Change of a long day
Part 1
It was an important day. Not just for the players of the famed American football, but those who were the fans of it. And evidently, there were a lot of fans in the Elmore junior high. Mainly because it was the finale of the championship. Even those who didn't care for the game were excited.
It was the first time that their school had made it this far. And with the recent events and Franklin's rising aggression and bullying, the tension and hopes of victory were rising each passing minute. If they pull a victory, that could potentially end Franklin's harassment towards them. The school itself had come to life. For Neal especially, it was a very awkward toilet break when the bathroom stall started speaking in a squeaky voice.
Seriously, was everything and everyone sentient here? He began to dislike it. Everything all of a sudden could pop to life. His pencil. His jacket. Even his glasses. It would be nice to know the reason as why that is.
And as the only human in the school wasn't feeling the rising fighting spirit of the event, others were embracing it. Many of the students even wore something blue in theme of their team's color. A blue shirt, a blue cap, blue shoes.
"This thing is going out of hand." Gumball said to the orange fish as he closed his locker. "I saw a dude wearing blue underwear."
"Maybe he forgot to pull up his pants?" Darwin suggested innocently.
"He wasn't wearing any." Even though majority of people in Elmore didn't even wear any clothes, it was still kind of gross. "Anyways, who's driving us to the stadium? Mom?" Gumball asked as they trekked down the hall to their class.
Darwin shook his head, "No, she said she will be working late."
"Then dad is driving us there. Which basically means-" Gumball began with a widening, knowing smile.
"We're going to be unsupervised!" They shouted in victorious union.
"Yes! I'll be able to gorge on as much soda and hotdogs as I want!" Gumball then scratched his chin in thought, "Then again, dad will probably devour all the stadium snacks before the ball gets kicked. Meh, whatever, I'm in this for Penny."
"And I won't have to worry about Carrie doing something weird and get the talk from !" Darwin cheered at the missed chance that shouldn't happen just yet. Maybe in the future.
Gumball raised his eyebrows in question, "What are you talking about?"
"You know. When you're dating someone that your parents don't really agree with you dating, and you come back home and they say 'You're not still seeing that ghost girl, are you?' Yeah, that."
"Dude, mom would never say that." Gumball replied as if stating a hard-set fact.
"Yeah, not yet. They haven't met properly and I'm kinda worried about the outcome, knowing how Carrie can be sometimes."
"Oh just relax already. Everything will turn out fine." The two brothers had actually arrived to the class earlier than usual. Normally, they would need to sprint. Even then, they would make it only by a nick of time. And that happened almost every class. It seemed that the excitement had seeped into them too.
Gumball spent his time by doodling a colorful picture of Penny with a cheerleading outfit, kissing him on the cheek. Oh how he wished that the drawing would turn into reality. Perhaps it will, tonight. If he gets the chance to meet up with her after the game. "I can't wait for tonight." He sighed dreamily as he set the pencil down and admired his handiwork.
"And we'll have plenty of time too, since the classes are shortened." Darwin pointed out cheerfully. TV and games until evening, then a date with Carrie in the stadium and after that, the weekend. The timing couldn't be more perfect. It was like a mini holiday.
"Gumball! That's a very nice drawing!" Sarah said on the way to her seat.
"Thanks! I didn't even try." Gumball responded with a small flare of his ego.
Sarah was holding her books notes, and from them, she took out one sheath of paper, "This is what I drew today." She showed it to Gumball. It was a very detailed drawing of one of the Elmore Duck's members, holding Penny in a bridal carry.
"...that's very nice." Gumball finally said after close inspection. There was small amount of jealousy in his voice. "But you know, you could've chosen somebody else for that position. Just saying."
Sarah took a step back with a shocked gasp, "Oh, does Penny know?"
"What are talk about?" Gumball asked and immediately realized what she meant and that she misunderstood him. "What! No, not me! I mean…whatever."
Tobias had leaned over his desk to interject and save them from the awkwardness that is Sarah's real life shipping, "Hey, you guys coming to the game tonight?"
"Of course. Elmore number one…yay." Gumball cheered quietly. Neither Darwin nor Gumball really showed much enthusiasm for football, or sports in general. They were going to go there just because of their respective loved ones. But neither Tobias nor the rest of the class needed to know that.
Tobias switched his attention to the girl sitting, or rather, floating at the other table next to his. "What about you, girl? Will I see you there?" He wiggled his eyebrows flirtatiously, and Carrie rolled her eyes.
It was best to shut him down right there with no mercy. "I'm going because Darwin invited me." She replied with a smug smile and Tobias backed off with a disappointed frown. Her smile turned to a grin of comical evil after, "And to see some carnage! I heard Franklin has gotten brutal this year, they put nine players to hospital in the semi finals."
The were joined by Bobert, who heard them talking about them. "The scariest of them all is said to be the Fever's big brother, Virus. He's responsible for taking down five players alone. Best offensive player in their history."
"Are we still talking football, or a mob fight?" Tobias asked Gumball who shrugged in response, "Aren't they one and the same?"
Sarah perked up at the mention of that particular player, Virus. "Oh yeah, I even drew fanart of him too! Paired him up with one of our own players. Look!" She took out another drawing and showed to the gathered kids.
All the guys immediately turned away with their eyes closed, even Carrie. "Oh come on, Sarah! If we wanted to see something like that, we'd go on ElmoreArt." Gumball shouted in distress and everyone shared a laugh.
It seemed that everyone, the entire class was buzzing with activity. All for one, brooding individual at the corner of the class, hidden from the sight of others by Tina's massive body and her cast shadow. Sitting like a statue, unmoving and unblinking, head propped on his hand. He had a lot on his mind, even though he downed half of his calming substance. Was it really worth it? Staying like this? Dazed and docile, so that everyone...
The bell had rung. And with it, came the ever so excruciating math. Neal stared at his notebook, not writing down anything. It seemed that he was forgettable even to Miss Simian, who took joy in mentally abusing kids.
Neal had to lean for quite a bit to see the board, but that wasn't his intention. He wanted to see if Teri had returned to class. Her seat was still empty. Before class, he heard her announce that she was having some hard to pronounce sickness. And after she left for the nurses office, she hasn't returned. This wasn't the first time that happened, but now it was taking her longer than usual to return. And that worried Neal more than he liked to admit.
After the bell had rung. Everyone filed out of class, the human included. Having nothing better to do, he went to see if the paper girl was okay. It seemed that no one else really cared about her. Which was surprising, considering that she was part of the cheerleading team that will have to perform tonight.
Thankfully, Neal found Teri by her locker. Breathing a sigh of relief, he went to say hello. And he had to stop immediately and hide behind a much bigger student -who was a concrete building block on legs- because he spotted the stick figure with a bomb for the head and classical clothing. Julius, and his buddies again. Neal wasn't exactly in the mood of getting humiliated in front of his crush, so he just hid behind the stone block kid who was giving him weird looks and hoped that they will just carry on with their business without spotting him.
Him and his friends were heading towards Teri. With rising suspicion, he observed them closely. If they were going to do what he thought they will..
And his dreadful suspicion was confirmed. When the girl turned to leave from the locker with books in her hands, they had showed her on the ground. Considering her non-existent weight and the weight of the books, she didn't even get the chance to balance herself, falling right on her face.
A spike of anger immediately pierced Neal's heart. Just as it came, it immediately washed away. Of course, the potion was still in effect. As the cackling group of jerks left, Neal stood up from behind the student and awkwardly thanked him. A snort and the use of his nickname was thrown at Neal like an insult as the stone kid left.
Now came the sad part. Helping her up and keeping his mouth shut that he did nothing even though he wanted to.
And as always, a roadblock presented itself in a form of his roommate Alan. He popped up so suddenly in front of him too. How do these people even manage that? "I saw you being all moody today! Let's go get some fresh air." Alan began dragging him off with the string wrapped around Neal's arm.
"W-wait, I need to…" Neal looked back where the paper girl was, but that spot was empty now. "help her…" He finished with a heavily disappointed sigh.
The weather outside was beautiful. Warm, not a single cloud outside, with a pleasant breeze gently moving the leaves of the trees that surrounded the playground.
Alan's smile was as bright as the sun. Literally shining like the sun. Neal had to avert his eyes from the brutal light. It seems that people here really do not bend to laws of physics and biology. "I take it you're happy about something." Neal said with his head turned the other way.
"Oh yes. Today is just a perfect day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and there's happiness in the air." Alan worded out each reason with a whimsical tune in his voice. "How could I not be happy? To top it all off, weekend is here! How amazing is that?"
"Yeah, completely…" What was the word he was looking for here? Oh right. "Spectacular."
"Are you okay? You seem a little out of it." Alan said with a bit of concern. His roommate usually smiled more, but now, he had a neutral look, almost constantly.
Well at least Alan dropped that shining smile. It was starting to upset the human. "I'm decent." Neal said without glancing at him.
"Riiiiight." Alan stretched his reply as if not believing him. "Mom said that we all should go to the football final today. You know, as a family." Alan glanced at him with an innocent grin, "And as far as I can see it, you are part of our family."
And this is where it got uncomfortable for Neal. Needing a quick change of topic, he suddenly sprung to life. "Mmh, cool. Hey look!" Neal suddenly pointed into the sky, right at the biggest student in the entire school, Hector. "Why don't we go and say hello to your friend?"
With a jolt of electrify, Alan seemed to become even more alive at Neal's sudden proposal. "He's also your friend too! And that's a brilliant idea, buddy."
"Hahaa! Yeah…" Neal responded with an overexaggerated laugh. Fake. All fake. His smile, his laugh, his energy, his attitude. Again, this nasty change of perspective occurred. Again, the effect has gotten weaker.
They only needed to walk five meters before reaching Hector. Usual 'hello's' were exchanged. Talks about homework, games, after school activities happened.
And as the friends chatted amongst themselves, Neal stayed more silent than he usually was and instead was turning his head around like looking for someone. Strange. Usually at this time, Julius and his buddies would be somewhere close by and throwing insults at him. That or throwing him around.
Of course he couldn't blame anyone else but himself. His own potion made him dumb, constantly relaxed and happy. So relaxed that he outright ignored Julius actions and just carried on like nothing was wrong.
The realization washed over him like a cold, crashing wave. He was pushed around, humiliated, other students laughed at him. He displayed weakness, that he was easy to take advantage of, due to his own clouded mind. And because of that, he wasn't able to be blend in with the others and carry on with his school life calmly. It was his own potion that made him so stupid and dense.
Fishing around in the inner pocket of his jacket, he took out the accursed substance container. Few milligrams of blue happy juice and all the worries go away? Lies. They're there, and getting worse.
He looked at the vial in his hand. At first, he consumed it solely for the purpose to keep himself from acting like a jerk. But the more they pushed him, the more his reasons changed. He only consumed it now for the sole purpose of restraining himself from lashing out. He wanted to turn over a new leaf ever since coming here. To forget the days when with tears in his eyes, he threw kicks and fists at those who were hurting him.
And now, everyone knew him as a weakling who can't even defend himself, one who will be their damn footstool at the beck of call. Even the nickname, it wasn't because of some trait he possessed, it was because it was demeaning. Not only that, but Julius, likely because of Neal, set his sights on Teri as well.
That thought made him make up his mind. It was enough of playing around. His need to stay calm with a tight clamp on his mouth wasn't worth getting laughed at and humiliated constantly. He had enough of being good. If they use it against him, he'll be evil. He tried to be nice with these people, but all that earned him was a city wide ridicule. So he will ridicule them back. They didn't deserve 'Good', and they spat out 'Nice' right back in his face.
He had already hit rock bottom in terms of everything. And now he planned on sinking lower, but not as a tool for everyone's amusement. This damned town will crush him no more. "Eye for an eye and I will make the world go blind.."
Neal stood up, walked for a few feet and chucked the vial with all of his strength into the air. It sailed across the sparsely clouded sky and fell somewhere behind the street.
"What…what was that?" Alan asked out of surprised curiosity. That was sudden, what did he throw?
"Something that I should have done ever since coming here." Neal wore a neutral expression, seemingly carved from stone itself. His face didn't show it, but he was turmoil of mixed emotions, the dominant one being irritation. Knowing that it will only grow the more his head clears, made things all the better. Now it was time to solve this problem that he had. He looked at the time on his phone. One more class before school is out. Perfect.
Neal bit the pencil and moved his leg up and down impatiently. The unpleasant thoughts and encounters swirled in his head, he dissected and re-constructed them. He re-evaluated the entire class. All the people and students he has met so far. All of them sucked. Well, maybe not all of them. Alan, no matter how cold and distant Neal acted towards him and his family, constantly treated him like a friend. He was worth sticking to no matter what.
Teri? Neal was pretty sure she was the only one besides Alan who helped him out without ridiculing him. She was kind, protective girl whom made his heart flutter. Ignoring the rising heat on his cheeks, he leaned to the side to check on her. There she was, sitting in her desk, quietly taking notes. Adorable as always.
And then there were others. People who stood there, and did nothing. Cowards.
He looked at the clock, it was moving so slow. Everything now moved so slow for him. And that irritated him. His classmates mannerisms irritated him. And the thoughts, him getting pushed around, humiliated, just made the irritation grow into anger.
He was clenching the pencil in his hand so tightly, that his hand turned pale. Not a second later, a loud crack came from his hand as his grip turned it to splinters. At the same time, the school bell rang, so no one had heard the loud snap.
Neal was out of the classroom in a heartbeat. He didn't even take his school bag.
Masami, seeing her favorite tool so full of energy, quickly cut off his path. "Oh Neal~ I need some help carrying my bag, can you-"
"Haul it yourself, princess wannabe." He responded without missing a pause and pushed past her.
Masami was taken aback. Maybe she misheard him. "What was that?" She asked, clearly being offended. Neal said something back, but over the clutter of the hallway, it was inaudible.
Neal stormed into the upper-classroom like he owned the place. He grabbed the first guy by the shirt and pulled him down to his eye level. "Where can I find Julius and his entroponage of nobodies?"
"I...ugh…"
"I don't have all day! Tell me already!" He spat impatiently and shook him by the shirt.
"Behind school. They always hang out behind school!"
Neal released his shirt and made his way out of the classroom, leaving a bunch of students confused.
With shaky hands and fingers, Neal scratched his knuckles as he strode down the hallways. Head hanging low, his focus directed on this annoying itch. Those tiny scars were acting up again. Or maybe this itch was in his mind?
So absorbed in his little distraction before the confrontation, that he didn't see where he was going. All of a sudden, he felt his shoulder bump something.
A cardboard box feel on the ground, a single, coin shaped medallion fell out of it. Neal glanced at the owner of the items, a gothic ghost girl, and what seemed to be her friend, the fish on legs. His classmates. Both were staring at him with displeased looks. No, what truly caught his attention was the medallion that told him to go straight to hell. Right, anything could be alive in this strange town.
Still having not forgotten his manners, he picked up the box and the medallion, the latter of whom suddenly went quiet when Neal grabbed him off the ground. That didn't last long as he showed it back in the box. "Hey, handle me with care, Plague!" The cardboard lid was shut tight and handed back to Carrie.
"Noisy bastard." Neal thought with detest lacing his mind. "Next time, don't bring your pets to school." He growled under his breath and went towards his goal.
"What's his problem?" Carrie asked Darwin while following the human boy with clearly upset look. Her boyfriend just shrugged in response and said, "Too much pudding?"
Neal peeked around the corner of the school. A blocked off alleyway with a fence at the end. No escape. Perfect. And smack dab in the middle, stood his targets. A big, pink, pushy bear. A rat in jeans and a hoodie. Lastly, the stick figure with old button shorts, shoes, gloves and a bomb for a head. Neal couldn't quite make it out what they were doing because all of them were gathered in a circle. There were tiny flashes of light coming from their circle, as if tiny candles were being lit.
Only after the rat backed off with his glove set on fire did Neal finally caught on. They were burning bugs. Gross. Regardless, standing there and observing won't do him any good. The goal was already set in stone and it was time to carry it out.
Burning bugs wasn't exactly the top tier entertainment, but it was the best they could come up with for now. Especially now, when all of their hang out spots have been claimed by Franklin goons.
"Ey, Julius." Mowdown grunted after squashing another bug and wiping it off on Scar's hoodie. "When are we getting back our hideout?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Julius angrily spat on the ground and set another bug on fire with his lighter. Their pride was hurting. His pride was hurting. Those damned Franklin's took their favorite hang out spots, and now they kicked them out of their own hideout. So now they resorted to hanging around the school, the only place in the entire Elmore where Franklin's goons haven't appeared, yet. To make things even more sour, if they so much as showed their faces around the stadium of the Franklin school, pretty much every student would jump them. So no football finale for them. He swore to get back at those idiots one day. Question was, how? After all, they were outnumbered three to whole school.
Julius put away the lighter and sat back with an angry sigh. The nasty, burnt bug smell was getting annoying. Almost as annoying as the slow clapping that was coming closer. Wait, slow clapping?
All three of them turned their heads around. From the schoolyard, walking towards them was Pudding. He stopped short few feet away from them and stopped clapping. "So you downgraded from kids to bugs. Making progress I see."
Julius and his friends shared looks of confusion amongst themselves. They didn't say anything at first, just stood up and waited to see what did this useless idiot wanted.
"What, no warm greetings for your 'friend'?" Neal asked in dramatically hurt voice.
"What do you want, trash bag?" Julius sneered angrily. He wasn't in the mood to play around.
"What I want, is for you to bug off. Ha! Get it?" Stern faces and angry glares. Right, no one jokes around in situations like these. Clearing his throat again, Neal tried again. "I want you to stop bothering me. Easy request, is it not?"
All three of them laughed. Through the hearty laugh, Mowdown managed to choke out, "Awh, would you look at that. Little Puddin' is getting angry. Go take a nap, kid."
"I will, if you piss off from me." Neal stubbornly stood his ground. No going back now.
"And if we don't, what then?" Scar asked with a croaky, growling voice that didn't fit the kid his size.
Neal didn't respond at first. Was it really worth it? Getting in trouble with these guys? They probably will bully him more if he doesn't. And Teri, they will go for her next. He saw the proof today. Yeah, it's worth it. "I will force you to stop. Easy as that."
Now that piqued the leaders interest in a bad way. His smile dropped almost immediately. Was Pudding, the same loser who got turned into a joke by everyone, threatening him? Of all the students, him? Julius came closer to Neal, his posture changed into one of aggression, "Are you now? Whatcha going to do about it, eh? Pudding?" He asked in a threateningly low tone.
In the end, it had come to this. "So be it." He quietly said. Neal clenched his fist and gritted his teeth out of sheer anger. Glare cold as steel and devoid of any light cut through their group like butter. "I will break you."
-End of chapter 10, part 1-
Authors note: Alright boys and girls, hold on to your panties, time for a rating change.