It's already been one week since Matt became my roommate. One long, painful week.
I looked over at him. He was sitting on his bed, playing a game. "You make sure to stay on your side. You got that?" I growled, biting into a chocolate bar. "And turn off the damn sound; I can't concentrate." I was trying hard to study for a science test I had the next day, and the obnoxious music coming from his game was making it hard to focus.
"Oh, sorry! I'll put my headphones on!" He paused the game, and shuffled through his bedside drawer for a set of headphones. He plugged them in, and the music disappeared.
Without thanking him, I returned to my studies. But it wasn't long before my door crashed open. "Dammit," I muttered, looking up to see who was going to get their ass kicked for disturbing me. "Near."
The white haired boy stood in my doorway, holding onto one of his toys. "Are you studying?" he asked me, shuffling over to my bed to look at the book.
"Get the hell out of here," I snarled, glaring at him. How dare he come into my room without knocking? How dare he even come near me!
He didn't leave. Instead, he turned his attention to Matt. Noticing he had headphones on and was completely oblivious to the world, he returned his cold gaze to me. "Roger wants to know-"
"Tell Roger if he wants to know anything, he can drag his own lazy ass down here and ask it himself," I snapped, biting angrily into my chocolate bar. But I bit down with too much force, and my teeth scraped together. I made a face; that hurt.
Near frowned. He always had a frown on, it seemed. He still didn't leave. Instead, he continued what he was saying before. "Roger wants to know how your rooming arrangement is working out. It seems you two are completely oblivious of each other. Would you like me to tell him that?"
"Would it get you the hell out of my room?"
Without an answer, he left my room as quickly as he had entered, and closed the door behind him. I was about to start studying again, when someone else entered.
"GOD DAMMIT WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT?!" I shouted, slamming my book closed.
The girl flinched. "I'm sorry, Mello!" Linda gracefully entered my room, carrying her favorite sketchbook. "Good afternoon boys!" she greeted cheerfully. She was always quick to change emotions. She tapped Matt's shoulder to get his attention. "Hi there!"
He grinned, looking as stupid as ever. "Hi Linda! Whatcha doin'?" he asked. "Make any new drawings?" He pointed to her sketchbook.
"Yeah! I went outside this morning and drew some of the flowers! Wanna see?" When Matt nodded, she sat down next to him on his bed, and opened the sketchbook.
I rolled my eyes, starting to get aggravated. "Are you just going to sit around talking about flowers, or did you have something important you wanted to say?"
Linda jumped. "Oh, right! Some of the boys are outside playing soccer. Do you want to play?"
"Soccer?" we echoed in unison. I shot a glance at Matt. Did he like soccer too?
"Yeah! You guys are gonna join them, right?" She sounded eager, as if she had already told them we would play.
Matt switched off his game, and put it under his pillow. Putting his headphones back in his drawer, he said, "Sure! I love soccer!"
Linda beamed, clearly pleased. She turned her cheerful expression to me. "You're gonna come too, right, Mello? I know how much you love playing soccer."
Matt turned excitedly to me as well. "Wow, you like soccer too? I guess we do have something in common, huh? Let's go play!"
Dammit! This is great, just great! Now he's going to want to play soccer with me all the time! It's bad enough he follows me around! I let out an exasperated hiss. I was about to say "no" when I realized soccer's a good excuse to cause him pain; I can kick him in the head with the ball and say it was an accident. With I twisted smile, I said, "Sure, I'd love to play."
Linda looked like she was about to burst with joy. "Hurray! I wanna draw Matt and Mello playing soccer together!" She hurried out of the room to report to the others that we were definitely playing, and to find a good place to sit and draw us.
Matt bounced over to my bed, pulled me up, and dragged me out of the room. "Let's go!" he cheered.
I pulled my arm away. "Don't. Ever. Touch. Me," I growled, saying each word with force.
He looked alarmed. "Uh, I'm sorry! I didn't know!"
I scoffed. Sure, he didn't know. What was this kid, stupid? He's been here for a week, and still hasn't figured out all the rules? I sighed; I guess I would have the misfortune of telling him. "Listen up. There are only a few rules around here that you have to follow, you got that?" I began to explain the rules. "Ok, first up: I'm the boss around here. You do what I say, when I say it, no questions. Second: don't EVER touch me. It will end with you getting your ass kicked from here into next week. Third: I'M going to succeed L, not that dumb ass, thinks-he-knows-everything Near. My grades are important; you get between me and an A+, and I'll kill you. Fourth: if you even think about touching my chocolate, you've already dug yourself a grave. Any questions?" Matt shook his head, eyes wide as he listened. "Good." I brushed past him on my way outside. I needed to tell the others that Matt and I needed to be on opposite teams.
Matt ran after me, trying to keep up. "Hey, Mel, wait up!"
I froze halfway to the door. Mel? What the hell was that? I turned, eyes narrowed. "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"
"Mel?" he repeated. "Is something wrong with that?"
"DON'T GO AROUND GIVING ME STUPID NICKNAMES!" I roared, then stormed outside. Now I really was going to cause pain to him during the game. When I reached the field, the boys were still forming teams. I ran up to the captains. "Hey! Look, that red-haired brat and I have to be on different teams, got it?" I ordered.
The boys nodded their heads, eyes wide as if they had seen a ghost. "A-Anything you say, Mello!" one squeaked. When I turned around to stand with the others who were still getting picked, I could have sworn I heard one say, "Boy, Mello looks pissed. Better do as he says."
Matt came running over, waving. "Hey! Am I late?"
"Nope, we're still picking teams!" one of the captains answered cheerfully. "You wanna join my team?"
"'Kay!" He happily made his way over to the team, wearing one of his goofy grins. Boy, did I hate that smile of his. Maybe I'd knock some teeth out…
"Mello! Join my team!" the other captain called, pulling me away from my thoughts. I slowly joined their side.
"Let me play offense," I said as I passed the captain. He nodded. "Good." Now I could freely control how much damage I caused. Maybe he'll be goalie…
The captains finished calling out the names, so it was almost time to begin. They began sorting out positions. I was center. Lucky me, I thought. Now I could steal the ball from the start and just keep striking Matt with it. I wonder who's opposite center, I thought, rolling the ball to the middle of the field. The opposite center stopped it with his foot. I looked up to see who it was. My jaw dropped. "Oh, HELL no!"
Matt stood opposite me with a huge grin plastered to his face. "Hey, Mello! I'm center too! Isn't that great?"
What would be great would be to hit myself in the head with a rock, I said silently, biting into my chocolate bar. I didn't say anything, just waited for the game to start. As soon as it did, I pulled the ball back, and aimed it at Matt's stupid, smiling face. Direct hit! Matt was knocked backwards, covering his face with his hands.
"Ow! Man, I should have dodged that! Haha!" He sat up, laughing it off.
"You ok?" someone asked.
"Yep, I'm fine!" He jumped up as if the hit to the face didn't happen. "Come on, we gotta win!"
I cursed. It was going take a lot more than that to break him. I ran after the ball again, and this time kicked it into his stomach. Winded, he fell once again. And once again, he got right back up and laughed. This will be harder than I thought. I decided to actually play a bit. Maybe if I tired him out, he wouldn't get up and laugh after I smashed the ball into his face.
After I scored about five goals and made Matt run after the ball, he was starting to look tired. What was worse was that I used almost all my energy to get him to lose his. But I couldn't give up; I needed to destroy him. I took control of the ball again, and power shot it at his face. He was sent flying! This time he didn't get up. He just lay there, looking stupid. Did I knock him unconscious? I decided to check. Besides, I needed the ball back. I looked down at him, and almost kicked him. He was smiling!
"Hahaha, I'm pretty unlucky, aren't I?" He slowly sat up, rubbing his nose. "I should be more careful!"
We continued to play until it started to get dark, and Linda came over to tell us to get ready for dinner. My team had won, and by the end of the game, Matt had two black eyes, a nosebleed, and other various bruises.
Matt followed me closely as we went back inside. "Wasn't that fun?" he wondered, sounding breathless. "You're really good at soccer, Mello! I wish I could play like you! I was a ball magnet, wasn't I?"
I stopped and spun around. Matt walked into me, and fell backwards. "Are you some sort of superhuman or something?" I demanded, looking down at him, frustrated and fuming.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He tilted his head to one side, looking completely confused.
"Every time you got smashed in the face, you would laugh and get right back up! Are you like, an iron man or something?!"
He started to laugh that annoying laugh of his. "No, I'm just a regular guy, just like you."
Did he just say he was like me?
"But I was taught that when you get knocked down, ya gotta get right back up!" He stood, brushing himself off. "And that you need to endure pain, no matter how much it hurts!" He beamed, as if he were proud that he knew all this.
Unable to think of a response, I turned my head to the side. "Everyone knows that!" I huffed. I needed to have the last say in everything, and that line was a stupid way to end this.
Matt simply shrugged. "I guess so." His stomach suddenly growled loudly, reminding us that we were supposed to be on our way to dinner. "Heh. I guess soccer made me really hungry. Well, let's go! We don't want all the good food to be gone!" He ran off down the hallway, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Who was this kid named Matt? He's no one! He's just a no one who's in the way of me succeeding L. That was it, and nothing more. And with that, I stormed angrily after Matt.