The Jock, The Nerd and The Geek

10

Marcos Gomez just slapped him.

When he looked at him, the boy was crying. Sobbing, sniffing, the whole gist of it. "You don't know anything so just shut up!" And in a flash, he was gone.

As he did so, Ace stood as well. There was a look on his face. Paris couldn't read it. "You wouldn't understand anything, Holmes. Parker saved life's. She saved mine, at least. I was going to kill myself if Julian hit me one time. Not like I have anything to live for. My parents are dead and my grandma forgets who I am sometimes. Jules' death was sad, yes, but for his death, many didn't have to die. No matter how you look at it, we, the freaks of Wystwood, love Alexandra Parker. And there's nothing you can do to change that fact." And he walked away.

Paris wasn't sure when he left that table and walked back to his class, the eyes on him increasing a hundred folds, but he didn't mind.

He was going to have basketball practice and it'd clear his mind for a while.

That was he thought until he realized his teammates wouldn't come close enough to give him the ball, and when one did hit him, he apologized.

For thirteen minutes.

A whistle was blown and Paris stood from the ground. The mate who pushed him moved away for him to stand as they all walked to their Coach.

Who was furious as hell. "Is Holmes having a bad odour day or something?!"

Everyone gave a mumbled no.

"Then why are you all treating him like that?!" The man demanded. "The tournament is coming up and he's our best player but you all act like you're afraid of contact. Hell, even his breathing space!"

Then he paused and pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand on his waist, breathing in and out before he finally said, "You know what? It's fine. I'd let it slide. Just for today, after today, if this goes on, I'm benching Holmes."

He blanched. "What?"

"But you said it yourself, Coach." Matteo stated, "He's our star player!"

Everyone agreed with yesses as their Coach gave a dark laugh.  "Well, prepare for a dark night then, because they would be no damn star if you all are not ready to fucking accommodate it."

In the locker room, Paris sat on the bench with a towel over his face. So today sucked. Massively, and now he was going to be benched?

Perhaps, this was the universe telling him to let Alex go. She wasn't his type. And she seemed determined to cause his destruction.

And he was 30% sure he was going to do it until he felt someone tap him.

It didn't make sense at first, considering how everyone was avoiding him, but when he took off his towel and saw who it was, it made sense. "Marcos,"

The male gave a small wave. "Hey,"

The whole room was completely empty now. "I only came to apologize for what happened earlier. I— I let my emotions get the best of me."

Paris wanted to forget the whole thing. "It's fine. If that's what you came to say —"

"A didn't do it."

The jock who was now standing and opening his locker paused to look at him. "I don't understand."

"The thing with Julian," He said in a low voice. "I did."

Paris stared at him for a few seconds then looked away. "I get you love her, but trying to take the blame is a far —"

"I wouldn't do that." Marcos cut in. "During— Freshman year, I was bullied a lot, you already know that, but no one knew the real reason why. Of course, everyone thought it was because I liked girly things but it was because of Julian."

"He asked me out and when I refused, because I didn't like guys that way, he decided bullying me would keep me quiet, so no one would know about it."

Paris stared at him.

"And..." Marcos gave a small laugh. "It hurt, so much, but I couldn't say anything. Besides, everyone's so sure I'm gay so even if I tried to speak out, they'd probably just think I'm making it up. I'm the gay one, but Julian, who's obviously all muscular and manly, is not."

"I'd always been good with computers. Extremely good, so it wasn't exactly hard to find the receipts online and get Jack to take me to his house so I can get photos of the magazines. Even though he raped me in the process."

Oh, shit.

The tears were back. "It's why I had... Panic attacks. For a long time. And it sort of solidified my reason for blackmailing him, but I didn't mean for him to —"

His voice cracked. "It just made matters worse for me. I imagined he'd come back and keep hurting me again and again. And the bullying— They didn't suspect me, but they were carrying out his legacy. They didn't care."

"I was having my panic attacks when Alex found me." Marcos said with a small smile. "She stayed with me till she was sure I was okay, and told me she knew I was the one who did the whole thing, but she wasn't upset she took the blame. To be honest, she was just mad that people still hurt me."

He chuckled, "No one's ever... Wanted to protect me so I guess that I didn't know how far she'd go."

"So she did find items for blackmail?" Paris asked.

He nodded. "In other to protect me. Alex did all of that, to make sure no one hurt me anymore."

Marcos looked at him, the tears falling out again. "You're right, highschool is a war ground and being protected wouldn't make me stronger, but I am different. We all are. We've been given a chance to prove ourselves. I mean, look at me. Everyone seems to like me now. Which would never have happened before."

Then he wiped the tears on his face with the back of his hands and sniffed before he looked at me with a smile again. "A isn't a bitch, Paris. And I'm sorry about how she treats you, but she's not like that. Don't go around assuming stuffs like that, please."

And he was gone.

Leaving Paris who had at the beginning promised to stay away from her, but after all this, couldn't.

And the reason for this was really easy.

Deep down, he wanted that. For someone to want to protect him. To actually give a fuck. No one did, except his Mother. They made it really clear ever since the incident.

Plus, they didn't know him. Not like she did.

So Paris was royally screwed.