This Strange World Needs a Kicking! Ch. 07

Milo blushed and punched him in the shoulder. "Dude, what the hell?" he mumbled.

Someone brushed his hair forcefully from the back to his face. Sebastian turned, in righteous outrage, only to be met by an ugly, pig-like face. The young man was large and smelled of grease. He pushed himself into Sebastian's face. "Am I to be jailed?" he mocked in a high-pitched voice.

"I beg your pardon?" Sebastian ran his hands through his hair.

"Chet, cut it out, man," Milo intervened.

"What?" the pig-faced young man asked. "I didn't do anything. Stop protecting your girlfriend so much. What, he can't defend himself or something?"

Sebastian noted the presence of two other boys, relatively as ugly as Chet, right behind him. He was about to open his mouth when Milo spoke again. "Chet, beat it. Or we'll have a problem."

"All right, man. Whatever." Chet brushed by him on his way out, followed closely by the other two. "Fucking nerd," he whispered.

What was that, a nerd? He had so many other questions to ask his phone. He took it out of his pocket, decided to learn the meaning of that word right away.

"Don't mind them," Milo said. "They're just douchebags."

"Who is your girlfriend?" Sebastian asked while typing quickly on his phone.

"Are you kidding me now? They've been teasing us since forever."

"I'm not kidding," Sebastian protested.

"You're such a weirdo," Milo said with affection, "but you're my weirdo." He took him by the shoulders. "Come, let's stretch our legs a little."

***

During the last period, Sebastian began to understand that he appeared to be doing a lot better in school than Kai Martin had used to. However, the curse seemed to involve graduating, and there was only one way to secure that, according to the teachers: study hard.

He was overly conscious of the curious eyes staring at him from all directions as the French words rolled off his tongue with ease. This teacher, unlike Mrs. Marwin, was much younger and had a pleasant demeanor. She appeared engrossed with him as they conversed, and for the entire duration of the class, she didn't care about the other students. Maybe she was a good witch, and it would be advisable to have her on his side.

The dreaded time had come to be escorted to his cell. Milo had kindly informed him that he would only be in detention for two hours, so it wasn't that hard a sentence. Of course, Sebastian had feared to ask him if any torture was involved, but he was bracing himself for the worse. As an enforcer of the law in his position as a prince, he understood that obeying the law was essential for his survival in this world.

He walked into a classroom not much different from the one he had just been in. Other boys and girls were there, apparently for the same reason. So far, this detention didn't appear so bad.

He took place at a desk and waited patiently for the jailer to speak. The jailer was a man in his forties dressed up quite unconventionally. From what Sebastian could gather, he looked like a Physical Education teacher.

"All right," he said. "Everyone, surrender your phones."

Sebastian stood there, in stunned silence, as the others shuffled around and placed their phones inside a crate. No, that couldn't be. "That's not fair," he said out loud. "My life depends on it!"

"Martin, it's not often that I see your face in here. But now, please, hurry up, before you make your situation worse."

Worse? Sebastian didn't want to know what that meant. What could be worse than having his phone taken away from him?

With wooden moves, he walked over to the teacher's desk and gave up his phone. He dragged his feet back. What would he do without his phone? It was his only way of understanding this strange world!

He sank into his seat and covered his face with his hands. He would have to find another way.

What a cruel and unusual punishment!

TBC