STORY: Tell Him Something Pretty
AUTHOR: M.
SERIES: Bully / Canis Canem Edit
SUMMARY: A complete interpretation of Gary Smith's personal war on Bullworth Academy. Pre/through/& post game. (Epic.)
RATING: Rated T for a tiny and/or titanic bit of coarse language and references to sexy sex.
DISCLAIMER: The characters and places depicted herein are not public domain. The author is not accepting funds for the publication of this story.
The campus of Bullworth is, as one might expect, very large and there are many ways to get lost but since the Main Building is the tallest and has a dilapidated Bell Tower atop it you can just use that as a beacon to find your way. Keeping that in mind, if you're intrepid you'll find lots of places to see and things to do. Let's see, there's a modest Library housing multitudes of nerds to the west and to the east is the faculty parking lot and a greasy auto shop that is home to, you guessed it, the greasers. Due north is the gymnasium and the football field which sports grass that is even greener then the money that went into manufacturing its neighboring building; Harrington House. Harrington House is the school's newest addition and was constructed courtesy of Harrington Oil Company in honor of the president's son buying his way into the student directory. That's how things work here but enough about all that, its late, so the place to be now is the dormitory which is by far the most boring location on the academy grounds. The only thing remotely interesting (I use that term loosely) about it are the people who live there. You'll see what I mean.
two Domestic Bliss
It was well past curfew but the Boy's Dormitory was lit up like a Christmas tree. Every student had been ushered inside and all four prefects stood guard outside. This was an unusual display of competence and was only to show the freshman that Bullworth meant business.
Despite the presence of the hulking prefects outside the inside of the dorm was nowhere near preferable. The building was absolutely trashed and the strange scent of spray paint, sulfur, and blood hung in the air. Worst of all it was unanimously declared open season on freshman and the cliques ceased targeting each other to celebrate this timeless tradition.
As soon as Gary had walked through the entrance he had been greeted with a sucker punch in the arm. He was immediately on the defense but whoever had delivered the blow had already moved onto fresher game. Pete had not been visible from where he stood behind Gary and escaped attack.
Backing into a corner, Gary unzipped his book bag and withdrew a small brass key with the number seven on it. Looking ahead and through the chaos he gleaned that there three ways to go. Straight ahead there was a commons area where the slowest and stupidest freshman and been driven to be beaten. There would be no escape from that room without humiliating injuries.
"This one break too easy!' roared a startlingly heavy voice. Gary stood on his toes and was flabbergasted to see the head and shoulders of a boy who was easily seven feet tall. His shaggy hair was messy and his knuckles were white from an evening spent knocking several lesser boy's unconscious. And he wasn't done yet. 'Trent! Bring more ants for Russell to smash!"
"Heh heh heh! You got it, Russell!" shouted a bulky blond kid with a Hollywood haircut. Gary gawked as he recognized a handful of Russell's buddies from the assembly that afternoon; they were freshman themselves. The traitorous freshman boys whooped and hollered; reaching out at other guys haphazardly and whipping them into the lobby to be destroyed by Russell and his goons.
Unwilling to remain still a moment longer Gary lunched forward into a sprint and Pete, who had been hiding in his shadow, ran to follow. With only a hope and a prayer the pair barreled into the mob and Gary forced his way to the left half of the dormitory getting an elbow in the ribs for his trouble. He spied the door with 7 embossed on it; his key in the lock and turning instantaneously. He threw himself inside and moved to slam the door but someone or something had wedged itself in the door frame.
Panic gripped him as Gary knew that if any of the upper class men or bullies succeeded in pushing his door open his room would become another place to herd the freshman for more pummeling. High on adrenalin he screwed his eyes shut and rammed into the door with all his strength.
"G-Gary…!"
Gary's eyes snapped open and though his vision was blurred from the exhilaration he could still make out the meek form of Pete sandwiched between the door and its frame.
Suddenly there were excited shouts in the hallway.
They had been discovered.
"Get the hell out of my dorm!' Gary screamed grabbing Pete's arm from where it blocked the door. "Go find your own!"
"This IS my dorm!" Pete cried out, terrified, and struggled to worm the rest of the way in.
Gary yanked Pete's arm effectively pulling him into the room and finally able to slam the door shut. The two boys collapsed against the door and just breathed. It was a very long time before the deafening knocks and crude taunts subsided.
"You know…,' Gary huffed after awhile, 'you really could have told me you were in seven ahead of time."
"S-sorry…" sighed Pete, his throat parched.
Rising to his feet with no small effort, Gary traipsed over to one of two identical beds and laid his stuff down. He was hot from his sprint and blind terror of the incident and moved to open a window to let in the briny summer air. When he had it halfway open he heard the unnerving sound of laughter and quizzically leaned through the gap. Outside the prefects were in a bout of hysteria outside the windows of the commons area. The sound was dull but screams for help could be heard from inside the lounge. Gary slammed the window shut. He sat in a slouch on the edge of his bed and buried his face in his hands.
Bullworth was nothing like he had been led to believe. It may be the number one choice for the socially prominent who had their own first class frat house but for everyone else it was pure hell. He didn't know how he was going to work with the aggressive people he would have to live beside. He didn't know how to deal with Pete who was still hyperventilating on the floor. He didn't know how he was going to make it here. He just didn't know.
He blindly groped inside of his bag for his medicine. He just needed to focus right now and his pills always made the haze in his brain go away; calmed him down. His fingers drifted over his textbooks and notebooks, his wallet and writing utensils. Everything but his medicine bottle.
Dread swallowed Gary whole, bleaching the color from his face. He thrust open the bag, snapping the zipper, and poured the contents onto the floor. He dropped unto his hands and knees and scoured the scene, his eyes darting from one object to the next. It wasn't there.
"I can't…' he gasped putting his hands to his head. "Without those I can't…I can't do it… I'll go nuts… I-I'll screw up- -"He stopped suddenly.
It was like a light had come on in his head, or gone out, he couldn't tell.
Gary couldn't remember life before his drugs. Sure he still had all of his memories but the rhyme and reason that they were built upon had been blacked out.
Stolen away.
It was weird. Though his mind was cloudy he could feel the questions bubbling up inside of him; the yearning for answers that engulfed him was both familiar and foreign. Just out of reach there were hundreds of answers to his problems but he didn't have the mental capacity to choose one and flesh it out. It was like there was a wall there, one that was new and sturdy.
The feelings were vague but Gary had felt these sentiments before, a long time ago before getting accepted to and graduating from Bullworth had encompassed his life. Before Dr. Bambillo had convinced him to take his medicine because it was a good thing.
It was good for him.
Good things would come of it.
He was a good boy.
"Gary?"
Gary screamed. Pete was so shocked he screamed too.
"OH JEEZ! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Gary!"
Gary fell forward, his arms catching him before his face hit the floor.
"What…do you…want?" he asked between shuddering breaths. Pete gaped, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly until he found his voice.
"You…dropped…your...vitamins…" He said like automaton slowly handing Gary a relatively small white bottle while fighting the urge to just roll it over to him.
Gary reached out to take it, the task made difficult by the tremors in his arms. Turning the bottle over, he read the label:
MULTI-VITAMINS.
That's what it said but Gary knew what it really was. Without even thinking he unscrewed the cap, shook out three different colored pills, and swallowed each dry. Almost instantly he could feel his heart beat slow and his nerves unwind like his body knew that everything was okay now. The flashing red lights in his head turned a welcome and calming green. All was well.
Gary exhaled slowly and looked over at Pete who was visibly still shell-shocked.
"I'm sorry, Pete,' he said flatly. "It's been a long day."
"Tell me about it..." Pete answered cautiously. "So… you really like vitamins?" Gary could tell by the cut of his voice that Pete had guessed what he had hidden in his vitamin bottle.
"It's nothing illegal is that's what you think," he challenged.
"I don't think that,' Pete replied curtly and stood up. Having to look up at Pete was slightly more than he could accept so Gary rose too although his legs were still jittery and unstable. 'It's nothing to be ashamed of."
Gary studied the sympathetic look Pete regarded him with. It was a face that did not judge him based on that fact that he took medications but it also told him that Pete himself didn't have to take any such pills; that he was strong enough to live through the day without crutches. Overwhelmed with humility and the need to change the subject Gary jabbed Pete in the face where a long bruise had begun to form.
"It looks like you took a few hits on the way here, Petey."
Pete winced and rubbed his cheek.
"Actually that's from where you slammed the door, literally, into my face,' he said and quickly added "But its fine! It doesn't hurt. It's cool."
"Whatever," Gary muttered looking away. He picked up his school supplies for the third time that day, filed them away inside his bag, and grudgingly worked the zipper back into place. Kicking off his shoes he flopped onto his bed belly first then rolled onto his back; he drew his Bullworth sweater vest up over his head and threw it on the floor. That was all the effort Gary could muster toward getting undressed but sleep eluded so he drifted into day dreams about nothing at all.
"Hey, Gary, are you asleep?"
"…."
"…."
"…."
"…Gary?"
"NO, Pete."
"Oh, sorry… Hey, Gary?"
"Ohmygod, what?"
"What were you talking about earlier?"
"HUH?"
"Right before I gave you back your, uh, vitamins. You were staring off into space and you were saying something over and over, but I couldn't make it out. It was really creepy- -Not that you're creepy! I'm just saying that what was happening was…uh…"
"...I don't remember."
"Huh?"
"I said I don't remember. I was looking for the bottle and you finally decided to speak up and hand it over. Nothing else happened."
"Gary…"
"I mean it, stop screwing with me."
"…Yeah. I'm sorry."
"…..."
"…..."
"…..."
"Hey, Gary?"
"JESUS, PETE."
"Sorry it's just… Do you think tomorrow is gonna be anything like today?"
"How the hell should I know...? But tomorrows another day and all that nonsense."
"Yeah...today was so bad it can only get better from here."
"UH-huuuuuuuuuh."
"Heh. Goodnight, Gary."
"Sweet dreeeeams."
continued.