Not Your Typical Ghost Story

Chapter 17- Ruh-Roh Here We Go

Roman chuckled lightly as he put the last of his things away, "Well, Anxiety heard admin talking and saying they're never gonna let Eloise direct another show. So at least I won't have to deal with her next semester, at least not at this level."

"Good. She can take this college essay opportunity and shove it up her ass. She's making you and the rest of the cast and crew miserable!" Remus said with a glare, "You know what you should do? You should-"

A loud yell broke cut him short and made the halls freeze for a moment before Roman saw a foggy form rush out from one of the walls and straight towards him. Anxiety stopped in front of them with panic spread across his face, "Roman!" he shouted, "P-pat! Patton's in trouble!"

"What?!" Remus and Roman demanded in unison. It earned Roman some odd looks that had him pulling his phone to his ear as a cover-up in an instant.

"So-some duchebags started pestering her and they wouldn't leave her alone and then they-they tried to attack her and-!" Remus was the first to start moving, ghostly form dashing down the hall where Anxiety had come from. Roman was quick to follow and Anxiety caught up in an instant to lead the way.

Roman forced his way through the thick crowds which only got worse the closer they got. It seemed to turn from a constant trail of people fighting to get to where they wanted to go into a large audience that formed an open circle for whoever was inside to put on their show. Roman had an awful feeling that they'd find Patton at the center of it. Some students mumbled nervously, unsure of whether they should do something. Others seemed to laugh, and Remus was sure he heard one person placing bets. A few chanted, whooped, and hollered. 

He wasn't prepared for what he saw when he got to the front of the crowd. Patton was curled in a tight ball as three boys, all of whom wore sports jerseys and school merch from their rival school, attacked her. One of them suddenly grabbed Patton, pulling her to her feet, and shook her body slightly as his friends laughed. Another took the opportunity to grab at Patton's skirt and pull it up, making an awful remark when all he was able to show to the crowd were a pair of shorts. The last kept touching and pulling at Patton's hair, deaccesorizing it and throwing the barrets and bobby pins Patton had used to hold it up this morning at her face. 

Her face was tear-soaked. Eyes closed tightly, slightly red and puffy from crying. Her arms were pulled tightly to her chest, Roman was sure he could see a rip in the fabric. The floor around them was covered in Patton's school belongings. The boys had gone as far as to tear pages out of books and spill a collection of colored pencils everywhere. The two pins she had worn this morning, her pronoun pin and the smiley pin, looked to have been stomped on and bent. A large bag labeled 'For Garden Grove Students' had her neat writing in it, and was spilling all sorts of candies onto the ground as it lay discarded.

Roman froze at the sight of it, only broken out of the trance when Anxiety tried to shove him forward. He failed, but his cold hands worked as a wake-up call as they passed through harmlessly. Roman ran into the circle, shoving Patton's attackers out of the way. "Get off her you monsters!" Roman shouted as he grabbed Patton and pulled her away.

The boys recovered quickly, one of them grabbed Roman, who only just managed not to drag Patton with him as he himself was shoved back into the circle. "Well, well, well. What do we got here?" One of them asked as the three boys surrounded Roman.

"It looks like another one." A second said, "Protecting your boyfriend, are we? Now isn't that sweet? A knight in shining armor."

Roman's anger flared violently, "She is not my boyfriend. She is my best friend!"

"You think just because he put on a skirt that makes him a girl?"

"You think just because you act all tough that makes you a man?" Roman shot back, "Cuz you're not. You're just a little boy with a foul sense of toxic masculinity and messed up ideals that makes you think you can push people around."