Hayden's Pov.
Every day is the same, has been for the last eight years. Every day I wake up with a sense of dread coiling low in my gut, I can never fully shake it no matter how much I laugh and smile, no matter how much I ignore it or tey to pretend today is going to be different, and I know what you are thinking. Isn't this just a bit much, a bit of an over-exaggeration, I mean how could I a ten-year-old possibly be going through so much? Well welcome to my story, it's not pretty and well this isn't even the beginning really, its just extra information but you will soon see that it is important, so if your still here I hope you enjoy the ride.
As I said every day is the same. Wake up, eat breakfast and laugh along with my father, pretend that everything is normal so that he doesn't ask questions besides he's got enough to deal with, he doesn't think that I notice but I know that he misses my mom, I never knew her she died when I was still a baby but I can see the grief hiding in the heavy set to his mouth or the way his eyes go distant sometimes and his smile tugs down. My dad drops me off at school. The kids always look at me kinda funny, they know better than to try and talk to me, they are watching their own backs making sure they don't become the new target, everyone for themselves, I don't think that will ever change but that doesn't stop me from hoping it will. The only people that talk to me are my cousin Snotlout and his friends Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, they are the only ones willing to stand up for me and that's what sparks my hope that things might change yet but I might not be around for that change.
Class drags on, or well what passes for class anyway, its mostly just us sitting around pretending to work while the teacher pretends we are working. My friends are around me, smiling and laughing, I am waiting for the inevitable, I wait for her to show up, to pester and bother me, to take a swing for the target resting between my shoulder blades.
A hand slams down in front of me and I flinch away, I know there is no point really, there is no escape. I look up to come face to face with crystal blue eyes and a face carved and etched in rage and hate. Ally Hofferson, my tormenter since I can remember.
"So Hayden, is it true that you are moving away?"
I nod meekly, my dad got a job in New York, I didn't really ask much about it, all I know is no more Ally Hofferson. She seems to freeze, everything even the air around her seems to hold its breath least it disturbs her, then she's a flurry of motion, gone in a second and I am left staring at the spot she occupied. Snotlout looks at me with something akin to concern before smiling and dragging me back into the middle of yet another conversation that I don't really pay attention to because for a moment, for a flicker in time, Ally looked sad to hear I will be leaving.
We pass the rest of the class much the same, them all talking and me lost in a sea of uncertainty but then recess comes and well my friends are overjoyed it just leaves me feeling more on edge. We sit out at the back of the school building, no one else likes it here because it is away from all the action and gossip, I like the quiet and sense of security, Ally has to be in a particularly bad mood to come bother me here because it requires her to leave her small group of friends and the gossip that they carry, today, unfortunately, is one of those days. She comes storming towards me and I immediately stand up in an attempt to not look so small and weak. She doesn't even say anything just pushes me by my shoulder so that I stumble back into the wall. She looks at me for a moment and I desperately wish I wasn't alone, that Snotlout would show up already, but I am alone staring into her unforgiving eyes. She hesitates for only a moment before she punches me, square in the jaw, she's never been bold enough to do that. She looks horrified for a second and then she's gone again. I touch my jaw in disbelief, it wasn't a very powerful punch, but it still hurt.
I see Snotlout and the others approaching, and I force a smile onto my face, afraid that if I look too weak or pathetic or bug them too much, then they will leave me.
Ally's Pov.
It's been two years since Hayden moved away. Things haven't been quite the same and I often find myself missing him. I don't miss tormenting him, I truly and genuinely miss him, I never quite knew how to explain to him that I wanted to be his friend, I never wanted to be the bully, I never chose it but I never chose not to stop either. See this isn't just Hayden's story, this is mine too. It is a story of change and redemption, so buckle up.
Two years since he left, two years since I punched him, two years in which I regretted every choice I ever made. My best friend Heather still follows me around but we both know something has fundamentally shifted. I no longer joke or laugh or gossip with the others. I sit and listen and think of all the things I could have done differently. I am often so lost in my own sea of thoughts that I don't notice what's happening around me, this was my downfall. While I am no longer actively popular I still fold respect and fear but that all came crashing down around me.
A normal day, that's how it started. Wake up, eat breakfast and go to school, class passes in a blur and I don't hear anything, lunch comes and goes in a similar blur, I can vaguely recall the glares that I got from Snotlout and his little gang though they don't dare act for fear of what those around me will do, back to class but you see on the way I walked smack into Snotlout and he pushed, lightly, but I was so out of it that I slammed backwards into the lockers, the air left lungs in a gasp as I slid to the floor. Snotlout looks worried and as people gather around he looks ready to run but no one comes forward to help me, no they all start laughing. I push up and rush off. It's a small slip up but it was my last slip up, I never noticed but over the past years as I slowly slipped deeper and deeper into myself and my thoughts, the people around me, the ones I thought were my friends, were slowly starting to turn away from me, slowly turning on me, their once-friendly smiles wiped clean and replaced with judging gazes, it was only a matter of time before my last sense of safety was ripped away. I am the target now. I have fallen to the bottom of the food chain and I am paying for all my choices but I deserve it, did I really think I could get away with it.