Mark had felt odd all morning. Not quite himself. His confidence was gone. He felt nervous speaking to people. Shy even. And people were acting strange around him. Very strange. Dismissive. Disrespectful. Even rude. Where were his entourage of admirers? Why were his friends ignoring him? And in class, he'd failed to answer question after question. Thinks he knew he should have been able to answer easily, but just didn't come to mind. Even the simplest math problems were out of his grasp. It was like he'd become stupid and unpopular all of a sudden.
In the bathroom between classes, Mark had been shocked to see himself in the mirror. He still looked like himself, but just slightly off. He looked smaller. Frailer. His athletic build he'd been so proud off was replaced by a scrawny version of himself. And his perfectly maintained hair had been disheveled and messy for some reason. Even though he'd been sure it had been perfectly combed this morning. He'd have to fix it when he got home. It was unmanageable right now.
He shivered in the cold breeze of early winter and pulled his thick coat more snuggly about him. No one in the large courtyard gave him any of his accustomed attention. Right now, that was fine. He felt awkward and uneasy right now, so having groupies would just make things worse. However, there was one set of eyes that peeresses through the drifting snow, right at him. That guy from one of his classes who'd asked him out a while back. What was his name? Casper. Was he still after a date? He should know that Mark was out of his league by now.
Casper cut a path through the fresh snow towards Mark. An uneasy feeling swept over Mark. There was something evil about the other boy's eyes. Mark was about to ask what he wanted, but Casper grabbed him by the jaw, pressing his fingers into the sides of Mark's cheeks to force his mouth open. Then he spat. A thick glob of spit, right into his mouth.
Mark staggered back in shock and rage and more than a little fair. He tried to spit it out, but Casper slugged him in the stomach, driving out his air. All right in plain view of everyone. A teacher came running at the sound of the jeering that had started almost instantly around the unexpected fight.
“What's going on here!?” the teacher demanded. Mark was still struggling to suck in his breath, but Casper started explaining with unbelievable lies.
“He just attacked me out of nowhere.” Shockingly, all the other students around began agreeing with him. Telling the teacher that it had been Mark who was in the wrong. Before he could even begin to defend himself, the teacher grabbed him by the ear and dragged him off to see the headmaster.
No matter how Mark tried to explain himself, the headmaster just yelled at him. Ranting about what a sorry sight he was and how he needed a hefty punishment. How he'd be made an example of. Mark was almost in tears. But the worst had hardly begun.
When the headmaster began ripping Mark's clothes off, Mark truly began to panic. He fought, but he was hardly able to put up any resistance. Before he knew it he was completely naked and being dragged by the ear out into the wintery courtyard again. With a shove, he fell headlong into a pile of snow. He scrambled to his feet in a hurry, gasping from the cold. A shovel was shoved into his hands.
“You are to stay out here until you've cleared out every last flake of snow from the school grounds!” the headmaster ordered.
“What!? That's insane!” Mark protested, looking out over the huge area, all covered in white. It would take forever! And to do it naked!? Hundreds of eyes were looking at him. Laughing. Loathing. He was back in the spot light once more, but not in the way he wanted. A cold gust of wind whipped past, making Mark shiver. The snow began falling heavier.