I do my best to keep my distance from most people, and spend lunchtime in the bathroom. When fifth period rolls around, though, things really go to shit. It’s PE, which is bad enough, but I also have it with Lyric.
“You have been avoiding me,” she says as she waltzes up to the bottom bleacher I’m sitting on, waiting for class to start. She has on a red T-shirt and short, black gym shorts that show off her extremely long legs. “What’s up with that?”
“When was I avoiding you?” I ask, fiddling with the drawstring on my own shorts.
“At lunch.” She sits down beside me and crosses her legs. “I looked everywhere for you. Where the hell were you?”
I pick at a hole in the bottom of my shorts. “I ate in the bathroom.”
Her nose crinkles. “Ew, Ayden. No, no, no. Just no.”
I shrug. “It was better than being stared at.”
“Who’s staring at you?”
I give her a ‘really’ look.
She sighs. “All right, I’ll give you the staring thing.” She rests her elbows on the bench behind us and reclines back, staring at the gym floor. “My school has apparently never seen someone so gothically adorable.”
“What does that even mean?”
She smirks at me. “You know, dark, mysterious, sullen, yet cute.”
I gape at her. “Do you even have a filter?”
She swiftly shakes her head. “No way. Where’s the fun in that?”
I continue to stare at her, impressed and kind of afraid of her. She’s so open. So honest. So unlike me, the guy who barely speaks and who carries pills with him, contemplating suicide. Lyric is my polar opposite.
“Hey, Lyric.” A guy wearing baggie gym shorts and a school T-shirt comes strolling up to us with a smile on his face. “How’s it going?”
“Hey, Lanson.” Lyric smiles up at him then leans forward to tie her shoe. “Have you met Ayden?”
Lanson’s eyes land on me and the friendliness he conveyed when he was staring at Lyric disappears. “Yeah, new guy, right? I think we have English together.”
“Yeah, I think so.” Heaviness develops in my chest as more attention is focused on me. God, I wish this day would just get over with.
“You two should hang out,” Lyric suggests with her head still tipped down as she loops her shoelace.
Lanson sneers. “Oh yeah, I’m sure we can be best friends.” When Lyric looks up again, his haughtiness turns into a friendly smile. “In fact, I’m having a party this weekend. You two should come.”
Lyric glances over her shoulder at me. “What do you think? Are you up for a party?”
Lanson glares at me. I can’t tell if he wants me to agree to go or to say no, but one thing’s for sure: my existence is clearly irritating him.
I force a tight smile. “Sure, a party sounds fun.”
The death glare vanishes from Lanson’s face when Lyric looks back at him. “Oh, time for class.” Lyric springs up and grabs my hand, hauling me to my feet.
That move earns me the darkest scowl from Lanson. I have a feeling things are going to get a hell of a lot worse.
I wish I could follow Lyric, but the teacher splits up the class—boys on one side, girls on the other. Then we’re divided into teams of three and handed a basketball. Athletics was never my thing, but I try my best, even when I start to get criticized by Lanson, who of course has to be on the team I’m playing against.
He smirks at me as he throws the ball over my head to another member of the team then “accidentally” elbows me in the gut.
“Where are you from?” he asks as we both jog down the court toward the ball.
“Nowhere important.” I dodge to the right when the ball is thrown again and surprisingly catch it.
My shoe squeaks against the floor as he knocks the ball out of my hand before I can even start dribbling. “One thing’s for sure; you sure as hell aren’t from here.” He stares me up and down as if I’m trash. “I heard you were adopted or some shit. Not sure why the hell anyone would want you.” He jabs me in the side with his elbow.
It takes all my strength not to clock him in the face.
“And why the hell is Lyric Scott hanging out with you?” Another elbow rammed to the rib cage, this time with so much force it nearly knocks the wind out of me.
For a brief moment, I tumble into a memory from two years ago. The exact same thing occurred then, only it was an adult who took the air from me. As fast as I fall into the memory, it fizzles out like a flame.
“I mean, I get that she thinks she needs to be friends with everyone,” Lanson continues, “but seriously, she’s sinking to the bottom of the barrel with you.”
When he stomps on my foot, I can’t take it anymore. I was taught not to fight back when I was younger, but once I entered the system, all bets were off, and I did pretty much whatever the hell I wanted. I was going to try to be better, though, because the Gregorys seemed genuinely nice, but fuck it.
I push him. “Dude, shut the fuck up.”
A shit-eating smirk spreads across his face at my reaction. “Or what?” He inches toward me and gives me a shove back. “What are you going to do about it? Because in case you haven’t heard, I’m the shit around here.”
“Wow, there’s an accomplishment,” I retort, regaining my balance. “The shit of Glensview High School. I’m sure that’s going to get you far in life.”
“Way farther than you,” he bites back as he glances at my piercings, black nail polish, and gauges. “Seriously, I bet if they searched your room, they’d find dead animals everywhere.”
I inhale and exhale, trying to stay calm. “And if they searched yours, I’m sure they’d find steroids.”
His smirk shifts to a scowl. Then he’s spinning around to catch the ball, but mid-turn, he brings his elbow up and slams it hard into my face. Blood gushes from my nostrils and pain radiates all the way up to my head as I hunch over, groaning.
Fuck that hurt.
Goddamnit, I hate life.
Life always hurts.
I should have just taken the bottle of pills this morning. Spared myself another day’s worth of pain.
I’m about to stand upright and go after him—who gives a shit about the consequences—but then I hear a burst of commotion and someone shouting.
When I glance up, Lanson is on his knees, cupping his own nose, and Lyric’s standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.