Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters. ::sigh:: Anyone know where I can find a Duo plushie?
Chapter Nineteen: Pay Back
When I returned to school, I learned first hand what it must have felt for the people in the Middle Ages who came down with the Plague. Everyone avoided me in every way possible. No one spoke to me except Jericho and my teachers. When I walked the halls, no one even so much as brushed shoulders with me. At first I thought I was over reacting until one freshman practically ducked under a water fountain to avoid me.
There were wild rumors flying around about me. Some said that I had epilepsy. Others said that the change in gravity between the colonies and earth was affecting my brain. A few kids believed I had had an out of body experience. But the most widely accepted explanation was that I was crazy and that someday I would come to school with guns and shoot up the entire student body.
I laughed when I heard that rumor. The person who started it had no idea just how hard it would be for me to "shoot up" a school with almost one thousand students in it. The ammunition needed alone would be too much for me to handle, much less acquiring the weapons needed for carrying out the job.
"Heck, it'd almost be easier to just rebuild a Gundam and blow up the school with that," I told Jericho on our way home from school one day.
Jericho rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, you have fun with that."
And so, I spent a few weeks living as the school's "untouchable" student. It was kind of annoying, but I got through it without too much problem. As my flashback got further and further in the past, things seemed to go back to normal.
One thing that was different, however, was my relationship with Diana and Jon. At their pleading and insistence, I opened up to them and talked to them about my problems. I talked to them about Hilde and about the war and things that happened before the war. But even with me telling them things by myself, they still weren't completely confident that I was doing all right. Diana called Principal Quigley once a week to find out how I was doing. Teachers mailed home updates about my schoolwork. I didn't understand why. I was still doing great in all my classes.
In fact, I was doing great in general. The flashback passed into memory, and I continued on as I had before. It wasn't me who had changed; it was other people who had changed.
James was an exception. He hadn't changed at all. And he wasn't ready to let the humiliation I had given him in Phys Ed slide. When I got back to school I suddenly became a target like Jericho. I was being pushed and tripped in the halls and I was the target for insults and other verbal abuse. I was really tempted to give the idiots what they deserved, but I didn't fight back since I didn't want to be sent away.
One day, shortly after my flashback, I was walking home alone. Jericho had been sick that day, and I was planning in my head to stop by her house and give her the homework assignments. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, and so I didn't know someone was behind me until I was shoved to the ground.
"HEY!" I jumped up and whirled around, finding myself face to face with James. His whole group of friends was standing behind him. I saw Jeff and Brian at the very back of the group.
"Hi Duo," James said, a sickeningly polite smile stretching across his face. "I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time."
"Get lost James," I snapped, brushing off my clothes. I was wearing my priest outfit again. I had been wearing it a lot lately because Jericho liked it.
"Now Duo, that's not a nice thing to say," one of James's lackeys sneered at me.
"Yeah, well, last time I checked, it wasn't a nice thing to shove someone over. Now, you heard me, get lost, or I'll get mad."
James took a step towards me. "Was that a threat Maxwell?"
I shrugged. "You could interpret it like that."
James sneered and then lunged at me. He was really fast for such a big guy, and he caught me by the collar. "Not very Christian of you to be making threats," he said, pulling me closer to him. "Maybe you don't deserve this priest's collar."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm the last person you need to be giving advice to on living a Christian life. I grew up in a church. Literally."
James laughed loud and long. "That explains a lot. I thought I smelled orphan on you when you first came. I know that sewer stench anywhere." He shoved me back. I almost lost my balance, but somehow I managed to stay standing.
"Did you just say I smell like a sewer?" I demanded, feeling my rage coming.
"Yeah. I know that smell anywhere. Van Buren had the same stench when she came here. Orphans always smell like sewers." James laughed again, and this time his friends joined in.
My brain was screaming at me, telling me not to fight back, but at that moment my rage got the better of me. I ran at James, ready to pound the living day lights out of him.
I never touched James. One of his lackeys grabbed me and held me back. I screamed and cursed in fury. The other kids laughed. James walked up to me and watched, just out of my reach, as I kicked and screamed. When I finally stopped to catch my breath, he pulled his fist back and then brought it full force into my stomach.
The pain was excruciating as the air was forced out of my lungs in one huge gust. I doubled over but didn't cry out. The lackey holding me back let go and I collapsed to my knees.
"Well Maxwell, got anything to say?" James asked, once again grabbing me by my collar and pulling me to my feet.
I forced a grin across my face. "Yeah. You hit like a nun."
He glared at me and punched me in the stomach again. Once again I didn't shout, but I did have to fight to stay conscious. At least he's not Heero, I thought to myself as James pulled his fist back. I'd be in a coma by now if it were Heero.
James' fist connected with my jaw. It hurt like hell, and I wanted to fight back, but I couldn't. I was still trying to catch my breath and now my head hurt.
"Hey, Chris, CATCH!" James shouted as he shoved me over to one of his lackeys. Chris caught me roughly and shoved me over to another kid. My head was spinning, and all the shoving was making me disoriented. I heard clothing rip, and I felt a breeze on my neck and chest that hadn't been there a few moments before. Angrily, I took a few swings at thin air until I felt my fist collide with someone's face. There was an angry yell, and the kids all started closing in on me.
"I'll teach you for taking a swing at me," James snarled, nursing his jaw.
"TEACHER!" someone shouted.
The mob dissolved into a group of fleeing teenagers. The person holding me shoved me to the ground. I fell hard on my side, tearing the elbow of my shirt and skinning my hand on the concrete.
"YOU KIDS GET BACK HERE!" a familiar voice shouted. No one in James' group listened as they all disappeared in various directions.
I looked up to see Ms. Collins kneeling down beside me. "Are you alright, Duo?"
"Yeah," I replied as I pushed myself into a sitting position. I examined my hand. It was bleeding. "Just a few scratches. Nothing I haven't had before, you know?"
Ms. Collins shook her head and pulled a handkerchief out of her purse. "Here." She tied the handkerchief around my hand. "That'll at least help stop the bleeding. What was that all about?" she asked as she helped me up. My stomach hurt when I stood up straight, but I did my best, wincing only when it hurt really badly.
"Oh, I knocked James over in Phys Ed the other day. I guess he thought he'd teach me a little lesson," I said with a shrug. My shirt had been ripped from the collar down and across the chest. I sighed. Great. I doubt I'll be able to salvage it again, I thought
Ms. Collins frowned. "That's not right." She looked around and shook her head. "I can't guarantee that they won't jump you again, but I can make sure they won't jump you again today. My car's just parked around the corner. I'll drive you home."
"Thanks Ms. Collins, but I think I'll just walk. I need to stop by Jericho's house anyway to drop off her homework and stuff," I said, pointing to my backpack.
"Well, I know where Jericho lives. I'll drop you off and then take her stuff to her house," Ms. Collins said as we started towards her car.
"Thanks, really, but I promised Jericho I'd bring it. She'd be more worried if I didn't show up with it than she will be when she sees me like this."
Ms. Collins sighed. "Alright, we'll stop by Jericho's house first, and then I'll take you home. Sound good?"
I nodded. "Yeah, okay."
We drove to Jericho's house in an awkward silence. It felt weird to have an adult go out of their way for me. I mean, sure, Diana and Jon had been going out of their way for me since I had gotten to Earth, but that was their job as foster parents. Ms. Collins probably had something she would rather be doing than driving me around, but she had put her plans on hold to help me. I hadn't met an adult since Father Maxwell and Sister Helen who would have done something like that for me.
Ms. Collins went to the door with me. I rang the bell, and Jericho answered the door. She was wearing her bathrobe, her hair was a mess, and she was blowing her nose.
"Hey Du—what da heck happened doo you?" she cried when she saw me. I was tempted to laugh at how she sounded with a stuffy nose.
"James," I replied, barely holding back my laughter as we stepped into the front hallway.
"I dold you dat he'd go afda you for making a fool oud of him," Jericho said, shaking her head. "You're bruising all ready." She gingerly touched my jaw where James had punched me. "Dat had doo hurd."
"Like I told James, he hits like a nun." Both Jericho and Ms. Collins laughed at that.
I gave Jericho her homework. "He insisted on coming here and giving it to you himself, even when he's a mess," Ms. Collins told her.
Jericho smiled at me, a wonderful sight even when she was sicker than a dog. "Danks." She invited us into the kitchen for some tea, but Ms. Collins declined for the both of us.
"Thanks Jericho, but I need to get Duo home to get cleaned up. I hope you feel better."
"Okay," Jericho said, walking us to the door. "I'll call you lader, Duo."
We drove back to my house. When we got there, I saw that Diana's car was already in the driveway.
Ms. Collins went inside, even though I begged her not to. The last thing I needed was a teacher talking to my foster parents about my social problems.
Diana was standing in the middle of the kitchen, stirring a bowl of brownie mix. When she caught sight of me, her eyes went wide and the bowl fell from her hands, sending the brownie batter everywhere. "Oh my God! Duo! What happened to you?"
"Nothing," I told her. "I'm fine."
"No you're not," Ms. Collins replied. "Mrs. Christopher, I'm Sarah Collins, Duo's history teacher. I brought Duo home today. I hope you don't mind, but I felt it was safest for him."
"I could have handled walking home by myself," I insisted as Diana took my face in her hands to examine my bruising jaw.
"What happened?" Diana asked again.
I sighed. "Some guys from school jumped me on my way home. They ruined my shirt," I said, tears coming to my eyes. I loved that shirt. It was all I had left from when I lived at the Maxwell Church. The fact that it was practically ripped to shreds made me want to cry.
"What guys?" Diana asked, giving me a brief, stiff hug.
I didn't answer. I knew that if I gave names, James and the others would get in trouble and then take it out on me. It had happened to me before with other people, and I wasn't interested in having it happen again.
Ms. Collins sighed and answered for me. "It's a group of kids at school that have been doing this kind of thing since they were freshman. They're virtually gods in the high school scene, and they all have parents rich enough to buy their way out of any lawsuit. They target weaker kids, or kids that don't fit into what they think of as normal. I guess with his little spell a few weeks ago, Duo earned his place on the list of victims."
Diana frowned and looked at me, concerned. "Duo, why don't you go upstairs and clean yourself up. There's some iodine and band-aids in the bathroom cabinet if you need them."
I nodded and went upstairs. I cleaned the cuts on my hand and washed my face with cold water, hoping to keep the bruising on my jaw to a minimum. I took off my black clothes and pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. I sat down on my bed and examined my priest shirt, hoping that the tear had just been along the seams, making it easy to mend. No such luck. The cloth, which was almost ten years old, had been torn beyond repair.
I hung my head. It had been my favorite shirt. No, it had been more than just my favorite shirt. It had been part of me, like Deathscythe had been. I had had it since I had moved into the Maxwell Church. In fact, it was the only set of clothing I had for several years, during the time between when I lived in the church and when I was sent to Earth with Operation Meteor.
"God, how much more of this can I take?" I asked out loud. I wasn't sure if God was real or not, but it sure made me feel better to at least pretend to talk to someone. "I mean, first You take away Hilde, then You take away my friends, now You take away my only souvenir of the Church?"
I hurled the torn shirt across the room at my bookshelf. It hit the top shelf and as it fell to the ground, something fell with it. I stood up, walked over, and picked up the object that had fallen from the shelf. It was the self-detonate switch Heero had given me.
"When you don't think you can take it any more, connect the two wires at the end and then press the button," Heero had said. "The device will take it from there."
I stared down at the switch. I had so many emotions going through my brain that I didn't know what I could still take. All I knew was that I didn't want to have to deal with this kind of pain anymore. I connected the two wires on the bottom of the switch. Taking a deep breath, I began to press the button, but then my eye caught two things sitting on my dresser. One was the picture of me and Hilde at the park. What would Hilde think of you for taking the easy way out of this, when you managed to go through loosing her? A voice in my head asked. The other thing was a picture of Jericho in the penguin suit she had found at the zoo gift shop. Jericho's been going through this torture for years. You can deal with it.
Sighing, I disconnected the wires and set the switch back down onto the shelf next to Trowa's puzzle. I had given up trying to open the box long before. I sighed and smiled sadly at the box. I missed the guys, and I wished that I could see them.
I went back downstairs. Ms. Collins was still there, and Jon had gotten home too. The three of them were sitting at the dining room table. I didn't go in, but instead eavesdropped from the front room. Ms. Collins had told Diana and Jon that there was no use trying to sue James and his friends, since they could just buy their way out of it, and none of their friends could be convinced to testify against them.
"So, what? Are we just supposed to sit back and let Duo be the victim of bullies?" Diana demanded. "We can't do that. We're his family now, whether he wants to accept it or not. We need to keep him safe."
"I'm not saying that," Ms. Collins replied. "I've noticed that since he's started hanging out with Jericho, the obvious physical bullying towards her, like pushing and harassment, has decreased significantly. I think that as long as Duo and Jericho stick together, they'll be fine. Also, I think Duo probably could have held his own in a fight against them today if he hadn't been caught off guard." She laughed. "At least he can keep his sense of humor after a beating. He told Jericho that James hits like a nun."
Diana and Jon laughed at that. "Yeah," Jon said. "He has quite the sense of humor. We take it as a good sign."
"It's a very good sign," Ms. Collins said. I heard chairs move across the floor. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be getting home. I still need to feed my cats."
I quickly ducked into the kitchen so they wouldn't know I had been eavesdropping. I sat down on a stool, smiling to myself. I had often been told my use of humor in stressful situations was annoying. I was glad to know that someone appreciated it.
I picked up the phone and called Jericho, ready to tease her about what her stuffed up nose did to her speech.
