Here you are. I'm glad so many people like this fic. Please keep reading.
Disclaimer: You know what, I don't think I'll put this up any more. I AM James Patterson. HA!
Iggy could feel his throat closing up. He choked slightly on the sour air as he took in a deep breath. His bangs tickled his eyes, and he wanted more than ever to brush them out of the way, but they were his only shield.
"Schizophrenic? I dunno, he was talking to himself earlier…"
"How many times was he in? Eight? Man, that's some juvy kid…"
Iggy blinked. So he was a Schizo, huh? A criminal too? Where was all of this coming from?
Iggy wanted Fang to come back. It had been nearly twenty minutes since he had just dropped Iggy off at that stupid bench and left. From what Iggy knew, recess ended in five minutes. He didn't even know how to get back inside.
He wished someone would come to his rescue, tell off all those stupid gossipers, take him inside, drive him back to Anne's house… someone who would help him and tell him everything was fine, and then he'd make enchiladas or someone else of the tasty variety.
Angel could. Iggy had been hearing her on and off the whole recess. She was behind him, playing with other girls in a field or something. She would help him, right?
But Iggy knew that wasn't going to happen. Because from what had been running through Iggy's head, he knew she would have came over already if she ever intended too.
Was there really no one who cared?
Iggy's throat tightened again. He raised his nervously twitching hand to his face and traced his eyes. His eyelashes fluttered over his fingertips, and his lip trembled.
Wait. Was he honestly crying? Impossible.
Suddenly, a whistle blew harshly from across the schoolyard. Iggy clamped his eyes shut, though of course it didn't help at all against the sharp screech invading his hypersensitive eardrums. He tried hard not to whimper, but he hadn't heard a noise so painful in a while.
"Come in! Recess over! Lunch time!"
The voice was rough and grainy, though a large relief compared to the terrible whistle. Iggy stood shakily. Oh, god, he didn't know where to go! When Fang had taken him to that bench, he'd been zoning out, worrying about the school. Where was he supposed to go? Where was the school?
Iggy started to panic. Call Angel, he thought, she'll help.
"Angel?" he whispered. I'm lost. I don't know where I am.
And he heard it. Footsteps coming towards him; Angel's footsteps. She was running in his direction, with six other little feet pattering softly against the asphalt.
Iggy stood shakily, rising to his full six-or-so feet. Angel?
He heard the footsteps falter and halt in front of him. He stared in her direction, his blind eyes pleading.
Then, she continued. Just left him there.
The air caught in his throat again. No one was going to help him.
He'd have to do it himself.
But, at least he could follow the voices of Angel and her little friends.
Angel wasn't even looking back. He could hear it in her voice.
Iggy began hurriedly following the sounds of people. The asphalt was hard against the soles of his new tennis shoes. The air continued to choke him, and Iggy was worried he'd stop breathing.
Suddenly, something caught on his shoe that he obviously hadn't seen. Iggy tripped and landed on his hands and knees. He gritted his teeth, feeling the torn skin on his palms.
"Owch!" he heard.
Apparently, he'd tripped over something that could talk.
Iggy turned slightly to face whoever he'd tripped over, and heard a tiny voice.
A young girl, probably a year or so younger than Angel. She quickly stood.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, sounding terrified. "Please, I didn't mean to trip you."
Was she scared of him? It sounded like it.
"I'm… sorry. I should have heard you," Iggy muttered, standing and examining his torn hands. He was angry at himself now.
He turned away. "I won't bother you. It's lunch time."
Iggy walked away, towards the muffled voices, and entered a door.
His pride at having discovered the way in himself was drowned by the pain at realizing no one had wanted to help.
The lunch room was… somewhere. Iggy tried to memorize the route he took while following the footsteps of people streaming towards the cafeteria. He hung around at the edge of the crowd, trying hard not to draw attention to himself. It was times like these when he wished he weren't taller than everyone else, and too easily noticeable.
Fang. Fang had promised to come back. He'd promised. But he'd lied, and now Iggy had to find his way around alone, friendless, and surrounded by hostility.
The cafeteria turned out to be huge, and terrified Iggy. There were so many voices, so many echoes, that he had no idea where to go. What to do. He had money from Anne with which to buy lunch, but where was he supposed to go to do that?
Iggy hovered at the edge of the huge room. Where was the Flock? Max had promised they'd all sit together, but he didn't know where together was.
Iggy hesitated, and took a step forward.
And tripped, yet again; this time over a foot. That had been stuck out on purpose.
There were cruel giggles. "Watch it, freak," a voice sneered. It was the boy from before that had bullied Gazzy.
Iggy's hands skidded against the tiled floor, aching and still bloody from his previous fall. He rose to his knees as the people walked away, laughing.
"Here," someone said. He felt a hand around hi arm, pulling him up. "Those guys are jerks. Don't let them get to you."
The girl helped Iggy stand and steadied him with her arms.
"Um, thanks," Iggy muttered.
"No problem. You're Jeff, right? I'm Tess. We're in Biology together. Wanna wait in the lunch line with me?"
Iggy felt dizzy. Someone was talking to him! "Sure," he replied.
The girl, Tess, led him across the room to a long line of chattering people. Iggy could hear kids moving away from him as he entered the line. He scowled.
"Oh, yeah, there's some funny rumors going around about you, you know?" Tess giggles. "People can be so cruel!"
Iggy starts. "You mean, you've heard them, but you're still hanging around me?"
He can feel Tess shrug. "Well, yeah. I know enough about this school to realize that any rumors going around are false. I've had enough told about myself to know." She sighs heavily. "Heck, my two best friends have funny stories about them---completely untrue---about things weird like murder and molest. This school's just creepy. You know, there's my clique, we're just a group of kids who were shoved out of the normal crowd 'cause of rumors. Sort of stupid, but at least we understand each other. Although the whole school thinks we're some sort of criminal gang."
Iggy was intrigued. "Why'd you have rumors about you? You sound really nice."
Tess shrugs. "I don't know. I guess… well, everyone here is really religious, but I'm sort of not."
Iggy nods. "That sucks."
"Yeah."
Yay! This chappie is finite! I'm so grateful to my readers. In this fic, I'm trying to touch on some of the heavier topics about schools and bullying. So I will be including several discriminated minorities. Please do not get offended. I merely want to point out certain things.
Such as Tess; I know many people are not fond of Atheism, but I want to say something. Just because one does not believe in God does not make them mean, evil, or spiteful. Also, I always find it confusing when religious people try to shove down your throats things like "believe in God!" "God is wonderful!" or "You don't believe in God? You're going to Hell!"
No, I do not disrespect beliefs. I respect people who believe in God, or people who celebrate any religion. My simple point is that, I don't preach to the religious that God is not true, or that Heaven is fake. I respect what they believe, and I would never try to convince them otherwise. I don't mind that they believe something different than me. So why is it so terrible that I don't believe what they do?
I also admit that many religious people are not mean towards non-religious, nor preach to their face; many of my friends are Christian, and they are not mean to me or try to make me Christian. I simply know that some people are. Please don't discriminate due to beliefs. Isn't it better to simply accept everyone? Why do different opinions need to cause hate and war? Thank you for bearing with my ranting. I will probably include such long author's notes for many of these chapters. Of course, you do not have to read them, but I believe them beneficial. Thank you.
Please review!
