Tavros Nitram struggled to his feet, his strained breath unable to cover the small, pained whimpers escaping from his lips. A sneakered foot kicked out, hitting him square in the chest and pushing him against the putrid green lockers. "Come on Tavros! Stand up for yourself... You are so pathetic." Virska Serket cooed coldly into his ears. Tavros squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to look into her piercing cerulean eye. "Tavros, are you listening to me?!" Virska shrieked, making Tavros shrink away from her even more. His silence spoke a thousand words. Her foot flicked upward, the toe of her bright red sneaker contacting with his clenched jawbone. Tavros saw stars as his head was smashed up against the lockers. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out and willed his eyes to remain closed. Virska took her foot away, allowing the boy to fall to his knees in front of her, grasping his head and facing the ground. She grabbed Tavros by the front of his tie die shirt that he had made in Church camp; pulling so harshly upward that she tore the collar.
"Look at me Nitram." Tavros reluctantly opened his eyes, looking upwards at the single eye that flashed down at him, hidden by thin framed glasses and blonde bangs. He couldn't see the Serket's other eye; she had hidden her abnormality long ago with her blonde hair. Virska's wild hair bounced as she came closer and hissed in a cold voice, "Will you fight me?" Tavros tried to mask the pain and fear in his eyes with hatred. He stared at her, took a deep breath, closed his eyes again and muttered in the same quiet voice, "No." Virska punched him in the gut and let go, allowing Tavros to slump to the ground, grabbing at his stomach.
"You are so boring. No wonder it took them so long to find you, nobody can stand being near you. Sorry that I wasted my time with a pitiful sack of worthless flesh like you. Go catch butterflies, or whatever you do." With these words, Virska turned on her heels, grabbed her spider themed bookbag, and stalked away, leaving Tavros without a single scratch.
After he heard the hallway door slam shut, Tavros lifted his head and opened his brown eyes. The hallway swam in front of him in a gray fog, making a strained vein in his head pulse. He quickly closed his eyes again. He knew he was bleeding, but if he tried to walk to the nurse's office in this condition, he would pass out, either on the concrete outside of the hallway, or on the stairs leading to the administrative building. Lunch was almost over, someone was bound to find him soon, or so he hoped. For now, all he was capable of doing was waiting. He scooted up to the lockers and gently leaned against them, relaxing as much as he could. Behind the darkness that his eyelids provided, he decided to do some thinking. It wasn't like he was going anywhere anytime soon.
He let his mind drift to Virska Serket. They had met when they were kids, at Daycare. Virska was a beautiful person whose mind was filled with fantasies of money, men, and power. Virska had always been arrogant and prideful. To make her way to the top, she was willing to step all over the lowlifes she could to get out of the muck and drag that she called middle class life, but Tavros was always her favorite punching bag. The first time she had actually hit him was in sixth grade, and by eighth grade, she was already pushing him down flights of stairs, laughing and watching him bounce down every single one. There was once an incident in sophomore year with a cliff, but Tavros normally did not dwell on that too much, it brought up too many emotions. He decided to stop thinking about her, crying about the cliff incident wouldn't do much good. But he did let his mind wander to other things. Like his mother.
His mom was a vain and busy woman, spending many hours at her "company", only to come home to get ready for her night life at the most popular clubs in the city. Her favorite was an exclusive club downtown called "The Marquise". His mom would come home drunk or high, and she would often beat Tavros and his older brother, Rufioh Nitram. She was forced to move out and go into hiding when the police caught a whiff of her multiple crimes, domestic violence being the least of them. Their housekeeper, Mrs. Bell, decided to substitute as mother. She was a sweet, plump woman who loved to play Pokémon with them. She sometimes even let them win. But his father had changed. Sure, he still acted normal, but there was something different about him. Something different…
Tavros opened his eyes. The whole world was blurry, but not in a sickening way. It felt like he was waking up from a long nap, hibernation even. But, the first thing that greeted him when his eyesight began to return almost made him jump. He found himself staring into dazzling white teeth, all perfectly straight and framed with a bright shade of magenta lipstick. The smile was so warm and comforting, that Tavros found himself smiling stupidly along with it. How could he help it?
"Yay! Ms. Paint, he is awake now!"
With that voice, Tavros woke up completely, looking at the person who was standing by the cot, smiling down at him happily. It was Feferi Peixes, the most popular girl in school. Her bubbily personality and kind acts were well known. She was a small girl, rather thin and strangely shaped, but pretty none the less. Her long, curly dark brown hair was always shiny and smelled like raspberries. It was one of her trademark qualities, other than her light pink frames that surrounded her glasses. They almost looked like goggles. "Feferi?" Tavros muttered, trying to sit up. Feferi nodded and kindly helped Tavros sit up, helping him to lean back against the pillow that once held his bandaged head. "How did I- Who- I mean…-"
"I needed to talk with Ms. Chambers, you know, the English teacher? Anyways, I saw you passed out against the lockers. So I brought you here. Your dad is on the way to pick you up, and your stuff is with Ms. Paint."
Tavros was dumbstruck. He knew he really didn't weigh that much, but had Feferi really been able to carry him halfway across the school? He didn't see anyone else in the room. No, she couldn't have meant carry. There was no way a tiny girl like her would have been able to carry him to the nurse's office.
"Uhh, yeah. Thanks Feferi- for bringing me to the nurse I mean. That was really cool of you."
"No problem, always happy to help. Be careful okay?"
"Yeah, thanks again."
"Yeah, don't mention it. SEA you later!" With a giggle and a wave, Feferi collected her books and bounced out of the room, saying a quick goodbye to Ms. Paint on her way out.
Tavros was amazed. He knew about her kindness, but he had no idea that she was concerned enough to probably even carry a Mexican boy, who she normally didn't hang out with to the nurse's office. Then again, Feferi Peixes was perfect. She was pretty, rich, and popular. She was so confident and friendly, not even Virksa Serket would bully her. She had even managed to get the elusive Sollux Captor to fall for her. The rumor was that they had been going steady for three months now. The perfection of Feferi Peixes had always been a sort of mystery to Tavros but now, he was more intrigued than ever.