide. His house was just beyond the forest, which made it very easy to get to.

The winds were strong that afternoon, and a heavy breeze pelted them as they walked. They approached the forest without another issue, and were about to enter before they heard someone yelling at them from behind them.

"HEY! What do you think you're doing!?"

All five friends whipped their heads around to see Tommy and his four friends, Cal, Evan, Parker, and Charlie, the boy who injured Taylor earlier that day. They were about 50 meters away from each other, and each group had to make a quick decision.

"Run, guys, run!" Taylor urged. In a slight panic, all five friends ran into the forest, towards David's house.

David was in front, with Will close behind to his left. Emma and Eliza trailed the two, following the boys through the trees. Taylor stayed several meters behind the rest of the group, hoping that if Tommy and his gang of misfits caught up to him, they would only go after him, letting the rest of his friends reach the safety of David's house.

"Get back here!" Tommy yells to the five runners. Taylor is the only one who looks back, and sees the bullies slowly gaining on them.

"Go faster! Don't look back, just run!" He shouts to his friends.

A strong wind gust swept through the forest, causing leaves to be blown all through the air and the tree branches to rattle. With strong wind in their faces, the group of five trudged through the forest, trying to not get blown back by the wind. While it hampered both groups' progression, neither one of them were going to stop.

Craaaaaaack!

Everyone stopped and looked to their right, from where the noises came from. A large tree had begun to fall, and it looked to be falling in the middle of the two groups. Both groups backed further away from the middle as the tree came crashing down on the ground.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Tommy yelled to his friends. All five of them backed further away from Taylor's group.

The tree crashed hard into the ground, scattering a large cloud of dust and leaves into the air. The heavy winds pushed the dust into the faces of Tommy and his friends, forcing them to look away to avoid getting debris in their eyes.

Sensing an opportunity, Taylor turned to his friends and motioned for them to finish their journey to David's house. David led the way, and the five friends continued their mad dash through the forest. Taylor lagged behind a bit, to make sure that Tommy and his friends weren't watching them. The bullies were still coughing and blinded by the debris, so Taylor took this opportunity to catch up to his friends.

It was not long before four of the friends reached the end of the forest. The trees made way for a cul-de-sac neighborhood,

On the outside of the forest, Emma, Eliza, and Will were waiting for Taylor to emerge while David looked up the road to make sure no one was coming.

"Hey! What was that noise!?" Emma exclaimed, hearing loud rustling coming from the forest. Eliza heard it too, and stood next to her sister, preparing to defend her.

Concerned, Will quickly scoured the ground for a decently sized rock he could use as a weapon; he found a baseball-sized one right at his feet, and prepared to throw it. All eyes were on the forest as the noise drew closer.

After what seemed like an eternity, the source of the noise revealed itself.

Taylor popped out of a bush, and ended up right in front of the two girls. "Oh," he said. "Hey guys."

"Oh my god, Taylor, I was about to throw a rock at you," Will said, still clenching the stone. "I thought you were Tommy."

"Thanks for that, but we gotta move," Taylor said, panting. "They were a bit distracted, but they won't be for long. C'mon." He started running down the street towards David's house.

The other three followed close behind, briefly checking behind them to make sure they weren't being trailed. David was waiting at the sidewalk in front of his house, flagging down his friends to make sure they found the spot. Taylor waved back, signaling that he could see him. They made their way over to David, happy that they were free from Tommy.

"Let's get inside, before Tommy sees us." David said, leading the group to the door.

The five friends made their way inside, admiring the cleanliness of David's home. Everything was perfectly organized, and every surface gleamed in the sunlight from the windows.

"Drop your shoes here," he said, pointing to the rack that sat next to the front door. "Make sure to push them all the way in, my mom throws a fit if they aren't."

The group obliged, and ditched their shoes at the door in exchange for their socks. While the rest of the group continued into the house, Taylor looked into a mirror above the shoe rack, and brushed his long, orange tentacles out of his face using the reflection. Eliza came and stood next to him, also looking into the mirror. The two looked at their reflections, with her lime-green tentacles brushing against his orange ones.

"You know, Taylor, this is the cleanest mirror I have ever seen." Eliza said, still staring at the mirror.

Taylor turned to face Eliza in slight bewilderment. "Yeah, it is pretty clean."

Eliza chuckled a bit before walking back towards the group. "C'mon, let's get back with the group."

The boy followed her, puzzled by her actions and her comment. He shrugged it off, deciding that it was just typical Eliza rambling. With one quick glance in the mirror, he fixed his t-shirt and joined the rest of the group.