"Huh? Is that all you can do?" The boy in front of him sneered, eyes gleaming viciously as he stared down at the Italian. He had a strangely flattened nose, small eyes and thick, bushy eyebrows. He was wearing the school basketball team's red-and-yellow jersey with a dark brown leather jacket thrown over his shoulders.
"Sneak around with that bitchy look on your face like the little punk you are?" The boy took another step towards Lovino, a malicious grin on his ugly face. Lovino could hear the bully's friend snort from where he stood a couple yards to his left, hands stuffed in his sweatpants pockets and a sports bag slung over one of his broad shoulders.
Lovino's grip on his backpack strap tightened, and he lifted his chin to face the bastard standing in front of him, close enough to poke him in the chest by the mere extension of his arm. Unlike most of the students, who had long ago learned not to bother him, these particular jerks just couldn't seem to leave him alone.
"At least my face doesn't look like someone just stepped on it with a shoe dipped in shit." He continued to return the glare he was being given, almost proud of the reaction his words evoked in the bully: His vicious grin was now gone, the muscles in his jaw were strained as his eyes narrowed, still focused on the Italian before him.
"You little shit…" He hissed, leaning even closer towards the shorter boy, his intention obviously to intimidate him.
His friend merely chuckled, a sly smirk on his tan face, his dark hair sleeked back with a few wavy strands hanging over his eyes. "Chill, dude. No wonder no one wants to hang out with this kid." His smirk grew wider as he removed one of his hands from his pocket to push some of the stray strands of hair off his forehead.
Lovino could feel his ears and face grow unpleasantly hot as the disgusting grin reappeared on the bastard's face in front of him.
"Looks like somebody's mommy failed to teach manners to her cute little son, huh?" It was the tanner, taller one of the two again, the smirk still intact on his face.
His friend let out another snicker in front of the Italian, opening his mouth to say something that nobody got the chance to hear. It was at this point that the anger which had been steadily building up in Lovino's stomach finally culminated, and before he even knew it himself, his hand had shot out to grab the front of the boy's jersey.
"Keep your filthy mouth shut you little…" Lovino raised up his chin and spat the words at the taller boy's face, blood rushing in his ears as he kept his grip hard on the slick fabric.
Before Lovino could say anything more, the boy he was still holding by the jersey recovered from his initial surprise and grabbed his wrist, intending to get the Italian off of him. He was much stronger than Lovino, who could feel his wrist being wrung painfully in his grip. However, Lovino's rage was far from subsiding, and as his grip on the boy's jersey finally came detached, he simply clenched his fist and swung it into his face, hitting him right in his already flat nose.
The Italian stared at the boy sprawled on the floor in front of him, blood trickling from under the hand he was holding to his nose. He was still breathing heavily, both fists clenched tight, the right one painfully throbbing from the hard blow he had just delivered. His eyes shifted from the boy on the floor to the one still standing, both hands now out of his pockets, a mixture of shock and anger on his tan face. He was clearly trying to decide whether to help his friend or attack Lovino.
What had just got into him? That bastard had deserved it, but still, this was bad... He knew he couldn't afford an another incident like this, not now when he had already received several warnings...
He turned around, planning to run off, only to find himself face to face with his PE teacher, Mr. Morris. His stomach dropped. Mr. Morris was the last person he would have wanted to see at the moment, but there he was, looming a good seven inches above him with his bulky frame, unmistakably fuming at him.
"Bailey, escort Wells to the nurse's office. Vargas, you're coming with me." His voice was as hard as steel, his eyes boring straight into Lovino's as he motioned him to follow. He turned back to the direction he had come from, leading the young Italian down the corridor towards the headmaster's office, a place he had already become way too familiar with.
Lovino was soon sat down in a wooden chair, facing the headmaster who was now examining him carefully from behind his desk. He was approximately in his late fifties, with a bald spot on the top of his head and a penetrating look in his eyes. Most of his desk was hidden under numerous orderly piles of paper that he had been carefully going through before Lovino and Mr. Morris had stepped through the door.
Mr. Morris, who had slightly calmed down after arriving in the office, had started explaining the situation he had witnessed in the corridor to the headmaster, while Lovino stared down at his lap where he was clutching together his sweaty hands. He kept biting his teeth together as the anger which had momentarily been drowned out by dread started to make its return.
He had only hit that jerk because he and his idiot buddy had stepped over the line. How did those bastards dare bring up his mother, of all the things they could possibly say? They didn't know anything about his family. They didn't know anything about his life! And now he was in a total mess, just because those damn bastards couldn't leave him alone. He knew damn well that Mr. Morris wouldn't listen to a thing he had to say, not when both Bailey and Wells were starting players in the school's basketball club, while he was just that troublesome, bad-tempered kid with no friends.
"...I saw him swing a punch at Wells and hit him right in the nose. I had to send him to the nurse's office with the nosebleed he got. Neither of them had tried to attack Vargas-"
"They were asking for it!" Lovino asserted, unable to hold back his angry response for any longer, his voice coming out harsher than he'd meant. "Those bastards didn't know when to shut up-"
"Mr. Vargas!" The headmaster raised his voice, fixing his grey eyes at the Italian in a warning look. "You should not purposefully interrupt a teacher, nor use that kind of language in my office."
"As you can see, sir, Mr. Vargas here clearly cannot control himself. And as you know, this is hardly the first time he's gotten himself into a situation like this."
"Thank you, Mr. Morris. I'm afraid I will have to consider expelling you, Mr. Vargas. Any violent behavior is strictly against the school rules, as you well know, and we cannot simply continue to overlook your behavior." The headmaster spoke in a calm but strict tone, keeping his eyes at the red faced boy in front of him.
After that, everything seemed to happen way too fast. All Lovino could do was sit there in the uncomfortable wooden chair as the headmaster called his grandpa, briefly explaining the situation and asking him to fetch his grandson and take him home. It took a while for everything to sink in to Lovino's consciousness. This time, he wouldn't be let off with a warning. He was going to get expelled. Grandpa Roma was on his way to pick him up. The thought of having to deal with his grandpa outright horrified him: This was so far the biggest mess he'd got himself into, and he knew he would by no means be let off easy. He knew that all too well, yet there was nothing he would be able to do about it anymore.
He kept sitting quietly in his chair, a heavy weight resting at the bottom of his stomach. The headmaster soon went back to his paperwork and Mr. Morris finally left the office. Most of his anger had already deflated, and all that remained was dread and embarrassment. He had once again done something that would make his grandpa disappointed - more so than probably ever before. Something that strengthened the notion that he was the disagreeable one, the troublesome one.
It took no more than thirty minutes for Grandpa Roma to arrive at the office. Thirty minutes of anxious silence, followed by the sensation of every muscle in Lovino's body tensing as his grandpa finally stepped into the small office, coat hanging on one shoulder like he had been in too much of a hurry to even properly pull on his outwear, regardless of the cool weather. He cast a single, dangerously expressionless look on Lovino, then turned his attention to the headmaster, briefly apologising for the trouble, his tone polite but strained with detained tension. It didn't take long before they left the office, Lovino silently following in his grandpa's trail as they walked to the parking lot and got in the car.
The car ride home went by in total silence: Grandpa Roma didn't speak a word to Lovino, and Lovino didn't really have anything to say to him, either. All he could do was sit quietly at the back of the car, occasionally gazing out of the window, even though there was nothing interesting to see outside. The weather was cold and rainy and all of the buildings they drove past looked the same. As the surging anger had completely left his body by now, Lovino's hands were starting to feel cold and stiff in his lap. The only times his grandpa took his eyes off the road were when he had to glance at the rear view mirror, and even then he completely ignored his grandson.
Even in his physically still state, Lovino's mind was racing with thoughts. How did he always manage do get himself into trouble? He should've known better. He should've considered the fact that whatever mistake he made, nobody would hesitate to put the all the blame on him. Nobody would try to look at the matter from his point of view, nobody would try to give him even a little understanding. Not with the way he was. If he were someone like his brother... Heck, if he were even a little more likable, somebody might've put a little more effort into understanding him. But what could he do? He wasn't like that. He wasn't like everybody's beloved Feliciano, and he knew that all too damn well.
Lovino felt like he should've got mad at his grandpa for deliberately acting like he was nothing but thin air as they drove past more and more rain-soaked grey buildings, but somehow he just felt too downbeat for the anger to properly resurface in him. If it had been anyone but his grandpa in the driver's seat, he probably wouldn't have remained silent. In the current state of affairs, however, he was stuck sitting at the back of the car with a dull throb in his right fist, the heavy silence broken only by the low hum of the car engine and the sound of rain steadily hitting the car roof.
The silence didn't break until Lovino followed his grandpa into their small apartment and closed the door behind himself, the weight in his stomach heavier than ever. Grandpa Roma sat him down at the kitchen table, pulling himself a chair and sitting down to finally face his grandson. There was a demanding, close to furious look in his eyes, even though the rest of his face still remained blank.
Lovino met his eyes without wavering, even though his face muscles felt painfully taut. He felt his nails dig into his palms as he refused to break the eye contact. He wouldn't allow himself to act like a scared child in front of his grandpa, however intimidating he was.
"Explain." The single, sharp word finally broke what had probably been Lovino's life's most agonizing silence so far.
Lovino blinked, his eyes flickering back to his hands, which he had grown tired of staring at during the past hour. "I thought the headmaster already explained you", he muttered, his voice coming out flat yet strained, his throat suddenly feeling sore.
"Indeed. So you have nothing to add to that?"
Lovino could hear the tension in his grandpa's voice as he was clearly struggling to keep it composed. He could feel the glare that was being fixed at him, but continued to keep his own eyes down, giving up the battle of wills. The tips of his ears were growing incredibly hot, and he was sure his face was quickly gaining color as well.
"Nothing to justify your actions with?" The strain in Grandpa Roma's voice was increasing, each word trembling with detained anger.
Lovino felt his nails dig deeper into his palms as he clenched his fists tighter, watching as his knuckles started to turn white. His right fist was still throbbing from when it had collided with that damn bastard's nose.
"Do you have any idea of what you have just done?" Now Grandpa Roma was almost shouting, quickly losing the rest of his composure. "Do you even realize that you have managed to get yourself fucking expelled!" The last two words came out as an exasperated cry as he slammed his fist into the table, sending a jolt through the solid piece of furniture.
Lovino drew in a sharp breath, a wave of anger surging through his body once again. "I KNOW!" He jumped out of his chair, his voice coming out as a chocked cry, his arms trembling as he clutched the edge of the wooden table. "I know, right? I always cause everyone trouble, that's all I fucking do!" He glared down at his grandpa, all sense of dread and hesitation suddenly gone. The old man looked slightly taken aback by his sudden outburst, brows creased in a faint frown as he faced his grandson.
"I'm not like Feli." This time Lovino's voice trembled for a completely different reason. "I know, okay?" He breathed out the last three words, not even bothering to care about the fact that they came out a little shaky. His heartbeat started to return to normal as he stood there for a few more seconds, letting his arms hang by his sides. Then he turned around and marched off into the solitude of the room he shared with his brother, who was yet to come home from school.
He climbed the ladder to the top bunk of the bunk bed that occupied most of the space in the cramped room, slumping down onto his mattress and bringing his folded arms over his face as he lay on his back. He could feel the unshed tears finally start to sting in his eyes, and he let them trickle down his face without sparing any effort to hold them back. He eventually fell asleep from the day's exhaustion, his mind too tired to worry about the mess he had got himself into.
Please leave a comment and tell me what you thought of this chapter/prologue! I'll post the first actual chapter in a week or two, as I haven't finished writing this story and want to avoid unnecessarily long gaps between updates.