Bab 18: The Canteen Fight
Just as James was about to approach them, he felt a strong grasp on his leg and heard a whispered protest.
"What do you think you're doing?" Caleb mumbled.
"Let go! What does it look like? I'm going to retrieve your points, and perhaps give those second-years a taste of their own medicine," James replied.
"Are you crazy? How do you plan to take on four of them all by yourself?"
James looked ahead and saw only three of them approaching. He turned to Caleb and said, "There are only three."
"Remember, one of them is invincible. Please, just let it go," Caleb pleaded.
James was fully prepared for the fight. He knew the second-year students might be strong, and one of them had invincibility as an ability, but that didn't intimidate him. It wasn't just about defending Caleb; James had a deep-seated dislike for bullies, much like Max. Growing up, James was skinny and weak, and despite his family's wealth, he was still constantly bullied by stronger and richer kids.
James had heard that attending a military school would make him stronger, so he trained until he felt ready. However, when the time came to enroll, his parents adamantly refused. They never clarified their reasons, but they were strongly against the idea of their second son attending a military school.
James chose not to pursue the fight further, especially since Caleb was also against it. Plus, he didn't want to start his college life with a brawl. Even if he managed to defeat them, they would likely retaliate with backup some other time.
As Dax and his crew passed by, James met them with a challenging gaze, one that speaks volumes without words. The others didn't take notice, but Dax did.
He was offended at how James was constantly staring at them when they've not even met before. He was just about to confront James when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Someone had ceased his hand.
"Don't start causing trouble, Dax," whispered Invincible Gary, who had invisibly intervened.
James couldn't see anyone beside Dax, but Dax's friends knew it was Invincible Gary holding him back.
"I can't wait till this week is over," Dax muttered angrily and continued his journey. According to Blake's order, starting next week, they could do whatever they liked, but for this week, he needed the first-years to settle down.
After Dax and his friends were gone, Caleb came out from hiding. He glanced in their direction to make sure they weren't returning.
James was frustrated that he didn't engage in a fight with them, but he had already memorized the faces of the three second-year students. He wished the invincible one had revealed his face as well.
Thinking about how he was going to attack them one after the other made him grin. Caleb wondered what James was grinning about, but he didn't bother to ask because James' thoughts were full of crazy things.
"Let's leave now. We don't have enough points to play the game anyway," Caleb suggested.
A few minutes later, they returned to the school grounds and headed straight to the canteen. Although they had already eaten breakfast there before leaving the school, it was now time for lunch.
"Do you know where Max is? I haven't seen him all day," Caleb asked.
"I thought you'd never ask. He left the room in a hurry and didn't tell me where he was headed," James replied.
As always, the canteen was one of the most crowded places in all the departments. This was because the meals were free and well-prepared. There were no soldiers or caterers to serve them their meals; they had to do it themselves. All they needed to do was place an order at a dashboard and then walk to another counter to collect the meals they had ordered.
Because of the crowd in the canteen, a line had formed to avoid disorderliness. James and Caleb joined the line, which already had fifty students in front of them.
Caleb could skip lunch and just spend the day in his room, but definitely not James. According to him, he eats four times a day and works out every night.
A few minutes later, the man of the hour arrived. It was Max, coming to have lunch all by himself. He had spent his entire morning reading books with Bella, and the two books he had read were not even impactful. He just wished he had enough experience points to inspect before delving into them; that would've saved him time and energy.
Looking straight ahead, he saw James and Caleb in the middle of the endless line. Just a few minutes after they joined the line, more than twenty students were already behind them.
"Tough crowd," Max mumbled and joined the line as well.
While they were standing and waiting endlessly for their turn, a student who had just walked into the canteen tried to insert himself into the front row of the line. However, another student already in the line objected and spoke up.
"Hey dude, you can't cut in here," the student who was already in the line said. However, the other student recognized him as a plain user during the checkups and threatened him.
"Mind your own business, you prick! You plain users have no purpose in this school. I wonder why they choose to keep you guys."
The plain user still stood his ground and insisted that he wouldn't allow the other student to stand in front of him.
As they kept on arguing, their voices grew louder and finally caught the attention of everyone in the hall. Max stood a bit outside the line to see where the quarrels were coming from. Max couldn't see the face of the plain user, but to his surprise, the other student was Gabriel, the fireballs user who Henry defeated.
Max didn't know what the argument was all about, so he simply minded his own business. Even though he knew, there was nothing else he could do other than inspect, which he had already done.
Everyone lost interest in watching them argue and turned their attention back to what they were doing. That included Max, but the next sound that was heard was a 'baam!'
Gabriel had just blasted the plain user with his fireballs out of the line. The plain user landed a few paces ahead with his suit now glowing orange.
Everyone exclaimed as they waited for what was to come next. Max soon realized that the student in question was Nash, and from his inspection, Nash was also a plain user like him. The other students didn't know that Nash was a plain user, so they were expecting him to retaliate, but Max knew that there was not much Nash could do.
However, Max had expected his friends to rush to his side and do something, but they didn't, just like they didn't do anything when Scarlett broke his fingers.
"That's what you get for messing with me!" Gabriel shouted and took Nash's spot in the line.
Even though Nash's friends didn't do anything, what about the soldiers who were beside the canteen doors or other students who could probably stand up against Gabriel? Instead, everyone just minded their own business, as if it was all part of a movie they were watching.
"The strong will always pick on the weak, and as always, no one will say or do anything about it," Max thought. This was the same thing that was happening in his former school, but at least teachers would stop or interfere in a situation like this. Here, the soldiers were not even bothered that someone was just struck by fireballs.
"So much for no fighting in the military school," Max muttered after remembering his mother's words again.
Just when everyone thought the dust had settled, and Gabriel felt that he had prevailed, a voice echoed within the line.
"Hey, loser! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Immediately after the voice spoke up, everyone's attention was directed toward the direction. Max also looked and discovered that it was James.
James was still slightly angry that he didn't get to fight the second-year students, but now he had found someone he could pour all that wrath on.
[Hello guys, book cover will be changed two days from now]
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