A/N Hey everyone! This is my 2nd ff (sorta). I'll be focusing on this one a little bit more than the other but don't hate me. This is a story I've always wanted to tell, and I hope you like it. Enjoy! Please R&R!
Chapter One: Oh Woe is me!
For the average person, waking up flat on your back staring at a grey sky, the cold wind chilling you to your bones, with no memory of how you got there would be completely out of the ordinary.
But twelve year old Meredith Rodney McKay was anything but average, as he would be quick to tell you, and for him this was somewhat ordinary.
Rodney gingerly sat up, using one hand to massage his stiff back while the other swiped his face. He instinctively pulled it back when it felt a foreign substance. He glanced at the contaminated fingers to find dark red blood. He lightly touched the area just below his nose to find more of it there.
"Oh that is just perfect." The boy genius whined.
Using the edge of his sweater, he wiped (hopefully) the rest of his blood off his face and attempted to stand. The world shifted sideways as a sense of vertigo brought him back down to the ice-cold cement. What the heck happened? He pondered. He studied his surroundings to try and get a clue where he was.
Rodney was sitting behind a large dumpster in what he concluded was an ally from the tall brick walls and the metal door bearing a logo of the local pizza restaurant. Placing one hand for support, he gently eased himself up and leaned against it. He closed his eyes and tried to remember how he got here.
He images of Langsworth, the 8th grade bully/ super-jock that often chose McKay as his prime practice dummy, and his minions came up. Rodney remembered an argument over… a girl? The figure of a certain attractive blond with cropped hair was brought to the surface of Rodney's mind. Ah yes, the sexy Linda Walters. That is, if fourteen year olds can be sexy. He recalled the argument between the notorious 'silverback' and himself.
Langsworth had been getting a little too forward with Linda, forcing Rodney (in his opinion) and his mouth of epic-proportions to interfere. A few well place jabs at his ego, his intelligence, how remarkably similar his facial features were to a primate, his intelligence, and a few multi-syllable words that the dim-wit couldn't comprehend later and… Langworth's short attention span switched from Linda to Rodney so fast it made his head spin. Literally. The resulting punch in the face most likely rendered McKay unconscious, as he had always been susceptible to fainting… er, passing out. The knuckle head probably panicked and dragged the unaware boy-genius to this alley.
"Way, to go Rodney. Get yourself in trouble with the Head Idiot, yet again. For a genius, you aren't that smart with people." Rodney complained. He sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. He tenderly pushed himself off the wall and stood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his faded black backpack leaning on the wall opposite him.
He slowly hobbled over, wincing as he forced his stiff legs to move. Rodney reached down and grabbed the handhold at the top of his backpack. He braced his muscles for the weight he expected, as his pack was brimming with thick textbooks for all his advance classes, and yanked sharply up. The bottom of the bag split open, sending a shower of school supplies and rather heavy books crashing down towards his feet. One of the heavy books with unnecessarily sharp edges landed square on his foot, making Rodney jump back and wince in pain. The sudden movement made him lose his balance, something he was prone to doing, and he fell right on his sore tailbone.
A stream of expletives spouted from his mouth. Murmuring about gravity and incompetent sweat-shop workers, he investigated the culprit responsible for his new woe. Rodney saw that the bottom was very neatly slit with a knife, and most likely placed there for him to do exactly what he did. He surveyed the now loose papers blowing about in the cold autumn breeze and the several thick books scattered on the ground, and realized that there was almost no way that he could carry this with any ease. He also knew that he wouldn't be getting a replacement pack for weeks to come.
"Could this day get any worse?" He groaned.
A deafening thunderclap shook the air around him and the next instant it started to pour freezing rain, ruining the sheets of paper.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Rodney turned his eyes toward the dark storm clouds. "Why is it always me?"
He was already shivering from the icy downpour that was drenching his clothes. The unfortunate boy began to pick up the soaking papers and shove them inside the textbooks. Rodney gathered the books in his shaking arms and grabbed the ruined backpack. He balanced his school books the best he could and he strode out of the alleyway, headed homeward bound.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
He arrived only a few minutes later but in the horrendous weather, it felt like hours. Without any free hands, Rodney none-to-gently kicked the door.
"Open up! It's Rodney!" He could barely get the words out his jaw was shivering so much.
His little sister Jeanie, with her ever-present teddy bear dangling from one hand, opened the door and let him in. The warmth seeped pleasantly into Rodney as he stepped inside and he stood there for a moment, closing his eyes and holding back a contented sigh. At last, relief. I'll just change into some nice warm, dry clothes, grab the largest cup of coffee I can find, sit down with one of the quantum physic books I got from the library and- a piercing voice interrupted his reverie.
"Where have you been?"
The slow drawl of his mother's voice startled him so much that the precarious stack of books in his arms toppled over at last. The soggy hardbacks fell to the hardwood floor with a clatter, making Rodney grimace as each sound reverberated through the room. He cautiously opened one eye to see the foreboding stance of his mom, her arms crossed over her chest and lips pursed in anger as she took in his wet form dripping all over the expensive wood. Above them thunder rumbled.
"I…ah… well… you see, um…" For one of the few times in his life, Rodney was rendered speechless. He knew his mother would only yell at him if he tried to lie (like I said before, he's bad with people. She could always see right through the lies) and she would yell for getting beat up, too, in a sick twist of fate. Like it was his fault he rubbed the ape-boy the wrong way! Then again, it actually was. If he had just kept his mouth shut, for once…
"Well, out with it! You've been gone for hours and we had to eat without you. If you tell me the truth, I might give you leftovers."
The thought of food made his stomach growl loudly. Langsworth had stolen his lunch, again, and with no one that he was close enough with to ask for handouts, he hadn't eaten. Rodney sighed, defeated. He softly recounted the tale with his head bowed. There was a pause after he was finished, and he looked hopefully up at his mom, praying that for once she wouldn't barrage him like she always did. But as soon as he made eye contact with the woman before him, the dam burst open.
Mrs. McKay screamed at the top of her lungs in that remarkably shrill voice of hers, yelling at him for being such a bother, for how much he cost them being so smart, having to pay for all his books and special classes, why he couldn't just keep his head down and be a good boy, blah, blah, blah.
While his mother continued her onslaught, Rodney gathered the fallen books in a haphazard pile and picked them up. Over the years, he had learned to tune out his mother's temper-tantrums… mostly.
"- lived in the real world to begin with! All you care about is your stupid math instead of trying to make friends like normal people. A social life, the one concept you can't seem to get! You've never had one friend your entire life, and never will! You'll grow up to be some strange, lonely man, consumed by your precious, pointless physics." She mocked. "When you die no one will notice or care. You know why? Cause you and your 'quantum mechanics' and 'vector calculus' aren't important. Completely useless. I honestly don't know why I bother with the likes of you." Mrs. McKay drawled.
His mother prediction injured him. Rodney staggered internally at the deep wound, that was in fact, one of his deepest fears. His stomach curled into a tight knot as his muscles tightened. Fighting back rising tears, he got to his feet and looked his mom square in the eyes. He rolled his shoulders back and stood straight, lifting his chin defiantly.
"I'll show you. One day, I promise I'll show you. I'll do something with science that's so great, so...so revolutionary that everyone who's anyone will know the name Rodney McKay! And it'll be in physics, too. Because…because if you had even an inkling of intellect, then you would realize that it's far from pointless or stupid. I'm sorry that I can comprehend things on a level that you can't begin to fathom, but I won't ever regret being smarter then those knuckle-dragging gorillas that you call 'normal' and will never need their company!" Rodney spoke softly at first, but grew louder as he got bolder. Oh, sure, he knew that he was screwed by flat-out insulting his mom but he figured, why not go out with a bang?
For a few moments, an anxious silence fell over the room like a cloud. Mrs. McKay stood in front of her son with hands curled tightly into fists, quivering with rage.
Then, as quick as lightning, his mother crossed the small distance between them and slapped him clear across the face. The house echoed with a loud smack! Rodney cried out in pain at the strike, which was so strong it knocked him sideways. The books flew out of his hands as he landed and he clutched the injured side of his face. He sat there on the floor, protecting his face while tears ran unabated from his eyes.
Mother shouted at her son over his quiet sobs. "How dare you speak to you mother like that, you filthy piece of slime!? Get out of my sight, NOW!!" Rodney abandoned his school books and darted past his fuming mother up the stairs to his room. He slammed the doom shut and collapsed on his bed, burying his stinging face in his arms.
Rodney continued to quietly weep over the noisy voices of his parents arguing below. His dad probably upset with what his wife just did, and his mom, well, was doing what she always did: complained. He heard the faint sound of something breaking in the rooms below him and the quarrel escalated. Throughout the screaming and the unmistakable sound of glass shattering, Rodney continued to cry over not only the physical pain, but the mental agony he was in. With bloodshot eyes and tear stained cheeks, the genius vowed once again to prove to everyone that he was the smartest man in the world and that one day, just maybe, he would make a friend.
The future Dr. Rodney McKay continued to cry as his parent's fight continued, till he gave in to exhaustion and thought no more.
TBC
A/N Yay! Chapter 1, done. crosses off checklist I'll post ch. 2 in a day or so. While you're waiting, why don't you take a moment and review? Remember, for authors reviews are like potato chips, you can't read just one!
