Out There
Bren Eldrid Bera
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It was Sunday. Night. ~ I think ~
I had managed to roll over since I had last woken up. Now I was lying back down in the mud. It was raining. I was soaked. ~ Like I give a damn ~
I hurt. Whatever Wesley and his friends had done last night after I passed out must have been really bad. ~ This is not good ~ Sure, they had punched and kicked me a few times before...
~ But they were usually caught. Teachers, parents, whatever... they were always caught. They would have done to me a long time ago if they could have. I never realized how much Wesley really despised me... ~
I tried to move. I couldn't. Two things. The pain. The mud.
The pain burned. I felt like I was on fire.
The mud stuck. It held me; sucked me down to the ground.
I was immobile. ~ Damn ~
I couldn't hardly breath either. Or when I tried, it stung. ~ A rib must be broken or something ~ So I was trying to hold my breath. Then I would run out of air. Then I would black out. Then I would gasp for air. Then my lungs would feel like they were being ripped apart. Then the cycle would start over.
~ Damn ~
I knew I couldn't last long like this. I had to do something.
I tried moving again. I couldn't do anything.
Everything got really hazy again. ~ I guess I tried to do too much. Damn ~
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(Flashback three years ago)
Gavin Mason took a deep breath. Today was his first day of high school. Last year didn't count. They were stuck in the old building, with all the same people. His sister, Kendra would still be attending that school. ~ At least she will be away from that Toby kid. I seriously thought he was a faggot or something ~ Spinner-as he was nicknamed- grabbed his backpack off the kitchen counter and walked out the door.
The bright sun hit him and he had to squint to see. ~ The last thing I need is some sort of queer hanging around ~
"Spinner!" he heard someone yell. He turned around and saw Jimmy, Craig, and Marco. They were waving at him. "Hey!" Jimmy called out. "Over here!" ~ Yeah, as if it weren't obvious... ~ Sometimes they acted so immature. Most people would burst out laughing if they ever knew Spinner thought that. ~ But that was when I was younger. I was so stupid then. ~
There was one person though who wouldn't think that. ~ Lacey... ~ She had transferred in the middle of the year last year. She hadn't witnessed or had really heard about his very embarrassing episode. She didn't think him to be a total dork.
Spinner had loved her the moment he had first seen her. ~ She is beautiful. I wish she would notice me... ~ There was something about her, she just seemed a whole lot more mature then the girls he was used to.
"How was your summer?" Craig asked, interrupting his thought. Spinner had spent the summer with some relatives in the States, Chicago to be exact. How different it was.
"Great!" said Spinner.
"Meet any girls?" Marco questioned.
"Nah" Spinner lied. There really were some cool girls in the States. This one girl Bren Bera... (A/N: LOL!) But he didn't want to get into it. Something had changed him over the summer. "How was it here? Same old, same old?" Spinner asked.
"No way!" said Jimmy. "Ok, we were at Paige's party and someone like, did something-" Spinner rolled his eyes. This would go on forever. He decided to tune out of this conversation. ~ Lalala this is boring lalala ~
Then he saw Lacey. She was talking to some of her friends. He noted that Paige was not among them. Lacey and Paige had been really close before the summer. He wondered what had happened.
"Bye guys" he said quickly, ignoring their protests, and left. Spinner had suddenly got this big confidence boost. ~ Normally when I am around her I freeze up. I wonder why I am not now. ~
He had planned for this exact moment all summer. He was going to talk to Lacey. He was not going to freak out. He was not going to freeze up. ~ Just have to keep saying that ~ Spinner had reached his destination. He was only a few feet away from her. He was going to talk to Lacey. "Hey Lacey!" he said.
She turned around. She saw him. He froze up. Lacey frowned when she saw him. "Hey... Spencer?" she said, grasping for a name.
"It's Spinner." He told her. ~ You know, Spinner, the guy who took you to the End of the Year dance? The guy who kissed you 'the best you had ever been kissed' as you had said? The guy who said he would miss you over the summer...? ~
Lacey wrinkled her nose when she heard the name. "Spinner. What kind of a name is that?"
Spinner quickly said, "My real name is Gavin. Gavin Mason."
Lacey smiled, her blue eyes sparkling. "I like Gavin better." Then she turned around and started talking with her friends about the latest trends.
Spinner was flabbergasted. That did not go as he had planned! He turned around and started to walk to school when he heard Lacey call, "Hey... Ah... Gavin!" Spinner turned around and walked back over. "I am having a party tonight. It's gonna be like the whole 'back to school' thing, but not as gay. No parents either. Wanna come?" Lacey had emphasized on the 'no parents' thing. He didn't know if that was good or bad.
"Sure!" Spinner said. "Who else is going to be there?"
"I dunno," Lacey said. "Probably some of my brother's friends. They are all Upperclassmen, grades 11 and 12. And whomever I invite."
"Cool!" Spinner said.
"But could you do me a real big favor?" Lacey asked. "Could you invite Marco for me? I never get to see him, and well... I really want him to come. Oh yeah, and a few other cute guys too. You know?"
"Ok," Spinner said, again using only one word because the author is too lazy to write an entire sentence. Lacey turned around again and went back to clothes.
Spinner turned around and walked back to his friend who were all grinning -- except for Craig. "So...?" Jimmy asked.
"Lacey Murrain just invited me to her party tonight!" All of the teen guys-excluding Craig-held hands in a circle and jumped up and down squealing. "She is so hot!" Marco said. "You are so lucky!" Jimmy said. "Oh my gosh! I didn't even tell you the best part!" said Spinner. "You guys are like, soo invited!" This caused the guys-except for Craig (who was standing nonchalantly, arms crossed) to squeal even louder. "Oh my gosh! This is going to be like, the greatest party ever!" yelled Jimmy, Spinner, and Marco in unisons. Then they started to hug each other.
Craig had had enough. "Do you know how gay you guys look?" he asked.
This snapped them out of it. They all quickly separated and started showing off their muscle clad bodies. "Oh, yeah." Jimmy said, his voice two pitches lower then normal. "How 'bout them Maple Leaves?"
"Yeah," agreed Marco and Spinner. "How 'bout them?"
Craig, in pure disgust, said, "That doesn't work either you fairies!"
"How about we forget this entire scene-in which the author wrote when she just drank an entire can of Pepsi Blue-ever happened?" Spinner said. "You know how powerful that Pepsi Blue can be! Makes people delusional!"
"Yeah!" said Jimmy. "What, with forty grams of sugar, that is some weak stuff!"
"Powerful weak!" added Marco.
And so, linking arms, Jimmy, Marco, Spinner, and Craig skipped away to school, vowing never to speak of what had just happened again. Hoping that one day this wasn't going to come back and bite them in the ass!
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(Sorry about that folks! That last part was my CrAzY side talking! [cRaZy side: I am not CrAzY! I am cRaZy!] Partially sane side: What's the difference? *Bren beats back other sides with a stick.* Sorry! They got out of their cages! *Partially sane and cRaZy sides come back and beat Bren with a stick down to the ground*)
Don't worry! The story WILL continue! *Bren retires to her lair to continue*
"We have a lair?" asks the cRaZy side. "Why wasn't I aware of this?"
"Because you are a loser." Mutters the partially sane side.
"What was that?" asks the cRaZy.
"Nothing!" yells the partially.
[Exuent]
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Spinner reviewed his schedule. ~ Ok, lets see. Spanish first hour, Health second, Biology third, World Civilization, Art 2D, LUNCH, Algebra, and English, FINALLY the last class of the day. Dumbass schedule... ~
(A/N Actually that is my schedule next semester. Except replace Art2D with BAND, and add the word Honors to a lot of the classes...)
"Hey Spinner," Jimmy said, holding a piece of paper in his hand. "Let me see your schedule. I want to see if we have any classes together."
Spinner made a decision. "You know what. I don't want to be called Spinner anymore. That is so junior high. Call me by my real name."
His friends were looking at him oddly. Craig finally asked. "What is your real name? I never learned it. I always thought it was Spinner."
"Gavin" he said.
"Ah... Ok... Gavin. Whatever you say." Said Jimmy, obviously surprised. "Yeah." Marco and Craig agreed. They stood there for a moment uncomfortably. "Here," the newly renamed Gavin said, shoving his schedule at Jimmy. "My schedule."
Jimmy looked puzzled, then suddenly remembered, "Oh, yeah, your schedule!" Everyone put their pieces of paper together and crowded around them, hoping to be in each other's classes.
There were, of course, the occasional 'damn', and 'shit' muttered by everyone, Jimmy especially. It appeared they had almost been completely separated from one another. Jimmy was not in any of their classes; he had almost everything at different hours. Except for lunch, they all lunched together, luckily.
The first bell rang. Gavin looked up from the papers and saw people were entering the school. They each said their respective good-byes and went their separate ways.
For the first time, Gavin got his first real look at the building. Sure he had seen it before, when he was passing by and during Orientation Night, but both had been briefly and the second at night.
The workers had almost finished renovating, but that was mainly on the inside. The outside looked like it did when it was built sixty-four years ago. Except you had to really use your imagination to actually see what that could look like. The building was so old it was falling apart. Sure their had been the occasional touch up, but those had been few and there hadn't been a big budget at that.
The building was originally a grey color, when it was built in 1942. But sometime during the seventies, the school board had gotten it into their minds to paint it a really ugly, puke looking orange color. That was twenty years ago and they hadn't done anything with it since. The paint had chipped over time until it was mostly gray again, but there were still some ugly orange splotches here and there. It was also built of bricks of really cheap material. So of course it was falling apart.
The windows are what gave the building its most memorable look. They were each spaced evenly in the same rectangular space, each the same size, and there were two stories at that. Two stories of the same shaped windows, evenly spaced... It looked like a prison! ~ I am surprised that there are not bars over the window! ~
Gavin looked at the main entrance door and changed his mind about entering, at least through there. Students were poring in, shoving, and pushing with no regard towards one another. Normally, Gavin would have enjoyed something like that, but there were students twice his size. ~ Upperclassmen! ~
He tried to remember where he had put the map he had received during Orientation. ~ Mom handed it to me and I... I... can't remember what I did with it. Damn it! ~ Gavin tried looking around for some help, without really looking like he was looking for help. He saw some people in the Student Council handing out maps. ~ Success! ~
Gavin nonchalantly walked up to them snagged one and then hurried away. ~ Don't want to look like some lost loser! Well, like a Niner actually ~ He checked the map. The best route to his new locker would be through a side door. He looked up from the map to the said door. Not as many people were using it. ~ Good ~
He entered and started looking for his locker. ~ Ok, lets see. It says on my schedule locker 1372. There's 1354, 1355, 1356. ~ Gavin looked up and saw a big crowd hanging around a locker up ahead. ~ Please don't let that be near mine... please, please, please... DAMN IT! ~ The big group of people was surrounding the area near his locker, just standing around and talking. They looked like upperclassmen. Sporty, Jock, Athletic, beat the crap out of you if you even look at me type people too.
Gavin tried to squeeze through the crowd, but nobody would let him by. The second bell, which warned them to get to class in ten minutes - or else - rang. ~ Damn it! I don't even know where the Spanish room is! I am going to be late ~ The bell didn't seem to phase the upperclassmen either. ~ Guess I am going to have to force my way through. ~
And he did. He pushed, he shoved, he stepped on a couple of people's feet, but he got to his locker. ~ Locker 1372. Great. Now what was the combination? ~ A wave of panic flashed through Gavin before he realized that he had remembered to write it down on his hand earlier. ~ Oh yeah! 13-15-05 ~ (A/N: my gym locker combination! Don't you dare go into it though...RENEE!)
Gavin put the combination into the lock and pulled on the handle. Nothing happened. He inserted the combination again and tried pulling harder. Still nothing. "Damn it!" he cursed.
One of the upperclassmen must have heard him, because he started laughing. Gavin looked up and saw him snickering. He scowled and said, "What? Do you think this is funny? I sure as hell don't!" The blonde upperclassman started pushing his way through the crowd over to the locker.
"Sorry Ames," the upperclassman said after elbowing another in the ribs. When he got to the locker, he grinned and brushed back some of his ear-lobe length hair to show multiple piercings. "I had this locker two years ago when I was a Niner. They say it is the worst one in the school." The blonde upperclassman turned to the locker, inserted the combination, and then hit the top with his palm sharply. "There," he said, turning back to Gavin, still grinning. "That should do it!" Gavin had to look up; the older youth was almost two heads taller then him.
Gavin tried once again to open the damned locker. He tried pulling up on the handle with all of his might to open it. Nothing happened. Again. Gavin saw that the blonde was frowning. "That should have worked..." he was muttering. Suddenly, the upperclassman's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! I forgot! You have to-" but Gavin didn't really catch the last part as the five minute bell rang. The next thing he knew the horde of upperclassmen was pushing him this way and that. He tried to stay on his feet for dear life.
But the strangest thing seemed to happen. One minute he was surrounded by people, the next everyone was gone and he was almost alone in the hallway. There were blonde upperclassmen, still grinning, a few other students-all running around haplessly- and his locker... that was open.
"Thanks" Gavin said.
"No problem!" said the older boy. He started to walk away. Gavin watch him for a moment then went back to his locker. He jammed a few things into his locker then closed it. The locker shutting in the empty hallway made a noise louder then he had expected. ~ Shit I still don't know where the Spanish room is! ~ Gavin checked his watch. ~ Three more minutes before the final bell rings! I CAN'T be late on the first day! ~
Sure, something like this wouldn't really phase him last year, but then he had known the teachers. He had known the school. Hell, he had even known most of the students. And they had known him. ~ Mainly by my reputation as a bully and a failure. But this year was supposed to be different! ~ Gavin started to roam the hallways, desperately looking for something that looked even remotely like the Spanish room.
"Hey!" he heard someone yell. Gavin spun around and saw it was the same blonde upperclassman. He was standing at the end of the hallway, arms crossed. He actually looked like he was in one of those ridiculous-looking poses the anime character his sister was always talking about. Go-whatever.
"Hey" Gavin said, though not quite as loud.
"Are you lost?" asked the blonde upperclassman.
Gavin didn't want to admit it, but he was. He had no idea where he was going. He was helplessly lost. The bell was going to ring soon. He would be late for class. The teacher would mark him absent. He would have a reputation as a troublemaker on the friggen first day of school. ~ Damn it! ~ "Yeah," Gavin reluctantly said, and started walking towards the older youth. "I'm lost."
The blonde grinned again. "Where are you going?" He asked when Gavin got to him.
Gavin looked down at the piece of paper he was clutching. "Spanish, Room 203." Gavin looked up from the paper and saw the upperclassman was laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"I'll tell you along the way!" he said, still laughing, and set off at a dead run. Gavin stood there for a moment then set off after him. He caught up with the blonde, but it wasn't easy. ~ Must be in track or something. Good thing I did soccer over the summer, otherwise I would be lost by now! ~ The upperclassman was leading him through a maze of hallways and turns. ~ I don't think I could find my way back to my locker, let alone a class I have never seen before. ~
"So what was so funny?" Gavin asked after they had been running for a bit.
The blonde upperclassman looked down at Gavin and smiled. "The Spanish room is completely across the building and upstairs. It usually takes me four or five minutes to get there because the school was built really crappy. We had two minutes."
"Oh" Gavin said, not really sure how this could be considered funny. If anything, it was stupid. They had reached a staircase and the older youth was taking them two and sometimes three at a time. And he was still running. Gavin followed and reflected. ~ Why would he go out of his way to help me? Twice, with the whole locker thing. Doesn't he have to get to class too? ~ They reached the top of the staircase and Gavin saw signs of a Spanish room. There were posters covering the hallway walls everywhere saying 'Hola' and 'Buenos Dias'.
The taller youth slowed down and motioned for Gavin to stop also. He walked in and Gavin followed. The bell rang. ~ Just made it ~ Gavin quickly scanned the room for someone he knew, but couldn't find any familiar faces. Disappointed, he next looked for a place to sit. He found one next to two very hot girls. Gavin looked and saw that he was sitting two desks down from the blonde who had brought him here. He was talking to some other people. He actually looked like he was flirting with some girls. ~ That was why he offered to help me! He was coming to this class anyway... But why did he come back in the first place? ~
Before he could introduce himself to the two girls h was sitting next to, the teacher came in and called for their attention.
(This is the part where I show off my wonderful Spanish skills. Bare with me, it is the friggen winter holidays and I am only in Spanish One at that! And to those of you who can not speak Spanish... Oh Well!)
"Buenos Dias clase. Yo soy profesor Hernandez. Enseño clase de Español y col." Some of the students started giggling, but Gavin couldn't figure out why. He couldn't understand a word the teacher was saying.
Gavin glanced over and saw the blonde upperclassman was cracking up. What Gavin could tell was that whatever the teacher said, it wasn't that funny. ~ Weird ~ Gavin looked back up to the teacher. Switching to English, the teacher said, "Would anybody care to explain what I just said?"
A few hands shot up. The teacher nodded and Gavin heard the familiar voce of the blonde student speaking. "You said hello, that your name was Mr. Hernandez, and that you taught Spanish and cabbage."
The now named Mr. Hernandez nodded again. There were a few more giggles. "Thank you Mateo." ~ Mateo. What kind of a name is that? ~ "Now, I am going to sort you alphabetically," said Mr. Hernandez. "The person you sit next to will be your Spanish partner for the REST OF THE YEAR. Gavin spaced out.
When he heard his name, he got up and sat in the designated seat. Gavin looked at who his Spanish partner was to be. It was the blonde upperclassman from before. "Hey" the older youth said.
"Hey." Said Gavin.
"My name is Andrew, Andrew Maverick" he said holding out his hand. Gavin frowned and said, "I thought your name was Mateo."
Andrew laughed. "That my Spanish name, unfortunately. I got it two years ago and Mr. H. refuses to let me change it. You will be assigned one too. It will probably be something you hate, it always is." They sat for a moment. "What is your name?" Andrew finally asked.
"Spinn-Gavin" he had to correct himself. ~ No, it is not Spinner anymore. Gavin. ~
"SpinnGavin?"
"Gavin."
Andrew smiled. "Cool."
And this was how I met Andrew Maverick, future friend, council, and eventual lover.
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Ahh! Long chapy! I think I shall always try to write them long like this. But that means a longer wait! I meant to update sooner, but on Friday (12/26) my computer... died. I learned a valuable lesson. Blue Pepsi + hard drive =Bad. Then on Saturday, I went to me Pops for the night. He doesn't have a computer. Then earlier tonight I went to my mums Birthday party. So! Happy Reading! I wasn't really pleased with this though, it seemed so fake towards the end! And I need a thesaurus. Too many 'saids'! (Hey everyone, do you think everyone is OOC? If so, tell me!)
P.S. Bren Bera is LUCKY! I was suppose to have my wisdom teeth removed on Friday, but the oral surgeon slipped and fell on some ice. I think he broke his arm! Yeah! (I didn't have to have them removed...yet.) But that means my stories aren't going to be as angsty as I was planning! :( (pain = angst)
Kandiange145 - How about new chapter 12/29/02? Sound better? I thought so. Yeah! And no, Craig is not going to be Spinner's lover. That would be Andrew Maverick. I have a darker job for Craig...
The Fake Alexandra Cabot - Thanx! (For the advice on the rating) My bro is 13 and he is offended (I think) by that kind of language, so I wasn't sure! *Hope you didn't sift to far away!* Otherwise you won't read this new part!
Lilly - Yeah! Mary Sues suck! (I think I am going to write one soon though, they are fun!) Degrassi Slash is cool too! (L. Fox's Indian Summer RULES) Thanx for the cookies!
Jim B. - My first reviewer! Thanx! (I already answered your questions though in that gay-ass Read Me though!)
Bye Everyone! I have to go to work tomorrow. Or wait, today, as it nearing 12:15! But first: My next update: I have no idea. Give me a week or two or ten. Woo Hoo! I have entered the elite 'People with Stories on Degrassi with OVER 5000 Words!' (I shall be the TENTH! And this is out of 56 stories! -- As of 12/29/02) Yeah, I am pretty cynical about... things. It is my goal to be the first to accomplish over 20,000 words. I think I can do it. I have over 50 cans of Pepsi Blue and the Winter Holiday. The only thing standing between that and my goal is the evil thing named sleep...
Woah! By Odin, I almost forgot the Disclaimer! Don't want to get sued! I don't own any things pertaining to Degrassi, I merely shift them to my own liking.
[Exuent]