Chapter 4: The Bully
Before Christine, Erik had always been mostly invisible to everyone around him. Now that they were together, he had caught his peers' attention. This was something he didn't want, not even in a good way. He had to put up with it for Christine's sake but when it came to Raoul, it wasn't easy. Raoul de Changy was a football star, popular, and he lusted after Christine. He resented Erik for having her so he took that anger out on him.
The first time it happened, he corned Erik in the boy's restroom. He and his goons shoved Erik into a corner and started to beat on him. They took his bag, dumping everything on the floor. They punched him and kicked him until he blacked out on the floor. No one knew about it or cared that he wasn't around. The only one that noticed was Christine. He didn't show up to lunch or the classes they shared even though he had spoken to her that morning. She was insanely worried and kept shifting in her seat every minute that he wasn't there. She kept texting him and eventually got up, looking for him. There was a commotion around one of the boy's bathroom as she walked by. Christine paused when she heard them murmuring about "the freak." She immediately pushed everyone aside and ran into the boy's room.
"Move! Get out of my way!" she cried. Erik was bloodied and bruised on the ground. Everyone was whispering to each other, no one had even alerted a teacher. It was the most shocking thing to Christine; she had no idea that anyone could be so cruel. She sprinted to Erik's side, cradling his head. "Oh god, Erik, no," she said in a trembling voice. He was unconscious and his face looked terrible. His art and compositions were ruined all over the ground around them.
Christine couldn't believe this. She looked up to see the faces of all the students and roared at all of them, "GET OUT! GET OUT OF HERE!" She was crying over Erik's body and everyone who was whispering or watching scrambled out of there. She took her phone and texted Mrs. Giry what happened. The motherly woman came running in to the sight of all of Erik's ruined compositions and a teary eyed Christine, holding Erik's head. She called 911 and Erik was taken away in a stretcher to an ambulance. She called his parents as well, but no one answered. Christine went with them to the hospital, riding in the ambulance with Erik. Any person, who tried to tell her to leave, couldn't bear the words because of her heartbroken look. She couldn't leave him; no one could make her go. Christine remained by his bedside, always holding his hand.
His parents only came to sign the paperwork and assess the damage. He had to have surgery again and the pain was excruciating for him. They gave him morphine and wrapped his face in bandages. He looked like a war victim and even the local newspaper came in to do a story. It was even on the news. Christine was always in the shots of the pictures of Erik, it was never of his parents. She refused to be interviewed though, being named as Mr. Erik Destler's loyal friend. She was extremely protective over who got to see him and who didn't. She waited for him to wake up anxiously.
Erik didn't wake for two days and even still, he was drugged so heavily he didn't do much but look at her. It was nearly a week before he could start to talk again.
"Wa...wa…" His voice was so dry it came out like a whisper. Christine's head shot up when he spoke and she squeezed his hand.
"Erik?" she sat up quickly. "What do you need?" He tried to speak again but his voice cracked and he looked like he was going to cry. He tried again and the same sound came out. She was able to piece together some letters and rushed to get him some water, holding a wet sponge to his lips. "My poor Erik," she whispered brokenly. "My poor unhappy Erik."
He drank it eagerly but he couldn't move otherwise. "T-Thank...you." His voice was weak and broken. It wasn't his usual melodic sound.
"Oh my Erik," she kissed his hands and held them to her cheeks. "I'm going to go apeshit on whoever did this to you." She tried to cheer him up by using her newly found urban slang. She offered him a sweet smile and kissed his hands again and again. She was scared to kiss him on the mouth because of how hurt his face was.
He tried to smile, but everything was numb. When he started to heal, he had to go back into surgery so he was in the hospital for weeks. Christine brought him his homework so he could keep up with school. She kept asking him who did this and why. She wanted justice and to make an example of them so no one would dare hurt him again. Erik couldn't remember who it was, that whole day was gone from his memory.
