Chapter 8 : Squabble
Nash and Zebadiah locked eyes as what seemed like ages passed in a few seconds with neither of them wanting to back down until Zebadiah scoffed and shifted his attention to one of the girls around him.
Zebadiah lifted the girl's chin gently, making blush red as he stared into her eyes with a smile on his handsome face.
"You look beautiful today," he said.
His arrogance aside, Zebadiah was actually a charming, rich young man. He had a body built for sports and was not shy showing off what life had blessed him with.
He had the money, the fame, influence and the young ladies his age wanted to flock around him and Zebadiah entertained them whenever he felt like.
However, there was one girl he really wanted—the one who did not care about all these things he had to show off.
The class beauty, Bella Codrin.
Bella was a beautiful young lady. Despite being only a first year student in the senior class, Bella was not only considered the class beauty but arguably one of the prettiest girls in the entire school.
Her beauty was true to her name.
Zebadiah wanted her and he was not afraid to exhibit it openly, even using underhanded strategies just to get her to be with him.
It was during one of these that Nash got into an altercation with Zebadiah and his lackeys when he interfered to save Bella from his devilish claws.
"Let her go!" Nash had yelled, seeing Zebadiah trying to force Bella into his car even when she clearly did not want to go anywhere with him.
Although he had done his best to help the beauty, it was obvious from the start that he was fighting a lost battle.
There was only so much he could do since he was outnumbered.
At the end of it all, Nash was beaten blue black and had to be admitted into hospital where he was now reborn.
******
"Look what the cat dragged in," Zebadiah mocked Nash soon after, "our very own Superman."
His lackeys and the girls that were around them laughed at Nash.
Zebadiah loved this and continued to fan the flames of mockery. "I heard you were admitted for a few days. Maybe you are really Superman, seeing how fast you healed up."
Unlike his previous self, Nash shrugged the jokes off like it was nothing. Maybe in the past, Zebadiah's words might have been able to hurt him but not now.
Not anymore.
Nash ignored the pompous brat and his goons, acting like nothing happened between them as he went over to where his seat in the class was and sat down.
Zebadiah ground his teeth bitterly. "Tch!"
'That fool!' he cursed Nash in his mind after the latter had made him look stupid by choosing to ignore his mockery. 'Who does he think he is?'
Zebadiah clenched his fist slightly and one of his lackeys picked up on this gesture and immediately acted, firing back at Nash from out of the blues.
"Hey, you! He's still talking to you!" he yelled, surprising even Zebadiah who had not ordered or expected this.
Before he could move to physically reach where Nash was sitting, Zebadiah's hand was raised midway into the air and this stopped the young man from going forward.
He then shot Nash another glance—that same cold gaze.
"That is what you get for meddling in other people's business, Nash," Zebadiah said. "If you fuck around, you are definitely going to find out."
"The next time it happens, you will be in the hospital for a month!" Zebadiah's lackey yelled in support.
Nash, who was just about to sit, turned around and changed his intended direction as he made his way to where Zebadiah was.
Zebadiah smiled maniacally, already hungry for a fight between him and Nash that would settle the score once and for all.
"Stay from Bella, Nash. She's out of your league and you are not her type."
Nash said nothing, simply looking at Zebadiah and his goons as they rattled the first batch of insults that came to their mouth.
"Stop it!" a voice interrupted them, fuming and fed up with their teenage antics.
"Stop it right now! Else I will report you all and have you serving detention."
Nash turned and it was Bella Codrin.
Her fair skin was burning fiery red with anger since she was the top of this dick-measuring squabble.
Zebadiah looked at her and laughed. "Detention? Who's going to detain me?"
What Bella had said was quite funny to him. It was as if she too had forgotten his family name.
Bella could only clench her jaw after Zebadiah had shown her the reality of things right now.
Just then, everybody in the class burst out laughing. Everyone, except for Zebadiah's lackeys who would rather find a place to hide than be near Zebadiah when he realises what is going.
Zebadiah looked around, wondering what was funny.
"The hell are you laughing at?"
"Looks like the high and mighty Zeb can't afford a quality belt," Nash made a jest of him, triggering even more laughter from their classmate.
Zebadiah looked down and saw that his thighs and boxers were exposed with his trousers dropped to the floor. The young man immediately clutched his legs together in shame, wishing that the ground opened to swallow him right now.
Zebadiah couldn't explain what happened to his belt or how it suddenly unbuckled.
"Hey! Shut up!"
"What are you laughing at?"
"Hey, you! What's funny about this right now!"
Zebadiah's lackeys were at it, trying to do some damage control while Zebadiah pulled his trousers up.
His face flushed with embarrassment knowing that everyone in the class had gotten a glimpse of his nakedness.
Nash crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't think there's anything worth looking at or laughing about."
Zebadiah gritted his teeth bitterly, casting a pair of vengeful eyes on Nash.
'You will certainly pay for this humiliation, Nash O'Neil!' Zebadiah swore.
He then looked at his underlings.
"Let's leave this place," he said as he made his way straight to the door with the other following behind.