Because I'm Falling For You~Treebros DEH AU

Chapter 5

     As the bus pulled into the parking lot Evan noticed Connor stepping out of the shadows to board, maybe he would get to sit next to him? Evan quickly shook that thought from his head, Jared would notice. Besides, Evan always sat next to Jared. As the kids were boarding Jared looked towards Connor and smiled, "Yo!". Connor heard and looked back glaring at the two, "What?"

     "Love the new haircut, it's very troubled teen chic." (Author's Note: out of respect for school shootings, I will keep this altered line from the musical instead, sorry to anyone who preferred the old one). Connor glared more hatefully towards Jared and Jared just laughed, uncaring for the emotion Connor had. "Oh haha, nice joke, I'm laughing can't you tell?" Evan smiled nervously indicating that he wasn't sure what to do in the moment and when Connor saw the smile a look of heartbreak crossed his face. Just as soon as the look was gone, rage filled his face and he stepped towards the group. "Who are you laughing at?! I'm not the freak, you're the freak." Connor shoved Evan back with a force enough to push him to the ground, Evan looked up shocked and Connor stared down in similar fear wondering what he had done. "I-"

     "Connor!" Zoe came rushing over and helped Evan up making it a point to give a look of hatred towards Connor. "Go into the bus."

     "I-"

     "You aren't wanted here." A look of sadness crossed Connor's face but he quickly replaced it with a steely neutral face hiding any pain he felt. He climbed up the stairs of the bus not even taking a pause to look back at Zoe dusting Evan off. "I'm so sorry, he's so much trouble, ugh. I hope you're okay." Evan didn't know what to respond to that so he just nodded. Zoe turned around to step onto the bus and Jared had, by that point, stopped laughing. "Sorry..." he whispered. "I got you pushed."

     "It wasn't your fault... completely..."

    "I didn't know he'd get that mad, it was just a joke."

     "Some people don't like jokes like that."

     "Oh well, yet another waste of my talent." Evan climbed onto the bus first and Jared followed suit, they sat next to each other staring out the window and as he looked back Evan noticed Connor doodling something on a sketchpad. He had been sitting in the very back of the bus void of anyone sitting around him. Occasionally someone would toss pencil bits, erasers, crumpled up paper, and other things back there as a joke. With each item getting stuck in his hair Evan noticed Connor getting increasingly more irritated and his drawing arm began getting more shaky and encircling into fists. However, with each stroke his arm started relaxing a little, and the cycle repeated with another item getting thrown back. They had almost reached the turn into the school and someone threw a lined piece of paper with something written on it, though Evan could not make out what. Connor picked it out of his hair and after glancing at it his other hand balled into a fist and made an unwanted scratch on the drawing he had in front of him. Connor's forehead creased and he crumpled up the drawing he was working on and threw it to the side. He proceeded to curl into a ball and put his head down, Evan couldn't help but feel bad for him. He also felt sorry for Jared's comment, how nice is it going to school and some random kid calling you a troubled teen? He had never noticed Connor Murphy before unless his sister talked about him, but now that he was sitting right there looking straight at the curled up boy he felt bad. This boy was bullied, made fun of, and was trying to live his life... just like Evan. Except Evan didn't care to notice him until he personally met the guy. Evan turned back around and stared out the window, after all what could he do? He certainly couldn't walk back there and give him company, he didn't even think that Connor would enjoy that. It was best to just leave him alone, and as Evan could make out more taunts, cheers, and the noises of thousands of articles being thrown at the lonely guy from the orchard, he turned a blind eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Connor felt horrible for pushing Evan, he wasn't the one who made the joke and besides, wasn't the other guy right? He was a troubled teen, probably wouldn't even make it to adulthood, and he got mad over it? Connor was such a screw-up. As he sat in the backseat of the bus he took out his pencil and a drawing pad, art was actually one of Connor's passions. Just like painting nails, he could meticulously choose the colors and design. He can draw whatever he want without people hating him from it, he enjoyed drawing so much. As he begin sketching the outline of the person the flurry of paper and pencil bits came flying at him. Occasionally he would pick them out of his hair, but he tried to use his drawing strokes to relax him. Every thrown object made him angrier, but after making a stroke on the paper he relaxed. As he looked up he saw the bus turning and someone threw a piece of paper at his hair. As Connor was about to draw the last strand on the drawing he glanced at the paper in the other hand that picked it out. Freak it had said. He got so mad and made a dark line all over his almost perfect sketch, he crumpled up the drawing and threw it to the side. Connor curled into a ball to try to hide his tears but they flowed anyways. They soaked the kneecaps of his jeans and they just didn't stop coming. What had he done wrong? Was he that useless? Why couldn't he have just been dead, it would have been easier. 

      People kept yelling insults at Connor and he tried to curl into a tighter ball to block all the nasty voices out, however even with his head buried deep he could still very much make out the taunts, each one that came he found himself agreeing with them more and more. He hated himself, he hated each and every bit, he just wanted to die right then and there to end his misery. The bus pulled into the school parking lot, so Connor had to get up. He was always the last one out of the bus as he waited for each kid to leave. He learned his mistake the hard way as the first time a boy had shoved him off the steps and Connor scraped up his knee. Larry was mad at him for that, then said that if he ever came home with tattered jeans again he wasn't allowed to wear them. As he shouldered his messenger back he left the drawing of the happy family behind. It had the works, you know a mom, dad, and sister, except the older brother had a large dark line over him that rendered it incomplete. 3 smiling faces and the older brother stood behind them, no face, and just a large dark mark marring all the features Connor had drawn. As Connor stepped off the bus he wanted to run back in and cry again, but unfortunately the doors had closed and the bell rang signalling the beginning of the day, another horrible day. As he shuffled forward and his feet moved the gravel creating loud crunches, Connor wanted nothing more than to collapse, to break down right then and there and get sent home. As he trudged forward and received the hated looks of every student there, more tears fell down his face plopping onto his clothing and soon the dry road under him. But who cared? He was Connor Murphy, no one special.