the Secret Life of Damien Carmichael

8. Lonely Days (part II)

Reaching the biology lab, Damien slipped inside and walked the snakes over to their terrarium, and placed them inside, turning on the light. Damien turned, about to wash his hands in the sink at the back of the classroom when he spotted Tyler standing several feet from him.

"Why am I not surprised?" he asked with a snort, making his way over to the sink, unbothered by Tyler's sudden appearance. It was hardly the first time Tyler had snuck up on him over the last two months and at this rate, frankly, Damien just wanted to get whatever fight was gearing up between them over with already.

"Thought you'd appreciate a little rest with your own kind for a change," Tyler said. Damien barely resisted rolling his eyes, as he finished washing his hands.

"I'd say that's clever, but given snakes are actually known for being pretty protective it just goes to show how little you actually pay attention in class."

"You just think you're so much better than everyone else, don't you?" Tyler spat. "You really have yourself convinced that you're just untouchable."

Damien turned to face the other boy now, leaning against the sink, "What are you blabbering about?"

"I heard what you said to Oliver," Tyler said. Damien kept his face impassive. He had known that would happen. "Throwing in his face the fact his parents died, real class act Carmichael."

"Is there a point to any of this, or were you just intending to annoy me?"

"Gavin and I are back together by the way," Tyler said by way of reply, arms folded over his chest.

"Congrats?" Damien said. He was beginning to worry that Tyler might be completely unhinged. He wasn't even making sense. What the hell did his getting back together with Gavin have to do with anything?

"No thanks to you! You would not believe the work I had to put in to prove to him that you were just a jealous liar! Luckily that little number you did on Oliver helped prove my case," he smirked triumphantly.

"Glad to hear it," Damien said. "Are we done here?"

"You know, someone should really take you down a peg."

"A peg?" Damien almost laughed. "Have you completely lost your mind? You have single-handedly taken everything I have ever had! I can't be on the lacrosse team because you made it terrible. I lost every single friend I had because you poisoned them against me. What exactly is it that you think I have left to be taken down a peg from?"

"You still think everyone else is to blame but you. Poor Damien, always the victim. Boo-hoo Tyler took away my friends. I didn't make you call Oliver an orphan, now did I?"

"No Tyler, you didn't."

"Exactly. You showed him who you were. I only told him what I knew and you proved it to him. Frankly, you proved it to everyone with that one."

Damien bit his tongue, he was already annoyed with himself enough without Tyler's brand of help. Tyler smirked, looking entirely too satisfied with himself for Damien's liking. He wanted nothing more than to punch him in his smug face. Though something told him that was exactly what Tyler would want. Damien would end up expelled. For a brief moment, that struck him as even more a reason to consider it.

"Right well you got me. I'm a great asshole. Is that what you want?"

Tyler snorted, "Not even close! Frankly, if you had any decency at all, you'd go jump out a window or better yet walk into the lake and do us all a favor."

Damien laughed then, "Oh honey I'd never give you the satisfaction," he said pushing past the pink haired menace, flipping him off on his way out.

Tyler didn't attempt to follow him, luckily for Damien. He had been pushing his luck lately with that one and frankly the last thing he needed was for Tyler to take a swing at him while his back was turned. It was certainly the sort of thing Tyler would do, Damien thought. The second he was out in the hall, he ran as fast and as far as he could in the opposite direction. He had no idea where he was going, only that he wanted to get there as quickly as possible. He hadn't even realized where his feet were taking him until he had reached the library once more and the safety of his fourth floor nook.

Damien heaved a sigh of relief, as he fell into one of the overstuffed armchairs, in the far corner of this particular part of the library. He was hidden behind several of the large bookshelves where he could easily spend the rest of his life if he wanted, without ever being found.

This being the furthest corner of the reference section where students didn't dare tred unless absolutely required to do so by assignment, and even then they would only ever skim the first few shelves in order to find an encyclopedia before they would scurry away to another section of the library, more inhabited by their friends.

It had become Damien's sanctuary during the middle of Junior year, when everyone had turned on him, and he tended to spend as much time there as he possibly could.

Rain pelted against the lone window that overlooked the rest of the grounds. There had been little sunlight that weekend, which was just as well, the gloomy atmosphere more than matched Damien's own miserable attitude perfectly.

For a long moment, Damien stared out the rain strewn window, wishing he knew what to write. It had been days since he'd updated his fic, though it had felt more like weeks. Mostly people had been patient enough with him about it, but a few people had all but begged him for the latest update, an update that he didn't have.

Normally, when things were going poorly in his life, he had found he had his writing in which to escape his own reality. It was a sanctuary within his sanctuary of the library. But in the last week or so, he had been completely devoid of ideas. As though even his muse had abandoned him after what he had said to Oliver.

He scoffed at himself, it was an absurd notion, and yet... he couldn't shake the fact that he hadn't written a single word since Wednesday, perhaps even before, he honestly couldn't remember anymore. He hadn't even had a single idea in all that time either. Instead, he had sat, staring at the blank page before him entirely unable to form even the simplest trace of a thought of where to go next.

He had re-read the last scene nearly a dozen or so times now and still, his mind remained blank. He was certain that he'd had a concept of where things were going at the time he was originally writing the scene, he was sure he had even written himself a note to that effect inside his writing app. But if such a note or an idea existed, it had vanished somewhere into the creative ether. Leaving him without a thought, and feeling exceedingly downtrodden.

Damien groaned wishing the rain might bring some sort of idea to mind. He was feeling even more adrift on an endless ocean of otherwise brilliant ideas that were somehow nowhere near him.

By dinnertime, Damien had become fed up with the silence. His mind may have decided to take an unplanned vacation, and as a result, his story was languishing, but that didn't mean he had to. There was nothing for it―he decided. He had had just about enough of feeling sorry for himself, and Tyler's bullshit. He could make it eight more months, but he was going to need allies. Allies like Carrie and Oliver.

He would need to apologize to both of them if he was ever going to make it through the rest of the year.