Chapter 5: A Broom to the Nuts

Blair’s mind raced through a thousand different equations, calculating the distance to the door, the weight of the Boar beastman, and the impossibility of her outrunning him.

The math was terrible.

She looked at the terrified girl sobbing on the desk. She looked at the leering Boar wrapping his leather belt around his knuckles.

"I said," the Boar rumbled, taking another slow, threatening step forward, "take them off."

Blair’s hands shook so violently she could barely grip the hem of her sweater. She swallowed the lump of terror in her throat. She had to buy time. She had to create a distraction so the other girl could run.

Just keep him focused on you, Blair thought frantically.

Blair crossed her arms and grabbed the bottom of her sweater. She pulled it up and over her head, letting the scratchy fabric fall to the floor. Underneath, she wore a simple, plain white undershirt. Her fingers trembled as she reached for the top button of her skirt.

The Boar’s small, dark eyes were practically burning a hole through her.

She let the skirt drop. Finally, she unbuttoned the white undershirt and let it slide off her shoulders, standing bare in the dim light of the History classroom.

The Boar beastman stopped dead in his tracks. The cruel, malicious grin melted right off his face, replaced by an expression of stunned bewilderment.

He blinked. Once. Twice.

Blair crossed her arms protectively over her chest, her face burning with humiliation, but the Boar didn’t seem to notice her discomfort. His eyes slowly raked over her body, taking in the soft curves, the swell of her hips, and the undeniable feminine shape that the lumpy sweater had been hiding.

"Well, I’ll be damned," the Boar breathed out, the leather belt going slack in his grip. He let out a low whistle. "You humans usually look like twigs. But you... you are built better than half the women in my faction."

He took a step forward, dropping his guard. The other, crying girl on the desk was completely forgotten.

"I hit the jackpot," he laughed. "I’m keeping you both. You can be my new favorite—"

Now.

Blair didn’t think.

As the Boar reached out to grab her waist, Blair dropped her arms, planted her bare foot on the wooden floorboards, and swung her right knee upward with every ounce of strength she possessed.

CRACK.

It was a direct hit to the groin.

The Boar beastman’s eyes rolled back into his head. All three hundred pounds of him froze for a fraction of a second before he let out a high-pitched, un-beastlike squeak. He crumpled forward, his knees hitting the floor with a thud, clutching his crotch and groaning in agony.

"Run!" Blair screamed at the girl on the desk.

The girl didn’t need to be told twice. She snatched her shredded uniform off the floor and bolted out the door, leaving Blair alone with a very large, very angry, and very injured predator.

The Boar let out a furious roar, blindly reaching out and grabbing Blair’s ankle.

"Let go of me!" Blair shrieked.

She kicked wildly, freeing her foot, and stumbled backward. Her bare back hit the chalkboard. Her hands scrambled blindly along the tray, searching for anything...a ruler, an eraser, anything.

Her fingers closed around the handle of a broom leaning against the wall.

Blair gripped the broom with both hands, raised it high above her head like an executioner’s axe, and brought the straw end down on the Boar’s head.

Whack!

"Die! Leave me alone! Stay down!" Blair screamed at the top of her lungs, raining blows down on the beastman.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

She didn’t aim. She just swung. The broom connected with his shoulders, his back, and, unfortunately for him, between his legs again as he tried to curl into a fetal position.

"Stop! You crazy human, stop!" the Boar sobbed, trying to shield his face from the relentless assault.

Blair didn’t stop. She was a whirlwind of terrified fury, screaming her lungs out.

"What in the name of the King is going on here?"

The icy voice cut through the chaos like a scythe.

Blair froze, the broom held high above her head mid-swing. Panting heavily, her black hair sticking to her sweaty face, she slowly turned her head toward the doorway.

Professor Jack Feron stood there.

He was leaning casually against the doorframe; his black wings neatly tucked behind his back. His red eyes slowly took in the scene.

He looked at the sobbing Boar curled up in a ball on the floor.

And then, his gaze shifted to Blair, who was currently standing over the beastman, clutching a weapon, and naked.

For a long moment, the room was dead silent, save for the Boar’s pathetic whimpers.

Jack’s expression didn’t change. He reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a small, black leather notepad and a silver pen.

"Professor!" Blair gasped, dropping the broom. It clattered loudly onto the floor. She frantically crossed her arms over her chest, her face flushing so hot she felt like she might spontaneously combust. "It’s not what it looks like! He was trying to—"

"Assaulting a fellow classmate," Jack stated flatly, clicking his pen. He began to write, not even looking up.

"He was trying to attack another girl!" Blair yelled, pointing frantically at the sobbing Boar. "He told me to take my clothes off!"

"Indecent exposure in an academic setting," Jack continued, his voice monotone as he scribbled on the pad. "And screaming in the halls."

"He’s a predator!" Blair shrieked, losing her mind. "Are you blind?!"

Jack finally stopped writing. He slowly raised his head. His piercing red eyes locked onto Blair, dark and devoid of sympathy.

"I am perfectly aware of what he is, Miss Willows," Jack said coldly, tearing the small slip of paper from his notepad. "Just as I am perfectly aware that you are currently naked in my History classroom, holding a weapon over a sobbing student."

He flicked his wrist. The small slip of paper fluttered through the air, landing perfectly on the floor at Blair’s bare feet.

"That is your second demerit for the day," Jack informed her. "For the assault, you will serve a second week of detention. And for the... indecency you displayed, you and the other human involved will be assigned to kitchen dishwasher duty for the month."

Blair’s jaw dropped. She stared at the demerit slip on the floor, and then back up to the Crow professor.

"You can’t be serious," she whispered, utterly flabbergasted.

Jack turned his back, stepping out into the hallway. "Get dressed, Miss Willows," he called over his shoulder.

The door clicked shut behind him.

Blair was left standing naked, a broken broom at her feet, and a sobbing Boar on the floor. Her first day wasn’t even officially over, and she had already managed to accumulate two demerits, two detentions, and the terrifying realization that in the Beast Academy, justice was just as blind as the bats.