Disclaimer: I do not own Bully. You know, I could probably get away with just putting one of these on chapter one. Oh well, it's become a habit now! ^-^
EvilChick101: You were my fifteenth review, which is awesome because it is my favorite number! Tu as raison, Derby is a jerky-poo.
Kai19999: Yay praise! Ha, I was afraid to write about Derby because I have not played the game in so long. And as for Bif, all I remember is that he falls in the boxing ring and Derby yells at him (true love, right?), so I'm just kinda making up his character as I go along.
A Boy Named Troy
Chapter Thirteen
Students at Bullworth Academy didn't care about school. Jimmy could easily see why. Out of all the schools he had been to and gotten kicked out of, Bullworth was the only one where the cliques actually had uniforms and would openly pound the shit out of each other. It was also the only hellhole that had corrupted prefects, conspiring teachers, and a disgruntled chef. Yep, he could definitely understand how academics got lost within the frazzled kids' minds.
Surprisingly, the school's king thought a lot about the scholastic aspect of Bullworth. Well, maybe not a lot, but some. More than what people thought he did. Sure, his grades weren't great or anything, but he tried. Sometimes. He had not failed a single class, except for math once or twice. Okay, maybe he didn't actually give a crap about what the school had to offer in books. That didn't mean he wasn't interested in school though. He loved to walk down the halls, people shouting greetings and compliments to him. It was the one place he could escape from his problems lately. No kid. No boyfriend… no, not boyfriend. Annoyance. That was what Gord was. Jimmy nodded, reminding himself of how he felt.
Jimmy decided to go to school early, meaning about ten minutes before his first hour started. The past few days, Gord had been walking Troy to class. The two were getting along good enough to convince him that he didn't have to watch them so much. As he strolled into the somewhat heated building, he was not surprised to see a bigger crowd than usual. It was frickin' freezing outside. "Hey Jiiiimmy!" A familiar long-legged red haired girl cheerfully called out to him as he was kicking snow off his large black boots. People heard his name and suddenly there was a mob. They kept a respectful distance, allowing him to wave and soak in his glory. He smirked and kids beamed. "God is it good to be king." he arrogantly bragged out loud, not afraid of gaining any type of a poor reputation.
The peaceful worshipping circle did not maintain order as long as Jimmy had hoped it would. A familiar voice made sure that it was heard clearly throughout all the others. His hairs began to rise at the excited greeting of, "Jim!" Only two people dared to be so casual with the king in front of others and they were Petey and Gord. Too bad the voice carried more snobbery than Kowalski could ever manage. Within a few seconds Gord pushed through the wall of people, dragging something behind him. The ex-prep shooed his peers away, but they did not move a step until Hopkins gestured that it was okay. "Now be honest and tell me how much you love this!" he brightly cut to the chase. Immediately Jimmy knew he would hate whatever he was shown.
The brunette yanked forward the small boy that he had dragged up to the king of Bullworth. "What the hell…?" Was all Jimmy could summon up before bursting out in laughter at a Troy who was covering his face with his hands. Gord had been complaining that their ward needed a new look, but he never thought that he would get around to it. As Jimmy's laughter began to die down, he was able to eye up the new Troy better. The hair on the top of the kid's head had been pulled out of his face and stretched to the back where it was tied in a small light pink bow. His normal grungy clothes were nowhere to be seen and had been replace by some kind of white shirt under a corduroy blazer that was the same color as the hair ornament. The cuffs had to be turned up, revealing a striped pattern. Troy wore a pair of light colored pair of jeans that Jimmy surely thought should belong to a girl (couldn't something that tight hurt the chances of the kid ever having a kid himself one day?). The shoes he wore were also, to Jimmy's pain/amusement, the very same rose color. To top everything off, Gord had managed to slip a few silver chains around the poor kid's neck. "You do know that he's a guy, right?" he was finally able to ask.
"See!" Troy snapped, but it was ignored.
"What are you talking about?" The rich kid honestly seemed confused. "Our boy will become a little heartbreaker dressed like this."
"Only because any girls that might have liked him will think he's gay."
Gord scrunched up his long nose and narrowed his eyes. "For your information, this attire is very fashionable. It is an outfit that I used to wear as a child."
Jimmy stifled a chuckle. "That kinda proves my point, doesn't it?" Pouting was the thing that the preppie used to get out of any tight spot, so, sure enough, he crossed his arms and turned away slightly. "What the heck is in his hair?"
Not facing the king, Gord answered, "A ribbon, which is what royalty use to keep the hair out of their faces." The first bell of the day clanged obnoxiously in the emptying entryway. With one of his wide hands, Jimmy removed the necklaces from Troy's neck and then patted him on the back, signaling for him to scamper off to class while he still could. The kid got the message and ran off.
"So you used to wear these?" he asked, eyeing the shiny chains with disdain. Vendrome simply nodded. "What were they doing at the beach house? I thought I told you to only pack what you needed."
He shrugged, "Sometimes it is nice to be able to keep a reminder of childhood. Not all of us have families that are deprived of parenting skills you know."
"Let's just get to class."
`~***~`
Chemistry was boring. It always was. Disturbing could also be said about it, after seeing far too many public dates between Watts and Edna. Jimmy was supposed to be scribbling down answers to endless pre-lab questions like all the other students, but, having not bothered to take notes the past week or so, had no idea as to what was going on in class. Instead, he examined the three chains in his hands that Gord had not yet taken back. There was something interesting about them. Spots where the silver color was fading from the years were turning an ugly brown. "I wonder why Rich Kid's parents didn't buy him expensive ones." he apathetically pondered.
Gord. Without meaning to, his eyes naturally wandered towards the wealthy boy who sat on the other side of the cold classroom. Having been booted from the prep group, Gord was no longer allowed to wear his beloved Aquaberry clothes during school hours and escape being hassled by the prefects. Now he opted for a pair of khaki slacks and the dress shirt-sweater vest combo that he had purchased more than a year ago. "Maybe he really is growing." Jimmy thought when he noticed that the bottom of his friend's pants didn't even come close to reaching the top of his pricy Italian shoes. It looked dorky.
The prep never used to care anymore than Jimmy did about grades, but now, not wanting anyone from the school to contact his parents out of fear of them finding out about his new living arrangements, actually studied. He was sort of cute in an odd way when he was rapidly writing down equations on his paper, instead of bothering Hopkins by making childish faces. Jimmy focused in more when the ex-prep took a break from his pencil movements and twirled his wrist around a few times. He then stretched out his back by leaning forward over his black desk space. This pulled up his outgrown shirt, exposing an olive lower back. James smirked to himself once he noticed how interested he was in the sight. Maybe he liked having Gord around more than he wanted to admit.
`~***~`
Jimmy did not have any more classes with Gord, but that did not stop the preppie from stalking him the rest of the day. As the king attempted to march his way to his last hour, Gord showed up out of nowhere, taking his spot to the right. In front of them, Christy walked with a guy named Ivan. They were holding hands, but standing pretty far apart. James didn't take any more notice than thinking it was strange. Not everyone saw things the way he did though. He felt something warm latch onto one of his thick palms. Going with his first instinct, he shook it off. This was the part when Gord would normally settle for grabbing Jimmy's arm, which was something that he would normally not allow during school hours, but thought that he might this one time. After all, Gord had been a nice little distraction during a dull first block. No weight was put onto Jimmy's arm and no words were exchanged as they continued down the somewhat crowded hall. The king took a quick glance at Gord and then shrugged. His loss.
When they were about halfway to the gym and the number of people lowered, a hand grabbed for his again. Jimmy pulled his own away, but Gord's came right back. The ex-prep tried and failed another five times before stomping to a complete halt. James was able to take a few steps before he noticed the absence. He also stopped and turned to face Gord. "What?" he barked out a little more hostile than he meant. He didn't want to let his friend know that the innocent act bothered him as much as it did.
"Why won't you even let me hold your hand?"
"Oh." Jimmy looked down for a few seconds. Neither spoke in that time, so he tried to get away with, "I gotta get to class. See ya!"
"Do you even have the slightest care towards me?!" Gord retorted, his voice cracking and revealing that he was upset (when was he ever not?). The few people that were around stopped whatever they were doing and watched.
"Gord." he shifted uncomfortably on his feet and virtually begged, "Can we talk about this later?"
"Why is it that a whore can parade around her five-day-boyfriend, but I cannot even get close to the man I have loved and been with for months?" he snapped back, a bubble catching in his throat. "Are you ashamed of me? Am I not good enough!" His voice was getting louder and louder with each word. "It's not like you are in the closet or anything; you have fooled around with practically half the male population here!"
Hopkins raised his arms defensively. "C'mon now, that's a bit of an exaggeration." He wished that every pair of eyes could have been a dagger he could use to kill himself right there and then.
"I love you James Hopkins and I know you feel the same way about me."
"W-What?" his words tensely stumbled out. Gord just stared him down. "Sure, I think you're great and junk like that." More stares. "I'm kind of… well a little maybe… fond of having you around…?" Although this felt like a huge step forward for the fretting, pissed king, it did not appear to have any good effect on Gord.
"You can't even say it!" he shouted at Jimmy before tearfully taking off.
Everything stood still for what seemed an eternity. "C'mon now people," the floored king started. "We all know how Gord can be." This seemed to satisfy the watchers who nodded and garbled agreement before departing.
"Even I know that I fucked up royally this time." Jimmy sourly muttered to no one in particular as he returned to walking to gym.