"Deadly Connections"
By: Emily B.
Author's Note
I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing and updating. It's pretty difficult to do actually. I think I just have too many ideas for stories. I have many, many more stories planned out for when "Deadly Connections" is over and done, so I want to get this story over with rather quickly since it's been dragging on originally since 2009. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. I apologize in advance for any typos and such.
Chapter Four: Bearing Scars
Kyle gazed out the window of one of the doors inside the cafeteria, trying to retrace Fanboy's fast-paced steps in his mind. He pushed the silver handle of the door, this time very carefully and smoothly, to exit the cafeteria. He sighed lightly as his golden eyes looked around at the unfamiliar scenery, hoping he wouldn't get lost. His interest perked as he caught a glimpse of Fanboy's green highlights in the sun through the glass door that lead to the outside of the building. The highlights were a blur as Fanboy darted away from the door.
"There you are," Kyle muttered to himself, fixing his clothing back into a presentable fashion before walking at a fast pace toward the door. His eyes wandered about as he walked, observing lockers and bulletin boards covered with posters for lunches, public service announcements, and talent shows. He made sure his mind focused on the images to find his way back later.
He finally reached the door after a few quick paced steps, smiling bright with his crooked, braces-adorning teeth standing proud in said smile. He had finally reached his destination without any incident. He pushed against the chilled metal bar that would give him access to where his leader went and to walk out of the school building.
Fanboy panted heavily as he reached the woods behind the school building, leaning against a tall tree to catch his breath. He slid down the side of the tree, ignoring the sharp bits of bark that tried to tear at his flesh through the fabric of his sweatshirt. He felt a little at peace as his backside connected with the grass of the ground.
"At least now I can be alone and write in pea-" the raven-haired teen began to speak, searching the ground frantically with heavily-rimmed-with-eyeliner eyes. He patted the grass, flattening the unsuspecting blades down with the palm of his hand. A heavy sigh escaped his pale, dry lips. "I left my notebook in the classroom. Great, now Mr. Mufflin will probably read all of my poems and tell Oz. Then I'll have to start all over."
"Start what all over?" Kyle questioned in a soft voice as he stood next to Fanboy, the other teen jumping slightly at the sound of the voice. Fanboy quickly scrambled, trying to act as though he hadn't been startled. He looked to the wizard with half-lidded eyes as the sun beamed down over the figure of Kyle's body.
"I was kind of hoping I could be alone."
The redhead looked over Fanboy's posture before stepping over the taller teen's knees, sitting next to him against the tree. He looked back up to the others' face as they sat underneath the large tree, which proceeded to rain tiny leaves down upon them.
"Well, too bad. This place is all new to me. Without you, I won't be able to get back to class."
Fanboy gave a small scoff at the redhead's words, doubting the statement. His eyeliner-rimmed eyes wandered over to the other sitting next to him, looking over his expression. He sighed slightly as he looked back to the sky, noticing a few gray clouds beginning to roll in above them.
"It's going to rain."
"Well, then," Kyle began, beginning to think he could win this war that had been going on between him and the taller male for most of the day. "We should go back inside and get to class before the teacher discovers we're missing."
Fanboy sighed softly as he felt a raindrop fall onto his nose. He whipped it away with the sleeve of his sweater.
"I'd rather stay out in the rain," the raven-haired teen mutter with a dull tone of voice as he pulled his knees up to his chest, hugging them with his arms lightly, looking from the sky to the ground beneath him.
The redhead scowled slightly and muttered a few profanities under his breath, worry over his grades slowly beginning to settle inside the pit of his stomach. He gave a harsh glare to Fanboy, moving a hand to the others' chin and forcing them to make eye contact.
"Don't you even care if the teacher gives us detention? Do you take any pride in your grades, whatsoever?"
Fanboy scoffed and let off a dry chuckle, looking into Kyle's eyes as a small smirk formed onto his lips.
"Teacher's pet, much?" The green-eyed teen questioned with another small chuckle. "Besides, I get detention pretty much everyday. Why should I start caring about it now?"
"Because, I've never had a detention in my entire life!"
Kyle scooted a little closer to Fanboy as the rain grew heavier, hitting and dropping from the leaves of the large tree and landing on the heads of the two boys. They both continued to sit in the rain, looking at everything except for each other. Fanboy pulled his hood over his head, tightening the strings that dangled around his neck in order to tighten the hood around his face, causing his hair to become messier than it previously had been.
"Hey, that's not my problem, Mr. Goody-Goody."
"Goody-Goody? Well, I know where I'm not wan-" the wizard began with a sharp scowl on his face, trying to hide the fact that he was growing curious by Fanboy's uncooperative behavior. He couldn't help but to wonder why the other was so angry, especially at him. He hadn't done anything to anger or hurt Fanboy. Just as he began to speak once again, a loud blaring filled the air, causing both Kyle and Fanboy to nearly jump out of their skins, which were growing soaked by the rain that continued to fall down upon them.
"Whelp, school's over," Fanboy quickly stated, nearly fumbling with his words, trying to hide the fact that he had jumped from the sound of the school bell. He stood up from the ground, scrunching his face with disgusted as he noticed his pants were soaked with rain water and covered in grass stains. "I'm out of here."
"Wha- What? No! No, no, no, no!" Kyle repeated over and over as he looked from Fanboy, who was currently beginning to walk away, to the school building, where children were flooding around the perimeter of the building. "School can't be over! We just got out of lunch."
"Yeah, we have the last lunch of the day, if you didn't already notice."
The wizard's lip poked out in a small, unhappy pout as he folded his arms tightly across his overly-slender chest. He stomped his foot lightly, mud from the wet ground below sloshing onto his red converse sneakers, causing him to pull his foot away from the puddle with disgust.
"I would have noticed if you hadn't been so busy running away from me and being a royal pain in the neck," the redhead hissed, growling lightly as he looked over to Fanboy's figure in the distance. "And, see! You're running away again!"
The green-eyed teen twisted his upper body lightly, keeping his feet facing in the direction in which he was walking, to face Kyle. A small scowl was on his face, which was being painted with raindrops.
"I'm not running away, I'm just trying to get out of the rain and get away from the people here- including you."
Kyle scoffed and muttered a small profanity under his breath. He began to walk at a faster pace, his shoes sloshing mud across the rain-coated grass blades of the school grounds. He finally managed to catch up to Fanboy as they reached the front of the school, which was flooded with children from all grades.
"Including me?" Kyle panted in a whisper, tired from the long distance walk he had made to catch up to the other. "Our teacher assigned us as "buddies", and I do use the term buddies only as a school term. You can't just get rid of me like that and except me to know what's what around here."
The rain began to grow heavier, causing most children to open umbrellas and hold their textbooks and backpacks over their heads, trying to shield themselves. Fanboy's eyeliner slowly began to smudge and run down his face, causing his eyes to looks more like that of a raccoon's.
"It's the end of the day. I don't have to be your keeper anymore," Fanboy replied, trying to wipe away some of the eyeliner with his sleeve, only causing his sweater to become stained with the black substance and his eye to ache lightly. He groaned a small obscenity and continued to walk across the school yard, being closely followed by Kyle.
"Head's up!"
"I've got it! I've got i-" Duke called to Cheech, who had thrown a football in the blonde's direction. His words were cut off by the fact that his back had bumped into Fanboy's, causing Fanboy to stumble forward and scratch his arm against the barbed fence that made the school feel even more like a prison.
"Ow! Fuck!"
Duke turned around, ready to apologize to the person he had bumped into, until he noticed that person was Fanboy, of course.
"Oh," the blue-eyed teen smirked, looking back a forth between his daily victim and the fresh meat. "Well, isn't it lovely to run into you two love birds again?"
"Look, Duke," the raven-haired male began, spitting out rain water as he spoke, trying to clean the blood from his arm. He sighed lightly as he rolled up his sleeve, bearing his trail of self-inflicted scars, moving his free hand to attempt to hide them and wipe away the blood at the same time. "I don't feel like putting up with your bull. I just want to go home."
"Hey, Chuggy! Cheech!" Duke cackled as he called to his minions, motioning a finger to gesture them over to where he was standing. He looked over to Fanboy, examining his slender, bleeding arm, smirking wildly as he saw the scars that were exposed. "Get over here. Zacky's got some new scars he wants to show off."
"Come on, Chuggy," Cheech smiled, pulling out a few sharpie markers from his coat pocket, using his free hand to hold a textbook over his jet-black hair, which was hidden beneath a beanie. "Pick a color."
Fanboy quickly coward, moving over to Kyle in a fast-paced walk. He grabbed firmly onto the redhead's lanky wrist, tugging it roughly, nearly pulling the fragile bones out of place.
"Come on!"
"Fa-Fanboy!" Kyle shouted, trying to regain his wrist's freedom. He hadn't been paying much attention to the situation, since he'd been looking for any signs of transportation. He wondered about Duke's words and why Chuggy and Cheech were holding sharpie markers, but he figured now wasn't the time to ask. "Where are we going? Where are the buses?"
"Stop asking questions and run."
The two boy's ran, being careful not to slip and fall in the mud that surround the school building. They panted heavily from exhaustion when they finally reached the buses. Fanboy ran down the line of buses, tugging a struggling Kyle behind him as he did so.
"106, this is my bus," Fanboy sighing with slight relief, knowing he and his tormenters didn't ride the same bus, he climbed into the opened doors, pulling Kyle into the bus along with him, tugging him to the seat in the very back of the vehicle.
"Fanboy?" Kyle questioned once they were seated and settled, noticing Fanboy had forgotten to roll down the sleeve of his sweatshirt. His golden eyes examined the blood, but more importantly the thin, horizontal scars trailing from the inside of Fanboy's elbow down to his wrist. "What are those?"
Fanboy looked down to where Kyle's golden eyes were gesturing. He felt a slight panic wash over him. He rapidly tugged the sweatshirt down, uttering profanities.
"Forget you saw those."