Till I'm Gone


Sora Matasuki


Chapter Nine


"Why is it -" Hiro let out a grunt as he grumbled to himself in the relative darkness, "-that it's always PE?!"

The twelve year old glared at the front of the locker where the light from the slanted slats filtered in. It just had to be his luck that the athlete's lockers were big enough to fit him too. Hiro let out a frustrated sigh and took in a deep breath. The boy grimaced as the faint smell of sweaty socks and metal filled his nose, leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

With a groan, the twelve year old let his head hit the back of the metal box he was in, careful not to hit the hooks that were just above him. This was so stupid. Who got shoved into lockers? Oh wait. It was him. He was the idiot who thought high school would be better for his precious intellect. ...What a joke.

Hiro let his head hit the wall a few more times, a scowl on his face. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Everything was so stupid. Stupid smell, stupid space, stupid bullies, stupid him!

His pocket buzzed and Hiro flinched, torn between peeking at it or ignoring it. The taunting had escalated in the weeks of the social project, spreading from the now infamous video to infect his social page. Now, whenever his phone buzzed, he was unsure if it was Tomoko or one of his anonymous tormentors. His excitement for the project had waned, faded like an old t-shirt bleached by the sun.

Hiro took in another breath of metal and sweaty socks and grimaced again. He'd be stuck in here a while, might as well see if it was Tomoko or not.


Eve let out a sigh as she tossed her bag onto her bedroom floor, the books held within thudding loudly and making the tired senior wince at the noise. She hoped she didn't wake up the cranky neighbor in the next apartment down with that thump…

The eighteen year old shrugged and flopped onto her bed. She was too exhausted to care for what a cranky old man would say to her parents. It wasn't her fault that he was a light sleeper.

Just as Eve was going to drift off completely into her exhausted doze, a thought struck her. She hadn't talked to Gift yet!

The eighteen year old promptly rolled over onto her side and fell off the bed with a yelp. A searching hand reached up and felt around her dresser. Finding the object that felt most like her phone, the girl grabbed her original target and held it to her face, wincing at the brightness.

"Okay Gift… let's see how you're doing today…" she muttered once the blinding light had been dimmed to a manageable level, logging herself into her account.

Gift had just barely built up the courage to tell her a bit more about himself - within the bounds of the anonymity of course, she knew he wasn't telling her everything - but it was awesome to see how far they'd come from the beginning!

Where once it was an awkward one sided blast of talking on her part, was now hour long conversations! Sometimes, Eve wasn't able to even get a word in as Gift rambled on and on about a project he wanted to do. The eighteen year old loved every minute that her mysterious partner opened up to talk about things he was interested in!


Highcrest Tomoko - HT - joined chat at - 2:57 PM -


HT: Hey Gift!

Just wanted to pop in and say hello, since we haven't talked yet today!

HT: How are you? :D


OrdinaryGifted - OG - joined chat at -3:02 PM -


OG: Cab i just day

Ugh.

*can I just **SAY

OG: that I HATE school right now?

HT: D: oh no! What's wrong, Gift!? D: D:

OG: I just

I'm not

People are just

OG: I'm not having a good day, that's all. :/

HT: Oh no… :( I'm sorry, Gift. Do you want to talk about it?

OG: no… not really…

how are YOU, Tomoko?

Eve frowned at her phone, having rolled onto her stomach by now. Her legs idly went up and down as she thought about how cagey Gift was being today. Her eyes narrowed as she nibbled on her lower lip.

A thought struck her and she let her fingers fly across the screen as she typed her reply. Best to answer honestly with Gift.

HT: I had to go home early due to a doctor's appointment that got canceled XP but other than that I'm fine. :D

HT: But seriously, Gift

are you okay?

There was a long pause and Eve bit down harder on her lip, nearly drawing blood. C'mon Gift… please be okay… she begged in her mind.

The ping of her phone alerted her to his reply.

OG: Do you really want me to answer that?

HT: Of course! I'm your friend Gift! You can tell me anything if you're comfortable with it!

If you really don't want to say anything, I'll just drop it! You just tell me if you're uncomfortable! I'm just worried about you though… You don't seem very happy today.

OG: I'm not.

Eve felt her brow furrow as she tilted her head quizzically at her phone, despite knowing how Gift wouldn't see it.

HT: ….You're not happy?

Or are you not okay?

OG: Yes.

No.

I mean

both.

Ugh. I don't know okay? I'm just really pissed off and I hate the smell of sweaty socks.

Eve felt a bewildered laugh escape her lips. What did sweaty socks have to do with anything?

HT: Sweaty socks? What?

OG: They stink. Do ANY of these athletes wash their clothes during the weekend?!

Because if they do, their washing machines stink.

Pun intended.

Ugh.

I

hate

school.

Was… Gift still in school? Hadn't school gotten out already? Eve was confused.

HT: Gift, are you still in school? Like as in class?

OG: Yes and no. I'm not supposed to even be in here!

HT: What are you even doing?

OG: Picking a lock.

Eve choked on her spit.

HT: "Picking a lock"?! Gift what are you even doing!?

OG: Like I said

"picking a lock."

C'mon, Tomoko this isn't Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics.

HT: Why are you picking a lock!?

OG: Because someone decided it would be a good idea to shove me into one of the athlete's lockers.

And lock it.

I mean

I'm small

but - this shouldn't happen! On principle!

People can be such neanderthals sometimes.

no. not sometimes

It's ALL the time.

Have I mentioned that I utterly DESPISE highschool?

Eve stared at her phone in horror. Someone had shoved Gift into a locker and locked it?! But… but… her partner was such a nice person! Why would anyone do that?!

OG: HA! YES!

Foul fiend of the sweaty underworld

I have conquered thy prison, have at thee

and let me reclaim my freedom!

HT: You got out? That's great!

Now you can tell a teacher!

OG: What!?

No! I can't tell a teacher! That'll only make it worse!

HT: Trust me Gift, they can put a stop to people bullying you!

OG: No, Tomoko. Trust ME people like them, they WONT STOP just because a teacher told them not to! They'll find a way to make my life a living Hell on earth! It will NEVER STOP. Not until they graduate.

Or I do.

Whichever comes first.

Because believe me when I say this but

I could be out of here if I put my brains to it. I just

I want to stay with my brother. For a year at least. But…

that plan might just be doomed to failure because he's graduating and I…

I think

I gotta go.

HT: GIFT WAIT! What about your brother?

OG: I think he hates me OK?

OrdinaryGifted - OG - has left the chat at - 3:34 PM -

HT: Gift…

Highcrest Tomoko - HT - has left the chat at - 3:40 PM -

Eve let out a groan and flopped onto the floor, a frown on her face. She hated this anonymity thing they were doing. She couldn't hunt down Gift's brother and give him a stern talking to when she didn't even know Gift's name now could she?!

This project wasn't looking to be as fun as she thought it would. Not like she expected it to be butterflies and rainbows but still…

Poor Gift… what did his brother do to him?


AN: And we're back and ready for action! Sorry for the delay guys! My brain decided to impersonate Baymax with a low battery and I couldn't focus on finishing this chapter until today. (muses why are you so fickle?)

Anyways! HOLY CRAP GUYS! 30+ reviews on chapter 8? I'm blown away! Thank you so much! (I'm still not desensitized to mass feedback, can you tell lol)

BIIIIIIG thanks go tooooooooooooooo: waterlilly49, Esax12x, LizzyAnnG, DreamweaverAki, Guest(#1), Lost-Rememberance (Thanks so much for your encouraging words!), TheKreibae (hugs), TreasuredSanctum, Silverstream, MimosaWisteria, LadyWendy202, BlueD, themysteriousartist, ArianandXia, Highcrest Tomoko, Madness Shared, Guest (#2 and I'm glad you can relate, (sad you're able to too TTATT)), darknessprinces1990, Ellamena, HiroHamada14, wellthen44, Atariel Tsukai, Ajhappyfeet, Sabeloid, Weakness Hunter, Guest (#3 goodness there's a lot of you this chapter!), Big hero 6 lover, LordCameronAndtheFlamingPoops, Thalia Marie Grace, fandombunny, AwaitTheRise, TheShyShaow, jeasusfreak200, The-Shepherd's-Daughter (Indeed I am planning a recovery arc, it's just that this arc is needing a bit of building up before the crash… The arc is almost finished, I'll have you know…), Wheee, Guest (#4), Sketchy (*tosses a party hat and a huge box full of delicious desserts into your lap* *pulls a party popper and confettie goes flying* YAY for being depression free! You deserve a million hugs! *glomps*), Guest (#5), CrazyCartoonistOtaku, Wheee ( hello again! *repairs refresh button* be careful, we need that ;D), aaaaand psychedelicLights!

*falls over, fingers twitching*

*pops back up*

Seriously guys, I'm blown away by all your feedback! (still! I can barely believe it!) thanks so much! I love you all! *Sends out cake and party poppers alongside tissues if necessary and poofs out like a ninja*