Chapter Two
Craig slumped in his desk as Mrs. Nelson did rollcall. Today was going to be a wait-for-school-to-end day, not a learn-stuff-and-hang-out-with-friends day.
Then again, he wasn't really looking forward to going home, either.
He wondered if he could get out of class if he said he needed to go to the nurse for a stomachache.
Token poked him and slid a note onto his desk. Tweek's jittery handwriting—Are you okay? You look sick. Followed by a worried-looking frowny face.
Craig grabbed a pencil, glanced up to make sure Mrs. Nelson wasn't watching him, then wrote, Just tired. Don't worry. As if not worrying was an option for Tweek. Craig added a heart on the end, to soften the blow of the impossible request. He passed it back to Token.
Mrs. Nelson cleared her throat. "Craig, class is starting. No passing notes."
"Fuck off," Craig said.
"Craig, you can't keep getting sent to my office every day, m'kay?"
"I wasn't sent here on Monday."
"See, that's the problem. You need to have a smart aleck answer to everything, and when you don't have one, you flip people off."
Craig didn't say anything.
"You can't tell your teacher to eff off, m'kay? Do you have a problem with Mrs. Nelson?"
"No," Craig said. She was infinitely better than Mr. Garrison, and she was nicer than Ms. Choksondik.
"So if you don't have a problem with someone, would you want to say mean things to them?"
"I guess not."
"That's right. Now we're getting somewhere. And yesterday, when you flipped off the principal—do you have a problem with him?"
"Yes," Craig said. "I hate him."
"M'kay," Mr. Mackey said, "hate is a strong word. Do—"
"I do hate him. Remember when he forced me and Tweek to talk about gross stuff and affirmative consent, and he wouldn't listen to us when we…" Craig stopped. When we said we're not gay was the end of that sentence… but that would sound stupid now.
"I hear what you're saying," Mr. Mackey said. "But sometimes you need to get along with people even if you don't like them. That's part of being mature and grown-up."
"Even if they're being a jerk and making you uncomfortable?"
"If someone's doing something that makes you uncomfortable, you need to talk to them about the problem, m'kay? You can't just flip them off. You don't have to like PC Principal, but he's the authority and you have to listen to him."
Craig looked at his shoes. "What if someone's making you uncomfortable, but you ask them about it and they don't see the problem? And they're not the principal. They're just… someone else."
Mr. Mackey leaned a little closer. "M'kay, you might need to be more specific."
"Like, they're doing something that makes you feel really, really bad. But when you ask them about it, they act like it's no big deal. They just… have an answer for everything, and it makes sense, but it doesn't make you feel less bad."
Mr. Mackey nodded. "If you don't see eye to eye on an issue with someone, and you can't reach an agreement, you may need to just agree to disagree."
Craig clenched his hands into sweaty fists. "But it makes you feel really bad. Like, so bad your stomach hurts."
"If the issue is that bad, and you already talked to the person about it… well, you might have to just step back from the relationship."
"Step back from the relationship?"
"That's right. If it's a friend, you might need to stop hanging out with them, or if it's a boyfriend—or, or it could be a girlfriend—you might break up with them, and so on. M'kay?"
"Okay," Craig said. "That makes sense. Thanks."
Craig felt a little dizzy for the rest of the school day. He had to tell Tweek that he was fine and nothing was wrong with him a million times. It didn't feel like a lie, since he didn't know how to explain his problem.
When Craig got home, he still felt like crap. He walked into his house and sighed.
Red Racer. Just one episode, because it was Wednesday.
He threw his backpack on the floor and went into the living room to watch. It was some mediocre episode he had seen too many times. It wasn't very much fun.
When it ended, he turned off the TV and stared at his reflection in the black screen for a moment. Everything was silent.
He turned the TV back on, to a random channel, so that he wouldn't have to see his reflection and he wouldn't have to move, either.
"Craig, don't leave your backpack on the floor," his mom said from the other room.
Craig sighed and jumped off the couch. Here we go.
He didn't really think about what he was doing as he dragged his backpack up to his room and began dumping out all his books and notebooks and crumpled worksheets. He opened his drawers and grabbed his favorite pants, his newest underwear, and his Cow Days 2021 T-shirt. He didn't have much room in his backpack, so he'd have to be selective.
That was probably enough clothes. What else did he have to bring? A toothbrush, his laptop, his favorite RC car, pajamas… no, he could just sleep in his clothes.
He threw the necessities that came to mind into the backpack. Stripe let out a low wheek.
"I haven't forgotten about you, calm down," Craig mumbled. He zipped up his backpack and reached into Stripe's cage. "Come on."
Stripe took a cautious step toward Craig's hands, but then stopped.
"Hurry up," Craig said. Dad wasn't going to be home for another hour. He had plenty of time. Probably. But still.
Screw it. He grabbed Stripe, who let out an annoyed grunt, and pulled him out of his cage. He placed him inside of his smaller carrying cage and latched the wire door shut.
He already had Stripe's food and treats in a paper bag next to his carrying cage, to make it easier to take him over to Tweek's house (he ended up staying with Craig most of the time). So that was everything.
He put on his backpack, picked up Stripe's cage in his arms, and grabbed the paper bag in one hand.
He left his room and looked down the stairs. His mom was playing with Tricia in the living room, near the front door, so tiptoed down the stairs and down the hall to the back door.
What was he doing?
He just couldn't stay in this house. He couldn't. It didn't feel right.
He opened the back door and slipped outside. He walked away, pausing just a second to flip off his house and everything inside it.
Craig got all the way to Tweek's house when he realized he didn't know why he was going to Tweek's house. He stopped on the sidewalk in front of the house and looked around him. He didn't want to be around his parents, but what would going to Tweek's even accomplish? It would be the first place his parents would look for him. They wouldn't even need to look for him, since Mr. and Mrs. Tweak would just tell them where Craig was. Craig didn't have any way to explain to the Tweaks why he was avoiding his parents, and he knew that any attempted explanation would mainly result in Tweek freaking the fuck out.
So… why was he there, again?
He ground his sneaker against the shovel and looked apprehensively at Tweek's house. The weight of the guinea pig cage in his arms and the overstuffed backpack on his back was starting to feel burdensome.
Should he just… go home? Keep walking? Sit down in a random gutter and wait until someone found him?
The door to Tweek's house opened. Mrs. Tweak waved to him. "Hello, Craig! Are you here to see Tweek?"
Uh… "Yeah," Craig said. "Is that okay?"
She smiled at him. "Of course. Come on in."
Craig followed her into the warm house. Everything smelled like coffee.
Mrs. Tweak leaned up the stairwell. "Tweek!"
Tweek screamed.
"Your boyfriend is here!" Mrs. Tweak finished, ignoring her son's hysteria.
Craig ran up the stairs. Tweek burst out of his room and stood in the hallway, twitching. "You asshole!" he said. "Why didn't you text me back?"
Tweek had texted him? Craig readjusted his grip on Stripe's cage. "Uh, I dunno."
"I thought you had gotten abducted! Or shot! Or trampled by cows!"
"Oh," Craig said. "Dude, you need to stop assuming that everyone outside of your line of sight is dead or dying."
"That's easy for you to say!"
"Okay, sorry," Craig said.
Tweek stopped his enraged shaking and took a breath. "Okay." He twitched. "You brought Stripe."
"Yeah."
"Do you want to play Minecraft?"
There wasn't a reason to say no. "Yeah," Craig said. "I have my laptop."
They went into Tweek's room. Craig sat on the floor next to Tweek's bed and got his laptop out of his backpack while Tweek sat at his desk and put his headset on. "I'm back," he said. "Craig's here now."
Craig logged onto the server and connected to the voice chat.
"We told you he wasn't dead," Clyde said.
"Hi, guys," Craig said. "What are we doing?"
"We're working on the carts outside the castle," Token said. "Bring your redstone."
"Okay, on my way," Craig said.
They played Minecraft for the next couple hours, as if nothing was wrong. Because nothing was wrong.
"Hey, can someone help me?" Clyde asked.
"Puh-please tell me you're not stuck in another hole," Jimmy said.
"I'm not stuck, I just don't have any ladders and it would just be faster if someone helped me."
"Stop getting stuck in holes," Craig said.
The bedroom door opened and Mrs. Tweak came in. "Hello, boys."
"Gah!" Tweek yanked his headset the rest of the way off. He only ever put it on covering one ear, to stop people from sneaking up on him, but it didn't work.
She ignored her son's alarm. "Craig, your mom called. She wants you home for dinner."
"Oh," Craig said. "Okay."
"You shouldn't leave home without telling your parents where you're going," Mrs. Tweak said. "Especially without bringing your cell phone."
"Yeah, I know," Craig said. "Gotta go, guys," he said into his headset.
"Okay, see you tomorrow," Token said.
They said goodbye and Craig shut down his laptop.
"See you later, Tweek," Craig said.
"So I'm taking Stripe for the next couple days?" Tweek asked.
That hadn't been the original plan, but Craig didn't have another explanation for why he had brought Stripe with him. "Yeah, if that's okay," Craig said.
"Of course it is," Tweek said, smiling, and Craig couldn't help but smile back.
"Bye, Stripe," Craig said, reaching into his cage to pet his nose one last time. Then he stuffed his laptop back into his backpack and headed out.
"Text me when you get home, okay?" Tweek called down the stairs after him, twitching.
Craig sighed. "Sure thing." He opened the Tweaks' front door and stepped outside.
So that was it. Running away from home had been a stupid idea, anyway.
He crunched across the snowy lawn, looking down at his boots.