BACKGROUND:

This story assumes that the events of the beginning of my other story "Their Story" took place. Those events, summed up, are that Skwisgaar met Toki while Toki was still living with his parents, and was 6 years old, while Skwisgaar was 14 years old. A year or so later, Toki runs away from home and meets up with Skwisgaar. Skwisgaar runs away from home as well, and Toki and Skwisgaar make their way to England, and end up living in a small, not too great apartment together. And they were living with 2 other guys in that story, but they were OCs and I am not including them in this story.

Okay... their school is like this: It has 7th-12th grade in one school, just so I could make it where they'd be in the same school. I don't know if any schools do that... but I wanted to make a story where they were in school together... Toki is in 7th grade, and Skwisgaar is in 12th grade.

Toki is 12 years old, and Skwisgaar is 18. (I know that in my other story they were 8 years apart in age, but I wanted to make it a little bit less of a difference, so I changed it to 6 years apart.)

Alright... enough with the ranting... Here you goes, de stories:

xxxxxx

Toki had never gone to a public school before he met Skwisgaar. While he lived at home with his parents, he was taught only the things which they taught him themselves: to stay quiet, do your work, and stay out of the way. Of course they also taught him religious things, but Toki could hardly even pay attention to such uninteresting things, and didn't end up with very much knowledge about them in the end, which Toki thought might account for some of the hatred his parents seemed to have for him.

When he was seven years old, Toki had run away from home with Skwisgaar and started school, already in second grade, since it was not a school that really cared about the success of the students, a school which Skwisgaar could afford, and the school officials didn't care that Toki hadn't attended school before; they didn't argue with Skwisgaar.

Toki and Skwisgaar barely managed to pass the majority of their classes, and now it was the beginning of a new school year. Skwisgaar had been attending the same school for the entire time that he had been living with Toki, but for Toki, it was a new school, and he was quite nervous...

"Tokis!" Skwisgaar yelled in their small apartment, "is yous readies to goes? You nots ready in... twenties... thirties more seconds, I's leavings withouts yous."

"Yous forgots to wakes me up, Skwisgaar!" Toki yelled back, "I just wakes up halves a minutes agos."

"Well..." Skwisgaar started, but didn't know what to say to make this Toki's fault, "hurries up den."

A minute or so later, Toki walked quickly into the main room, wearing a wrinkled t-shirt, long pants, and boots, with his hair, which reached just below his shoulders, un-brushed.

Skwisgaar sighed, "comes on den. We has to walks to gets deres. I can'ts never finds wheres for to gets a bus pass, and dem taxis creepies me outs. Is not veries fars a walks anyways; comes on."

Toki followed Skwisgaar outside and down the sidewalk, and before long, they made it to the school.

"I guess dis were's we goes separates ways," Toki said nervously.

"Ja," Skwisgaar agreed, looking at Toki, who looked absolutely terrified, "I sees you laters," he muttered as he walked away, leaving Toki standing in the middle of the crowded hallway.

Toki hadn't really ever made friends with the children in his classes in the past. He found that he preferred talking to some of the teachers as an alternative... Primarily the incredibly over-enthusiastic ones. He saw some children from his previous school within the crowd, but they weren't exactly nice to him, so instead of talking to them, Toki simply went to the room where he was to have his first class. He sat down in the desk in the back corner of the room and slumped down in the chair as he took out his notebook and started drawing various doodles.

For a few minutes, Toki was the only person in the room, as class wasn't to start for about ten minutes, and most children liked to wait until the last minute to go to their classes. After Toki had been sitting in the corner alone for a few minutes, the professor walked into the room and greeted him.

"Good morning," the professor called over to Toki, who looked up at him, "I'm Mr. Tyler, and who might you be?"

"Toki," Toki answered.

The professor looked at Toki for a moment, "You know, you're allowed to go out in the hallway and visit with your friends before class starts, if you'd like."

Toki shook his head, "no thanks."

The professor nodded and walked over to sit down in the desk next to Toki. Toki looked up at him without speaking, and then looked back down to his notebook and added a few more finishing touches to one of his doodles.

"What are you drawing there?" Mr. Tyler asked.

Toki held the notebook up so that his professor could see it, "is just a couples a things, likes a mans withsouts no hands, and over heres is just a guys withs teeths," Toki responded, pointing at the various pictures.

Mr. Tyler nodded, "well... that's interesting."

Toki looked over the man's shoulder as he saw someone else coming into the room. It was a boy from his old school. This boy had failed a few grades, and was older than most children in his grade. He was 14 years old, and much bigger than Toki. Toki sunk lower in his chair as he saw the other boy, hoping that he wouldn't sit anywhere near him, as he didn't exactly get along with him ever before.

Mr. Tyler noticed that Toki's attention was on something behind him, so he turned around to see who had come into the room, "Good morning," he greeted the other boy who all but scowled at him, "I'm Mr. Tyler, and I'm going to be your grammar instructor this semester. Tell me your name, and I'll check to make sure you're both on my list."

At the indication of another student already being in the room, the older boy looked over at the corner at Toki and grinned, "Melvin Becker," he announced his name to the professor. He stood up and moved to the desk right beside Toki, which Mr. Tyler had recently stood from as he went to the front of the room to check his class list.

Toki quickly closed his notebook and sat up as tall as he could, though he was younger and smaller than the other boy, and even smaller than most of the children in his grade. Nevertheless, he tried to make himself look taller, though it was quite ineffective.

"Toki Wartooth," Melvin said, "looks like we're in the same class again," he grinned.

"Melvins," Toki countered, glaring at the older boy, "looks likes it."

Melvin laughed, "I see you still haven't learned how to talk right."

Toki frowned, "why don'ts you just leaves me alones? I dones talkings to yous," Toki folded his arms across his chest and put his elbows on his desk, while turning to face away from Melvin.

However, Melvin was not finished with the conversation. He grabbed Toki's shoulder and forcefully turned him back around to face him, "don't tell me what to do," he growled.

Toki pulled away from Melvin, who grabbed him again, this time by his wrist.

"Lets goes of me!" Toki urged, a bit more loudly than he had meant to.

"Boys," Mr. Tyler warned, "hands to yourselves."

Melvin let go of Toki's wrist, and shoved him. He then said very softly, "You're gonna regret that."

Toki picked up his notebook and pen and moved to a different desk at the front of the room. He figured that Melvin would probably not want to sit in the front of the room, and would therefore not follow him. He was pleased to find that he was correct in this assumption.

After a few minutes, the class started. It was mostly just an overview of classroom rules, and was shorter than a normal class, as were all of the first classes of the semester. Before long, the class was over, and the students filed out of the room, into the hallways.

As Toki made his way to the room where he would have his next class, he gasped as he felt someone push him hard, against a locker. His shoulder hit the locker, and his vision immediately blurred with the tears which were welling up in his eyes. He held the tears back and turned around to see Melvin.

Melvin was laughing, "don't tattle on me next time, kid," he threatened.

"I didn'ts tattles on yous," Toki protested, without thinking.

"Are you looking for an argument then?" Melvin asked, coming up closer to Toki and looking down at him.

Toki shook his head, "No... I gots to goes," he said, quickly walking away from Melvin and darting into his next class room.

His next class was similar to the first, except, fortunately, Melvin was not in this class with him. The class was short, and then the students all filled the hallways once more.

Again, Toki was walking down the hallway, looking for his next class. He then realized that he had forgotten his notebook in the previous room. He had to go back and get it, as it was the only notebook he had, and he didn't want anyone to steal it.

He turned around, bumping into someone as he did so, "sorries," Toki apologized, thinking that it was an older student in one of the higher grades. Unfortunately, it was not a student in a higher grade.

"I was looking for you," Melvin informed him, grabbing him and pulling him into the boys restroom. Unfortunately for Toki, the room was empty besides himself and Melvin, or at least it seemed that way. Melvin locked the door and shoved Toki hard enough to make him fall onto his knees.

Toki frowned, and backed away, against the wall, "whats do you wants?"

"I don't know if you already knew this, but I've got an older brother, who's in grade 12 this year. And we all get to be in the same school this year," he grinned evily.

An even taller and older boy walked out of one of the stalls. He was old enough to the point that he looked more like a man than a boy to Toki, though he was probably just a bit older than Skwisgaar.

Melvin continued, "I thought I'd ease up on you this year, you know, not tease you or push you around as much. How does that sound?"

Toki, still on the floor, but leaning against the wall, looked skeptically up at Melvin. He could feel himself shaking. He had been in a locked bathroom with Melvin once before, and he had ended up with a some very nasty bruises. Melvin liked to confront Toki in locked rooms where no one could see them, and would then proceed to push him, kick him, and or hit him, sickeningly enjoying the fact that Toki would hardly ever even attempt to fight back or defend himself. The younger boy would always simply close his eyes, become tense, and then try his hardest to suppress any winces or gasps of pain.

Melvin's brother walked up to Toki and knelt down next to him. For a moment, Toki almost thought that the older boy was planning to show him kindness, but his hopes were soon dashed when the older brother raised his hand and struck Toki.

Toki's body automatically jerked out of surprise and pain. He crawled along the floor to the corner of the room, drawing up his knees and squeezing his eyes shut as he cowered under the last sink in the row of individual sinks along the wall.

The older of the brothers grabbed Toki roughly by the arm, pulling him out from under the sink. Toki , trembling still and with his eyes now open and frightened, tried to pull his arm out of the strong grasp, but was unable to do so. He stopped struggling and closed his eyes again. Without meaning to, Toki became tense as he prepared for whatever the older boys had planned.

Instead of hitting him, as Toki had expected he would, the oldest boy shook Toki, "open your eyes," he demanded, to which Toki complied, "what's wrong with you? You give up too easily. You're not even trying to get away anymore."

Toki stood, silently, with wide eyes looking up at the older brother. He could feel himself still trembling, and wished that he could will himself to stop, but he couldn't. With his voice so small that it was barely audible, Toki spoke, "cans you wills lets me goes now?"

The boy who held him laughed, "why don't your parents make you cut your hair?" he teased.

"I don'ts lives with my parents," Toki told him.

"Yeah," Melvin chimed in, "and so what if he's got girl hair, right? He's short too, just like a little girl! And wimpy."

Toki frowned, and tried once more to escape from the grasp of the older brother's hand wrapped around his upper arm, most surely creating a bruise. He couldn't escape. Much unlike his usual lack of defense, Toki decided to tease Melvin back, "I's not shorts," he said, looking up at Melvin, "you's just talls 'cause you so stupids you stays in de sames grades overs and overs, and you's olders dens everyones else."

Melvin's eyes looked very angry. Toki didn't usually argue with him, and he preferred Toki to stay quiet. He lunged forward at Toki, who couldn't move if he wanted to. Melvin grabbed Toki away from his brother, and tackled the younger boy to the floor, pinning him down.

Again, Toki became tense and closed his eyes, as he knew there was no point in struggling. Melvin held both of Toki's arms down with one hand, and punched Toki in the stomach with his other fist, while Toki tried to keep himself from crying out in pain.

"Come on, Melvin," Toki heard the other brother say, "we're already late. There's always tomorrow for this kind of stuff."

"Yeah," Melvin agreed, and stood up, kicking Toki in the ribs before he and his brother exited.

Toki, now alone in the restroom, stayed right where he was on the floor. When he tried to move, it hurt too much, so he simply stayed laying on the floor. However, he figured that someone might come into the restroom before long, and he didn't want to be laying in the middle of the floor when they did, so he painfully pulled himself to his feet.

Though he was in much pain, Toki felt that the damage was probably not as much as it seemed. He had only been grabbed by the arms, which would only leave bruises; the punch to his abdomen and the slap he received on his cheek would probably also only leave bruises. The last kick, however, may have broken one or more of his ribs. Melvin didn't usually go this far, and now Toki regretted having provoked him.

Toki looked in the mirror, and then closed his eyes. It seemed as though everywhere he ever went, there would be someone who would take pleasure in causing him pain. His lower lip trembled as he fought back more tears.

Toki stood, leaning against the sink, with his forehead resting against the mirror. He breathed in a few times, and noticing that it hurt to breathe, he decided he should probably see the nurse, but he didn't want to tattle on Melvin and his brother, for fear that they would hurt him even worse when they learned that he had told. Instead, he would tell the nurse that he fell down the stairs.

When Toki was fairly certain that everyone was out of the hallways and into their various classes, he emerged from the restroom, painfully forcing himself to move in the direction of where he thought the nurse's office might be. It was a new school, however, and he didn't know where he was going. After a few minutes, he still hadn't found the nurse's office, and didn't suspect that he ever would.

Feeling as though he might cry and/or pass out from the excruciating pain in his ribs, Toki leaned against some lockers and slumped down into a sitting position, closing his eyes, and focusing all of his energy on keeping the tears from falling.

xxxxxx

I feel so mean... To do this to little Toki. :( Sorry about that, but I wanted to write something really depressing, which some of you might be able to relate to, in some sort of way, and might be moved by... I find myself being able to relate to Toki very often, which is why I always feel so sad for him. :( I've been in a very depressed mood, so I decided to write this story about Toki going to school and the mean kids (and man) who bully him... Melvin's brother, though I didn't write exactly how old he is, is 18 or 19 years old, so he is technically a man... and beating up poor little 12 year old Toki... What a jerk...

Anyway, I'll write more later, so don't worry... I hope someone is reading this... I don't know if it's too depressing... I've read far more depressing things on this site though... so surely it will be okay...

Please review, and I'll try to update semi-soon, if I don't have too many assignments and stuff. :)