The Prince of Warwood and the Fall of the King (Book 2)

by J. Noel Clinton

  “Good God! We’ve already learned this!” he blurted, stunning the professor.

  Unsure of what to make of the prince’s outburst, he ignored it and continued, “Many of you are still struggling with this concept. So, today we will review it and complete the practice problems on page 177. Now, let’s discuss the examples on the board…”

  Xavier didn’t see why he had to sit through the lesson again! He already knew how to do this crap! It was stupid! He groaned and slumped in his chair. Idly, his attention drifted from the professor and settled on Maggie’s empty seat. Sorrow slammed into him unexpectedly, leaving him on the verge of sobbing. His eyes ached with unshed tears, and his Adam’s apple suddenly felt ten times too big. He tried to swallow away the tightness and pain lodged there, but the knot only grew. Soon, he was hyperventilating and couldn’t catch his breath. He gasped desperately for air and bit back the sob that was fighting to escape. He needed to get out of there! He jumped to his feet with such force, his desk tipped and slammed to the floor as he raced from the room. He sprinted down the hall and out into the frigid air of the courtyard. Clumps of icy snow crackled under his feet as he staggered over to the large oak and leaned against it. Gasping for breath, he tried to blink back the tears filling his eyes but ended up wiping his cheeks as they slid down over his face.

  When he woke up this morning, he thought he was together enough to come to school. He was sick of feeling depressed and sad; he was sick of hiding away in his room. He just wanted to get on with his life and feel happy again.

  The grief continued to swell and fill his every thought until the tears fell in streams over his cheeks. Slowly he sank to the cold, wet earth and buried his face in his arms, giving into the tears that wrestled loose. For several long minutes, his body racked with sob after sob that he was powerless to stop. Then, as suddenly as the depression and sobbing had begun, it was gone, and he mopped his face with his sleeve. He looked around the frozen courtyard and took several deep breaths as he glanced skyward. A small seed of euphoria ignited in his chest and began to grow until his depression was replaced by giddiness and jubilation so intense that he began to giggle.

  “Xavier?” a voice called calmly from courtyard doors.

  He turned and found Spencer standing a few feet from him, looking worried. The euphoria ballooned inside him, and his giggle became laughter that soon developed into outright hysterics.

  “Xavier? Are you all right?” Spencer asked, stepping tentatively toward him.

  Finally, he managed to stifle his glee enough to answer, “Hey, Headmaster.” But, then he burst into frenzied laughter once more.

  Spencer crossed the icy ground and sat on a bench next to boy.

  “Maybe I should call Jeremiah to come get you?” he suggested quietly.

  Xavier only laughed harder and shook his head. “NO,” he blurted through his giggles, “I’ll… be okay. Just… give me… a… minute.”

  He looked down at him uncertainly but nodded.

  After great effort, Xavier was able to contain the mania bubbling inside him. Panting, he swiped at his eyes with the back of his arm and looked up at the patiently waiting headmaster. “Sir, I’m okay. Really!”

  “I don’t think you’re ready to be back at school. I really think I should call your dad.”

  “No!” he blurted as a wave of pain stabbed into him once again. “Please, don’t do that; I can’t spend another minute in that place thinking of…” His voice broke away as the pain quickly twisted into despair. Tears of a different origin filled his eyes, and he quickly looked away.

  “Okay, you may stay,” Spencer whispered, stroking his back. “When you’re ready, you need to head back to class.”

  The headmaster stood and walked toward the building but stopped just short of reaching the door and turned.

  “And, Xavier?” He waited until the boy’s eyes met his. “If you need to talk about…anything, I’m here for you. Okay?”

  He nodded. “Thanks,” he whispered softly.

  Then, Spencer turned and slipped through door, leaving him alone again in the courtyard. Michael Spencer was beginning to feel more and more like an uncle and less like just a headmaster. Another wave of delirium dominated his emotions, and he began to giggle again. It couldn’t be good for a person to move from one emotional extreme to another. Surely, he would have a mental breakdown if it continued.

  Xavier fought to control the changing emotions careening through him throughout the day, but found, like a runaway roller coaster, he had no means of controlling it. And, by Latin class, his self-control completely unraveled.

  He sat next to Beck joking and whispering lightly, feeling almost normal when Catherine entered the room just before the bell and smirked at him.

  “I see Xavier Wells has returned to school!” she announced smugly. “Glad you could make it today, sire.”

  “Yeah, right. You’re as glad to see me as I am to see you!” he snorted before cracking up completely.

  Oddly, Catherine’s smirk widened into an enormous grin as if she alone understood the joke. “And I’m surprised to see that the young prince is in such good spirits. I would have expected that after the death of his little friend, he wouldn’t be so jovial.”

  Anguish and despair sunk into him like a knife plunging deep into his chest while Catherine twisted it. The bell rang, and with a twisted smile, she turned back to the rest of the class and began the new lesson. Xavier was left fighting the overwhelming, dark mood once again and wishing he could die.

  “All right, class. On the board is this week’s new vocabulary list. Copy each word with its English translation and then, use the word in a complete Latin sentence.”

  Xavier watched as the class sprang into action, but he felt detached and empty. He simply sat and stared at his desk, sulking and hating Madam Stokes all the more. Slowly, a mischievous grin slid across his face, and he sneered at Catherine, who was busily adding words to the vocabulary list. Discreetly, he twirled a finger at her desk before sitting back to watch the mayhem unfold. At first, only a faint scratching came from one of the desk’s drawers. But soon, it intensified so much so that the students in the front row stopped working and searched for the source of the sound. As the power in the desk grew the drawers began to rattle and drew more attention from the class. Even Madam Stokes became aware that something wasn’t right. The rattling quickly intensified into a loud banging that shook the entire desk. Catherine flattened herself against the chalkboard and stared at the desk just a few feet from her as every student in the room watched. The desk rocked and shook until finally, its drawers exploded open and millions upon millions of wriggling, clicking cockroaches scurried out in a wave of black. Students burst into screams, storming to the rear of the room, many climbing on top of the desks.

  However, Xavier didn’t move. He simply sat in his seat laughing violently as he watched a terrified Madam Stokes. She squealed and tried to dance away from the infested desk, but with a slight flick of Xavier’s finger, the insects rushed toward her and covered her like a second skin. He fell out of his chair in hysterics.

  Suddenly the door flew open, and Sir Blaire burst into the room. Xavier stopped laughing almost instantly at the sight of his anima-linguist teacher’s furious face.

  “Help me,” Catherine managed to gurgle through the thick blanket of cockroaches covering every inch of her.

  Xavier was lost again to an uproar of laughter and tears fell from his eyes. As Sir Blaire rushed to Catherine’s aid, Courtney grabbed the prince and pulled him to his feet.

  “Come on, mate!” Court hissed, tugging him out of the room, down the hall, and into the boys’ bathroom.

  “Are you all right?” Court asked, looking at him shakily. When his friend nodded meekly, he groaned. “Holy cricket! Did you do all that?”

  He nodded.

  “Not that she didn’t deserve it after that bit she said about Maggie, but X, you’re going to get expelled for sure!”

  Fol
lowing these words, Xavier began laughing again, and Court looked down at him, bewildered. “Are you sure you’re all right? You look flushed,” he asked, touching the prince’s forehead.

  “Get off!” he bellowed, knocking Court’s hand away.

  “Bloody hell, X! You’re really hot. Maybe you should go to Headmaster Spencer and tell him you’re sick. You…”

  “No! I’m not telling Uncle Mikey anything! He’ll only send me home, and I’m not going!” he growled but then began giggling again.

  “Xavier…” he began.

  “Courtney,” Xavier mocked and then giggled. “Come on, let’s get out of here. It stinks!”

  As the boys left the restroom, they found Courtney’s oldest brother standing by the water fountain talking to a girl. From the looks of it, Drew Hardcastle was working hard to impress her, and he kept patting down his hair and straightening his uniform. Xavier grabbed Court and hauled him back inside the bathroom doorway.

  Giggling still, Xavier whispered, “Watch this!”

  With a slight swirling motion of his finger, he pointed at the fountain and then at Drew. Suddenly, water squirted at a perverse angle from the fountain, spraying the front of Drew’s pants. He jumped back, cussing. Xavier burst into laughter and, reluctantly, Courtney joined in.

  “Excuse me, Sire Wells? What do you think you’re doing?”

  Xavier turned and found Spencer leaning against the bathroom door behind them.

  Xavier rolled his eyes despondently and growled, “Jeez, Spencer! What are you doing? Spying on me?”

  Court tensed beside him, his eyes growing wide.

  A flash of anger swept across the headmaster’s face before he could mask it, but as he studied the feverish boy before him, his face went pale, very pale. He pulled Xavier toward him and pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. Lord! The boy was on fire!

  “Stop it! Get off!” Xavier hissed, wiggling in his uncle’s grasp.

  Spencer tightened his hold on the prince before turning to Court.

  “Courtney, I think you better return to Latin class. I believe Sir Blaire has the infestation problem under control now.”

  Xavier burst into laughter again, slouching in Spencer’s arms.

  Court gave Xavier a fretful looked before whispering, “Is he going to be all right?”

  “I’ll take care of Xavier, Courtney. Please, go back to class,” the headmaster insisted softly.

  “Yes, sir,” he answered and hurried away from them.

  Spencer turned toward an infuriated Drew. “Andrew, go to the office. Jeanette should have an extra pair of pants for you, and then I suggest that I not find you or Miss Lowe in the halls again when you should be in class. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” he mumbled, and the two teenagers went their separate ways.

  Michael Spencer turned his attention back to the prince still laughing uncontrollably in his arms. “Let’s go, Xavier. We need to call your father,” he said softly.

  “NO!” he spat and twisted his way out of Spencer’s grasp. “I’m not going home! You can’t make me!”

  “Sire, you’re not well! You need to go home so you can get better,” he pleaded.

  “Forget it!” he growled, backing away from him.

  “Well, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice here. You will be leaving!”

  “No!” he retorted, but Spencer grabbed him, lifted him over his shoulder, and carried him to the office.

  “Mike! Mike! Put me down! I swear to God! If you don’t put me down, I’ll blast you!” he screamed, squirming and punching at his uncle any place he could reach.

  Spencer kicked the office door open, stormed past a stunned secretary and Drew Hardcastle, and marched into his office, slamming the door shut with his foot before sliding Xavier down from his shoulder.

  “You jerk! You had no right! No right!” Xavier screamed, thrashing at the infuriatingly calm man barring his escape.

  “You’re sick, Xavier. I have every right to get you home and get you the care you need!” he told him evenly. “Now sit down while I call your dad.”

  “No! I’m going to lunch!”

  “I’m afraid not, sire.”

  “Yes! I am!” Xavier yelled, raising the electro force spinning in his hands.

  Spencer didn’t see it coming and wasn’t prepared for it. So when the force hit him, he was knocked clean off his feet and slammed against his desk. He struggled to stand but found his legs were numb and wouldn’t obey the simplest of commands. All he could do was watch as Xavier opened the door and ran from the room.

  Chapter 17

  Delirium

  By the time Xavier arrived at lunch, nearly every student was seated and eating. He quickly got a tray and hurried toward the back table where his friends sat solemnly, but he never made it. Someone tripped him, and he slammed hard to the floor, hitting his head. The room spun dizzily as he sat up and rubbed his brow. Laughter erupted around him, and he slowly got to his feet, brushing the macaroni and cheese from his arms and chest.

  “Did you have a nice trip, Your Highness?” Ken leered, bursting into laughter with his friends.

  Xavier’s face twisted with fury as he glared at the laughing faces. He was sick and tired of people like Ken bullying him! He didn’t have to put up with it anymore. He was the Prince of Warwood for God’s sake! Without a word, he tackled the boy, slamming him to the floor. Then, as he held Ken down with his body, he began punching him. Mackenzie rushed to help his friend, but Xavier thrust his hand at the other boy, and with a loud whoosh, sent him soaring across the room and slamming against the wall, where he slid to the floor unconscious. As screams filled the cafeteria, he resumed pummeling Ken’s face into minced meat.

  “Xavier! Stop it! Stop it!” Robbie screamed, grabbing him and pulling him off the unconscious boy. Xavier turned quickly in her grasp and knocked her to the floor. He stood poised with a fist drawn back, but when he realized it was Robbie, he froze. Horror slipped across his face, and he went pale.

  “Robbie? Robbie, what’s happening?” he asked shakily, but in the next instant, the fear in his face was replaced by uncontrollable giggles.

  “Here let me help you up,” he called past the giggles and held out his hand to her.

  Uncertainly, she took his hand and could feel the heat oozing from him. As he pulled her to her feet, she studied his flushed face and glassy eyes. Impulsively, she stroked his brow and cheek. He couldn’t have been any hotter than if he were standing on the sun! She felt panic rise inside her. Xavier was sick; he had the super flu. Tears flooded her eyes.

  “Oh, Xavier,” she moaned.

  However, Xavier, misinterpreting her actions, pulled her close and kissed her. Boy, how he had wanted to do this for months. He wasn’t sure exactly when he had begun to think about Robbie in this way. Heck! Maybe, he never had seen her as just a friend. But as he kissed her, his heart soared, and he felt like he was flying.

  “Xavier!” Robbie muttered. “Xavier! Stop it!”

  When he drew away, he found they were hovering about a foot in the air. They dropped to the floor and stared at one another in shock. Xavier’s manic laughter returned, and he hugged her.

  “See? I can sweep you off your feet! Come on, Robbie! You like me! I know you do! It made you so jealous when I asked Maggie to the dance; didn’t it? Admit it, Robbie! You’ve always liked me, just as I’ve always liked you! So why are you fighting it?”

  Robbie squirmed in his grasp. “Xavier, please don’t! You’re not well!” she cried.

  He chuckled loudly. “Let the jury note, the defendant didn’t deny the charges made against her!”

  “Xavier! Please, you’re hurting me!” Robbie squealed, shifting and wiggling against his firm hold.

  “X, mate, let her go!” Beck muttered, trying to sound composed and light-hearted but failing.

  “Stay out of it, Beckley. You shouldn’t interfere with true love! You might get hurt,” he spat, glaring at him. “Robbie’s mine
. Hear me? She’s mine! So stay away from her.”

  “Come on, Xavier!” Court called from behind Beck. “You’re hurting her! You don’t want to hurt your girl, do you?”

  He looked down at Robbie with a very strange expression. “No. I would never hurt her,” he whispered, hugging her again.

  Robbie squealed and tried to twist away.

  “Xavier!” Every head snapped toward the door and King Wells. Spencer stood next to him, both men looking apprehensive. “Let Robbie go, son,” Jeremiah continued softly.

  “No,” Xavier replied weakly. “I love her, Dad. I can’t let…I won’t let anything happen to her.”

  “I know, son. I know, but right now, all you’re doing is scaring her. Look at her, Xavier. Really look at her! Don’t you see how you’re frightening her?” Jeremiah prompted as he slowly approached him.

  Xavier looked at Robbie’s alarmed, wide eyes. Her face was flushed and moist with tears. He watched as a new tear formed, trickled down an eyelash, and fell heavily onto her cheek. Suddenly, he felt sick to his stomach knowing he was the reason she was crying.

  “Oh,” he whispered. “Oh, Robbie. Don’t cry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

  Suddenly, Jeremiah’s arms were around him and lifting him away from the girl. Spencer grabbed Robbie and pulled her into the safety of his arms.

  “No!” Xavier blurted, struggling against his father’s massive arms.

  “Get the other children out of here, Mike!” he bellowed as he fell to the floor, trying desperately to keep a hold of the violently struggling boy. He could feel the fever radiating from his son’s body. A lump wedged in his throat as he thought with horror of the implications.

  “Let go of me! Get off, Dad!” the boy snarled.

  “I can’t, son. You’re not well. We need to go to the hospital,” Jeremiah soothed, looking desperately at Spencer and the watching children. “God, Mike,” he yelled, his voice cracking. “Get them out!”

  Spencer immediately began evacuating the room, and Xavier fought harder to free himself from his father’s arms. He threw his head back and cracked the king on the chin, before twisting his body violently and jabbing his elbow into the tender flesh of his father’s abdomen. The tight grip loosened marginally, but it was enough that Xavier was able to tear himself free. He rushed toward Robbie.