This is something I had in my files a bit before I started writing It's All in the Past. I posted it earlier but then I got the bright idea to put them in the story as interludes, which would solve my problem of lacking back-stories for these characters that seemingly pop out of nowhere and help everyone out. It is heavily inspired by the song Hero by Superchicks and I highly suggest you find that song. THERE MAY BE TRIGGERS so if you feel a way about anything that goes on in the story, feel free to stop. I'm NOT going to force you to read it.
"Jason?" She asked
"Yeah?"
"You remember that one day with those two kids and the bullies?"
"You're going to have to be more specific, love." Her boyfriend muttered when her friend didn't respond.
"I never forgot." Jason corrected him. "What about it?"
"Do you ever regret it?"
"I did once."
"Why?" She wondered. "You saved their lives… and probably a whole bunch of other people's too. I was proud to call you my brother."
"You have to understand, Bella, what happened that day isn't something I was proud of. Yeah I indirectly stopped some girl from cutting herself," He threw a pointed glance at his girlfriend, who shrugged.
"It was a low point." She admitted. "You've had enough of those to know how desperate I was."
"What's that mean?" Bella demanded of Leah, who smirked at Jason.
"She meant what she said, Bells. Don't look too deep into it."
"You know she won't leave it alone until we tell her the whole truth." Leah told him.
"Not even when I want her to." He sighed and leaned against her.
"Alright." He relented. "But you have to promise that you won't say anything until the end."
"Promise."
"Let's start with the fact that I was having a particularly bad day…"
Andrew's Pains (Jason and Andrew)
Jason gripped the corner of the wall with unsheathed paws as he surveyed the scene before him. It took all his strength not to beat the crap out of the bastards who once taunted him on a daily basis, but he was fortunate at least because he had learned to defend himself in any way possible. Now, someone else had filled his spot.
It was stupid. It was stupid and foolish and completely asinine and someone needed to teach those idiots a lesson!
It can't be you! The voice in his head (which surprisingly agreed with his conscience today) made him freeze.
But-
They just got done beating the crap out of you because you were the defenseless kid who got in their way. He's going to die anyway, so don't waste your time. Walk away.
No.
Let it die!
NO!
He peeked around the corner to see that his voice was right. They had stopped taunting him and the goons had him pinned to his locker while the leader proceeded to beat the crap out of him. His lolling head reminded Jason of just how hard the guy hit and the young neko knew that the boy would die if they weren't stopped.
You're going to regret this.
Maybe, but I can't just walk away from that.
He rammed into the leader, who let out something of a winded yelp when he landed a few feet down the abandoned corridor. The goons remained in their place, but stared unrecognizing at the newcomer. Jason bared his teeth, revealing sharp canines. This prompted them and they shoved the boy down and raced after their fallen leader.
"It's the freak!"
"Let's bail!" The leader snapped, limping down the hall with the two morons in tow.
Jason shook the unconscious boy awake, causing the boy to groan in protest and give feeble attempts to slap his hands away. Jason gently heaved the boy to his feet and allowed him to lean as the boy became aware of his surroundings.
"You need to get to the nurse." He told the boy. The sophomore shook his head fiercely.
"Home." He mumbled softly, gripping Jason's shirt to stand upright and attempting to get to the entrance.
"That's not such a good idea, kid. You'll bleed out before you even reach it. You should at least let the nurse patch you up."
"She'd call the hospital. I can't go to the hospital."
"I'll get some stuff then. I know basic first-aid."
"Okay."
Jason bolted for the office, relieved to find the nurse there but working on another student.
"You'll have to wait until I'm done, Jason." She told him.
"I just need some supplies."
"Who got hurt this time?" She sighed.
"A sophomore. I don't have much time."
"If it's severe then I have to call the hospital. You know that."
"No, you don't. That'll make it worse. I don't have much time!" He stressed. The nurse sighed.
"Let me know if you need help."
Jason nodded his thanks and raced back down the hall, his arms full of gauze and wipes and band-aid, relieved to find that the boy was right where he'd been left.
He set to work, stopping most of the bleeding and praying that the boy hadn't lost as much as it seemed. The boy slowly got to his feet and nodded to Jason.
"Thank you." He muttered.
"Anytime." Jason replied. "You should get home."
"I can't go home." The boy confessed after a few minutes of embarrassed silence. "Not if Dash is there."
"Who's that?"
"Dash is my mom's boyfriend, but it shouldn't matter. He treats her right."
"I don't think she would say that if she knew."
"He'd kill me if I told her."
"I have an idea!" Jason blurted out.
"Shoot." The boy shrugged.
"You can't get hurt again and I tend to make sure that my patients stay out of harm's way. If this Dash guy is as bad as you say, I can probably take care of him."
"One punch could send you sprawling." The boy sneered.
"I doubt that."
The boy hesitated for a bit.
"It's worth a shot." Jason insisted.
"It's your head." The boy sighed. Jason shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"You did." He snorted.
They spent the walk to the boy's house talking about anything that didn't involve their personal lives or the events of the day… which turned out to be pretty useful.
"Well, here we are." Andrew muttered. It had taken Jason that long to remember that the boy's name was Andrew and that they had lunch. Since he usually sat with Bella and Andrew didn't eat in the cafeteria, there wasn't that much time for socializing.
"Home sweet home." Jason agreed. "Looks nice."
"My mom bought it. She works until five. You'll have to excuse the mess. Dash doesn't clean up until he knows she's on her way here."
"BRAT!" A gruff voice snarled. The owner of said gruff voice lumbered over so that he blocked the entrance to the kitchen, where Andrew was heading.
"What's this?" The beast demanded.
"I'm a friend of his from school."
"Why are you here?"
Jason rolled his eyes and snorted.
"Because I want to be."
The beast of a man rounded on Andrew.
"So not only are you a nerd who can't throw a punch, you're gay too?" Dash howled with laughter, which sent him toppling into the armchair opposite the flat screen. "Like you need any more reason to be labeled a freak!" He spat, clomping to his feet and towering over the younger boy. "No kid in my house is a freak. You got that, kid?" He sneered.
"It's not your house." Andrew muttered lowly. Dash's eyes blazed with fury and he raised a meaty paw to club the boy senseless. Jason sprang just in time to catch the man's burly arm in his fist and shoved it back toward its owner, sending Dash stumbling into the kitchen counter. The boyfriend let out an enraged roar and lunged for Andrew.
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" He snarled. Jason yanked the boy out of the way and sent Dash careening into the opposite wall. Andrew let out an involuntary yelp and Jason loosened his grip.
"Sorry." He muttered, his eyes trained on Dash's slow form.
The door opened and Jason straightened up, but remained tensed, waiting for the man to strike again. Dash grabbed Andrew, who scrabbled to get away.
"You are not allowed to be a freak!" He snarled, allowing his spit to soak the poor boy's face as he shook him.
A woman Jason realized must be Andrew's mother, shrieked in horror at the brutal sight before her:
Jason had sunk his teeth and claws into Dash's arm, causing him to enforce his grip on Andrew's neck by reflex when he meant to make him let go. Andrew was coughing and trying desperately to slip from Dash's iron chokehold. Jason rolled his eyes and stabbed the other arm. Dash howled in pain and clutched his arm, allowing Andrew to drop to the floor. Dash staggered toward the woman, panting.
"Those kids are demons!" He rasped.
"Get out." She hissed.
"Tell me you believe me, honey! You have to believe me! One minute I'm watching the game and-"
Jason rolled his eyes and stalked over to glare at the man.
"If I heard correctly, which I did, the lady told you to leave."
"Who do you think you are?!" Dash snarled, whirling on Jason. "You can't kick me out of my own house!"
"I'll be your worst fucking nightmare if you don't get as far away as possible."
"Really? I oughta-" The man sneered. Jason's claws came out again and he bared his teeth. Dash scrambled to his feet.
"Try it and you'll burn in Hell before you can blink!" He snapped.
Dash nodded and was out the door in an instant.
"You have to teach me how to do that." Andrew broke off into a coughing fit.
"All the other stuff that happened to you and you want to learn how to fight? You really need to get your priorities straight." Jason snorted. He turned to the woman, who now needed the door to support her weight.
"I don't believe you have a first-aid kit?" He asked gently. She nodded and pointed to the kitchen. He had the thing rolled out in seconds and he was inspecting Andrew's wounds.
"Your old wounds were reopened." He muttered more to himself than to the dying boy.
"Don't" Andrew rasped. "- waste those on me." He coughed.
"Quit being so pitiful kid. You'll be fine."
"I knew this would happen." Andrew continued. "Dash was more annoyed than usual this morning."
"And at school?"
"My mother's boyfriend just pointed out all my flaws and you really have to ask that?"
"Makes sense. They're jealous."
"Sure." Andrew snorted.
"Do me a favor and hold still, will you? I'm going to try something." He muttered.
"What-?"
"Ms. Courfton?"
"You're a neko." She muttered. The woman had wiped her eyes and was thinking back to the stories her grandmother would tell of such creatures.
"Yes." Jason confirmed.
"You can heal him, can't you?" She begged. "My grandmother told me that my grandfather, her husband, was one too. He had healing powers."
"Yes, I can. I'm going to have to, if that's okay."
"Please." She murmured. He nodded and turned back to Andrew.
"Hold still." He reminded the boy. Relaxing was harder than it looked, and it took all his strength to go through with the process. At any rate, he closed his hand around Andrew's wrist and allowed the energy to flow through him. He could feel everything as Andrew was healing; every cut, every bruise and replacing the damaged tissue of his neck with new.
Jason was panting when it was over and he lay on his back next to Andrew's unconscious form.
"Sorry for intruding but he wasn't doing so well when I got to him and I wanted to make sure he'd be okay."
"I'm glad you did, Jason."
"How do you-?"
"Andrew talks about you a lot. The things you get up to… he admires you." The woman informed him.
"Is he really-?"
"I don't know." She mumbled. "We never talked about it. He was probably too scared of Dash."
"Ask him when you get the chance."
"I intend to. It doesn't matter though. He'll always be my little boy, no matter who he likes."
Jason agreed with that idea. Parents were supposed to love their children no matter what.
"Jason?"
"I have to go home now." He murmured. "My friend… she'll be worried sick if I don't get home sometime tonight."
"I can call her for you."
"Much obliged, ma'am, but I'll be fine."
"If you say so." She mused, turning her attention back to her son. "Jason?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. You saved my boy's life today. If I can ever repay you then just let me know."
"Sure." He mumbled groggily, heaving himself to his feet.
"Are you sure you don't want to go home in the morning?" She asked the 17 year old. "You don't look so good."
"I'll be fine, Miss. Good luck with Andrew."
With those words, Jason limped out the door.
Leah's Scars (Bella and Leah)
She found the older girl in the bathroom, crouched on the floor with a knife in her hand. Tears streamed down the girl's face and Bella couldn't help but feel for her. Whatever happened must have been terrible if she liked knives that much.
"Hey," She muttered, tapping the girl's shoulder. The girl let out a low growl but otherwise, didn't respond.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Bella wondered.
"That's a stupid question."
"Well, are you?"
"Yeah, kid. I'll be fine."
"I'm not a kid." She scowled. "I'm eleven years old."
"You should be in middle school. Why are you here?"
"I take some classes here. My bus leaves in an hour to take me back in time for Recess and my other classes and then I get to go home."
"Cool, I guess."
"I thought they didn't allow knives at schools."
"Well I have one."
"Those slashes on your arm… do they hurt a lot?"
"Nah. It helps me get through the day."
"Is it fun?"
"Better than dealing with a bunch of stuck-up kids all day."
"Why aren't you in class?"
"It's my lunch."
"Did you eat?"
"You can't eat lunch if you don't have money."
"Oh… right." The younger girl's face darkened considerably. I have an idea!" She chirped, rustling around in her bag.
"Take it." She ordered when she came up with a few crumpled dollar bills. "I took a bit more from my mom's purse than usual this morning and I already ate lunch. Now you can eat too."
"I can't take your money, kid."
"Why not?" She asked.
"It's not mine and I can't pay you back."
"You don't have to." She assured the older girl. "My mom won't notice that a few extra dollars went missing. I already paid the bills and everything with the extra money her friends gave her, and she's got enough as it is."
"Are you absolutely sure you don't need this?" The darker girl demanded.
"Yeah, so take it. You look like you need it more than I do."
"Thanks, kid. I'll find some way to pay you back."
"And I'll see if your knife trick really helps and report back to you tomorrow."
"Sure thing," The girl muttered softly.
It took Leah all of a minute to realize what Bella said and she was on her feet and racing down the hall… but it was too late. The younger girl had disappeared.
"Dear God, please don't let that poor girl do anything stupid. Don't let her end up like me."
Jason staggered into the house, sore and tired and seriously wanting to catch up on the much-needed sleep he so desperately craved… but he had to check on Bella. He started when he realized that her light was still on.
"Bella?! It's late, Kitten, why aren't you in bed?!" He demanded as he limped the long, painful trek to her room.
"Bell-" What he saw made him freeze, and right then and there, he wanted to cry. He hasn't wanted to cry in a while but the sight of his little girl doing this to herself…
"So what possessed you to take this up?"
Hero- Doing the Right Thing (Jason sticks up for his own kind)
He stormed into the office the next day and asked to speak to the principal. The secretary, seeing the look on the normally easygoing boy made sure that happened as soon as possible.
"Well… this is certainly a surprise. What seems to be the problem, Jason?"
"I was wondering if I could take the mike for a few minutes, Mr. Zarlton."
"Why?" The rightfully confused principal wondered.
"It's about something that happened yesterday. It's important that everyone know about it."
"I'm sure I can get a letter out to the parents-"
"I want it to stick with them, Sir. They shouldn't forget what I have to say."
"Alright then. Just wait until I call you in. I'm going to do some normal announcements and then you can make your speech."
"Thank you, Sir."
"And Jason?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Try and keep it PG. The Gifted students have their morning classes."
"I'll try, Sir."
"Good Morning Baleford High…"
Jason zoned out for a bit after that.
"Mr. Falcontes?" The secretary shook the sleeping boy awake. His eyes snapped open and he was on his feet.
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"Mr. Zarlton is almost done with the announcements."
"Thank you, Ms. Richards."
"And now, one of our students has something to share."
Jason nodded his thanks and took the mike.
"Good morning, Baleford High, I'm not going to bother with introductions because you either know me or you know someone who does so here goes: I had to help a friend of mine out yesterday and don't ask because his name doesn't matter. What does matter is that Paulson and his crew almost beat the kid to death. That right there is something I have a problem with because by the time they were out of sight, you three scream like girls by the way, the boy couldn't even reach the door. Not cool, people! With their luck, Paulson might be staring as his father reads the murder charges he would've been put down for had I not stepped in. But this isn't about me. I have a question. Gifted kids, cover your ears and don't listen until the teacher says you can. Are you so insecure about yourselves that you have to go around beating the mess out of kids who can't fight back? That you have to make sure everyone knows you're top dog? You're not, by the way. You're a bully, and you went too far. You pull something like that again and good luck trying to get out of it. Let's see how long you'll last in the real world, where people go to prison for the crap you pulled. It's called assault stupid, and you don't just get off with a slap on the wrist like they do in elementary school. Do you know what they do to murderers in prison? I bet you poor idiots won't even last a day. If none of that got through your thick skulls, do the whole world a favor and keep your hands to yourself. You got me? Next time I might not be so nice."
Jason gave the microphone back to the stunned principal and turned off the speaker.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Zarlton."
Hero- Counting Scars (Bella and the Adams boys)
Bella found the group of boys lighting up behind the bleachers and rolled her eyes. Such a shame, she thought, when this is all they had to look up to.
"Adams," She called out over their laughter.
"Hey, Adams!" She shouted. The boys froze and the leader stepped forward.
"What?" He demanded.
"You should follow me," She murmured softly.
He narrowed his eyes and nodded to his boys.
"I'll be back."
She led him away from the bleachers and toward the abandoned shed near the edge of the school's property.
"Ty?" She called.
"Go away!" The boy snarled back. She turned on the light and led Adams over to where the boy huddled in the corner, a smoke lit up and halfway to his skin.
"Tyrone Leon Adams, what the fuck are you doing?!" Adams demanded.
"Being like you." He snorted. "Being what dad wants me to be."
Adams dropped to his knees in shock.
"What- why would you do this?"
"You have your scars, I have mine."
"But why?! I do the stuff I do because I'm not going anywhere after this. I know that I can't go anywhere! You… you can actually go to college and get a job. You can build robots like you did when we were little and get paid. You can write and get paid. You can have a life."
"Maybe I don't want one. Maybe I don't want to get paid and have dad hounding me for whatever I make. Maybe I want to be left alone, or better yet maybe I don't want to constantly live in everyone's fucking shadow!" The boy snapped. "So I'm being different."
"Wrong kind of different, little bro. C'mere, let me tell you how you can really get back at dad."
"Why?"
"Just listen, it's brilliant."
"Okay,"
"So here's what we'll do. We'll go to college and get our degrees in whatever we want, not what they tell us to do. We get rich doing what we love and guess what?"
"What?"
"Dad won't see a penny."
"What about mom?"
"She can have a house, but Dad won't be allowed in it. We'll be living the dream and Dad'll have spent all his money on his gambling just like he always does, and we don't have to help him at all. He's making his choice and you're making yours and I'm making mine. Sound like a plan to you, little bro?"
"Yeah, it sounds like a great one. Phoenix won't know what they unleashed on the world! We'll be geniuses, Trey, like Tony Stark and Bill Gates."
"Yeah, kid. We'll be geniuses."
Thank you, he mouthed to the younger girl. She nodded.
"You deserve it."
Courage and Contemplation (Jason and Leah)
He hears her coming and briefly wonders what could possibly posses her to follow him.
"You ran off pretty fast there… was it something I said?"
"No, no… it's just that… you would think that after all this time of almosts and wanting that I'd just be able to do it by now." That's when she saw the gun at his feet.
"You shouldn't do that." She muttered shakily.
"Why?" He snorted. "Give me a reason, a good one."
"What would Bella say?"
"How- are you the girl she met in the bathroom?"
"I'm so sorry, Jason, I don't know what I said to make her think it was okay-"
"I know… I already reamed her out about it. She's not naïve but she said it was some kind of experiment?"
"She must've heard it when I said it makes me feel better… I swear I didn't mean to say that part aloud."
"Why were you there in the first place? And did she give you money?"
"Yeah."
"What'd you do with it?"
"Got lunch. She had been right. I was starving, so I got something after school."
"Your life can't be so bad that you would resort to that… and don't give me that 'it's the only thing I can control' bullshit either."
"I take it you've done this before?"
"I've heard it. So why…"
"Same reason you think that's the way to go. I'm not good enough… for anything or anyone. I just like to remind myself."
"That sounds stupid. I'm sure there's something you're good at, someone who notices you."
"Not really, and you're one to talk. You should throw the gun out."
"You should trash the knives."
"I will if you will."
"Okay…"
"So… now what?"
Jason opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it.
Coward! Just tell her! Tell her or live with the fact that she doesn't deserve your crazy!
"Okay, so I'm going to completely butcher this and I've been meaning to ask you this for a while…"
"Just say it, Jason."
"Can I take you out sometime?"
Bullying is something that should not be condoned or practiced! Unfortunately, such is not the case and people are actually affected by it. All we can do is reach out and show those people that they have something to live for. (Call me sentimental if you must) REVIEW PLEASE! Thank you. I hope I didn't trigger anything, and PLEASE let me knw if I did.