Classes after that first day were slow. So agonizingly slow. Mello had dropped me of at the classroom with only a smirk. He hadn't said anything about the goggles-thing, but I could tell he knew he had me wrapped around his finger. But I didn't care, because it was worth seeing him smile at me, nobody else (although there WERE a great deal of people staring at us like we had 6 heads, three each) and the little "see you later, Matty."
Matty.
He had called me Matty.
I liked that. A lot. Though I'm pretty sure it caused me to blush a great deal, but at least I got a whispered, "Bye to you too, Mells" that made the blonde grimace, obviously trying to hide a blush himself, but I didn't say anything till I headed off to class.
And then there I was, sitting there, thinking. Of course, what would be on my mind but Mello? God, that boy drove me nuts. Not in the way that would make me hate him or anything, but why I couldn't get him out of my head was beyond me.
I needed to stop thinking suck sappy things. I was a GUY wasn't I? Lord, I was rotting inside, wasn't I? I needed to play Halo, Resident Evil, Modern Warfare, Worlds of War craft, didn't matter as long as it was something with killing.
The bell rang suddenly, in the middle of some old mans droning speech, but he stopped when the bell rang and he waved us out. I gathered the notebooks and folders I had brought with me, taking my time to let most of the children empty out before me, feeling too awkward to do anything - I hadn't been taking notes (oops) but I was new so it would probably slide by easily, and the teacher didn't even seem to mind what we did. What had Mello said, about there being no permanent teachers? Was that why they didn't care?
As I was pondering this I felt a hand grab my arm and whirl me around. I jumped in surprise and turned to look at the person who had spun me around, expecting for a split second for it to be Mello.
It wasn't.
The boy before me was anything but Mello. He was bigger than Mello, well muscled (Mello was well muscled, but not in the buff manly way) and, frankly, stupid looking. He had moppy black hair and a kind of pinched-up look about him. He wasn't much taller than me, but I had a feeling he wasn't here to be friendly and I felt myself willing him to go away.
"You, new kid. What' your name?" he growled, poking my shoulder roughly. I didn't like that, so I took a step back, clenching my teeth.
Don't talk to anyone for too long.
"U-uh. Matt." I answered, taking another step back, towards the door, only to bump into a girl. She was a pretty girl, admittedly, but not in the same way Mello was (oh god, I was comparing girls to Mello, what has my life come to!?) more in that sort of average jane way.
She did not look friendly.
She shoved me back, so that I was back in the same position I was in before. Great, wonderful, I'm being bullied already. I thought.
"What are you doing hanging out with Mello? Don't you know about him?" the girl hissed, crossing her arms over her busty chest and pursing her lips, as if she knew better than I did.I frown. How would I know about him? I had only just arrived, obviously. But I couldn't say anything. My eyes scanned the room for help, but the teacher was gone, and the only other person in the classroom was some creepy little albino kid in the back of the room, and I wasn't expecting help from him. He looked like an ice cube in human form.
"W-what about him?" is what I said instead. Again I remembered Mello's words, willing myself to be able to obey them, but that girl and her pursed lips was blocking the doorway, and call me old fashioned but I don't enjoy hurting people (not that I'm good at it) especially not girls.
"He's a total jerk," the girl said angrily. "He's the fucking devil or something. Really, really weird, and a giant temper, too."
Really? He was? I hadn't noticed… though he did have that devilish smile.
"And hell, he's a giant fag, too," the boy said, shoving my shoulder pointlessly. I flinched. Fag? I wasn't gay, but I was no phoebe, either. I guessed it made sense. I mean, he looked like a girl, and the way he walked was like he was on a runway, but it didn't particularly matter to me… "But you can tell that, right? It's soooo obvious," the girl continued for the ugly guy, flipping her hair and giving me the ugliest, bitchiest look I'd ever seen. "So why do you hang out with a fag? Unless… you're a fag too?"
My heard dropped to my stomach. I wasn't a fag. Not that I would know, I hadn't hit puberty. But I hadn't even given myself time to even think that was an option. Again my eyes scanned the room for any signs of hope, but I didn't see any. There were people now gathering in the doorway, obviously there to watch the fight. They wouldn't help me. Nobody ever did.
"I'm not… not gay." I couldn't bring myself to say the word fag, especially in relation to the boy I had come to become my first friend. "But I don't care what you say," I continued, gathering my bravery and crossing my arms. The girl flinched, but the guy only grinned. "I don't care if he's gay or straight or whatever, he's nice to me."
"He's the devil," Heather hissed. "He's mean to everyone. He'll only turn on you."It took pretty much everything I had in me to say the words. They could very well be right, but they weren't really proving a point by being as wholes themselves. Mello had been nice to me. And so I said it, trying to mimic the icy glare Mello had given me upon meeting, and probably only getting half the effect, but I'm sure I looked pissed. "Yeah, well maybe I want to be friends with the devil."That's when the first punch connected to my jaw.
Near
Have you ever looked at someone and known they were about to be beaten senseless and there was nothing they could do about it?
That's pretty much the feeling I had when Chad punched Matt.
I wasn't sure how I knew it. How I felt the rage before I saw it, but it was definitely there. And I knew something very, very bad was about to happen.
I saw him before any of the others did. Saw the easily angered blonde boy shove his way through the cluster of people in the doorway and see the scene. I watched Mello's reaction carefully. It went from confusion to shock to pure fury.
Nobody messed with Mello. Even if he looked more feminine than the majority of feared students, he was the most feared. He had the reputation of being a devil, and there were only a select few that chose to mess with him, almost never directly. Nobody, not even I at first, probably saw that this particular "devil" had some sort of bond with the redheaded new kid. I certainly saw it. I watched every movement. Watched Mello's eyes follow Chad's fist to Matt's jaw, watched Mello as he saw the redhead stagger and gasp, watched Matt stumble to the ground. I watched, carefully, as Mello's face went from shocked to pure, demonic hatred. The kind of hatred he didn't even show me, and he hated me a lot. I watched him stalk across the room.
Mello
I was hurrying down the hallway. I hated to admit it, but honestly I was searching for Matt. I didn't need friends, I was happy without them honestly, but this kid was so damn interesting. Besides, if I knew people, he'd be getting even more nervous under their strange looks they were surely going to give him.
I reached the science room then, and I saw it.
There was a cluster of students in the doorway, whispering and gasping and talking among themselves, all trying to look in the door. Not. Normal. That only happened for one reason - there was a fight going on.
Panic flushed through me, ashamed of it as I was, and I shoved my way through the crowd of people, not caring for one second about the gasps and annoyed mutters I was getting. I just cared at that moment about the doorway, only the doorway, the door way where matt had entered and now…
And then there he was, Matt, and Chad, and Heather. Chad and Heather had surrounded him, had him cornered between them ad two desks, Chad blocking Matt's escape. No. No. No.
"He's the devil," I heard Heather whisper darkly. As if she really believed it. "He'll only turn on you."
There was a long pause. I didn't move. I couldn't move, for a long moment. And then Matt looked up again, a crooked, cocky grin on his face. The kind of grin that was mischievous and unexpected that there was a moment of hesitation in Chad.
Then Matt spoke, his voice shaking a little. Like he was preparing for the worst and the best, almost, somehow. "Maybe I want to be friends with the devil."
Chad paused. Heather glared. I blinked, touched by the words in some deep, strange way. I was the devil. He wanted to be friends with me. Why did I care so much?
And then he punched him.
It took a moment to register. He had punched him.
He punched him.
He punched him.
He punched Matt.
He punched MY Matt.
How dare he punch MY Matt.
….My Matt?
But before I could figure out that part I was already in the classroom, already flinging Heather out of my way, already turning on Chad and clawing at his eyes, kicking him in his crotch and punching his gut and he was already on the floor, groaning and wailing in pain. And then I was already at Matt's side as he sat up woozily, already staring at his jaw that was surely going to get bruised, already staring at the blood as Matt touched his jaw and brought his hand away. Already shaking with anger and fury at what I was seeing before me.
"Oh my god, Matt…" I found myself saying, blocking out the fact that Near - who I had only barely noticed sitting there - was studying me, ignoring the whispers and gasps and shouts of the other people, ignoring the groans of Chad, ignoring the shrieking of Heather. I only saw Matt and his blood.I turned and was about to attack Chad again, but Matt's hand already grabbed my wrist, stopping me in my tracks and making me turn to him. My blind fury was washed away, to find Matt grinning at me. A tooth was gone in his mouth. "Don't worry. It was a baby tooth." Matt said, as if it was going to reassure me. I stared at him, stricken by the sight. "It's okay." Matt told me again, standing up and helping me up. Helping me up. Now THAT was weird, considering it wasn't me but him who had been bullied.
"Matt, they… I'm sorry, this is my fault," I whispered, careful not to let anyone hear me. Weakness. I could show no weakness. I shot an icy glare at Heather as she started to stand up, and she sat back down immediately. I must look pretty damn scary, I thought, rather proud of myself. Matt was shaking his head when I looked up again, laughing with a certain happiness I couldn't place.
I could tell a good number of people were staring at the both of us. As we headed away from the hall, I turned around and glowered at everyone, my best glare. It obviously was working, because most people stopped whispering and looked at me. "Next person who bullies the redhead won't be able to walk for a week," I promised darkly before turning on my heels and hurrying to catch up to Matt.
As soon as we reached our hallway together Matt spun and reached up his hand. "HIGH FIVE FOR YOU BEING AWESOME!" he said a bit too loud - not that anyone was around to hear. I stared at his hand. High-five? "aren't you hurt?" I demanded, pointing to his jaw. Matt stared at him. "I'm fine. I mean, yeah, it hurts like hell, but imagine what Chad's going through," he laughed, punching me on the shoulder. I flinched at the gesture - I knew it was a normal 'dude thing' but it kind of caught me off guard, since Matt strangely hadn't really been treating me like a 'dude.'
Did I want to be treated like a dude?Anyway I shoved him back and rolled my eyes. "You're an idiot. But yeah, I'm pretty sure he won't be able to have children now.""He wouldn't have been able to have children anyway. The guys a total failure at being attractive," Matt replied, winking. Mello smirked and rolled his eyes, though he found the joke funny.
Suddenly the conversation paused and I looked up at him, a thought coming to my head. "Matt, what did they say to you?"
Matt paused, a look of guilt flashing on his face, and he looked at me like a lost puppy. "They said… um…. Some really mean stuff, Mells." I flinch at the desperate look in Matt's searching puppy dog eyes, immediately knowing that whatever they had told him was definitely not good. But then Matt's expression changed from despair to determination, and I blinked in surprise as he grabbed my hands, squeezing them tight. "It doesn't matter though, Mells," he whispered, "It doesn't matter to me if all of it's true, I still wanna be friends with you, okay? I'm not going to abandon you, so you can't leave me either, okay?"
I stared at him, shaken from the core at the desperate look in his eyes. What had been done to this boy? And why did he care about me so much? I couldn't bring myself to say anything for a long moment, until finally I felt a smile come to my lips, pulling off his goggles again and staring him in the eyes, making him grin like an over exited puppy. "You, Matty, are an idiot," I whisper, then shoved him playfully, rolling my eyes. "You couldn't get away from me if you tried."
Matt gave me a huge, glowing smile as I led him to the bedroom, squeezing my hand. "I wont try."
I laugh then. I laugh at the corniness of it all. The pointlessness. The stupidity. I laugh at how much I really do care what he says. I laugh just to laugh, because it feels good, and release his hand.
"Come on, let's go watch Secret Window."
A/N: AND THEN JOHNNY DEPP FOREVER SEALED THEIR FRIENDSHIP AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVAR AFTAR AND NEVR EVR HAD ANY PROBLEEMZ CAZ THAD BE TWO HARD TO WRITE LUL 8D…. Not. D lul this chapter pleases me, even though it's corny shit. BUT HEY, NEAR GOT TO TALK AGAIN! HI NEAR! D I HATE YOU! Lolnotrly I don't hate Near like a lot of people do, he's just insanely fun to tease.
Anyway, enough with the obnoxious authors note that none of you read, onwards to me going to write the next chapter, yes? Reviews are very much welcome and I will bow down to you and ur awesome if u review 8D it doest even have to be critique (I cant spell DX) just let me know ur reading~ (IF YOUR READING THAT IS… D8)