Beauty and the Beast

Ryan's POV

Terrence D. Rose High School. The words seem to mock me as my driver dropped me off.
“Have a good day, Mr. Tier.” He said, tipping his hat at me. Chyeah, right. I ignored him, and stalked away. Pulling my black jacket closer to my face, and lowering my head so my hair dropped into my face, covering it. I felt a little more sheltered. More protected. Safer. Or at least more hidden. I took a deep breath as the front entrance loomed in front of me. Damn. Damn, damn, damn. I’m going to kill Mrs. Angela. Lennie and David, too. God.
Rose High, the bane of my existence. My very own personal nightmare, which is located in the deepest, darkest pit of Hell.
Can’t you tell I love school? I didn’t even want to come, why bother? But Mrs. Angela, my housekeeper, gave me an earful. Blah, blah, blah, education, blah, blah, friends. Yeah, right. For one thing, I don’t have nor want friends. And I’m freaking rich, so I don’t need an education. But rather than getting the stink eye everyday for the rest of my life, I went to school.
I should have stayed home.
Oh, well. I’m already here. Just suck it up. That was my mantra for today. Suck it up and deal with it. Then you can go home and break something. Repeating that in my head as I walked through the twisting hallways of Rose High, I steeled myself up for a hellish day. Cursing whoever designed such a confusing maze, I dodged human contact as much as possible.
“Hey, Beastie!” I closed my eyes, ignoring them even as I kept walking. It’s better to do that, becuse they’ll leave you alone faster when you ignore them.
“What’s wrong, beastie boy?” Damn it, Jesse Court, Garreth White’s sidekick would just not leave well enough alone.
“ Shut up, Jesse.” I grumbled, still trying to get away from him before I snapped, and end hurting him, or doing something really dumb.
“Aw, did I hurt your feelings, Beast?” Jerk. Asshole. Mother---
“What are you going to do, hurt me?” He pushed me. Why yes, Jesse. That is exactly what I’m about to do. I grabbed his arm, his fat flabby arm. And twisted. I wanted to break it, I could imagine it, the satisfying crunch, the agonizing horror on his face.
“Leave. Me. Alone.” He tried to put on a brave face for his friends. But I could see the fear in his eyes, hell, I could almost taste it. I let him go, but not before giving him a warning squeeze.
“Come on, let’s go.” He gave me a dirty glare over his shoulder, to which I gave a wide grin. Actually, it was more of a baring of teeth kind of thing.
Finally, I walked through the side yard, hoping to avoid any more conflicts. My hopes were horribly dashed when I passed a large oak tree with a couple people milling around it.
One of them being Garreth White.
Greeeeaaaaat. Garreth White made it his life’s pursuit to make mine miserable. And the blonde, Vivienne always sat back and watched the fun. I hated them.
“Well, look who it is.” I gritted my teeth. And kept walking by. “How’s it going, Beast?”
Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him.
Unfortunately, he followed me. Taunting me all the way to the courtyard, I frantically looked at my watch. Damn it, twenty minutes till the bell rang. Figures.
No “saved by the bell” for me.
“Where you going, Beastie?” He grabbed me and flung me around. White, hot rage flew through me as he got in my face. “What, too embarrassed to be seen?”
“Just let me go.” I was hanging on that thin brink between sanity and well, insanity. He just laughed and pushed me again. I stumbled back, and bit back a cry as I slammed into the brick wall near us. People around us started to grow more interested, and I heard distant laughing, which just added to my humiliation. “Damn it, White. Just go.”
“No.” Garreth always loved an excuse to fight. To prove himself, or something. I was usually always on the receiving end of such antics. Normally, I just stood there, so he got bored easily. But no more. I watched as my fist flew towards his face, and heard the nice satisfying crunch as it connected. Then pain seized my arm as my knuckles split. But it was so worth it.
He just stood there, blood pouring out of his mouth and nose, standing there in disbelief that someone dared to hit him back. We just stood there breathing hard, staring at each other.
The next thing I know he flung himself at me. Punching wherever I could reach, kicking whenever I could get my legs free. I put years of frustration, anger, and pain into each hit. Adrenaline made me numb, made me invincible.
And then what seemed like years, but was only minutes later, I felt him get yanked off of me. I opened my good eye to see a very pissed off principal glaring into my eye.
“I could of taken him.” I almost growled at Dr. Wise. He just shook his head.
“My office. Now, Tier.”
“Yes master.” I grumbled as I got up. Jesus, I’m going to be sore tomorrow. Hell, it was already catching up. I was beginning to feel every whack. Every strike. Every damn thing.
Maybe getting him back wasn’t the smartest thing to do. I followed Wise into the Principals office. Bruised and bleeding.
“Sit.” He said, angrily as he sat down in his huge chair.
I stood. What can I say, belligerence is bliss.
“Tier. I just don’t know what to do with you.”
“You could let me go.” I suggested.
“No.”
“Why not?” I have a tendency to let my temper talk for me. Doesn’t always work how I want it to. “White got to go!”
“White has to be taken to the Nurses Office.” He frowned at my laugh. “Besides, he isn’t in half as much of trouble as you are.”
“What?”
“You. Your grades. Your attitude. Everything.” He sighed, and leaned back in his chair.
“I have no other choice, Tier. I’m going to have to expel you.”
“But—“
“But, I don’t want to. I see potential in you. Tier. So, here’s the deal. You can find someone to tutor you, make someone want to tutor you. And maybe help your overall self, then you can stay. You have three days.”
“Why can’t you just give me a tutor?” I had a distinct feeling I was getting screwed in this deal. Who would want to help me?
“Because the last three you’ve had came back crying.”
“Damn.”
“Yep.” He motioned for me to leave. “Three days, Mr. Tier. Three days.