Together In the Hours

Together In the Hours: Part 1 Intro

Xerxies (Zerk-zees) is the name, yeah I know weird name, but that's what I get for having two odd ass scientists as parents. I'm nearly seventeen years old, I go to Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School (wow that's a mouthful) in Massachusetts, and I hang out with the geeky clique at school. I have two friends, Kelly and Rosa, and yes before you ask they are both girls. I know, weird that a guy has two girls as friends, but they're pretty cool girls in the geeky department. I'm not very smart, unlike Kelly and Rosa, but I don't really fit in any other group, so geeky class it is.
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Rosa, is short and blonde with brown eyes, she's into bands and that kind of stuff, and she loves science and ELA. Kelly is tall and a brunette, with brown eyes, she into math, science, anime, and anime fan fiction. Kelly likes this guy, Troy, who is popular. He talks to her a lot in class, mostly for her looks, I try to tell her at times, but she never believes or listens to me. I know Rosa likes this one guy, who is a jock, of course. His name is Conner or something like that, but since she's so small and invisible, he doesn't notice her much. Only when she has the homework complete for class does he notice her.
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I like some animes, I don't really like any part of school, I have long, emo-like dark hair, with green eyes, and I'm short. It's even worse that I'm shorter than Rosa too. I'm like, about, 4'9. So yes, pretty damn short. I can relate with Rosa, I'm also practically invisible to the other students. I'm like a wallflower, I don't get seen or heard or talked about, but I see, and hear every thing that comes out of peoples' mouths. I pretty much have dirt on everyone, due to the shit that comes out right in front of me.
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What? Oh, me like someone? Pfft, no. Okay maybe, but sadly I just have to like a popular guy. Chase is one of the most known guys in my grade, I know, cliche right? He's got a nice build due to his favoring of sports, but he's not a jock, just in the popular group. Though, jocks do hang with him and offer him a spot on the team. I suppose he's a sweet guy, I've only spoken to him barely a handful of times, and those were only for not even a minute. I don't approve of a few of his friends, Jake's and asshole who likes to pick on me.
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Thankfully they don't beat on me like other bullies, or like Franco, another one of Chase's friends, does this poor kid Mark. I swear it's like every time I see him his neck and other not-really-visible parts of him are painted black and blue. I would like to be friends with him, but everyone avoids him like he was cancer, even Rosa and Kelly. I don't feel like risking the chance of losing my only friends by becoming buddies with Mark, as terrible as that sounds.
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Speaking of sounds, I just heard the ear-splitting screech of the period bell. Seriously, can they up the volume on that thing any higher, I don't think i've gone deaf yet. It's lunch time, and as I struggle to get to the bloody cafeteria, I get stuck behind the annoying happy couple holding hands while going slow as fuck. God fucking damnit, you just saw each other yesterday, you can hug and kiss later when you're not in the way of hundreds of other students!
I finally got to the cafe, and luckily I found a free table. I throw my bag on it and dig through my pockets for my money. Nope, It's not in that pocket, or that one, how about this one? Nope. This one(!?), nopedy, nope, nope, nope!
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Whelp, looks like at the moment I am broke. Guess I won't be buying lunch today, damn, I'm really starving too. I need a job...I'm applying for one tomorrow at this small café not to far from my house. It doesn't have many customers and needs help, and with my family being usual's I'm going to jump at the opportunity. But once again, I have to wait until tomorrow. I'd go right now if I had a car, and if there weren't cameras all over the building.
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I sit myself down in a chair at the table and hunt for my friends in the seemingly endless crowd of students. I see Rosa walking over with Kelly behind her, both with their meals. They stop in front of me, but they don't seat themselves. Why do they look slightly nervous?
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"Hey, Xerxies," Rosa says gently, "You think me and Kelly can go sit with some new friends of ours? They need a little help from us."
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So I have to sit here alone? What if Jake comes along and starts to pick on me again, I'll have no one to help back me up! No one to talk regularly to. Though, I suppose if Rosa and Kelly want to go and help someone, they can. I give them a smile and agree they can go and help. I watch them as they go and sit at a table with three other girls and two guys.
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I can see them talking and I continue to watch them while eating a little of my food. They have long conversations and laugh frequently, it doesnt look like they needed any help at all. A strange, grotesque feeling grow in my gut, did I just get ditched?
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"Excuse me, can I sit here?" A quiet, male voice speaks. Tearing my eyes away from my friends, I cast my attention to the person who spoke right next to me. For a moment, I'm startled; it's Mark looking as black and blue as always and a tad bit distressed.
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"Sure." I respond politely. Huh, well here's my chance to talk to him, without Rosa or Kelly to witness either. Mark sits in a chair about a meter away from me and begins to eat his lunch, which consisted of a salad, a fruit cup, and a carton of milk.
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"Aren't you usually with your friends Rose and Kayla, or something? Why are you sitting here alone?" He inquires me as he munches on a dressing coated leaf. The grotesque feeling returns, when did it leave?
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"Rosa and Kelly went off to help this other group of people, something like that, yeah." He ceases eating and looks at me, then to the crowd of filled tables and finds the one my friends are sitting at. He snorts a little, I most likely wouldn't have heard it if I didn't see him make such a disturbed look as he made the quiet sound.
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"It doesn't look like they're helping anyone." I look over to see they were laughing along with the rest of the group, and suddenly I feel so lonely, and not very hungry. "Hey, do you like vine videos?"
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"Um, yeah, my favorite is one where a girl went to scare her dad while he was cleaning a pan and he hit her with it when she scared him." Honestly, I am so glad he changed the subject, the lonely feel is disipating. He laughs softly.
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"Oh, I think I've seen that one! My favorite is the one where it shows a guy running passed a farm and a cow is chasing him and he's screaming." I know exactly which one he is talking about and I laugh, because that vine was fucking hilarious. Mark then randomly takes a huge bite of his salad and looks at me, then starts chewing in a circular motion. He looks like a cow or something as he does it, I can't help but laugh at how funny he looks.
He laughs with me, almost chocking on the dressing, but that made us laugh more. We keep talking about vines and which ones we liked, then eventually we somehow got to talking about The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
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When I hear the period bell ring, I really don't want to leave just yet, Mark is just so fun (and surprisingly so easy, usually I'm introverted to practical strangers) to talk to. For a guy who's bullied and beaten everyday, he's pretty cool and acts like there aren't any bruises on his body at all. I respect him so much for it, and feel upset that such a great guy is torchered on a daily basis.
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We part ways with simple goodbyes and the rest of my day goes by boringly, nothing really interesting happens after. Though, in Auto Body my shopmates and I make a slingshot out of one of the small gas masks and use a rolled up paper towel as a ball. We also use the multiple trash barrels as little targets.
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So, how'd I do for my first chapter? I think I did pretty well.