PHEW! ...
Okay! Bring on the hate because I know I'm extra late... :P
Sorry about that, but real-life can really get of the way of this whole fanfiction thing... (go figure)
To somewhat appease you guys though, i did my best to make this the most
grammar error free, aesthetically pleasing, and almost 1,000 word longer chapter that I could manage!
So, yeah... Read and Review
and ENJOY!
Just seven more hours, Eddward…
Just seven. More. Hours…
Before I knew it, this became my mantra for the day. Seven hours of bullying, smart aleck students with obnoxiously ignorant comments and evil glares shot at me for previous events. Surely they all knew by now. They had to know, right? It's not like an entire baseball team could hold something this astronomical for very long. Only one day had passed- two if you count the one I spent dwelling in my sorrows at home –yet I'm positive that word of our… date… spread like wildfire amongst our gossipy peers. It would be official soon; Kevin and I would surely catch a lot of grief from our classmates concerning one regretful trip to the movies.
Just seven more hours…
Seven more hours!
The thought sickened me. My stomach replied in knots and butterflies flew around frantically with no way out but to bash against the inside creases of my abdomen. I had allowed my mind to drift for quite some time now, letting one ludicrous thought collide into the next, as I sit in silence in my first period class. It was amazing me how much depression and anxiety alone could undo a person. I really did have quite a basically crafted stomach; nice -as far as most kids of my stature go- and flat with no noticeable flabs or stretch marks. No veins protruding the skin at odd angles. No sensual "v-line" that marked the epitome of a careful workout. I caught myself staring blankly into the poster of the Muscle Man, his skinless body being lined with key points of muscular facts and scientific muscle group names. It amused me how I was comparing this diagram of the muscular system to a mental image of myself in my head, doing the pros and cons of looking as muscular and bulky as Muscle Man appeared.
As I turned away, I noticed Mrs. Wattson writing away at the board, prompting me to take out my notebook and pen to copy it down. I started turning to the next available blank page, when I'd seen handwriting unlike my own marring the care arrangements of the pages before. My mind automatically took hold of the assumption that Eddy more than likely scribbled these down in an attempt to keep me up to date with what I'd missed in this class. It was a noble gesture, sure, but the fact that these poorly handwritten notes were accompanied by doodles of Eddy in piles of money and girls made me dismiss it as trivial.
AP Anatomy was actually a very nice class to have in the morning, despite popular denial. It activates the thought processes regardless of what state of mind you were in… and right about now I could use any distraction life threw at me. Just as I finished the thought a lone paper ball came hurdling towards my skull, blunted by the fact that I didn't see it coming. I flinched at the impact, giving a shrill whimper that made most eyes turn to me and others shy away just as suddenly.
Childish buffoons... Why the nerve of some people too-
"Eddward?" Mrs. Wattson said, turning herself away from the board to face me. "…Is something wrong?"
No one answered for me, which for some reason I found myself to have been hoping for. Eddy and Edd would have spoken in my defense in a heartbeat, and I must've been assuming someone with the same mindset would have the same bravado. I was wrong, of course. No one spoke up, everyone stared- as if waiting for some sort of obligated response, and I just sat there; staring blank into Mrs. Wattsons visage and slightly unnerved by the aftereffects of the paper ball attack.
"…Eddward?" Mrs. Wattson said again.
Finally, after a little too long of a pause, I replied. "Uhm… N-no Mrs. Wattson. Everything's… everything is fine. Thank you…"
Mrs. Wattsons brow furrowed. "Well…" she hesitated. "If you were meaning to ask a question, just wait until I give the rest of the class these new notes. I realize you were absent yesterday and this is some new material we haven't gone over yet."
I nodded; annoyed by her ignorance to assess the lie I'd just given her.
With a solemn look back down towards my notes I replied. "Y-yes… I understand. I'll wait until you're finished then…"
Now Mrs. Wattson caught onto something. "Oh don't worry, Edd!" she said happily before turning back to finish a sentence on the thyroids. "I'm sure you of all people will be caught up with this in no time!" The amount of people sucking their teeth and spitting inaudible insults towards me was innumerable. "This is a very easy chapter, anyways!"
I faked a shy giggle, secretly angered at the class and even Mrs. Wattson. "I do hope so. Thank you Mrs. Wattson…"
The class lesson continued shortly after that, but it took a few minutes before the remaining death glares and crude insults quelled. Once they had subsided, I buried my head into my notebook, awkwardly leveled up to my nose like a veil. I shot a quick glance towards my wristwatch.
Just seven more hours…
Seven hours and thirty four minutes. You can hold out until then…
I suddenly felt the heavy glares of some of my classmates begin to settle back to a bearable amount and decided peek over towards the loose-leaf paper bomb thrown at me. With angered haste, I quickly unraveled the small lightweight, hoping to find a name or something to peg the culprit with. Once I inform Mrs. Wattson of what had really transpired moments before, I'm sure due justice would be served.
It would only take a name to have that vagabond dealt with… I thought with newfound vigor. The blame for the paper ball could have gone to anybody now and it wouldn't have made a difference to me.
My fingers gingerly traced over ends of the crumbled paper wrappings, prying with the garbage to hope for an easy slit to come forth. I hardly noticed a group of laughter trying it's hardest not to burst into clamor when I found one free piece to pull everything free.
I could feel my anticipation growing with each noisy unfurl. Just give me a name… One name is all I nee-
FAGGOT!
A demeaning term, written in graceless penmanship, all aimed towards me. The paper fluttered noiselessly to the table while my hands sat stiffened by the harshness of the appellation. I felt tears fill the corners of my eyes instantly, blurring my vision and threatening to overflow within seconds. The stifled laughter grew in intensity, with Mrs. Wattson merely letting out a shush or two in an attempt to quiet the class as she wrote. I observed this for only a brief moment, because my eyes stung with salted tears that forced them shut and started to fall freely onto my desk. Sitting only a few inches away, right next to me in the same rhombus-like black table, I heard Mark whisper what the paper had on it to another classmate, and they abruptly burst into laughter. He'd leaned over towards me once he saw me unravel the paper ball, and what I mistook as a look of shock turned into one of amusement and contempt.
The other baseball player I suspected threw the note was giving me a purely evil look from directly across from the room, his table facing mine an equal distance away. His friends, more from the team or other sports, were patting him congratulatory props for his crude attempt at humor- all while he simply glared at me with a devilish grin mixed with one deep-seated dark chuckle.
Word spread around the classroom too quickly for Mrs. Wattson to control. She was completely unaware of what was going on, yet I despised her nonetheless. Even as she was long since invested into quieting the class with animated gestures and commands like Quiet down, class or Pay attention, students, all I could do was somehow blame her for not being able to help. Mark, currently breathless from making crude homosexual jokes at my expense, began to do the same and pat my back as well. He hit so hard against me it almost felt like a deliberate punch at my spine rather than the calming indication he made it appear to be. It was all I could do not to whimper, especially when more tears flew out and he took notice of it with even more mocking and cooing noises.
"Aww~!" He uttered as he mimicked an infant's persona. "You're not gonna c'wy now, is you buddy…?" he joked, giving new life to the once dulling laughter in the room. "Wouldn't want 'Lil Kevey Wevey to see you like this, huh?"
No mercy came with the stinging blows of his jokes. Mark made fun of me with such cruelty and prejudice it almost seemed as if I'd deliberately did something towards him that he detested. His words came out smooth and each joke was strengthened in tow by one of even more intensity. The paper ball wasn't his plan, it wasn't even his joke, yet he continuously made jabs at my conscious with his words and accompanied his hurtful words with even more demeaning hand gestures.
Whether it was luck or pure coincidence, the bell rang with three large chimes. Before the laughter burned holes into my conscious, I used every last bit of power I could accumulate and pushed myself from the table. Without permission, I braced myself into a sprint and darted out of Mrs. Wattsons room, tears fluttering free from my eyes like liquid crystal. The class didn't stop laughing until much later, after my disappearance. Within what felt like milliseconds, I was inside the boys' restrooms, collapsed to the germy marbled floors in a heap of heavy sobs and choked gasps for air.
"Just seven more hours!" I screamed in between sobs. "Seven hours!"
My back rested against the bathroom door as I held my face in my hands and wept. I could feel my body convulsing in mass quantities and my throat tightened to a point where I feared death by some sort of asphyxiation. There were footsteps from the hall behind the thin oak doors of the boys' room, a large group from the sound of it, and just as suddenly as I'd heard them, they stopped. My sobs continued on their own, for my mind wrapped around where those footsteps could have gone. They were there a moment before, I'm certain I heard them, but they were gone now…
…And they sounded as if they were actually coming from right on the other side of this door-
With a hard thwack, I was smacked from the bathroom door and somewhere in the middle of the facilities. Pains from my backside joined in with those from the impact of marble on stomach and coalesced throughout my body. A strained gasp for air escaped me in small proportions, pleading for release as the collision left most of my body tight and aching. Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed a group of three rather tall students, with Mark as the group leader, standing in the threshold of the door- blocking the entrance…and my exit.
No words were said then. With a snap of his fingers, Mark's friends stood watch over the doors, the one furthest right allowing the door to slide past him before he posted himself in line with the duo. Mark, now knowing we were alone, smiled iniquitously as he casually walked over to me and picked me up by the collar.
I screamed, if only slightly, fearing the impact of fists on flesh would be next. After a few seconds, I felt nothing, so I opened my eyes to see a glossy, baby blue pair gawking back at me. The sudden change in perspective shocked me, as I could feel my feet dangling high in the air from Mark's amazingly long reach. Mark began speaking immediately as he caught my gaze.
"Hey Double Brains." He said. I gave no reply, my eyes desperately begging to be itched to alleviate the swollen red sacs beneath them.
Mark scoffed. "Hmph. Not speakin', eh?" His grip got much tighter around my collar- my own grasp held firm against his bony wrists.
"Fine. I'll cut to the chase then." He said. "Where's Kevin?"
I honestly had no correct answer to the question, even if I tried to give him one, but my mind was so flustered all I could think to say was, "I wouldn't know…"
"You wouldn't huh?" His eyes traced over mine, finally noticing the lines of drying tears and the swollen sacs underneath my eyes. "Take it you didn't like Vinny's gift?"
My gaze faltered as I started looking in every direction but Mark and the others.
"You gotta excuse Vinny, Edd. You see, he really did mean well…Trying to send a… 'message' if you will…" The warning bell for second period rang, and I somehow felt safe. Of course, this wasn't the case right now.
Six more hours…
Mark waited a while before speaking again; letting the implications of his words sink in with me.
"Well listen up, queer." I felt the perspiration as he literally spat the term. "Kevin ain't gay, and he doesn't need to be hangin' around a little pansy like you. So stay the fuck away from him, got it? The bet's over!"
It was all I could withstand not to submit fully to Mark and his derogatory terms towards me. I was one hundred percent on board with just melting into the threads of high school again and returning to a life where I wasn't the blunt of some jocks inhumane idea of a "joke". If it meant the pain and the hurt would go away with it, so be it. Take it and Kevin both- I could honestly care less where it goes from there -because, at that point, it wouldn't concern me in the least bit.
"…Unless you want more letters like that one, you'll stay away from our Captain!" He threw me down onto the floors again once he was finished, and more pain joined in with the ones from my aching back and stomach.
Surprisingly, I swear I thought I'd run dry by now, my eyes conjured up a few more tears, hanging by mere seconds on my eyelids.
"Aw, is he seriously still gonna cry?!" One boy asked from the doors. "Listen, kid. You really should have expected this."
"Yea!" the second chimed in. "You mean nothing to him, alright? You were just a bet. A ten dollar bet at that!"
Mark finished up my verbal beating then. "Quit while you're still in one piece, Edd. Just go back to being that quiet little nerdy kid that no one cares about. Better that than everyone on campus calling you a sissy, or a queer or a—"
I'd had enough. "Okay! Okay!" I screamed, louder than I thought myself capable of. "I accept your terms! I oblige!" Mark and his trio of friends grew shocked, wide-eyed faces. "Just leave me be! I won't bother you or Kevin or anyone else again. I apologize!"
Without noticing, I stood myself upright. My voice got more shrill and each word began coming out louder than the next.
"I've never once given you insensitive drudges the okay to demean me by making me believe I was something Kevin would venture for! Nor have I ever given you permission to abuse me and harass me like you have!
Mark's eyebrows met at an angered peak and he stepped forward. My words however, caught him almost immediately.
"As if it wasn't enough of you to just leave everything where it was and trust that I'd do the same, you attack me in the murky confines of this school's lavatory and force me into submission with your painful words and your spineless forebodings! I wanted to die from this experience cease living and be happy with the fact that I no longer had existence! You all did this to me and I've had it! Accept it as thr truth when I say that you nor Kevin will ever have to hear or see any of me ever again!"
I slung my carryall bag firmly back onto my more-than-likely bruised shoulder and pushed past Mark, the first obstacle in place for me, and into the 3-man crowd that was his teammates.
As soon as I thought I'd actually be permitted to leave the interrogating scene and head back into the hallway, I heard a charging grunt from behind, and promptly felt that blunt force of a punch to the back of the head. Needless to say, but I was rendered unconscious almost immediately.
I'm not sure when I woke up after that, but the first sight I saw actually made me… smile? It took me a minute or two to assess my situation, but once I took note of the silken white fabrics of the Nurse's Office, I looked up over my head to see a sight that oddly made me happier than I'd been for a long time...
And I find that to be one of the worst cases of irony because… looming over me like some sort of ginger haired angel- was Kevin...