A Better Kind of Attention
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Summary: A oneshot about the complexity of Kevin, and what he really enjoys about tormenting Abby.
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Stuck in the midst of social sciences, Abby's eyes grew heavy as Mr. Lipschtick droned on and on about the history of Puerto Rico.
Discreetly, she glanced over at Kevin who was scribbling sketches on his notes and periodically showing them to Harold, whose eyes grew larger in awe with each new doodle. "Wow man." She heard the caramel boy whisper, "we could get killed using that thing!"
She peeked. It was an illustration of a skateboard ramp, except way too tall and covered with spikes. Kevin grinned at Harold slyly. "Don't be a chicken man."
"Kevin." She snapped, breaking them out of conversation. He looked at her with irritancy, but she just couldn't help herself. Meddling that is.
"Excuse me Ms. Abby, but don't you have jocks to annoy?"
"Kevin! You're going to get hurt!"
He couldn't help but uncurl a smile at her flustered face. "Wow Abby, you really care huh?"
Her brow furrowed in annoyance, "You're such a moron." She muttered
He stiffened, "Hey Abby, go pluck your mustache, its really bothering me."
Peter Kuslo sniggered from the seat before his, and the poor girl just radiated beetroot red.
"You know what?" she hissed, "I hope you fall of the ramp and severely injure yourself."
She turned away snottily and Kevin was left staring at her curved back, a mixture of remorse and enjoyment churning within him. Should he taunt Abby further? If Kevin was being completely honest with himself, and he usually wasn't, taunting that girl was one of the things that he enjoyed in his pitiful life.
He opened his mouth to say something, and Harold desperately pleaded with his eyes for him to say nothing.
"Hey Abby…" Harold smacked his forehead, "…so when are you gonna get Antarctica removed from your face?"
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The bell had shrilled for lunch, and many students of O'Grady High dispersed chaotically throughout the cafeteria room. It bustled with the sound of chatter and the movement of bodies.
The four friends sat in their usual spot. Harold sipped on his juice box a little glumly. "Man…" he moaned. "My boss wants me to work more hours, but I have school. " He sighed, cheek in palm. "I can't quit school…"
"I can't eat this." Beth pushed the plate of bubbling meatloaf away from her face, wrinkling her nose in disgust.. "Why don't they have healthy alternatives for vegetarians? Tis so rude."
"Beth, why don't you bring your lunch from home?" Kevin noted.
"Because." Her eyes shifted to the table, uncomfortably, "my mom doesn't want to buy from the grocery stores lately."
Abby cocked a sympathetic head. "Is she still protesting against the way they bruise the vegetables when they stack them?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Hellooo." Harold waved his arms for attention. "Is anyone listening to me, I have a problem too!"
"We all have problems Harold." Kevin pointed out as he sucked on his juice box. "Why don't you think about that for a minute"
"Huh..." Harold grazed a thoughtful finger on his cheek. "Yea. I guess I am being kinda selfis-"
"Oh please, this is coming from Kevin, the most self absorbed person we've ever met"
Kevins brows fell. "Oh ok, princess. Hi I'm Abby. I freak out when there's not enough nail polish to go on every finger."
"That's not true!"
"Actually, that's kinda true." Beth offered hesitantly, "I mean, remember when we you were almost gonna cry because your hair was kind of sticking up that one day."
Abby frowned at the betrayal of her best friend. "Ok thanks a lot guys. I guess I'm just shallow and insecure and dramatic. Why don't you just insult me more to my face?"
"Ok. You're also stupid and ugly." Kevin grinned.
"Hey, that's not true! Abby is totally cute!"
"Thanks Beth." Abby tossed a grateful look, but Kevin continued anyway. "Uh no, actually, she's ugly."
"No!"
"You know, she is kinda cute." Harold offered.
Kevin just rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just marry her?"
"At least he'd be a good husband, and not a big fat selfish truck-driving loser like you."
"Aw thanks Abby." Harold smiled.
"Whatever Abby. There are great things in store for me. I'm destined for success because I'm a genius." he stressed the last word by motioning to his head of blonde sweepy hair. "I have ideas in here that you'd never be able to get brain around, because, it's so... genius."
Her lids lowered. "Totally. Like how to sleep through class and barely graduate high school."
"Hey" he shrugged. "I don't need school. School is for geeks. Like you."
"Whatever."
He folded his arms equally as childishly and also turned away. "Whatever."
"God can you two stop fighting?" Beth groaned, massaging the temples on her forehead. "It's affecting my karma."
"Beth, isn't karma like... when you do something good, you get something good in return?"
She looked thoughtful. "Oh yea, huh? Well I guess its affecting YOUR guys' karma."
"I don't need karma. Like I said, I'm the man with the plan."
Abby didn't look amused. She tossed her long black hair over her shoulders, barely flickering her lids to him "You don't really need much do you Kevin?" she murmured snottily.
He grinned. "Except porn." And as expected, he got a rise out of the two girls. They each pulled repulsed faces, exasperated with him, and this made him satisfied.
Harold, on the other hand, was as distressed as ever. "Ok, seriously you guys." He laid his hands down flat. "What am I going to do? If I don't up my hours, Mr. Pizzeria is going to fire me."
"Why don't you just work more?"
"Weren't you listening? I CAN'T. I have to go to school."
"Drop out."
"Oh good plan Kevin." Abby frowned. "And why doesn't he just work for 8.50 an hour for the rest of his life?"
Beth actually looked concerned. "Don't drop out Harold. Why is Mr. Pizzeria making you choose between school and work?"
"Because he can't find enough employees." he sighed, drawing patterns in the table with his finger. "I love working at the pizzeria, but I don't have the time to work for two people. I have enough hours as it is!"
Beth cocked her head, her purple hair bouncing from the motion "Well, You know, Harold, since my mom is like, you know, not buying food and stuff and I need money, maybe I could work at the Pizzeria?"
His face brightened, "Really? You'd do that for me?"
"Well. And money."
"This is great! Now I can keep my job!" He beamed, pulling out his work schedule and laying it flat on the table. He chewed on his pen thoughtfully as he began to discuss with Beth what hours she could take.
Bored, Kevin's eyes shifted back over to the Puerto Rican girl whom had also started to ignore the conversation. From her open textbook, she was scribbling notes. He just wanted to reach out and smack her, prod her, get her to react again. "Hey Abby." he asked. "Uh…what are you doing?"
She sighed, and screwed up her face in annoyance "I'm taking notes Kevin, what does it look like?"
He looked at her textbook, Health Sciences. The chapter was titled : Your Body and You. "You're reading about puberty Abby." he raised an eyebrow. "We're in 11th grade, you should know about puberty."
"I DO know about puberty!"
Kevin smirked "Haven't you gone through puberty Abby?"
"Yes." she gritted her teeth. "Haven't you Harnesh? Or did you lose your one chest hair in a waxing accident?"
"Uh that's really clever" he grinned, "too bad you didn't lose your mustache in a waxing accident"
"KEVIN!" she screamed, and then all of a sudden, her body elevated out of the chair and she hovered in the air for a couple moments, looking around incredulously until she was plummeted back down, crashing into the bench. "Ow…" she whimpered.
"Oh my gosh! Abby! Are you alright?" Beth rushed to her side. "That must have been the weirdness."
"Yea, it looks like when you get mad, you levitate or something."
"Great…" Abby groaned. "Then maybe you should stay away from me" With the help of Beth, she painfully slid herself back into her seat.
Kevin raised his brows, realizing that was she had just said was completely true. He watched her thoughtfully as she, now flustered, tried to skim back to her paragraph.
"Hey Abby…" he began again slowly but she shot him a deathly glare. He clamped his mouth shut and looked away, bored again as the chatter of Beth and Harold died out of his ears .
His own thoughts began flooded his ears and quickly assimilated to himself, his future, his family. Things that made him uncomfortable, things he didn't like thinking about. Squeezing his eyes shut, he looked for distraction. He wondered how he could get Abby to stop reading that book and talk to him.
Without a conscious reflex, he found himself leaning in and peering at the page she was reading. "So… what are you learning about then?"
Immediately, she looked at him through narrowed and suspicious eyes. "And you care why?"
"Hey I'm really interested in," he squinted his eyes and read the lettering carefully, "ov-u-la-tion, Abby."
Giving him a dry look, "Oh yea? What do you know about ovulation?"
"Everything. I do it all the time."
She shot another annoyed expression but it was all in vain, for she couldn't suppress her laughter. He grinned at her, realizing he had just made her smile for once instead of scream in fury.
And to be honest, it was a better kind of attention.
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