New chapter^^ Warning: A little violence and bullying ahead.

~~~

Tao is getting ready for school. The school he goes to doesn't have a uniform. Tao's glad because he could wear what he wants. It might be good, but it also is a problem. Tao is the only student that wears all dark, so people notice him. Everyone classifies him as the emo loner.

They come up with these insane rumours. Spreading lies, saying that he does drugs, he's a killer, or that he passes his classes because he sleeps with his teachers. None of these are true, but people believe them. Even the teachers gossip about him. One teacher tried to make a move on him, but Tao can protect himself. The pedo was put in the hospital, but no one questioned what happened. It just added to the rumours of Tao being violent.

The lies got so bad that Tao watches his every move, making sure his actions won't attract more attention. So when bullies come after him, Tao doesn't fight back. And this happens often.

When Tao is finished with getting ready, he goes across the hallway to Yitao's room. Every morning before school he takes his brother to daycare, since he knows that his parents wouldn't care for him. And after school, he picks Yitao up and takes him home.

Yitaois already awake and is standing up in his crib. It's like he knew Tao was coming. The big brother smiles and picks up the smiling baby.

"Hey, buddy. I came in here to wake you up, but you are already awake. Did you know I was coming? You did, didn't you? You are so smart!" Tao laughs when Yitao makes baby noises while playing with his hair.

Tao runs his own fingers through Yitao's light brown hair. He holds his brother in his arms as he gathers the supplies a baby needs and puts everything in the diaper bag. After Yitao is dressed, Tao goes down the stairs.

He goes slowly, so he doesn't risk Tiffany waking up. She's not where she was left last night, so she must have gone into her bedroom. The moment he's outside, Tao starts to breathe normally, and he makes his way to the daycare.

After kissing Yitao goodbye and giving him to the nice worker, Tao starts his dreadful walk to the hell he calls school. Right when he walks through the front doors, he feels stares directing at him. Several people bumps into him, but he keeps going forward.

His classes for the first half of the day goes okay. Just a few whispers about him and three spitballs. Someone also got ahold of his homework for math. Luckily, the teacher didn't give him a detention, just a warning.

***

Lunch is terrible, as usual. The moment he steps in the cafeteria, laughter echos through the room as fingers point at him. Tao endures it with his head down.

He goes straight to an empty table that is in the corner of the cafeteria. He doesn't even dare to go in in the lunch lines. He would just be shoved around and people would trip him. Instead, he eats the sandwich he made earlier. He's very famished, since he didn't eat last night or this morning.

When Tao gets up to throw away his trash, he feels something slam into his chest and a substance drips down his shirt and sweater. He looks down at himself and sees noodles with sauce all over the front of his clothes. Guess they had spaghetti.

"Hey, Huang! I guess lunch is on you! Hope you're hungry!" Tao narrows his eyes at the speaking boy. Zico, the captain of the football team. He is the boy of every girl's dream.

Tao glares at Zico as the guy goes to a group of girls. Tao fights the urge to vomit at the sight of Zico acting like he's the sweetest boy to ever live. The jock is winking at the girls, whispering in their ears, and kissing their hands like a gentleman. Never judge a book by its cover.

After quickly leaving the cafeteria, Tao walks to the closest restroom to wash up. Good thing that he has another shirt in his backpack. He puts the dirty clothes in his bag and washes his hands.

He's drying them when he hears a scruffle noise. He turns around in time to see the door open and three boys walk in. Well, two boys walk in, but they are dragging a third one in between the two of them.

The one being dragged whimpers and the guy on Tao's left slaps the scared boy across the face. The other whispers in the boy's ear, and the poor boy automatically stops struggling. They take a few more steps before one of the bullies notice Tao and notifies the other of his presence.

"Let him go." Tao tries his best to sound authoritative, but he doesn't think it was effective. The two bullies smirk and lets go of the boy.

"Sure, Tao. You can have him. Have fun~" They then run out of the restroom. The boy left on the floor is shivering with fear, but he freezes when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Tao watches as the boy's frightened eyes glance at him. The boy flinches and slaps Tao's hand off his shoulder. He quickly gets up and flees through the door without another glance at Tao.

Tao shakes his head as he gathers his things. People are so scared of him. Even when he tries to help, he just causes terror and they run away.

*** 

His classes for the second half of the day were worse. The teachers for these classes torment him just like the students. They don't do as bad as that one teacher who was a e, but they still give Tao a hard time.

When he knows the answer and raises his hand, he never gets called on. When he doesn't raise his hand, that's when they call on him, but he doesn't know the answer. So he stays silent and the teacher makes fun of him with the rest of the class.

Also, someone keeps throwing paper that is crumbled up into balls in English class. He never turns around, but he suspects Zico. And the teacher lets him get away with it.

***

School doesn't finish fast enough. Tao quickly leaves the last classroom. He wants to blend in with the crowd so the bullies won't see him. Sadly, he's unsuccessful.

Tao closes his eyes when someone grips his shoulders and pulls him into a deserted room. "Are you trying to run away, Huang? You know our playdate happens after school. Did you forget again? Boys, let's help him remember." The speaker was none other than Zico, part-time football team captain, and full-time leader of the bullies.

Most people don't know that Zico is the king of bullies. Only the unfortunate few that are his victims know this fact. Zico does a good job at being an angel, but he's a demon in disguise.

Tao gets pulled out of his thoughts when hands grab him and forces him down to his knees. At the sound of Zico whistling, punches land on Tao. Pain is felt all over is body. 

Tao does his best to not cry out, but one punch to his gut causes him to gasp and choke on his spit. The moment he falls foward and hits his head on the floor, kicks are distributed to every space on his aching body. Suddenly, the violence ceases.

Tao lifts his head as best as he could -which isn't much- and looks up to see Zico standing above him. "Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, Huang. See you tomorrow for our next session." With one final kick to Tao's stomach, Zico walks away with his goons following him. 

Tao struggles to move, but to no avail. He's in too much pain. Every movement sends a wave of pain over his body, causing him to groan out loud. No longer can he hold the tears in.

He cries for everything. His mother dying. His father marrying the evil stepmother. His father dying. The pain he carries, that he's been carrying for years. He can only hope that he will be strong enough for Yitao's sake.

***

As Tao got pummeled by the bullies, unknown creatures are watching. They aren't worried about being seen. There is something that hides them from a human's sight when they want to be hidden. A magical veil, in a way.

"Why doesn't he fight back? He's just laying there,"one says to its neighbor.

"I don't know, but don't worry. He'll meet the Goblin King soon enough." The leader laughs -with the others joining in- and they disappear.

***

After an hour or so, Tao feels like he's well enough to stand. He tries, and he is successful. A little dizzy, but he could take care of it later.

He cleans himself up in the bathroom. As he does so, he remembers that he has to pick up Yitao. Quickly, he finishes up wiping the blood off him.

Tao runs all the way to the daycare,since he is very late for picking him up. The moment Yitao sees his brother, he struggles in the worker's arms until she puts him down. He's already racing towards Tao before he reaches the door.

Tao laughs at Yitao, who's raising his arms and jumping up and down. "Hey, buddy. Did you miss me?" Yitao nods his head and nuzzles it into Tao's neck. "I missed you, too."

Tao apologizes to the worker and gets Yitao's things before he walks out the door. He bounces the baby in his arms while he walks, earning happy shrieks in response. The moment now -with Yitao in his arms- is happy. However, Tao can't shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen.

~~~

Wow...I think this is the most I've ever wrote for one chapter. Usually, one chapter takes five to six pages, but this one took nine pages out of my notebook.

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Until the next chapter xD