Minding your own business is an important skill to learn.

They were staring at him. At lunch, during the rare class he had with on of them. Which ones were those, again? Science with Gus and Home Ec with Mikey. Which was a shame, because Home Ec was his favorite class of the year by far. Sure it was an easy A but he also learned how to sow, which then let him repair his hat that had been torn to pieces years prior and he kept putting off getting repaired.

But now he had to focus on figuring out what the FUCK Mikey was staring at him for. Instead of focusing on getting his different types of vegetable cutting done right. It'd be easier if the knives they used weren't this dull.

Whatever. At least they weren't trying to talk to him. He didn't think he had the energy to do that.

ZZZ

"Hey."

Considering that they were neighbors, TJ supposed it made sense that she would be the one to come up to him first. Or second if he was considering Vince, but that would require effort and he didn't feel like putting any of that towards this.

It was the end of the school day, he just wanted to get home and work on restoring an old knife he found as a garage sale. Fixing that thing up is gonna take like, a whole two days.

"Hey," He said back, before turning his attention back to getting what he need from his locker for the weekend.

"So, uh, what's going on?" She asked. "You got any plans for the weekend?"

"Homework, sleep," TJ said as he closed his locker. God, this wasn't going to turn into a whole conversation, was it? The sooner he got out of here, the better.

"I mean, duh, that's what everyone's doing. What about anything fun?" She asked.

He didn't like this.

He didn't like how casual she was trying to be about this conversation, or how she was examining his face for the injuries that she saw on him not too long ago. Whatever this was all about, he wasn't going to be a part of it.

"I've got my own plans," he said plainly. He walked away, not bothering to end the conversation properly or what the hell ever. But that didn't stop her; Spinelli just walked along side him.

"'Cause we're gonna have a horror movie marathon on Saturday and we were wondering if you wanted to join us?" She asked.

"No thanks." He tossed his backpack over his shoulder. "I'm going home. Don't follow me."

That seemed to do the trick, as he was able to walk home and be alone with his thoughts.

ZZZ

No matter how he looked at it, four needles in his neck seemed like the most he was able to use. This wasn't really a problem, though. Four was enough. It did the job. Besides, he wasn't going to risk it. He was a masochist but he wasn't a stupid masochist. The extent he went to disinfect his tools, skin, and wounds was proof enough of that.

As drops of blood beaded from his neck and dripped from the needles and down his neck, he grabbed his pocket knife, recently sharpened and ready to use. He paused for a moment, taking in how the light reflected and shined off it's surface as it was turned.

Topless, his top was already littered with cuts and dried streamed of blood from the beginning of this session. Now his attention turned to his. . .which was on was it going to be this time? His. . .left arm. The upper part first, so maybe what he'll do will be enough to call it a night.

One Two Three. . .Nine Ten

It wasn't enough, but really, it rarely was. So, as he normally did, Tj turned his underside of his arm over and started there.

In hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have been so indulged that he didn't notice his phone vibrating or the knocks at the front door, or the steps coming up the stairs. But he didn't, and was only aware of their presence when they bust open his door.

A few of the screamed. He couldn't figure out who in his masochistic haze. Gus and Mikey always screamed like little bitches, but Gretchen and Spinelli were both girls, no matter how much the latter wanted to be a 6 foot tall bodybuilder named Moe, so it was tricky to tell who was screaming.

Honestly though? Did he care? No. About them barging into his room with no respect for his privacy, yeah, but about them being shocked at seeing him like this? They should be surprised at what they see when they bust down a door. If it didn't want to be open, there had to be a reason.

He closed his eyes and sighed. He hoped the doorway didn't need to be fixed.