If You Wanted Honesty (Kellic)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Vic - Congratulations, I Hate You

The next time I see Kellin, his clothes are bloody and he has a bunch of scratches, red marks, and bruises. Despite this, he smiles and gives me the thumbs-up sign.

"Hey," I say as I catch up to him, trying not to sound worried. "I was gonna ask where you were during sixth period, but I’m going to guess you were busy getting beaten to a pulp."

He shrugs. “Pretty much. It’s all good now, though. I mean, my head hurts like hell, but other than that I’m fine.”

"You should go to the nurse or doctor or something," I suggest, though I know it’ll be lost on him.

He shakes his head and starts walking faster. “Nah. I’ll be okay. I’m used to it.”

"Come on. Do you really think nobody’s gonna notice?"

"Oh, someone’ll notice. The question is whether or not they’ll care."

"What about the teachers?"

Kellin stops at the doorway to his seventh period class. “Okay,” he says slowly, “so, yeah, some teachers have asked me about it. They’re never gonna get any answers. I tell them it’s from P.E. or sports, make up a football story or something, and they never look into it beyond that. Or if they have, they’ve never said anything about it. They probably have their own shit to deal with besides caring about some kid who hides in the back of the class and comes in with suspicious-looking bruises.”

I sigh. We both know I’m losing the argument—again. “Maybe this time will be different.”

He snorts. “Yeah. You say that every time.”

As he turns and heads into the classroom, a sudden fury overtakes me. It’s a familiar but unfamiliar fury—familiar because I’ve felt emotions much like it before, but unfamiliar because I’ve never felt this angry over one of Kellin’s routine beatings before. I start walking, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself down, when I spot Oli turning a corner.

"Oli!" I call, running up to him. "Did you see Kellin?"

"No," he replies, alarmed. "Why? Did it happen?"

I nod. “Oh, it happened, alright. Pretty bad, too.”

"And let me guess…he’s acting like it’s no big deal. Correct?"

"Of course he is. But I’m not gonna let Ian get away with it. You know what I’m going to do?"

Oli cracks his knuckles. “Teach him a lesson?”

I smile a little. “Yes, actually.”

With that, I can see him make a decision. “Good.” He claps his hands and starts walking away. “Meet me near your locker at dismissal.”

In just those few seconds, Oli and I have somehow made a plan, most of it unspoken. We’re going to meet at dismissal. We’re going to find Ian. We’re going to show him what happens when he pushes us too far.

And he has. I’ve been letting this slide for much longer than I should’ve been. Ian has tormented Kellin nearly every day for years, and aside from an occasional confrontation, I’ve just watched it happen from the sidelines. People almost never call him out on his shit, and because of this, he thinks he’s nearly invincible. Ian only seems to feel threatened when a person has the courage to stand up to him, and even then, he can fix that problem easily just by beating the person up.

The teachers haven’t ever done anything about it; we gave up on them a long time ago. Maybe at a different school they would’ve, but not at a shithole like this. Now I can see that nobody’s gonna help us. We’re freaks. Loners. Outcasts. Associate with us, and you’ve pretty much committed social suicide. The only people who can help us is us, and since Kellin won’t do anything, Oli and I have to take action.