Binary Understanding

Chapter Four

"Oh, Brendt..." she replied tensely as he walked past me and towards him. I turned around to see a guy standing right behind me. This guy was at least 6'0 and athletically slender. He had black hair and a tremendous amount of fashion sense, as he was wearing a lot of well known brands

"Bo...boyfriend?" I stammered.

"Whose this guy? Do you know him?" He asked Maddie sternly.

"Nah, let's just go. I don't want to be late for the movie" she said as she tugged on his arm.

"Hold up... why is he smiling at you?" He said carefully, while looking at me from the corner of his eye. I felt a chill go down my spine as I heard those words, hoping that I wasn't about to get beat up.

"It's nothing, I won't let you do this again, let's just leave" she pleaded as she tugged on Brendt's arm in vain

"Nothing? Let me go for a second woman, let me sort this out" he said with a tone of anger.

"Hey you! How old are you?" He asked defensively. Trying to get myself to speak I muttered "Sev...seventeen"

"Same age! Haha. You look nothing like a seventeen year old" he said mockingly

"BRENDT! COME ON LETS GO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" yelled Maddie as she kept tugging at Brendt's arm.

"Fine, geez" he said as he eased up on me.

"You got lucky today pal, I won't forget your face" he yelled back at me as he walked away with Maddie. Just then Maddie turned around and smiled at me!

"I'm so sorry" she whispered back at me. I survived. My first confrontation in Los Angeles. Sadly though, sympathy always comes from girls in my life. But wait... I'm a new man now. I don't need to be afraid of some asshole guy who thinks he's tough. She even smiled at me, indicating that she was flirting. I bet Brendt was just faking being tough to impress Maddie! If I step back and surrender, my life won't change. This transfer would be a waste. Determined, I started to run after them.

"HEY! HEY!" I yelled as I saw them through the crowd.

"Maddie and Brendt, right? My name is Bartholomew. Nice to meet you"  i said as I stretched my arm out peacefully. I noticed Maddie and starting to blush and looked at the floor while Brendt was staring into my soul.

"Hehe sorry if that was to formal" I said, retracting my hand and awkwardly putting it to my side.

"Let's try to clear up this misunderstanding shall we? How about the three of us go for some coffee and talk it out?" I said with hospitality.

"I don't know..." Brendt said as he approached me, "should we?"

"Brendt, don't" said Maddie defensively.

"I won't do anything Maddie. Just the three of us? Coffee? He asked sarcastically

"Yes, and we'll be able to fix this mis-"

***POW***

With that, I found myself on the ground. Hovering above me was Brendt, still in punching position, and around me were hundreds of people laughing. Brendt got ahold of my hair and pulled me up to my feet again.

"I told you not to show yourself again. Now take this for not obeying"

***SLAM***

Although the fist was scary, I was more worried about the crowd of people laughing and taking video of what had just happened. Later that day, I was at home crying uncontrollably.

"Oh my god" I whimpered as I clutched my phone, "I want to die". The video showcasing my public beat down had over 2k views. I went viral.

All the confidence and determination I tried so hard to achieve had vanished as I found myself in a dark lit corner. I found nothing but pain and mockery on my phone. Endless loops of my video played. Over and over and over again. What had been my hope and light had turned into depression and darkness. I cried so hard, I ended up tiring myself out and passing out, Dead on the floor.

"What happened?" I thought to myself as I started to get up from the ground.

"I guess I cried myself to sleep... how pathetic. Now I gotta go to the bathroom... bathroom bathroom bathroom." As soon as I relieved myself I started to feel odd

"That's weird" I thought. "I feel much lighter. Was the roof always this low? It's probably because I'm not still used to this place."  As soon as I went to wash my hands in the sink, a tall handsome man looked back at me. Startled, I tumbled into the wall.

"Is that me? Is this a dream?" The person staring back at me was tall, handsome and muscular. Dirty blond hair and the same hair cut I had gotten earlier that day.

"What the hell is going on?" I thought with fear.

"I need to calm down, this might just be a dream." To my surprise, I found myself sleeping on the bed. My ugly, fat body, sleeping peacefully.

"What is going on?"