Here's the next chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this so far!
Disclaimer: Don't own, never have and never will (pulls unhappy face)
Gulp...first chappie with no swearing...hope you like it!
"All right, Brooklyn, well done. You've done well today. Off you go." The red-headed nodded and smiled shyly at the praise, for once completely calm. Kai smiled back, raising a hand in farewell. "Bryan...good enough. Get lost." Saluting lazily, Bryan scraped his chair back and stood, leaving without another acknowledgement. As the door swung closed, Kai sighed and turned to the one remaining participator in the after-school detention, rubbing his temples absentmindedly.
Ray glared back, his whole posture radiating angry defiance. Kai stood up and began walking around the classroom, his hands stuffed casually in his pockets.
"You feeling okay, Ray?" he asked, staring out the window. "And I can see your reflection enough to tell if you're trying to get away, so don't try it." He waited, but Ray appeared to be taking his advice. He repeated his question, heard Ray shift uneasily in his seat.
"Why do you care?" Ray spat at last, his tone dripping with scorn.
"I'm paid to care," Kai muttered dryly. "Seriously, Ray, I'm just worried. You're the last person I'd expect to see bullying another student."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Being friends with Max and everything, you know how badly it can affect-"
"Oh, go to hell!" Ray snarled. "Anyway, for your information, Max and I are going out now." Kai raised an eyebrow and swivelled away from the window to face the sullen teenager.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really!"
"Good for you." Kai stored that titbit of information away for future reference and focused on the task in hand. He walked slowly towards Ray, noticing the almost imperceptible movement as Ray stiffened in his seat at his approach. He sat down on a desk a few seats away from Ray and sighed, grateful to finally be off his feet. They stayed in silence for a few minutes, before Kai coughed quietly, drawing Ray's attention from the floor back to him. "Ray, I saw while you were getting changed for PE. How did you think you could hide it?" Fear, pure and simple, flared in Ray's eyes and he pushed himself to his feet, anger flying quickly up to act as a shield.
"I do what I want! You were looking at me getting undressed, you pervert! I'll get you sacked, I'll go tell my step-dad and you'll be sacked before tomorrow!" he gabbled wildly. Kai continued to look calmly at Ray, who stared back like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Suddenly, the boy swayed slightly and grabbed hold of the chair to steady himself. Kai waited until Ray had sat heavily back down in his chair before repeating his earlier question;
"Are you feeling okay?" Ray shook his head wordlessly and buried his head in his folded arms. "Want to spill the beans?" Ray laughed mirthlessly.
"No beans left in this can," he murmured.
"Do you feel ill?" A shrug. "Head up."
"Why?"
"Head up, please." Hearing the familiar note in his teacher's voice that said "You will do what I say right now or you'll regret it", Ray's head slowly rose. Kai reached out and lightly placed a hand on Ray's forehead. "I'm not going to pass judgement, but you need to lie down when you get home, okay?" Ray shrugged again.
"Whatever," he mumbled, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. "Can I go yet?" Kai hesitated, then nodded.
"Go and have a rest. I'll let the bullying slide this time, but, if I ever catch you doing it again, I don't give a damn about whoever your parents are, I will punish you. Remember, if you'll excuse the cliché, I'm almost always in here if you want to talk." He paused. "Except for when that big-headed part of a Headmaster decides he wants a progress report on our two resident psychos..." Ray laughed quietly. The sound had a little more humour in it than before. "Go on. Get out. I've got your history tests to mark."
"Ooh, how fun..."
"You're telling me." Ray smiled crookedly.
"Bye, sir." He stood up and headed to the door. "Thanks." Kai smiled back.
"No problem. Oh yeah, tell Max that Mr Garret wants a word with him, would you?" Ray nodded and left. Kai stared after him for a few minutes then sighed softly and returned to the aforementioned tests.
I leaned back on the park bench, staring at Ray in puzzlement.
"Why does the Music teacher want to talk to me?" I asked, bemused. He shrugged. My eyes narrowed. "Ray, are you okay?" His eyes blazed.
"Everyone's asking me that! I'm fine, okay, and if I'm not, I'll deal with it!" he yelled, flinging himself to his feet and glaring furiously down at me. I shrank back, gabbling apologies. "Stinking' little coward!" he sneered, turning on his heel and running off. I gazed after him, confusion, worry and unhappiness warring inside my chest. What's wrong, Ray? Why won't you let me help you?
The unwanted tight feeling that I had been free of for over a month smashed mercilessly into my head and chest and, unable to stop myself, I started scanning the ground for something sharp.
Ray ran as fast as he could, fury giving him the strength to drive his legs way past their normal limits. Reaching his house, he fumbled for his key, wrenched the unlocked door open and pelted up to his room. His mother called up to him, her voice worried. Ray shouted something back; he didn't know what. All he knew was a hunted animal's desire to flee to a safe refuge. Slamming his bedroom door shut, he clicked every one of the five locks shut and sagged against the secured door, his eyes closing, his raised temperature catching up with him. As his legs gave way and he collapsed to the floor, he heard footsteps thundering upstairs, then the sound of Lee's urgent voice came through the door.
"Ray, have you got your door locked? He's coming up!" The footsteps receded rapidly, Lee going to warn Mariah before doing his usual thing and climbing down the drainpipe outside his window. Fleeing while he still could. Only a few seconds later, another set of footsteps sounded hollowly through the door.
"Ray? You're in there, I heard Lee talking to you. Let me in, please." Ray didn't move, resting his head on his knees and staring glassily at the opposite wall. The man's tone changed, became soft, wheedling. "Come on, Ray. You're the sensible one, aren't you? Just unlock the door, that's all I'm asking."
No it's not, Ray thought dazedly. You want more than that. He knew that he would give in and unlock the door eventually. It was a habit. Resist as long as you can, then give in.
Ha, and I called Max a coward? He smiled, the expression twisted and humourless and blinked sleepily as a chill ran through him, making him shiver. If he's a coward, what the hell am I?
"Ray, come on, open the door."
"No," Ray whispered. A single tear glistened in the corner of his eye. No.
Kai yawned and dragged a wrist across his stinging eyes. History tests marked; check. Lessons planned for tomorrow; check. Worrying about pupils; nope, still very much in the middle of that. Brooklyn and Bryan had been unusually well-behaved - his guess was a change in medication - but they were practically the only ones. Max had left the grounds during break and not come back, Kane and Jim had argued during break and descended into violence in the middle of Maths, Ozuma and Ray had been "persuaded" into bullying a younger boy by the double B's, as Kai had taken to calling them in private. At least, that was their story. He was more inclined to believe that there was something going on at home that had resulted in the two of them needing to burn off some steam, and the double B's had seen it happening and been unable to resist. The kid, Kenny, he seemed to vaguely remember the name as, had been absolutely terrified and had needed to go home. They were like that, the double B's were. Much worse and they wouldn't be allowed to be in a room that didn't have padded walls and a distinct lack of other people and sharp things. Now, why had that made him suddenly think of Max? Stupid question. Stupid thought, too, no doubt Max had just decided he wanted a break from school for once - he was one of the more regular attendees after all - and left. And yet...
Ray had been in a very bad mood when he left, unsuccessfully hiding it behind a smile. What if he had met up with Max on the way home, and Max had accidentally said something that made him angry? Telling himself that he was being incredibly stupid, not to mention overreacting, Kai stood up, intending to go and get more paper to stock up his dwindling supply. However his body seemed to be ignoring his brain, and his legs took him straight out the door, only stopping to let him grab his coat and shove his laptop out of sight.
Mentally yelling at himself for being so ridiculous, and getting too involved for one thing, Kai strode along the pavement. Remembering something that had heard Max mention once, he turned into the park and walked briskly down the path. He nearly walked straight past the crumpled figure curled up on a bench under a tree. Only the flash of scarlet caught his eye in time, that and the faint gasp of pain. He turned on his heel so quickly he almost overbalanced and nearly ran towards the bench. Making sure to make a lot of noise as he approached the bench, he crouched down so that he was lower than Max.
"Max?" he asked quietly. No response, except for the jagged fragment of rock carving another red line in the boy's white skin. He put out a hand and closed it lightly over the rock fragment, tugging slightly. "Come on, Max. You know you don't want to."
"Don't want to...need to..." came the hoarse whisper.
"No, you don't," Kai told him gently. "Nobody needs to make themselves bleed."
"Well, I d-"
"They do it anyway, but it's not out of need, or even want." Kai kept his voice low, soothing. "They do it, we do it, because, after a while, after need and want have gone, it becomes an addiction. Doesn't it?" He received a small nod. "It's like drugs or alcohol. You can't stop yourself, can you?" A shake of the head. "Remember, I've been there, and I was far worse than you." Max made a faint snorting sound of disbelief. Kai raised his eyebrows. "You don't believe me? Look at this, then." Steeling himself for a sight that he knew would bring back unwanted memories, he lifted up his shirt. Max stared silently at the huge, jagged scar that stretched over his entire abdomen, the healed scar tissue mottled purple in places.
"How?" Max signed, his eyes wide. Kai dropped his shirt quickly.
"Carving knife. I was a stupid little kid without a clue as to what I was doing." he said stiffly. "Now then, I'm way out of my bounds here, teacher-wise, so I just want you to remember this, okay? It's the same as I told you before; I'm always around in school, or after school for a few hours. If you want to talk, just come and find me. If you feel like cutting, come and see me as soon as you can." He prised the rock from Max's unresisting grip and touched the blood dribbling over the boy's wrist lightly with his index finger. Max let out a soft humming noise and curled up tighter. "Do you want to use my phone and phone your dad?" Max blinked and looked up, his blue eyes shimmering with tears. Kai repeated his question. Eventually, Max nodded. Kai rested a hand lightly on his shoulder and stood up.
"Bye, sir..." Max mumbled, not looking Kai in the face.
"Bye, Max. See you tomorrow?" Max shrugged.
"I'll do my best," he said with a watery smile. Kai smiled back and tousled the teen's messy thatch of blond waves playfully.
"You do that."
Ray groggily opened his eyes and rubbed his hot forehead with one hand, moaning as he struggled to wake up properly. Suddenly, a hard knock on the still-locked bedroom door jolted him into to adrenalin-fuelled wakefulness.
"Ray, please open the door. I know you're awake." His step-dad's voice was smooth still, not a hint of the irritation that Ray knew would be blazing fiercely in the brown eyes. Amazed that he had got away with falling asleep and knowing when the game was up, Ray stood unsteadily and unlocked the door with shaking fingers. His head spun as his step dad grabbed him by the upper arm and dragged him over to his bed, flinging him down on to it with an brusque order to turn over. Obediently, he did so. Lying on his bed with his face squashed in his mattress, he barely even flinched as the first blow landed on his back, swiftly followed by many more, all aimed at areas that were easily covered up with clothes: back, legs, arms, and head. All but the last were delivered mercilessly with what Ray knew from bitter experience was a thick, heavy chunk of wood; he could feel splinters being buried in his unprotected skin. His head was merely punched repetitively and his hair yanked brutally until more than a few strands of the long, luxuriously wavy black locks were torn out. Child's play in comparison. He laughed mentally at that last thought. Yeah, child's play is getting punched and my hair ripped out my scalp. What a life.
He could hear his step dad's breathing becoming erratic, both from the ferocious beating and from something much more disturbing. His entire thought process consumed with self-disgust, Ray lay motionless, meekly allowing his clothes to be removed. He closed his eyes, hating himself as the rub of flesh against flesh began to affect him in...that way.
"Good boy, Ray. Good boy." his step-dad crooned softly. Ray closed his eyes and slid into the comforting blackness of oblivion.
Bit of a dark ending there, what do you think? I'm having a bit oftrouble with developing the Kai/Max angle, but I will not give up! Please review, and tell me what you thought! Reviews make me happy!