Helloooo, my lovelies! Here's the next chapter of my story :) Thank you guys so much for the wonderful reviews and favorites! I love you all!
GlitchAwesomeness: ohh, don't cryyy D: D:
Troublmaker: Awww, thank you! :D and lol ikr? Drama's awesome in stories x3
munchymaxter: Thanks for the review ^-^
Glitchlover66: I sowwiieeeeee ;A; don't cryyyy
CillyAzian: something good does happen to our glitch in this chapter, don't worry! :D
Dark Moonlight24: ah, thank you so muchh!
jazminewriter: I promise, he will! :)
glitchy'me: I knuu, everyone would totally kick those bullies' butts D: D: Thanks for the review x3
Hi-DefGirl0615: thanks for the review, hun~ ^-^
The morning didn't bring any relief to Glitch. After spending the whole night wracked with pain and cursing the faux-pain relievers, Glitch had forced himself to crawl upstairs and get ready for the day. He had to save up his sick days for when he was in the hospital, not for when he was just sore.
Everything was ten times harder. Putting on clean clothes was near impossible—Glitch gave up after trying to pull off his shirt and just put on a sweatshirt. Since he couldn't take off his clothes, he couldn't take a shower, forcing him to have to deal with the sweat from last night's dance battle. He couldn't brush his teeth because the motion of his hand moving the toothbrush jarred his ribs too much. Styling his hair involved having to have his hands above his head, which, he had quickly found out, was a big no-no.
All in all, he looked like a complete mess.
"Thank the gods for elevators," he sighed to himself as leaned against the wall, listening to the hum of the engine as it took him to the ground level. The elevator made a ding, and he exited into the lobby.
Glitch focused uncomfortably on the ground, not meeting the eyes of the high-class residents that were waiting for their cars to pick them up. He raised his hood so his face was covered, hiding from their curious and indignant stares. He was the only child in the building, and was used to them getting worked up over a common-looking boy in their otherwise unpolluted environment.
"Mornin', Mr. Seung," the doorman said cheerily, opening the door for him. "Wow, you look like shit. Can I can you a taxi?"
Glitch shook his head, eyes to the ground. "I can just walk," he said casually. "I didn't sleep well last night."
"That sucks—Mr. Gregory! It's such a pleasure to see you again!"
Glitch was shooed to the side as the doorman opened the door for a much more important resident. Shaking his head sadly, Glitch hunched his back and walked in the direction of his school.
The day dragged on like every day usually did. He was thrown into lockers, insulted, had his things torn apart, and was suffering a sore shoulder because someone threw a basketball at him. He was a total mess, and all he wanted to do was crawl into his bed (or couch—stairs were evil) to sleep off the pain.
Whoever was up there seemed to have a different idea, obviously, because he received a text from Lil'T ordering him to meet her and her hyperactive friends for a beginning-of-the-weekend party.
Glitch lolled his head back, groaning in annoyance. He wanted to desperately ditch hanging out, but Lil'T had a habit of showing up at his doorstep if he didn't.
Taking as long as possible, Glitch dragged himself in the direction of the diner. He had been there many times before, since it was one of Lil'T's favorite hangouts.
"There you are, Glitch!" Lil'T waved frantically at him from the other side of the diner when he entered. "Where you been?"
Glitch shrugged, sitting down at the boisterous table, wincing at how it jarred his ribs. Lil'T didn't notice, though, as she ranted about how he was always late. He tuned her out as he surveyed the people at the table.
They were all of Lil'T's friends, various punks and dancers from around the area. They were all around her age, which was just a year over him, putting her at age 16. Most were indifferent to his presence, but occasionally one or two would throw him a smile. This shocked him to no end, and put him on edge. Why are they being nice to me? What do they want?
"You okay, Glitch?" Lil'T said, nudging him in his aching side. "You seem kinda out of it."
"I-I'm fine," Glitch gritted out, stealing a sip from her drink. It was mostly for show-they always used to steal each other's food. "I just had a bad day."
Lil'T frowned, dodging a french fry that was thrown by someone at the table. "Aw, I'm sorry, bro," she said, giving him a one-armed hug. "Anythin' I can do to help? Maybe order you a slice of cake?"
Lil'T knew that cake was one of Glitch's weaknesses. He could eat a whole thing by himself and still want more. If he ever got the chance, he could live off of it. He could only have it rarely-he had to save his money for important things, and it was insane to think that his Aunt and Darren would willingly buy him something. So, whenever he was having a bad day, Lil'T used to buy him a slice of cake. She hadn't done it in probably half a year, because...
Wait, why hadn't she been getting him cake? He had obviously been at an all-time low, pulling away from his friends and not talking as much.
Ah, she'd think about it later. She'd make up for those six cake-less months by buying him cake now.
"I'm okay," Glitch said, avoiding her gaze.
Lil'T gasped and pulled away, looking horrified. "You, Glitch, King of Cake, don't want-are you sick?" She jerked forward and felt his forehead. "How can you not want cake? You always want cake!"
"I just don't want it right now," he mumbled, getting embarrassed.
"What the hell?" one of her friends whined. "You don't get me cake when I'm down!"
"Because I don't like you," she said, not looking at him. She wrapped her arm around Glitch again, shaking him. "Come onnnn, you know you want it."
"I'm not really in a cake mood…" Glitch said, shrugging and wincing. Lies, his stomach snarled at him. Get me cake now!
"I'll have it!" another girl said, sticking his hand in the air and waving it emphatically.
"It'll be chocolate…" Lil'T sang, ignoring their whining.
"Okay, fine," Glitch relented with a small smile. His stomach gurgled happily.
Lil'T grinned widely as she caught the attention of the waiter and ordered. A few minutes later the cake was set in front of him, warm and covered with melted chocolate. Everyone glared at him enviously, a few even ordering their own.
"Thanks," Glitch mumbled, shirking away from their stares.
Lil'T ruffled his hair and went back to chatting with her friends, ignoring him. Glitch scarfed down the cake in seconds—he hadn't eaten all day. Some random big kids had taken his lunch away from him, and he never ate breakfast.
Glitch stared longingly at where his cake had been moments before. He debated on whether he should order more food, but looking at how everyone was stealing each other's food, he decided against it. No doubt he wouldn't get any of it.
"I'm gonna head out," he said after awhile, tapping on Lil'T's shoulder.
The girl was too engrossed in another conversation to pay attention. She waved at him flippantly to go away, and Glitch silently took his leave, putting two dollars on the table to pay for the cake. Going unnoticed by anyone, he slipped out into the brutally cold outside air.
A half hour later, Lil'T frowned when she didn't see Glitch. She sat up straighter and looked around, trying to locate the young dancer.
"Hey, where'd nanobyte go?" Lil'T addressed the table. They frowned in confusion. "The Asian kid that was next to me."
"Dunno," a boy with a Mohawk shrugged. "Maybe he left."
Lil'T slumped down a bit, searching through her memory. It bugged and slightly disturbed her that she couldn't remember how long he had been gone.
Something had obviously been going on with her little dancer-bro. He had been quieter, and they had hung out less and less. His outgoing personality was nowhere in sight, a demure, sad one replacing it. He tried to act normal, but Lil'T had known him ever since he had moved to the States—she knew when he was faking something.
It plagued her even when she was back at home, hours later. She vowed that she would find the cause of her best friend's distress and make him happy again.
Glitch rolled his shoulder, hissing as he unlocked the door to his apartment. He should probably get it checked out, he mused as he flicked on the lights.
Ah, who was he kidding? When would he willingly go to a doctor?
A familiar scent washed over him as he took off his shoes, along with the sound of someone in the kitchen. He closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply the smell. Was that…kimchi stew?
Frowning to himself in confusion, he dropped his backpack and made a beeline for the kitchen. He felt relief was over him and he bounded the last few steps and wrapping his arms around the man in front of the stove, ignoring the pain he felt.
"Grandpa," Glitch said in a murmur, switching seamlessly into Korean as he tightly hugged him.
"Ah!" Grandpa said in surprise, turning around. He scowled at his youngest grandson, but it held no malice. "Oh, there you are. Don't sneak up on me like that. You'll give me a heart attack, boy!" Glitch chuckled lightly, letting go of his grandfather's small form.
"What're you doing here?" he asked, sitting down at the island.
"I had to call your idiot aunt for something, and she told me she was in France for the next few weeks and you were alone," he explained as he stirred the contents of the pot. "I figured that you were too stupid to actually cook for yourself so I decided to come and make you dinner. And what do you do? Come home late! Shame on you, making your old grandfather wait for you!"
"But I didn't know you were coming, Grandpa," Glitch said with a half-grin. Grandpa turned around and cuffed him on the side of his head.
"No back-talking!" he barked. Huffing in annoyance as Glitch laughed, he turned around and went back to cooking. "The food will be ready in ten minutes. Just sit there and ice the bruise on your eye." Glitch started uncomfortably, self-consciously putting his hand over it and biting his lip.
"Another fight?" Grandpa asked reprovingly, watching him with dark eyes.
Glitch grinned sheepishly, grabbing a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and sitting down again. "The other guy looks worse," he lied.
Grandpa looked at him, unconvinced. Glitch forced an innocent smile, which turned into a grimace as the bag touched his shoulder—he figured that he might as well ice what hurt the most, since the elder already knew he was hurt.
Grandpa grunted and went back to cooking.
As Glitch sat, nursing his various aches and pains, he rested his head on his good arm that was resting on the counter. He observed his grandfather cook through lidded eyes, being lulled into doze by the warmth and familiarity of the scene.
It had been months since the last time he had seen his Grandpa. He'd missed the old man with an aching heart, along with his grandmother. They'd always catch a flight from Vancouver whenever they could, making sure he was treated with the care that was so rare and foreign to Glitch.
Grandpa had even started helping out at his old friend's teashop, which had shops where Glitch was and in Vancouver. This allowed them to see each other even more often, and for Glitch to have a safe house when things got too bad with Eun and Darren.
Glitch sighed to himself, giving up the losing battle against his eyelids and allowed them to close. When Grandpa turned around, Glitch was fast asleep.
Grandpa slapped Glitch on top of the head again. "Awake!" he snapped. "I didn't come all the way out here for you to sleep. And this is how you repay me for making your favorite dish?"
"Alright, alright, I'm up," Glitch said, jolting up and into a sitting position as the food was set out in front of him.
The two relatives sat next to each other, conversing little as they ate and enjoyed the comfortable silence.
Alright, so some happiness for our Glitch, yeah? :) But this is just the calm before the storm ;-;
As usual, please review and tell me what you think!
Goodbye for now, my beauties~