'Ah man, now I feel exploited by the little buggers,' he thought while acting a little hurt.

'Now that I think about it, I have been bailing these brats for the whole week.'

This year, Ben had been trying hard to get closer to everyone around him. He may have gotten carried away and spoiled them a bit too much.

Being the hot-headed scamp that Michael was, he often let this little group of rag tags into trouble. While Goldstein and Cornfoot were a lot more reserved, Boot and Entwhistle followed Michael everywhere.

Ben had been bailing them out of trouble for the past week as their problems were hardly any trouble for him. He helped them, sometimes discreetly and sometimes even using magic in open. It was a big change as he never used to cast spells on others in open before. He may have gone too far, as the group had gotten a lot bolder in seeking trouble.

At this rate, they might as well become the golden squad. Ben decided to reel them in a little from now on.

'My inclusion has changed the group dynamic significantly, under the false sense of security, these runts are becoming a loose cannon'

Before the break, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner usually hung out together while Stephen Cornfoot and Kevin Entwhistle kept a low profile while doing their own thing. Since Michael had become a loose cannon, Goldstein had distanced himself a bit from the trouble-seeking group. Entwhistle on the other hand was enjoying the new arrangement following Corner, he was finally part of the cool group.

While Ben's mind was busy contemplating the shifting dynamics of the group, Michael Corner was getting his ass handed to him. They were playing Snake Pit, in which a player had to get his gobstones as close as possible to the pit in the middle of the circle, without the stone falling into the pit. Players get four turns each and they take turns alternatingly.

Corner was easily agitated under Doug's constant riling and had managed to lose three stones in the pit and was now on his last stone. Doug wasn't any better as his gobstones were also in the pit, knocked in by Michael in fury, only one remained close to the edge.

Ben knew that Michael was about to lose as the idiot had been baited to take the first turn. The one holding the last turn had a huge advantage as he could just knock his opponent into the pit and win or at least end in a draw.

For a moment, Ben contemplated letting Michael lose and be showered by the putrid-smelling liquid. Loss of his precious stones and public humiliation would definitely calm him down for a while.

'Ughh I really don't feel like smelling rot right now,' he thought as he cast [Calm] on Michael. The horrible smell was the one reason Ben stopped playing Gobstones himself.

Ben had a soft spot for Michael Corner, he found his antics amusing and oddly reminded him of his childhood. He too was quite the troublemaker in his last life.

Under the influence of [calm], Michael landed a perfect throw, pushing Doug's stone into the pit and stopping just at the edge of the hole.

'At least you have some skill,' thought Ben, feeling somewhat impressed. On account of this wonderful throw, Ben decided to help the lad a bit further.

A sneaky red steak of Magicka hit Douglas Mccarthy just as he was about to make his throw and his already ugly face contorted further.

He threw the stone in a fury, knocking his as well as Michael's stone into to pit, ending in a draw. It was a win in Ben's books as there was no way that he was going to help the runts cheat to victory.

While Ben was satisfied that there was no splashing of rotten liquids, Michael and the group were still as tense as before. They knew that things were far from over.

Michael tried to collect his Gobstones from the pit but was pushed back by the towering bully. Looking up made Michael flinch as he could clearly see the madness in his eyes.

"Where do you think you are doing you little shit?" He growled.

"These are mine now," he said as he collected the two sets of Gobstones from the pits and made his way towards the scared Michael, who was putting on a brave front but had retreated a significant distance.

"You can't!" "He didn't lose!" Said Entwhistle and Boot, trying to back Michael up.

"He didn't win either, did he?" "Give the rest of 'em here rat, before I stomp your face."

"I'm not scared of you!" said Michael, pulling out his wand.

Now, it would have been an intimidating gesture if Michael wasn't a first-year. The only offensive spell in the curriculum was the Knockback jinx and that wasn't taught until the end of the year. The spells he could possibly cast were red and green sparks.

Under the effect of [Fury], Doug was not intimidated at all. He too took out his wand and kept moving forward, while Michael took a few steps back. Michael had his friends as backup, but so did Doug. He and his lackeys got right up to Ben's group, towering over them.

"Hand them over," he said, resting the tip of his wand on Michael's neck.

'Damn! Look at this bastard posturing,' thought Ben. 'Almost gave me heartburn.'

Ben could not believe the amount of cringe happening in front of his eyes and had to stop it from progressing any further. He had a feeling that this might go full Xianxia if he didn't put a stop to it.

One thing to note was that even with a wand to his neck, Michael had still not given in. Well, he might just be petrified with fear at this point, looking at the huge lump in his throat, but at least he had some courage.

Michael's eyes were staring at the tip of the wand as he anticipated a flash of magic to send him flying any second now. His heart was beating at an extremely fast pace and everything turned to slow motion. He saw a hand approach from the corner of his eye. It grabbed the huge hand holding the wand at his neck and twisted it from the wrist to point the wand back at Doug.

"Back off, before I send your newly descended balls back up," he said making everybody around question their eyes and ears.

While everyone was expecting a beatdown to come over the pretentious first year, they heard a scream that they will never ever forget for the rest of their lives.

--Dreamscape--

MC is Cringe, read more of the cringe he says on Patre@n/DreamyApe. I am there too, trying to make him less cringy.