DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Clique or any songs/bands/brands mentioned. I only own the plot and my characters.
Water ran from the faucet, a constant dripdripdrip that he doesn't bother to stop. He's already in the bathtub, soaking in boiling hot water that just might maybe make him feel less dirty, less worthless. But as usual, it isn't enough so he has to reach over and grab the sharp little blade and dig it into his wrists, arms, and legs, hoping the searing pain will numb every other worthless feeling in his body but somehow he knows it won't.
Mom and dad don't understand, Claire is too caught up in Cam, tiny Nathan isn't much better off than himself, and hell, he's Todd Lyons for fucks sake, one of the most popular kids in the tenth grade, why would he have any problems? No one can help him because no one understands. It's not necessarily that he wants to die, it's that the sadness pressing into his chest hurts so bad and he can't really figure out why it's there. Maybe it's because when it's only Todd in the house, Claire gone and no guests over, his parents fight like they don't know he's there. Or maybe because he feels guilty for rejecting girls at school, but he just hasn't found someone he clicks with. His friends call him pussy just because maybe he is a bit romantic and wants to wait for the right girl and the right time.
Knock Knock. Someone knocked on the door. "Todd hun, you almost done? It's getting late, you have school tomorrow don't forget." Judy called, her voice muffled. He could hear her walking away.
"Todd, goddammit are you almost done? I need to shower!" Claire rapped on the door, sounding annoyed.
Todd closed his eyes and imagined just slitting his wrists and getting it over with. But he didn't. Instead he dunked his arms and blade into the pink water, got out and waited until his cuts stopped bleeding to put his plaid pajama pants and long-sleeved black shirt on. He let all the water out of the tub, and then rinsed it out so there was no reddish pink residue left over from his blood, and then hid his blade wrapped in toilet paper in the back of the rarely used drawer. Once he left the bathroom, shaking water from his shaggy hair, Claire bumped past him, huffing and muttering about annoying asshole brothers as she slammed the door shut.
He solemnly walked to his room, and shut the door. He took his bracelets, there was on that said All Time Low, one that said Pierce the Veil, one that said Eminem, and one that said Falling in Reverse. He put them on quick to cover his cuts so no one would see. Then he rolled onto his side, clutching the worn brown bear he had since he was little and fell asleep, dreaming about everyone finding out that he truly is just a fuck up.
-Time Break-
Todd woke up to his alarm and shut it off, feeling like today would be a good day. He got up, put on faded loose skinny jeans with tears in the knees and a black Nirvana tee shirt, and put on a red and black hoodie zipping it up only halfway so it would hide his cuts. After running a brush through his red hair quickly and let it fall into it's natural shaggy position, bangs falling into his eyes, he put his iPhone in his pocket with earbuds and walked downstairs.
Claire was already eating toast, wearing a blue shirt that was way too low in his opinion, a silver skirt and high heels. Yep, his sister had turned into an Alicia clone ever since Massie left. Todd sat down and quickly put on his black socks and got a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Claire rolled her heavily make-upped eyes at him, and then drank her orange juice.
Todd just quickly ate his cereal and was going to ask his mother a question when he was interrupted by a loud horn honking. Claire smiled and got up.
"Bye mom, that's Leesh! Gotta go!" Claire grabbed her book bag and hurried out, her heels clacking as she ran. Todd slurped his milk form his cereal and put his bowl in the sink, forgetting what he was going to ask his mother. He put on his converse and got his bike, pedaling to school while listening to Hollywood Undead on his phone. He didn't stop to wonder why his mom had tears in her eyes.
Once at school, he chained his bike up and ran to class, hoping he wouldn't be late. Luckily, he made it just in time. Right as he sat in his seat next to tiny Nathan the bell rang.
His American History teacher started reading the announcements. The only thing Todd paid attention to was what was for lunch, which was Italian dunkers. It could've been worse. Todd stretched one leg onto the chair next to him, which was empty. He had chosen this spot specifically because it was next to tiny Nathan and next to an empty seat he could put his leg onto the seat. In reality the seat belonged to Jeremy Davis, a kid who was a friend of Todd's but he was frequently gone.
The door to the classroom opened, so naturally everyone turned to stare at whoever it was that was coming in late. To their surprise, it was the principal, along with a girl behind him. After speaking with the teacher, the principal left and the teacher spoke to the class while the girl stood next to her.
"This is Natalie Hastings, she's new here. Natalie, you may sit next to Darla over there. I'm Ms. Brucker by the way." Ms. Brucker motioned towards Darla, a heavy set girl with long brown hair who was always quiet. Natalie walked over and set her things down.
Todd took that time to look at her. She had long black hair that was layered with side bangs that were light green. She was wearing black ripped skinny jeans, a blue shirt that had some sort of writing on it, and black DC hightops with rainbow laces, and colorful splatters on them. He hadn't seen her face though, all that he saw from the front of the classroom was her pointy bangs that went down into her eyes and her really straight hair that seemed like she did something to make it thicker on the top with all her layers. Todd really liked her back pack though, it was a Jack Skellington face.
He probably would have kept looking at her, but Ms. Brucker was starting notes and he didn't want to miss them. While he was writing down the notes, tiny Nathan passed him a piece of folded paper.
what do you think of the new girl?
Todd quickly wrote his response and passed it back.
idk. didnt really see her. why did you get a good look at her?
not really. but i think shes hot.
i like how thats the only thing you worry about.
its a very important part of life!
this is why you wont ever be getting a girlfriend.
hey i might get one! cant be negative gotta think positive.
so thats why you smoke pot every day
dont knock it till you try it
alright im done talking to you now. brucker is looking at us
Todd gave the note to Nathan and went back to notes. When there was five minutes left Ms. Brucker said they could do whatever until the bell rang. Todd watched as Natalie went up and said something to Ms. Brucker. While she was talking he got a good look at her face. She had green eyes with thick makeup. When she smiled at Brucker she had a dimple on her left cheek. He thought she was pretty.
"Nathan? Would you mind showing Natalie to her next class? She has art with Mrs. Real." Brucker motioned Nathan over to Natalie.
Todd couldn't believe it. Nathan was able to talk to Natalie right off the bat! Nathan flashed Todd a smirk, and walked up to Natalie. They walked out of the classroom, heading to her next class. Shaking his head, Todd walked to his next class, English which was right down the hall from History. From English he went to Statistics, and then to lunch. At his high school they had hour lunches because people could leave for it.
Once in the lunchroom Todd looked around for Nathan and saw him in line. He was going to walk over to him when someone tapped on his shoulder. Turning, hje saw it was Bridget, a girl that obviously liked him and wouldn't take no for an answer. He groaned internally.
"Hey Todd." Bridget twirled a piece of long black hair on her finger, batting her long lashes as she looked at him with her light green eyes. "What are you doing tonight?"
"Homework." Todd blurted the first thing that came to mind. Bridget smiled seductively.
"Well you can't possibly be doing homework all night can you? How about you come over to my house for a little bit." She bit down on her pink lip.
While Todd stood there trying to think of something to say, thankfully Cam walked over and helped him out.
"Hey Todd, you're still coming over to listen to the bands rehearsal tonight right? We have a new singer and we want to know you you think." Cam put an arm around Todd, smiling.
Bridget's eyes darkened. Todd's eyes brightened and he smiled. "Yeah, I almost forgot! Sorry Bridget, guess we can't hang out!"
Bridget raised an eyebrow. "There's always tomorrow!" She smiled, then bumped her way past Cam.
Cam let out a low whistle. "Woah, looks like I saved you big time, huh."
Todd shook his head. "You have no idea. She never leaves me alone."
"Well, you want to come over check out the band anyways?" Cam asked, running a hand through his hair.
"Oh, you weren't just saying that? Whose your new edition?" Todd asked while he and Cam went through the lunch line.
"Well, once we decided we wanted to go a different way from our original vision of our band, Griffin Hastings joined. About a month ago, Griffin found out his aunt, uncle and cousin were moving to Westchester and his cousin was into the same kind of music he was. We wanted to add come screaming into our music, and Griffin was our only screamer, but his cousin turned out to be good at screaming too. So now his cousin's in the band and Layne became our manager since we really didn't have any need for her instrument." Cam explained while they grabbed their Italian dunkers, fruit and milk.
Todd nodded. "Nice. So what time is practice?"
"It's at seven. You can ride over with Claire, she's getting a ride from Alicia because she and the rest of the girls are coming over to see too." Cam nodded at Todd, and then walked to his table.
Todd walked over to where he normally sat with Nathan, Carter, Mark and Jack. They were discussing something urgently.
He set his tray down. "What are you guys talking about?"
"We're talking about Olivia Ryan. She asked out Carter and he told her he'd think about it." Mark laughed, shaking his head.
"She's hot man, just go out with her. Plus, she's a year older." Jack held up his hands, looking at Carter like he was crazy.
"Hey, I am going to say yes, I just figured if I keep her waiting awhile then she'll get even more interested." Carter grinned.
"Well man, now's your chance. Here she comes." Nathan cheerfully stated, biting into his cheese bread.
Olivia walked over, wearing tight jeans and a tight sweater. She sat down next to Carter, and pouted, sticking her purple lips out.
"So Carter, have you decided yet?" She pouted, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Carter smirked at the rest of them and put an arm around her. "Yup."
"So will you go out with me?" Olivia looked up at him.
"Yes I will." Carter smiled at her. She squealed and hugged him.
"Yay! I gotta go back to Alicia, but text me, okay?" Olivia kissed him on the cheek quick and then ran off to her table, smiling widely.
Carter turned back to the table, smirking.
"I wouldn't look so happy if I were you. You're the one that has a big purple lipstick mark on your cheek." Nathan snickered along with the rest of the guys.
Carter furiously rubbed at the lipstick, then used a napkin to finally get it off.
"At least I have a girlfriend. And she's hot." Carter replied, effectively shutting up everyone else.
-Time Break-
"TODD! Are you ready yet, it's time to GO!" Claire hollered up the steps.
Todd ran down the steps and shoved on his converse. "Jesus, I'm ready. Calm down."
Claire rolled her eyes and put on her sweatshirt. Now instead of her skirt and shirt, she was wearing skinny jeans and a tee shirt under her sweatshirt. Todd however just stayed wearing the same thing, although he had debated on changing into his pajamas. Todd and Claire hurried out of the house and into Alicia's limo where the other PC members were waiting.
While the girls talked and gossiped about pointless things, Todd looked through Facebook. He saw Nathan was already friends with Natalie Hastings. So Todd decided he may as well look at her profile. She lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania before she came here, and she was friends with Derrick Harrington, Harris Fisher, Cam Fisher, and Layne Abeley, oddly enough. Feeling stalkerish, Todd went on to read some of her posts.
Natalie Hastings
2 hrs
Shitt... I really fucking miss my old school. With the exception of some people, BOCD High is filled with bitches that have a stick shoved up their ass. Fuck this bullshittin place.
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Tasha Loveness, Antonio Marcus, Alyssa Lynn and 28 others like this.
Tasha Loveness Then come back boo! I miss u :(
Natalie Hastings Babe if I could come back I would. Miss u 2 booboo. :(
Layne Abeley Something tells me I know exactly who you're talking about. Don't forget about rehearsal tonight!
Natalie Hastings Oh yah I KNOW you know EXACTLY who I'm talking about. Fucking buncha sluts. Tell Meena and Heather to get Facebook, I wanna talk to them dumb hoes ahaha.
Tasha Loveness Bitch you cheatin on me with new friends? I thought what we had was special bae!
Natalie Hastings Bae don't think like that. Guess what, I'll talk it over with my parents and see if you could come visit for awhile, how bout that babe?
Tasha Loveness Yass! Omfg espacially if you gonna smack a hoe. I def wanna be there to help you boo!
Natalie Hastings Lmfao, you crack me up boo. Just might take you up on that. (;
Layne Abeley I'll help too! Oh, and Meena says she has to get a facebook now because you said so, and I guess you're her official overlord, according to her.
Tasha Loveness Damn you already got slaves? Fuck I need to come soon Natalie!
Natalie Hastings Layne- tell Meena I most definatly am her fucking overlord. Tasha- maybe you could come live with me for a bit boo. if you dont mind constant fucking yelling.
Tasha Loveness Alright Antonio Marcus you gonna be hookin me up with a ride to my bae Natalie. Imma go live wit that hoe.
Natalie Hastings Perfect! Tony you could even stay for a bit! We got this all worked out, and you can meet my main hoes Layne, Heather, and Meena!
Antonio Marcus fuck yeah imma come visit you. i miss u sis. how bout me and tas come up next weekend cuz i aint got nothin goin on.
Natalie Hastings Hell yeah this is happening! Shit Layne Abeley you getta meet my crazy bitch Tasha and my bro Antonio! Plus Tasha and Antonio will meet you Meena and Heather!
Layne Abeley Awesome! You already told me alot about Tasha.. She sounds crazy!
Tasha Loveness Course you heard bout me, and you bet damn rigth I'm crazy! From what I heard you pretty chill yourself Layne! You and Nat better get working on some songs and shit so you can show off to me and Antonio!
Antonio Marcus yeah sis cant wait to hear some of your shit. i just know it gona be good.
Natalie Hastings Speaking of that band, I gotta get to practice. Layne is probably already there! Text me okay Tasha and Antonio ?
Tasha Loveness Def will babe. Love ya.
Antonio Marcus i will. love u sis.
Band? With Layne? Did that mean she was the new addition to the band? Just when Todd was going to look through her profile more Claire knocked his iPhone out of his hand.
"We're here Todd." Claire snapped, getting out of the car with the rest of the girls. Todd picked up his phone, happy to find it wasn't cracked. He didn't understand why Claire was so mean to him now. He wished Massie were here, because she kept Alicia in line. Shoving his phone in his pocket, Todd got out of the limo and walked up to the Fisher's garage.
He could already hear the sound of Harris drumming and walked in to see Cam messing with his electric guitar, Derrick talking to Layne and Natalie, and his sister with the rest of her friends whispering together while shooting glances at Natalie, bursting out laugh every few seconds.
Derrick saw him and motioned for him to come over.
"Whats up Todd?" Derrick gave him a high five and pointed to Natalie. "That's Natalie, our new singer. Nat, this is Todd."
Natalie smiled at Todd and shook his hand. "Hey, aren't you in my first hour?" She asked, her voice sounding like honey.
Todd nodded. "Yeah."
She nodded. "Cool." Then she turned to Derrick. "What song should we do first? I don't really care, but we probably should get started before I do something to those bitches over there I might just regret when I'm in jail." She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the PC.
Derrick laughed. "Uh, Cam, what song are we gonna start with?" He called over to Cam, who was finally done messing with his guitar.
"Um, how about we do if you can't hang by Sleeping with Sirens?" Cam looked at Harris for confirmation, and he nodded.
Derrick picked up his guitar and so did Cam. They stood in front of Harris but off to the side, Derrick on the left and Cam on the right. Griffin stood in front of Harris. Natalie on the other hand stood front and center, holding a microphone and looking a little awkward. Of course, the whispers and laughing from the girls didn't help.
"Alright, let's start." Cam said, and they started. First there was guitar and drum playing for about thirty seconds, and then Natalie started singing.
"Met a girl at seventeen, thought she meant the world to me, so I gave her everything, she turned out to be a cheat," Natalie sang, and the girls shut up. She was really good at singing. She went through the song, slightly screaming at some points and sounding really really good. Then about three minutes into the song she really screamed.
"Met a girl at twenty three, knew she meant the world to me, so I gave her everything, and she did the same for me," Natalie sang, the took a deep breath. "Imagine THAT!" She screamed into the microphone, sounding like a pro. "Cause your such a pretty pretty face, no your such a pretty pretty face," she sang, closing her eyes.
Finally she sang "Would you please stay and, come inside baby, would you please stay and, please be mine." Then she set the mic back down and quickly tossed her hair up.
Layne ran over to her and gave her a hug. "You were amazing!"
Natalie smiled and laughed. "Really?"
Cam walked over, along with Harris, Griffin and Derrick.
"You were fucking awesome!" Harris exclaimed, picking her up and spinning her around before setting her down. "Damn girl, you're a great singer and a great screamer!"
"That was really cool." Derrick smiled. "You are seriously talented."
"You gotta teach me to do that." Cam hugged her.
"I told you guys she was good!" Griffin laughed, giving Natalie a one armed hug because he still had on his guitar.
Natalie looked down and blushed. "Thanks guys. It really means a lot to hear this."
"You were really good. That was the best cover of a Sleeping with Sirens song I've ever heard." Todd spoke up, leaning against the wall and messing with his bracelets. "Kellin would be proud."
Natalie smiled at him. "Thanks Todd."
"Alright, let's do a few more, we still have some time left!" Cam hollered, and they did a couple more songs, Natalie sounding better each time, most likely because she was warming up.
Once they were done they started putting away their things. Natalie walked over to Tod.
"Hey, do you have a phone?" She asked him, brushing her bangs back out of her eyes. They just flopped back down into her eyes again.
Todd nodded. "Yeah."
"Cool! Do you want my number, so we can talk more?" Natalie asked.
"Yeah, sure." Todd took out his phone and handed it to her so she could enter her number. Once she was done she handed it back.
"I texted myself so I would have your number." She explained to him.
Todd smiled. "Cool. Hey, look for me in first hour, okay?"
She nodded, smiling back at him. "I will."
Claire stomped over. "Come awn Todd. Let's go." She yanked on his arm, unknowingly hurting his cuts. He flinched and yanked hus arm away.
"I was talking to Natalie." Todd crossed his arms, not moving.
"Well Alicia wants to leave, so we're leaving. Besides, you shouldn't talk to her." Claire looked at Natalie with a disgusted look.
Before Todd could say anything, Natalie stepped into Claire's personal space. "And why not?"
"Because you're cheap." Claire simply stated.
Griffin, who had noticed what was going on, hurried over and managed to stop Natalie before she punched Claire, which was exactly what she was about to do. Even though Griffin pulled her away, she still let out a string of swear words, calling Claire every filthy name in the book. Disgusted, Claire pulled Todd away and into the limo. He was too shocked to stop her.
"Ehmagawd, see that is why you shouldn't hang out with her. She's so nasty." Claire rolled her eyes in disgust.
Todd felt his anger flare. "You can't choose who I am and am not friend with Claire. Maybe if you hadn't turned into such a bitch she wouldn't have swore at you." Todd snapped, crossing his arms and looking out the window, ignoring Claire's words about he was was an ungrateful asshole who didn't deserve to live.
She didn't even realize how much it was tearing him apart inside.
Holy freaking shit this is 3,972 words not including this authors note. DAMN that's the most I have written for a single chapter ever. Okay so tell me what you think of this story I couldn't get it out of my head and I'm already starting on the next chapter.
Do you like it? I wrote this because there is like hardly any Todd centered stories and next chapter will explain a lot more I promise at least I think idk you'll have to find out next chapter haha.
review please?
-Maya xx