We meet the new e
"We need to talk, cowboy." As soon as he slammed his locker shut and turned around, they were standing behind him. Riley and Maya in front, Zay on the left, Farkle and Smackle on their right. The incident in the hallway had been almost a week ago. Bianca, still officially known as Brian, no longer attended gym classes, kept a low profile, did everything she could to avoid attracting attention, but that didn't stop the rumor mill from starting to churn. Quite the opposite, the less official information there was, the more half-truths and gossip raged through the hallways of JQA High. When it then became known that Brian often visited Mr. Matthews and Coach Fanucchi outside of class, there was no stopping him. For anyone. Lucas tried to support his friend, but also had to take care of his family and not neglect his training if he still wanted to hope for a scholarship.
"I know, but unfortunately I still can't tell you anything about it." He replied, letting his heavy shoulders droop. So many secrets weighed on them. So much fear and pain. What was it that he couldn't or even didn't want to talk to his friends about it?
"Can you...at least tell us if he's okay?" Zay asked gently.
"I'd really like to, but...I'm not entirely sure myself." He admitted.
"Lucas...people talk. Brian shouldn't have to face this alone." Riley insisted.
"I think so too, but that's his decision and...I have to respect it." "Taking care of someone sometimes means forcing them to do things they don't want to do. They're not alone. And neither are you." Maya said. Her clear, compassionate look always had this special effect on him. Only a few things could have torn him away from it. One of them was Brian's left side of his face, which he tried to hide behind his notebook as he walked quickly past them. A violet-colored violet adorned his left eye.
"Brian?" Lucas called after her, but his former running back just kept running without turning around to look at him. "Brian!"
The ringing forced Lucas to let go of him and go back to class. Math, chemistry and then the much-vaunted history class with Mr. Matthews. Most recently they had covered the beginning of the twentieth century, the beginning of perhaps the most important period in human history.
"After Napoleon had shaken up the continent, all sorts of different systems and regimes faced each other in Europe. In the United Kingdom and in France, functioning plural and liberal bourgeois democracies had prevailed, which arose with industrialization and the implementation of the capitalist mode of production. In Germany, on the other hand, a repressive authoritarian regime ruled, which suppressed its opponents and relied primarily on its military. The Russian Empire was even more authoritarian, where the great misery of broad sections of the population, the wealth of a small upper class and an ultra-repressive political regime were confronted with one another, causing corresponding discontent." He pointed to a pre-made map of Europe, with countries shaded in different colors.
"This is going too far. We can no longer ignore this," said Farkle, leaning over to Zay.
"I agree with you." Lucas replied, struggling not to break his pen. Or his entire desk. As he had learned, Brian had gotten into an argument with a few others on the way home yesterday, hence the black eye. He didn't want to say who exactly it was, which only made Lucas angrier. He hadn't slept much recently, too many worries and troubles plaguing him at the same time. His father was tormented by the rules of genetics before his eyes, his mother cried at night when she thought her son was already asleep and now one of his friends was being teased at school just for wanting to be himself. This just had to stop. They had to do something about it. He had to do something about it.
"We have to talk to Brian later when..."
"Guys? Is there something I should know?" Riley's father asked over the whispering between his daughter and her friends.
"I think we should actually ask you, Matthews? You know something, don't you?" Maya replied, playing with her pen between her fingers.
"That's right, and I'm here to impart knowledge to you. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the situation between the major powers of Europe became increasingly tense. The world was already "completely divided" at that time, everyone had their own personal sphere of influence where they could do whatever they wanted. But at some point everyone just wanted to
more and felt threatened by the others in their...blocks. That led to the original catastrophe of the modern world. A war that...cost millions of lives."
"Could that have been prevented?" Farkle wanted to know.
"Could it have been prevented? The same group of people who had all known each other for literally ages, but...then they suddenly all became strangers and cold to each other. Yes, maybe it could have been prevented, not everyone wanted war. There were also many who valued what they had. It could have been prevented if only more people had stuck together back then." Mr. Matthews said, looking emphatically at Lucas.
"I want to support my friend, it's just...I don't know how."
"Nobody doubts your loyalty, Lucas. And you're basically right, it's his life. His decision. It's good that he has a friend like you. But he'll need more than just you. And the rest of you... your motives are certainly well-intentioned, but... that alone is not enough." Mr. Matthews continued, looking at his daughter.
"We just want to know what's going on here." Riley's voice was almost a whimper. She didn't mean it in a bad way, she never did. It was just her way of helping, which sometimes seemed strange to others.
"I can understand that too, but a community is about more than just your own wishes and needs. At the beginning of the twentieth century, every state in Europe thought it had a right to everything. This led to everyone demanding this right, increasingly often with violence. What's going on here... is complicated. And that's why we have to approach such things with the mutual respect they deserve. Even if that means that we don't always get what we want."
"But the answer is obvious," Smackle interjected, whereupon all the heads in the class turned to her.
"What?"
"The range of available evidence, such as the lack of physical activity and the selection of medication, only allows one conclusion, which is…" Her eyes searched the faces of her friends one by one, most of whom seemed eager to hear her theory. Only Lucas' expression showed concern and fear. Izzy may not have been a very intuitive person because of her nature, which had already led to certain problems in the past, but she was not an emotionless robot as some people said she was. She could be empathetic, she was a nice person, it was just… harder for her than for others. Smackle had to make more of an effort to read the emotions of those around her. If she hurt someone in this way, it was not intentional, it was an accident because she had not known how to interpret the situation better. But not this time. This time she saw the concern in Lucas' eyes and understood immediately.
"…it says that he is struggling with a bad cold." She finished her sentence and smiled at the class. Wordlessly, Lucas' lips formed the word "Thank you," whereupon Smackle gestured the sentence "Stop flirting with me!" and then winked.
"Okay, let's get to the trigger of the First World War. The assassination in Sarajevo was followed by Germany overrunning defenseless Belgium."
"Why did Germany do that?" Zay asked.
"Because they thought it would give them an advantage. They thought it was the best step to become number one in Europe." Mr. Matthews explained.
"And were they right?" Riley wanted to know.
"No, they weren't."
The class progressed, they didn't talk about topics outside of the curriculum again. Then the starting signal for the disaster occurred. Mr. Matthews stayed in the classroom for a moment to sort out his files while his students streamed out into the hallway. Outside, Lucas spotted Brian, head down, trying to unlock his locker. A strangled gasp blew through the hallway as he took two steps to the side and a stream of white cotton balls poured out into the hallway. At least Lucas thought they were cotton balls, but on closer inspection he realized they were sanitary pads. A whole flood of tampons mixed with bras and panties fell out of Brian's locker. Anyone who hadn't heard the rumors surrounding him would now. Muffled laughter could be heard from somewhere in the back rows, but it seemed to be getting louder and louder. Bianca gathered what was left of her pride, slammed the locker door shut and stomped off with a determined expression, determined to ignore the mockery of the others. "
Hey Brian. Hey, wait!" This time Lucas didn't let go of her but held her arm.
"That's enough now."
"It's okay. I…I'll be fine." Bianca lied to them both and shrugged her shoulders in a mock nonchalant way.
"Who was that?"
"I don't know."
"Not that. That!" He clarified and pointed to her swollen eye. She didn't answer but, probably completely unintentionally, her gaze darted down the hall to Billy Ross who was amusedly looking at the pile of sanitary pads on the floor in front of Bianca's locker with two of his friends. Lucas wanted to go to him but Bianca held him back. "Please don't do that. I can do it." She begged him, but too much was too much.
"I know it's your life. But it's my friend who's suffering right now. I'm sorry, but that... I can't watch that any longer." Lucas replied and pulled himself away from her grip.
"Billy."
"Oh hey Lucas, what's up buddy?" They hadn't really been friends since middle school, but they weren't enemies either. They weren't in competition with each other. At least until now, but that was over now.
"Was that you?" His gaze was cold, his shoulders tense and his fingers already clenching into a fist, but he still held back. First he wanted to give Billy a fair chance. What happened after that was up to him.
"What?" Billy asked back, feigning ignorance.
"You know what I mean. Why are you doing this to Brian?"
"Hey, I'm not doing anything to him or her or whatever. I'm actually doing him a favor, he'd rather be a girl now, he needs all that stuff, right?" He smiled and pointed at Bianca. He didn't even notice how the fingers on Lucas' right hand started to crack as he clenched his fist. Before he or anyone else could do anything about it, he grabbed Billy by the collar of his shirt and pushed him back against the wall.
"Lucas, don't do it!"
He didn't know who was calling him to calm down and he didn't care at all at the moment. The whole thing had been simmering inside him for too long. He had had to suppress his anger and be reasonable for too long, these emotions had to boil up inside him at some point, so why not at least focus them on someone who deserved it? Who believed he had the right to bully weaker people just because he could and thought it was funny? But despite everything, he still held back, otherwise Billy would already be missing a few teeth.
"You're going to leave him alone from now on, understood?" He spoke calmly. He didn't scream or roar, no, his voice was overflowing with cold anger. Like a wild animal protecting its pack from an attacker. Determined, controlled and, moreover, ready to do anything to protect the others.
"Yes, okay, I understand. And when exactly should I leave him or her alone? They are two different people, as you know?" He laughed. Lucas didn't move a muscle.
"I won't say it again."
"And if not?" Billy wanted to know, raising his chin defiantly. He was almost as tall as Lucas, but no match for him, and he would prove that to him immediately if necessary. Then he struck.
"LUCAS!"
The silence that followed was colder than anything anyone at JQA High had ever experienced. No one dared to say anything or even breathe loudly. The blow hadn't harmed a hair on Billy's head, but it would have if Lucas hadn't missed on purpose. Instead, to make it clear to him that he would not let anyone hurt his friend any longer, he hit the wall just to the left of Billy's head. The painted bricks shattered under the force of his knuckles. A bloody imprint of his fist remained next to Billy's frozen face. He had probably broken his knuckles, but he didn't feel the pain at all. On the contrary, he even felt somehow relieved; giving off a little of his pain and anger felt good. Billy's posture and facial expression had lost any trace of defiance, instead he stared at Lucas's stony face, just as shocked and a little scared, unable to understand what exactly had just happened. Was that still her Lucas, from whose fist a thin thread of blood was running down to the ground? Where was Lucas the do-gooder? The moral compass of her generation? This guy in the hallway looked just like him, but there was a cold fire burning in his eyes that...could really scare you. If he had ever wanted to, he could have scared everyone here at this school. For others, this was the first time they had seen him like this, for Zay it was the last return of someone he hadn't seen since Texas: Lucas Friar, shadow of the Lone Star State.
"You don't want to know."