Sunlight slowly filters in through translucent curtains covering the windows. Carefully illuminating every inch of the room, from the bookshelves overflowing with novels and knick knacks to stacks of AP textbooks, stuffed animals and of course the sleeping figure of the bedroom's owner.
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" The electronic voice blared from the alarm clock's speakers, waking the inhabitant of the room.
"Uuuhhhh what...? " A groggy voice can be heard saying from under a blanket. The teen uncovered themself and blinked the sleep from their emerald eyes to read the clock.
"What 7:00?! Crap! I'm late for my first day!" Was shouted when their brain started processing the information and a large thud can be heard as a lithe figure stood upon their bed and fell onto the floor.
Scrambling to dress quickly caused them to knock over the large stack of textbooks.
"Aw shit! Ow ow ow ow damn it! I really need to organize my room."
"Late, late, late!" They exclaimed while traveling downstairs to hopefully get something to eat before heading out. "Mom! Why didn't you wake me up earlier! I'm late!" Was nearly screamed before hands started messily stuffing food into a hungry mouth.
"I did, seven times! You never actually got up when I came back in to check up on you!" Her mother yelled in response but her words fell on deaf ears as she was already gone. "Seriously that girl, how will she ever meet a boy?"
"Man, I wish I'd gone to bed earlier last night!" She whined as she rounded the corner and ran into a boy on his way to school. The impact causing both to fall over and knocking the toast out of her mouth. Groans were heard from both parties as they rubbed the sore areas.
"Owwwww, Oh! I'm so sorry are you okay miss?" The stranger said, worry evident in his voice. Offering his hand out to her, which was gladly accepted, and as they looked into each other eyes time froze, well at least for them. All of a sudden a certain special glow emerged from the girl's chest. There they were, meeting for the first time face to face
"Ah...?" She uttered just before the stranger's chest started shining, she had just found her one and only. This soft glow signifies that they were soul mates, not many people get to meet their soul mate due to this much too large world. Yet here they were, in the same country, in the same city, in the same neighborhood...and in the middle of the sidewalk. Many people had to annoyingly make their way around this strange couple who did not seem to have the common sense and courtesy to move over.
"Ugh, great another couple blocking the sidewalk again." A boy wearing glasses said once out of earshot. "What is so special about this-this..." He paused and thought of a word to describe this part of their biology. And in the midst of his inner ramblings he happened to walk by a certain group of jocks. The duo that continuously harassed and beat him up every day.
"Oi, dipshit!" One of them hollered, causing the nerd to stop in his tracks. Crap! It took every ounce of his being to keep from jumping, the boy hoped they would just make fun of him and maybe just throw in something generic. He hoped that they wouldn't actually get to beat him up today. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't remain passive when things got physical. He was pulled out of his trance by the sound of nearing footsteps, if he just took off now there'd be no doubt that they would catch up and beat him up then, as well as after school, so he decided to just take whatever would be dished out now and just got it over with.
"Hey there buddy~! Whatcha doin'?" The leader of the group, Michael, sneered as the two slowly approached their prey. Abel just stood there quietly staring at the ground. The brunet grabbed his shoulder and whipped him around.
Zach, the other jock, leaned in and said above a whisper "Hey Abigail we asked you what you were doing, why didn't you say anything?" as he slowly increased the pressure of his grip on the smaller boy's shoulder, causing him wince and let out an undignified sound. He hated being called by his given name, it wasn't his fault that his parents made a mistake. They continued to back him up into a corner until Abel had run out of options to run to, the pair received a thinly veiled expression of fear for their conquests. However, his reactions weren't enough to satisfy the much taller boys so they pushed him down to the ground. He looked up at his bullies, with fear in his eyes before protecting his head with his hands. Michael, the taller of the two jocks, pulls the smaller boy up to his feet and held him in place. Zach moved forward to punch Abel a few times in the stomach before deciding that they inflicted enough damage.
"Hey, dude we're gonna be late. Let's save the fun for later." Zach informed his blonde friend with a laugh. Michael turned his back to his victim and began walking towards the school and snide remarks could be heard, definitely pointed towards the boy on the ground. As they walked off Abel let out a curse slowly began gathering himself.
"Ugh, fuck...that hurt. Will those assholes ever find something else to do?" He said quietly while positioning himself to rest against the concrete wall behind him "I really wish my life would change from this daily routine. I am so done". Deciding not to waste anymore time he got up and did his best to ignore the pain and get to school before he too was late.
Abel raced down the usual route to East Willow high and through its front doors. Weaving in and out of the way of other students he reached his locker to deposit journals and other things from the classes he had the previous day. As he reached for the textbooks needed for today, someone shoved him into his locker with a loud bang, making the few textbooks he had in his arms fall to the ground. GEE I wonder who did that! Instead of acknowledging the act of harassment Abel decided gather his things and go look for his girlfriend before class started to at least start classes with something positive butt he needed to cover up the damage first. Abel grabbed a small unlabeled blue bag he always kept in his locker. He examined his wounds in magnetic mirror attached to the back of his locker as he pulled out some bandages and neosporin. After patching himself up Abel pondered how he would hide the bruises that were sure to form from the day's beatings from his family. He began gathering up the composition book he would need for his first period Abel stuffed some snacks from his locker into his his bag before setting off to find his girlfriend. Probably near the water fountains as usual.
"Hey Rebecca." He was relieved to see her as he jogged to her place and placed a quick peck on her cheek as a greeting. Abel greeted the two girls beside her with a slight wave.
"Oh hey, Abel!" She said with delight before grabbing his hand and interlacing her fingers with his "did you do the english rea- Oh my god! What happened, you're bleeding through that band-aid!" she exclaimed upon looking at him, worry evident in her face. Rebecca grabbed his chin and proceeded to turn his face so that she could get a better look at the injury.
"I...uh was really dumb and got into an argument with my sister again. Is it really that bad?" He inquired before quickly changing the subject "I didn't get the last question, you finish?"
"You know better than to do that, she'll fuck up anybody at the drop of a hat" after exhaling in disappointment "Haaah...I only finished half of it" She said in a deflated tone knowing that it was best to drop the subject for now.
"I can let you copy if you want" before he could pull out the assignment his hand was stopped.
"No it's fine I'll just finish it during lunch. Also! Are we going to homecoming this year or staying in and binge playing Zelda?"
"I haven't decided yet but when is it even going to be? Has ASB even planned its theme yet?" Abel questioned.
"Um I'm not sure, it's always a month after the start of school so…" she drifted off. They continued with small talk about homecoming, classes and family life as Rebecca's friends watched the two and decided to leave the couple to themselves. The bell rang and the students' conversations came to a close, some lingering and debating skipping class.
Abel had walked his girlfriend halfway to her class before leaving for his 1st period: Chemistry. He hated that class, not because of the subject nor the teacher, on the contrary he loved the subject and it was one of the only places during school where he felt safe. He disliked the class was because of a certain classmate. That classmate being the school quarterback that so happened to be the leader of his tormentors. Although, he felt safe enough since he and the teacher were close, Michael had a higher chance of getting caught it that class. However, it didn't stop him from pushing the limits. Grimacing at the thought of tolerating the aforementioned presence he walked towards class.
Abell quietly entered the classroom and sat in the middle of the class, and beginning on the entry task. Suddenly, the subject of his woes walks in after loudly separating himself from the pack. Michael walked to a desk in the front where turn-in baskets were placed and dropped the syllabus and the homework packet that was assigned last class into it. He probably forged the signature or something like that…Oh I forgot that, I should probably turn it in. After rifling through his bookbag he grabbed his homework and stood to turn it in but he was cut off by a certain jock setting his backpack down in the seat next to him.
Right. Next. To. Him. Abel looked at him from the corner of his eyes, he checked the room only to see zero empty seats. When did the class fill up so quickly? He looked back at the offending person again and began staring, wondering why he didn't just make someone move, I mean he's a part of the "popular crowd" surely they'd obey his wishes.
"Hey, don't fall for me now, I wouldn't want to break another heart." The sound of Michael's laughter brought him closer and closer to snapping...almost, however saying anything would just earn him something much worse than a punch later in the day. Abel firmly gripped his chair and didn't let go until he was seated to insure it wouldn't get kicked out from under him. He decided against reacting and turned his focus toward the front where the teacher was.
"Okay everybody the bell just rang much to everyone's dread, now focus. Chris, Angela quit it with the face sucking I don't care if you do it in the halls just not in my class." The couple begrudgingly separated their faces and Ms. Walters began talking again "so last class I told you guys to finish the assigned packet in order to start the lab today. Quick raise of hands. Who actually did it?" She surveyed the room only to see Abel and Michael as well as about 10 other people raised their hands. "Well then, for those who did it: make sure that it is in the basket" she paused while gesturing to the wire basket now in front of her and allowed a few forgetful students to walk up and place theirs inside it "and for those who didn't do it: obviously, you're not doing the lab today and you're going to figure out a way to do it another time. Just make sure I remember to stay after school when you've scheduled it." she said in a bored tone.
"Okay! I'll just quickly give you guys credit for this, do the attendance and we'll get going" she clapped and started down the list calling out a kid's name, checking a box next to their name if they were present and another if she found their name in the basket. When finished Ms. Walters got up and walked back to the island at the front of the class and sat back in her stool with her elbows rested on the table surface.
"Okay so how we're going to partner up this time us with these dice. Now I'm sure y'all got this down already the two numbers rolled will be partners according your placements on my roll." Ms. Walters said rather excitedly while a collective groans were heard from the students, the dice's choices were always quite...interesting. "Well this time you get a decent chance to have someone you like...maybe. We're only using one and you guys get to roll it. Hmmmmm….Abigail, look alive!" She warned with a cheeky grin before hurling the 20 sided die at him.
" It's Abel so can you not?" He corrected, clearly annoyed by her use of that name. Abel hadn't even tried to catch it, he knew that he couldn't catch it without making a fool of himself. It bounced off the table before landing on the ground near his outstretched legs. He glared at her but all he received from the teacher was a slight chuckle. Straightening himself and standing up, the rather annoyed student made his way around his table and bent over with much trouble to grab the die.
"Twelve, I got twelve." Abel said rather dryly before tossing it to another student who was able to catch it without much trouble. However, he failed to noticed a pair of suspicious eyes on him-or moreso his bent over ass- a look that wasn't missed by the teacher.
"Okay…." Clicking her tongue as she went down her list looking for her twelfth student "Michael….G" Ms. Walter said happily...a little too happily. Abel looked at the boy sitting in the back row who he presumed was his partner with a confused look on his face. He'd had the pleasure of working with him before and he was a pretty interesting kid, real funny too. But his last name doesn't start with a-
"Uh, no hon' right next to ya" Her voice began turning sickeningly sweet.
-"G"...Oh no. Why…..what did I do in my past life to anger the gods? Realization came over his face as he slowly turned his body towards the front. Ignoring the now very noticeable pair of eyes on him.
Abel just slowly laid his head down on his desk and groaned. Michael stayed silent as he crossed his arms across his chest and frowned at his new partner.
Without making a single sound or lifting his head up, Abel scooted his seat back as far as it went and slid his book bag from the table to the ground. He silently stood up and made his way over to one of the lab stations in the back of the room, following behind Michael. They both sat down, while Michael rested his chin on his hand and Abel began twirling his mechanical pencil, awaiting further instruction. The smaller of the two pondered if he would get a chemical "accidently" spilled on himself or injured in some way sometime during the course of this 90 minute period as his partner ran his hand through his own honey colored hair. The other students began rolling the die and pairing up, some liking who they got, some were indifferent, and some detesting it but everyone shared a common ground: to get this shit done with. Ms. Walters wrote down the names of the pairs on a sheet of paper to keep track of everybody.
"So today we're gonna-" she started off.
"What are we doing?" a kid blurted out while everyone fell silent.
"..." She slowly blinked at him, mouth slightly opened trying to piece together a sentence in reply with a look of pure done on her face and holding back the urge to throw a stapler. Instead she took a deep breath and went on with the lesson.
"So what we're going to do is make s'mores! We're going to study…" Her voice got tuned out by the outbursts of the class. She decided to wait for everyone to calm down as she stood with he hand on her hip.
"Pass these packets back write your down what you'll to do this lab and your hypotheses. Once you're done with that raise your hand and I'll sign it and get you your supplies. Got it? Good." The teacher asked not expecting an answer and split her stack in two before giving them to the front rows. The packets slowly made their way down the station rows lining the walls, when they got to the last lab station Michael roughly grabbed them from the kid in front and picked one for him and carelessly passed the other to Abel.
"Well okay then." he tried to say under his breath.
"Hah?" the jock furrowed his brows and looked up to gave him a questioning look.
"Hmmm?" Abel hummed without looking up to try and save his ass.
Michael looked back down his paper and continued filling out the questions, honestly curious as to what his new partner had said. And after a few seconds of bumping each other's elbows they'd realized a problem.
"Are you able to use your other hand?" Michael started off leaning more towards the lines of 'are you fucking kidding me?'.
"Noooo...can you...?" His lab partner trailed off.
They both stood up and made a motion to grab their bags. Abel winced in pain as he switched seats with Michael. Ignoring his soreness he continued working as did the person sitting beside him, they only spoke when necessary and filled out the procedures and hypothesis silently. While working, Abel kept sneaking peeks at his bully every so often to make sure his partner didn't try anything, well he didn't know what Michael could do at the moment but he wasn't about to take any chances today.
"Hey Ms. Walters, can you check mine?" Abel called out after finishing.
"Me too." Michael chimed in having finished a few seconds after. Humming her reply she made her way over to sign their papers and gave instructions on how to set up the lab. Abel stood and made his way over to a cart at the other end of the room which contained various skewers, food items and plates. His partner leaving to grab one the stands on the counter lining the walls, as many other people we beginning to do the same.
The two boys began their assigned experiment with as much care as an injured student and an overbearing jock could. They recorded the result of their trials and findings with little blips on the radar when Michael would ever so slightly bump into his partner, making the other boy falter. This made the jock laugh under his breath before he checked to see if their teacher saw. Other than Michael's practical jokes, class ended as usual and students hurried out of class after all the supplies were set up but not before Ms. Walters could assign the lab reports on the day's experiments.
"Hey, the lab report on this is due in one week. Your asses better not try to weasel your way out of this deadline!" Although many pairs decided to exchange information so that they could work on their reports out of class, Abel and Michael walked away from each other without so much as an exchange.
School carried on as normal as all of the students shuffled from class to class, many stopping to talk to their friends. Some even skipping their classes to get food early. Abel followed his schedule of first period chemistry, math, english and lastly gym. The school broke up classes into two days called red and white days, where students have different classes depending on the day. Abel shared gym with Rebecca but unfortunately, he also had both objects of his worries in that class as well.
When Abel walked into the locker room he immediately made a Beeline to his locker, trying to avoid Zach and Michael. Hoping that he wouldn't be further injured today, Abel did his best to hide his pain the the bruises that had surely formed from the beating he took earlier that day. As he turned his back to the other boys around him, their gym teacher announced that everyone had 10 minutes to get changed and into the main gym before they were marked late. Abel and a few friends were among the first to leave the locker room as many others were busy talking with their friends or were waiting to change in the bathroom stall due to insecurities. However, he was only trying to get away from the two jocks.
Many students walked out onto the gym floor to chat before the teachers needed to get their attention. Class began with roll call and stretches before the students told the plans for the period. The two gym teachers had decided on Volleyball and those who did not want to play had the option of heading to the weight room and work on the set workout.
Abel made his way towards his girlfriend and formed a group made up of their friends and people Abel vaguely knew. Although Abel was not the most muscular or sporty, he was surprisingly good at Volleyball. While some groups had fun challenging each other to see who could keep the ball up the longest groups like theirs prefered going against other teams competitively. As teams went up against each other eventually all the competitive teams have played each other and with 10 minutes left of the school day the class began cleaning up. However, as Abel bent down to pick up a stray ball he felt someone kick his butt, upon turning around he found Rebecca laughing with a few volleyballs in her arms as well.
"How dare! Come here, you're getting one too! Don't try to run!" Their laughing could be heard as a view of Rebecca running away from Abel around the gym while the other students trickled out. When he caught up to her, as a joke Abel grabbed her shoulders to hold her in place as he kicked her in the butt as well. Off in a corner snide remarks made by Zach and Michael could be heard as they finished up their side of the gym and prepared to mess with the nerd in the near future.
After gym was over the students filed into the locker rooms talking about what they all wanted to do after school or on the weekends. Among the kids making plans was Abel, who was just excited to shower and catch up on sleep during the weekend. He made his way towards his locker and grabbed change of clothes and toiletries before making his way towards the showers. He was glad that he chose to have gym at the end of the day so that he could spend more time in the shower even if Michael also had this period.
Students slowly began leaving the locker room and said goodbyes to their friends as Abel began washing his hair. He froze when he heard a familiar voice nearing the shower area, hoping that he could finish before his bully he began rushing the shower and running back towards his locker.
"I'll meet you outside, go on ahead." Abel prayed that Michael would take a long shower so that he had ample time to clothe himself and leave. Sadly, his prayers were not heard as he only had gotten his lower half dressed before he heard the screech of the shower curtain opening. Fuck! Why does he shower so fast, just fucking enjoy the shower. Damn. Abel cursed his abdomen slowing hims motions with pain.
He only managed to get his arms through his t-shirt before he felt a presence looming over him. Abel turned his head only to see Michael standing behind him.
"Hey~ there, sorry we couldn't play more before school." Michael said in a sickeningly sweet voice and grabbing the shorter boy's head and forcing him to crane his head in a very uncomfortable way "but now that we're here why don't we continue~. You ready for another lesson?" Abel was now facing his to be attacker-looking up at Michael with fear in his eyes- he had nowhere to hide and no one could help him.
Suddenly, Michael's eyes widen and attention is shifted from his victim's face to their chest, drawn by a soft red glow. Noticing the change in atmosphere Abel followed the towering man's gaze to his own chest, scared of what he was about to see. Then the chest across from him began glowing as well, they both could feel the blood rising to their cheeks as the pair looked at the jock's glowing chest-cementing the fact that the were soulmates-Michael ripped his hand from Abel as if he was burned and clutched his chest. Quickly turning their backs to each other, covering their chest as if trying to save modesty and locking wide eyes in absolute terror.
A silent moment moment hung in the air for a few moments before two loud voices abruptly broke the silence.
"AW HELL NO!" They both yelled, blushes marring their faces. As Abel scrambled to get his clothes on, Michael ran across the locker room to shove the last of his things inside his locker before grabbing his backpack and bolting out of the room as fast as his quarterback legs could. For a second after the other boy left Abel stay haphazardly fumbling to put his gyms clothes in his locker before locking it and running out of the room as well.
Dodging the weird looks cast his way and hopefully not bumping into his again Abel made his way to his locker trying to calm himself enough to open the combination lock. Thankfully the glowing does not last too long. Abel pulled his bookbag out and pulled out his phone-checking for messages-he saw a text from Rebecca saying that she needed to talk to him, missing the underlying meaning of that text he wrote back telling her to come to his house and that he had to talk too.
He tried to leave the school as fast as possible so as to be able to process the revelations of the day in a safe space. Abel ran home as fast as he could and upon arriving took off his shoes immediately ran up to his room.