Together, Never (Sanders Sides Highschool AU)

Chapter 4: Tattoos and Nightmares

"Heads up," I say.

Jan catches it and places it on his head. I look at him. With his yellow-brown eyes and confident demeanor its no wonder I fell for him.

"Are we still on for Friday at 8?" I ask

"Yes, Virge. I swear this is the fourth time you've asked me." Jan says.

"Just making sure," I say.

Jan grabs his backpack.

"Well, I'm gonna head out before your folks see me. Let me know if there are any other CherryWood kids I have to 'talk to'." He says and gives me a small kiss goodbye.

"Sure thing," I say, blushing.

And with that, Janus leaves.

I try to start on my homework but my attention span is close to zero. I'm a bad mix of anxiety and procrastination, so I will put things off while panicking on whether I should do it or not. Also, Roman's taunting must have gotten to me more than I thought because now that's all I can focus on. Replaying that moment in my head, seeing if there was a better way to handle it. 

At Rockview, no one picked on me, because Jan, Remus, and I were at the top. In middle school, I was picked on constantly, which made me develop anxiety. It got worse in 8th grade when my best friend moved away and no one was left to defend me. 9th grade was when I met Jan, and that's why he is protective of me. He's loosened up a bit, but I won't tell him if I'm seriously getting harassed, because he'll probably start a fight and get expelled.

My parents still aren't home, which is fine by me. Dad works from late at night to early in the morning, and Mom had a night and morning shift today. So Dad should be getting home soon. My phone buzzes. I take it out and see a text from Dad.

Picking up Wendy's. What do you want?

Burger and a cola I reply.

I set my phone down and get back to my homework. Roman's insults dancing around my brain. I get a small amount down when my Dad gets home.

"Hello! How was school?" He asks.

"Good," I say.

"Make any new friends?"

"Nope. Don't need to. I've got Jan and Remus." I say.

My father frowns a little. He doesn't really like either of them. I bet he was hoping I would instantly make some friends and drop them. I grab my food and head out of the kitchen.

"I've got homework to do," I say.

"Ok," My dad replies while turning on the TV.

I hear a football game start playing as I close my door.

Several hours later I get in bed and drift off.

Nightmares plague me all night. Faceless kids led by Roman surround me, taunting me as they kick me down. I see Logan look away. I'm powerless, and alone on the ground when I wake up. I decide sleep is overrated and stay up the rest of the night on my computer.

*Logan*

I can't take my mind off him. All afternoon and night my mind circles back to the mysterious emo kid. Why did Roman act that way? He doesn't usually pick fights unless challenged, so perhaps he had a previous connection with Virgal. I go onto our presentation, and see his name spelled 'Virgil'. Like the Roman poet. I figure the teacher did mispronounce his name and I feel a wave of embarrassment for calling him that all day. How is it that I've felt more emotions today than I usually do in a week? I don't like this. My focus returns to my homework, however, and I am able to finish most of it by the end of the night.

I don't usually dream, but tonight is an exception.

I'm in a classroom, back in middle school. A boy gets pushed down.

"Hey!" I yell, "What was that for?"

The bullies simply laugh at me and the boy disappears. They taunt me.

"Aww, lookit the nerd trying to be all brave." 

"He's so stupid, you can tell."

"You'll never do anything right? You know that. No matter how hard you try."

Then I fall into a pit of darkness. At the last second, however, a hand catches me.

"I got your back." He says, "Do you have mine?"

I nod. He pulls me out of the pit and we are in a hallway. Still in middle school. Suddenly everything shifts. The hallway changes to a highschool one and the boy grows. His clothing changes to black, and his smile to anger. He glares at me.

"You said you would help me. You said you would protect me. You lied. I thought I could trust you to be right, but you're always wrong." He yells.

I wake with a start. I'm sweating and breathing heavily. I look at the time. 6:15. I guess I can wake up a little earlier. I get up and get ready for another day of school, still shaken by my dream.

Oooo nightmares! I hope those don't lead to anything bad! But I do hope you enjoyed reading, or are curious to see where this is going! I got plans for these guys, but I'm hesitant. Guess that's my small amount of compassion shining through. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As always, feel free to leave any feedback, thoughts, or predictions in the comments and have a lovely day you magnificent peep!