enemy, max

There were always two universes in our school: the one he inhabited, and the one I inhabited. His name was… Max—rich, arrogant, spoiled by attention. Even his last name sounded as if its bearer were above everyone else. He was respected only out of fear and self-interest. Girls chased him in droves, even boys sometimes tried to impress him, and he took advantage of this. An arrogant, handsome, self-confident freak—and my most poisonous enemy. And I... I was always on the other side. The unfortunate one. The one who was "unlucky." The one who was easiest to push, to hurt, to humiliate. And his classmates did it again and again. My father... my father was a bully in his own way. He considered weakness a disgrace, and he punished me for every little thing. I'd come home with bruises from the students, and sometimes even get new ones on top of them. My mother protected me as much as she could, but one day she couldn't take it anymore, and kicked him out. Even after that, the wound from his words and blows lived on within me. But it was Max who hit the hardest. He could hit me just because he felt like it. He could laugh while I lay on the floor. He could walk past—and still leave behind a feeling of filth and humiliation. Every time I saw his red, arrogant gaze, I found it hard to breathe. The final straw came the day my father took his anger out on me again. The bruises no longer hurt—my body had gotten used to it. It was something else that hurt—something inside. I came to school with a blank stare, just to be. To survive another day. But Max, as always, noticed me first. And, of course, he couldn't resist. He laughed. Loudly. Contemptuously. Cruelly. I didn't even have the strength to listen. Something inside me cracked. I simply sat down on the floor right in the middle of the hallway. I pressed myself against the cold wall, hugged my knees, and hid my face. My face was burning. My head was ringing. I was shaking so hard my teeth were chattering. The tears were flowing of their own accord, slowly, hotly, as if trying to wash all this humiliation out of me. The school medics arrived almost immediately. Someone was yelling at Max to stop. Someone was trying to calm me down.