Finding The Light

46

Warnings:
-Bullying (physical abuse + sexual harassment)
-Homophobia (usage F-slur)

Reggie's POV

I sat as far from Jason as I could, even though he was kind to me. I didn't trust anyone anymore and knew he would eventually believe the endless rumours going around the school, ditching me like everyone else.

I was holding a pencil and was drawing some small scrabbles to kill some time. However, the pain in my wrist from the cuts I made was too severe and eventually, I laid the pencil back down and stared out of the window.

'That looks good,' Jason suddenly noted as he looked down in my notebook. 'Do you like drawing?'

'Oh...' I stumbled, shrugging slightly. 'I guess, but I don't do it a lot, I was just bored.'

'Do you want to play a game?' he asked, 'I'm bored as well, so we can play some games together to let the time go faster.'

'Uh- I'm good, thank you,' I whispered, uncomfortably looking away from him because I was terrified he would make fun of me when I said yes.

'He only plays games that include dick,' Tobias joked from behind me. 'Sucking a dick, jerking off, getting fucked from behind... Those are the games he likes, preferably without permission.'

I didn't reply and just curled up on my seat, feeling Tobias push me over and over. Jason grumbled and turned around, pushing Tobias against the back of his seat.

'Tobias, leave him alone. You don't want to argue with me, I know that much...' he said with a low and confident voice. Tobias rolled his eyes, but eventually did stay quiet.

'Don't listen to him,' Jason assured me. 'We can also draw together, would you like to do that?'

'S-sure...' I replied quietly, handing him a pencil from my pencil case. 'What do w-we draw?'

'Let's try to draw a... penguin! It's my favourite animal.'

I smiled softly and started drawing the penguin as I imagined it, Jason doing the same in his own notebook. After a few minutes, I laid my pencil down and saw Jason glance into my notebook, finishing his drawing too.

'Okay, I think we know who won here.' He laughed and showed me a penguin that looked anything but like what it was supposed to be. 'I tried to think of a fun game, but I can't draw.'

I laughed softly and ripped out the paper, handing it to him. 'Here, you can have it. A penguin is your favourite animal, right?'

'That's really kind,' he replied with a smile, grabbing the drawing from me. 'I love this, it's a cute penguin!'

I nodded and looked him into his eyes for a second, the greyish tint staring into mine. I raised my gaze to his messy, brown hair and then lowered them to his perfectly shaped, dark eyebrows and his sharp jawline.

Nervously, I moved my eyes away from him because I was too afraid someone would notice the stare I gave him and call me out for it. Jason didn't seem to have noticed, or at least, he didn't mind, and grabbed another piece of paper.

'What's your favourite animal?' he asked, holding the pencil in his right hand, while mine was in my left one. I accidentally bumped against his elbow and automatically curled up, terrified he would get angry at me, but he smiled and scooted to the left so I had more space.

I smiled shyly and shrugged. 'I guess uh- a sheep...' I stumbled. 'Maybe that's dumb.'

'No, that's epic!' he exclaimed. 'I'll try to make the best sheep I can.'

~~~

Jason helped me to get through the bus ride and miraculously Tobias stayed quiet through most of it and eventually fell asleep. However, when we arrived and I had to get out of the bus, I immediately noticed the teasing smile on Tobias face.

Jason stood in between us to protect me, but Tobias was quicker than expected and sprinted towards me. I jumped out of the bus as quickly as I could to escape from him, but as I was trying to look for ways to escape, I didn't calculate his next move...

Out of nowhere, he pulled down my pants and underwear in front of all of my classmates. I gasped and immediately tried to pull it back up, but he kept holding onto it so everyone would be able to see my naked body.

Tears filled my eyes from the embarrassment and I fell down on the ground to hide myself while everyone started to laugh and some even tried to take pictures of me to humiliate me even more than I already felt.

'Can you just piss off, mate?' Jason yelled out, pushing Tobias away from me. He stood in front of me to hide me from our classmates and waited for me to pull up my pants again. 'You're such a child, dude. It's not funny!'

'What are you going to do?' Tobias asked with a laugh. 'Cry about it? Do you think I'm scared of someone like you, Jason?'

'Do you think I'm scared of someone like you?' Jason answered calmly. 'Someone who can't cope with his own feelings, so decides to take it out on someone who hasn't done anything wrong.'

'He's a faggot, dude,' Tobias replied. 'He basically did everything wrong that he could have done wrong. He's a rapist, he tried to murder someone...'

'You're indirectly trying to kill someone,' Jason responded, looking back at me. 'I think we can all see he's not doing okay, right? If he commits suicide, that's on you, and honestly, that's even worse than murdering someone on your own.'

'Do you genuinely think an attention seeker like him will commit suicide? He is trying to act depressed so we will finally give him a chance and stop teasing him.'

'Teasing him?' Jason repeated. 'Tobias, this isn't teasing someone, this is bullying someone so bad that it'll scar them for life.'

'You're calling me a bully?' Tobias started laughing and rolled his eyes. 'If he sees me as a bully, he is genuinely a maniac. I feel bullied by him, I have to look at his gruesome face every single day and accept his nasty behaviour as a faggot. If one is a bully here, it's him, not me.'

I looked down at my feet and started shoving it over the dirt, pulling Jason back. 'Just leave it...' I whispered. 'Let's go to our room.'

'Reggie, you shouldn't let him walk over you like this,' Jason admitted as he turned to me. 'He's being a dick and you shouldn't let it happen.'

'It doesn't matter,' I mumbled, shaking my head. 'He'll do it anyway, no matter what I do. Please, let's just go.'

'Fine...' he answered with a disappointed voice, walking next to me to find the room I would have to spend five days in...

1145 words