DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE SHOW.
As for the people that wanted to know where I was, I was EXTREMELY sick. I had to be hospitalized for a week and I was getting over endmia, and I still am getting over it. I'll finally be able to go to school the seventh, and we'll see where it goes from there.
Time for the story!
Austin's POV:
It was now lunch time. I had clutched onto the back of Niall's shoulder so I could guide him easily through the crowded hallways. I felt a little bad, Niall had to take the hit for people bumping into him, but I was shielded by him, having no distractions to take me off course.
"Um, Austin, when are we going to be at the mess hall?" Niall asked, jumping a little bit to try to get a view of the place that his nose picked up.
"Just go with the flow, and you'll get your food." I mandated. Once we arrived at the jungle gym of a room, I draped my arm loosely around Niall's shoulders and laughed at his jovial expression that he conveyed.
Today, the meal was ravioli. I licked my lips hungrily and unintentionally dashed past Niall and into the lunch line. Realizing what I had done, I slowed my pace and let my cousin catch up to me.
"So where do you usually sit?" he asked me, mimicking my gestures and grabbing a royal blue lunch tray.
"I sit with the rest of the football team and the cheerleaders, but I advise you to not listen to any of the except for my friend, Dez. The others are self-absorbed assholes." I advocated while setting a milk carton and a small portion of green peas on my tray.
"Then why do you sit with them if they're mean?"
Giving a small chuckle under my breath as the lunch lady scooped a serving of ravioli and dropped it on my tray, I bit my tongue and responded, "I actually don't know why I do." We exited the line and walk over to the plastic untensils dispenser.
He scrunched his eyebrows together and sat next to me at the table. "Does Ally sit at this table?"
My eyes enlarged as a few of the guys on the team looked at us questionly. "No..." I replied. "She's not cheerleader."
"Ally Miller? She's a cheerleader, she's right here." Emily McClanahan interjected, pointing to the girl next to her who was waving her hand lightly.
"He's talking about Ally Dawson." I pressed my lips together in a thin line and gave a small smile.
She laughed cruely and said, "What did the bitch want? And why would he know about her? She's a nobody, a nerd."
Niall looked at me, perplexed, and shook his head. "What do you mean? Austin..." But he didn't get to finish his sentence, for I had thwacked my hand on top of his mouth and excused myself by saying that we had encountered this morning, but I had dumped my diet soda on her.
"He likes to tell a different version of the story that's not true." I lied. Now, I'm going to have to explain to Niall what Ally thinks of me. What would he say? He hates it when people lie to him!
He looked at me permeditately and I knew what was going to happen. I took my hand off of his mouth and sheepishly set it on my lap.
"Austin," he started. "Could I have a word with you?" He stood up and walked over to the outside of the bathroom door. He motioned for me to follow him so I did as he said.
"Who does your cousin think he is? The principal?" Bryan commented, high giving Kellen and Mark, who were laughing to boost Bryan's self-esteem. There was nothing comical about that joke, it's not even good enough to be considered a joke.
Shoving my fists in my pockets, I stood up and walked to where Niall was standing. "So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked sheepishly.
He gave me a pointed look and pestured, "You know what we're going to talk about: what is everybody saying when they say that Ally's a nobody and they should torture her? And why did you say that you bullied her when you didn't?" Nancy Drew, I'm telling you.
"Well..." I stretched out in a high-pitched tone. "This is kind of a long story: you see, when I was in fourth grade, I developed a crush on Ally."
"I don't want your fucking life story, I want to know why the hell are you bullying Ally if you have a crush on her!" He whispered maliciously. I could see his applebottom bopping up and down and the blood in his face was building up. Niall has had a thing where he always treats the girl with respect, which is good, but he hates the guy that doesn't treat her with that respect. Great, now he's going to kick my ass. He may be short, but when he wants to, he can be as scary as hell. He's protective, and I'm not protected.
I braced myself for the lectures that he was bound to give me. He opened the door to the private band room and gave me a slight push that directed me towards the inside of the room. He closed the threshold, crossed his arms, and spread his feet apart.
It must've been minutes that past silently. Niall just stood there, looking at me and shaking his head disapprovingly.
"Aren't you going to give me a lecture or something?" I asked impatiently. I crossed my arms as well and shrugged disppapprovingly.
Suddenly, I my vision blanked white. My head quickly churned to the side and there was a sharp stinging sensation surging through the left side of my jaw. My eyes clenched closed, but I was still squinting arduously. My hands were holding the spot that was now dripping of blood. I staggered backwards a few steps until I was able to regain alignment. My jaw hurt unbelieveably, so a short whimper escaped from my throat.
I looked up to see Niall standing directly in front of me. His fists were pressed together tightly, the skin being pale white with red knuckles. He...he punched me. I knew that I deserved a punishment of some sort, but I never thought it would be so extreme.
"What the hell was that for?" I yelled, wincing at the use of my jaw that was still in great pain.
"What the hell was bullying Ally for? I thought you liked her, at least, that's what you told me. Austin, I can't believe you, my own cousin. It makes sense now why you're sitting with those people at lunch, because you're a jerk, just like them! Why were you lieing to me? I know you were, so don't even bother trying to hide it. I thought that you were better person than this. I never thought that here you were some asshole that only cares about his reputation." He shouted. He turned around to leave, but I had to stop him. He has no right to judge me so quickly. He only knows half of the story!
"But I'm not one of those guys! That's just an act that I have to put up! I do care about Ally, I care for her more than you can ever think. She is the best person that I have ever met and I have been trying for about week now to seem like less of a dick to her. I actually got advice on how to do exactly that from a cop that had pulled me over. All I want is to have a genuine smile from her, directede towards me. She has such a beautiful smile, and because of me she has to fake it. I'm trying, man, I'm trying! She means the world to me, and I know that I've screwed up, but I'm trying to fix that! I'm trying to become a better person, and I'm trying to love her right, just like she deserves. Niall, she means the world to me, and I would take a bullet straight through my heart if it would save her. Don't you know how hard this is on me?" I cried out. I threw my arms in the air and prayed that Niall would give me just one more chance.
"Did you ever think abut how hard this is on Ally?" Niall spun around on his heels and trudged towards to whe I was standing. He bit the inside of his cheek hard, and I could tell that he was refraining from doing something that he would regret for a long period of time. "She has to put up through all the shit that you're putting her through, just because you can't make a good decision about how to express your feelings towards her. And because of that, she's hated and doesn't have any friends! I don't think I've ever seen anyone act like such an asshole in my life! I'm disappointed in you, Austin, my own cousin." Venom poured out of his words and every syllable was pushing me down to the ground. He walk backwards slowly and opened the door gingerly. He muttered, "Come talk to me when you've got your life figured out." then left me alone, drowning me into the deathly silence of my thoughts racing.
Alex's POV:
"Okay, class, line up to go to lunch." Mrs. Aron instrcuted. The entire class shot up from their seats and raced to be the first student in line. Honestly, I don't see the point of being the first one there, it's not like the cafeteria is going to walk away.
I bent down and grabbed my lunch box. It was an Avengers theme with Thor and the Hulk on the top cover and on the back was Captain America and Wolverine posing.
I walked subconsciously to the near back of the line. Just like Ally, I didn't like much attention, but it wasn't as severe as she has it.
Bringing me out of my routineal walk to the mess hall, I felt a sharp tap on my shoulder. My eyes bulged and fear became my main emotion. Why would somebody be wanting to talk to me? I'm not popular, I'm not someone that you go to for an opinion. I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was Casey. Quickly looking away, I hightened my pace and speed-walked into the cafeteria, not caring about the students who were yelling at me for cutting their place in line.
I immediately sat at the end of the table so I could be the first one to leave to go to recess. As usual, nobody sat near me. By now, I was used to it, but I still get lonely. I ate my peanut butter and honey sandwich in silence, eating slower than usual. In between bites, I would look over to see Casey staring at me with no expression. I've caught him staring five times already, and I'm becoming paranoid. Why was he looking at me? Do I have something on my face? Am I chewing weird?
I checked my shirt and wiped my mouth, but there was no stain, and there was no food lingering there.
Once the lunch lady dismissed our table for afternoon recess, I threw my food away and ducked my head, rushing past the other students who were ecstatic to play basketball with the new ball that our gym teacher bought. As for me, I smiled lightly and galloped over to the swing set. There were only two swings, so I was happy that nobody else had beat me to them. I sat down on the rubber seat, buckled my hands around the two cold chains, and began kicking my feet...
...but was quickly interrupted by a pair of large hands pushing me off of the swing and onto the thin grass.
"Dawson," a voice barked. "We wanna talk to you." I felt a shoe lightly kick the lower side of my back.
Looking up from the ground, I craned my neck and saw Casey and his group of friends staring down at me. I positioned my feet together and quickly pushed myself off of the ground.
What did they want? Didn't this morning teach Casey and his peers a lesson? Speaking of that, I can see a wicked bruise forming on his jaw. I did that? That is so cool! Maybe I could become a wrestler someday. And they would call me, "Best-x Alex." Wait, I'm getting off-topic.
"What do you want, Casey?" I growled, biting my tongue to find zen in this predicament.
Casey stepped towards me and buried his hands in his jean pockets. He squinted at me, but he wasn't glaring. He's going to hit me again, it seems like it. He's mad at me for punching him this morning, and he wants to make sure he's the one with the power. "That was pretty awesome, what you did to my jaw." He complimented. "In fact, it was really awesome."
Why hasn't he humiliated me already? "Where are you going with this?" I asked shakily. I wasn't mad or annoyed, I was scared. But I couldn't let my guard down, because once I did, he would strike.
The kid next to Casey, who's name was Coleman, stepped up next to Casey and tilted his head. "Since Casey's getting suspended, we need a new him. Temporarily, I mean. And since your the one who managed to get him suspended, we talked it over and decided that you would be the new Casey." Coleman pulled down the sleeves on his mustard yellow sweater and jammed his thumbs into his pockets.
"You got guts, kid," Casey added. "And after I come back, we want you to be one of us, permanently. What do you say?"
What do I say? What do I say? These people have bullied me since the second grade, and now there asking me to become one of them. They would become my...friends, something I've never really had. They would laugh at my lame jokes, they would pick me up when I fall down, but that's all of the good things. If I become one of the, then I would have to bully other kids that don't deserve to be bullied. I can't become one of them, but if I go with that decision, then they would bully me even more than they already have. I can't risk it, but I have to do what's right.
"Fine," I decided. "I'll do it."
Casey grew a smug smile along with the rest of his group. "Welcome to the gang, Dawson."
A/N: Did I shock any of you at the ending there? I hope I did...
Guess what? I got a writer's thesaurus for Christmas, and a keyboard! I'm so excited! Music and writing, two of my favorite things!
Responses to Reviews:
lamafluffyllama- OOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKAAAAAA AAAYYYYYY! Done.
Alaina n- Oh my gosh that is so awesome! That means so much to me, genuinely, that you brag about these! It gives me something new to smile about!
Raelyn723- And I read your story right after you reviewed! It's pretty good!
lizard- I was telling lies about what I was eating. I would go without a crumb of food and a sip of water for at least two days time. I was dehydrated and my body was failing. I couldn't move, I could barely blink. It took all of my strength to just take three steps, then I collapsed.
Question: What was that one present for Christmas (or Hannakuh) that you knew you were going to get?
Quote By Me: "Each of us are as simple as a 3x3 puzzle and as complicated as 10,000 piece puzzle. But how can you solve a puzzle if you don't even bother to see which pieces go where?"
That One Moment: When you're acting like you're superior one second, then you're scared the next. Happens in an instant.
And that's all! Until my next update...
BYE!
