Everyone turned and stared at the laughing blonde. There were tears in Tommy's eyes, it was all he could do not to keel over laughing!
"Haha- you-" the child's laughing turned into wheezing, "that- that- it's too much! I can't!"
Everyone just sat there is silence. Was the blonde really laughing at being accused? Did he think Wilbur's injuries were a laughing matter? In retrospect, laughing was probably a terrible idea on Tommy's behalf, but he just couldn't help it. All these adults were stupid.
"You- you're laughing at my expense! You monster! How could you do this to me!" Wilbur was dramatically waving his hands around.
Principal Ranboo stood up, and walked over to Tommy. "I think I've seen enough. Why would you do something like this to Wilbur?"
Tommy stoped laughing. "You can't be serious. Guys." No one was laughing, they were serious. "Oh come on! Can't you see the post-it in his hand? He's faking it."
"Thomathy that's enough! How dare you accuse Wilbur of making this all up! Can you not see his obvious concussion?" Ranboo pinched the bridge of his nose. He really wanted to believe Tommy, but the evidence was too much. There was no way he could defend the blonde anymore.
"Uhm... last time I checked, you can't see a concussion. So, no. No I can't see his concussion." Tommy may have been in a lot of trouble, but that didn't stop the obvious smirk consume his face.
"Do you deny knocking Wilbur unconscious?"
"Well - no, but I-"
"I can't believe you!"
"That's enough Wilbur." Ranboo took a seat on the other side of the room. "Okay governors, what do you believe?"
"Is that even a question?" A tall, bearded man spoke up. "The child is very clearly guilty. Just expel him already."
"Hey! I'm not a child, but I really wouldn't mind expulsion; you guys are kind of shitty at your jobs."
"No," this time a blonde woman spoke up, "it really wouldn't be an effective punishment. The child's been expelled from twenty seven schools already, I don't think it would have much of an effect on him."
"Uhm... hello? Are you deaf or something? I'm not a chil-"
"So what do you suggest we do with the child then?" This time, a short, bald man spoke.
"IM NOT A CHILD!"
"Last time, I assigned a behavioural tutor to the child." Ranboo spoke one again. "But... I'm not sure how present he's been."
"IM NOT A FUCKING CHILD!!"
"Perhaps if the tutor stayed with the child throughout the day, all the time, then he wouldn't get a chance to act out."
"OH HELL NAH!"
"I suppose that's could work, are there any ground rules we should set out?"
"NO - NO GROUND RULES! NOTHING! I DON-"
"The tutor has a 100% track record, I think we should let them just do whatever they need to do to the child to get them back on track."
"IM NOT A FUCKING CHILD!"
"Then it's settled. We ensure the tutor stays with the child throughout the whole day."
"IM NOT A FUCKING CHILD YOU SHITTY MOTHER FU-"
"Tomathy! That is now way to speak to your elders, especially seeing as though you're already in as much trouble as it is. Dorothy," Ranboo pointed at the blonde woman who spoke earlier, "please fetch Phil for us."
"Of course." She quickly left the room, allowing it to form into an uncomfortable silence. Wilbur and Tommy were glaring at each other. They were the only ones who really knew what happened.
"Tommy, stop staring at Wilbur." Wilbur smirked.
"BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR! HE-"
"Listen: I don't want to hear it! You're behaviour is simply disgraceful. Wilbur, you can go now." Principal Ranboo never broke eye contact with Tommy. Wilbur gave a victorious smirk to the blonde, before leaving the room.
This was all too much. Tommy was being disgraceful? He didn't understand what he'd done wrong. Why was everyone assuming he was the bad guy? Was it Wilbur's perfect track record? What was he doing wrong? Why couldn't be be the perfect student that everyone wanted him to be? Tommy was just a failure.
The ringing in his ears became unbearable, and he let it consume him. Tommy could no longer make out the faces of the governors, who were now hastily exiting the room (assuming that the meeting was over). He desperately put his hands over his ears, trying to filter out the ringing, but it was useless. He could feel himself spiralling into darkness.
Tommy's vision was darkening, so much so, he couldn't make out the room. Tears clouded his vision. Everything was blurry, fading into darkness. Heavy ringing and darkness.
Next to go was his sense of touch. The hard, school chairs were fading out of existence, along with the wooden floor. Without its support, Tommy was falling. No light, so sound (besides the mindless ringing), nowhere to go. He felt himself spiralling into nothingness.
"H-help." It came out as little more than a whisper, though to Tommy, it felt like he was screaming. If anyone noticed, he didn't hear.
————
Techno was just hanging out in the library. He'd just finished all his work for the week, so he was kind of bored. It was Thursday, so he'd have Friday completely free as well. The pink-haired man was secretly hoping that he could spend it with Tommy, but only if the blonde had finished all off his work as well. Techno had no intention of taking him out of school.
With nothing to do, he decided to wonder down the school hallways. Techno was definitely the quiet type, so he always made an effort of avoid the busy sections of school.
He was really enjoying the silence, and the calm atmosphere. There weren't many people around at this time. Of course, all good things come to an end.
Of of no where, a rather disoriented Wilbur came hobbling down the hallways. He didn't noticed Techno, but Techno noticed him. He was just about to ask what happened, when Wilbur suddenly stopped hobbling around, and wiped his forehead, mumbling something about 'being too close' and 'should have listened to the child'.
What just happened? Was Wilbur... faking an injury? Techno decided to ask his best friend.
"Hey Wilbur. Wacha dooooooing?" Techno lazily elongated the 'o'.
"Ak!" Wilbur jumped and whirled around to face Techno, but quickly relaxed once he noticed who it was. "Oh it's just you."
"Just me?" Techno raised an eyebrow.
Wilbur visibly tensed again. Techno didn't know what he did, and Wilbur planned to keep it that way.
"Uuuh, yeah. Just... a bit jumpy today, I guess."
"Why the disorientated whirling around?" Techno wasn't stupid; Wilbur was faking some sort of head injury, or at the very least, exaggerating it.
"It's nothing. Just got in a fight." Why was Wilbur lying about something like this?
"Who exactly was this fight with?"
"Tommy. Actually, he knocked me unconscious. He just wanted to fight me out of no where! Something about being friends with you? I think he was jealous. I mean - I told him I didn't want to fight! Multiple times, but he didn't listen."
Why was Wilbur lying about this? Techno knew him well enough to know when something he said was untrue. WAIT - if Wilbur was lying, that means Tommy's being wrongly accused!
"Where's Tommy!?" Wilbur looked a bit taken back. This was not the reaction he was expecting to get.
"You want to know where Tommy is?" Techno only nodded. Well, maybe he was going to tell the kid off; get revenge for his brother, something like that. "Uuh I think he's in the nurse's office. Wh-"
Techno took off, before Wilbur could ask what he was going. Well - maybe he just really wanted to seek revenge for his brother? So what Techno didn't know the truth? Tommy ruined his ego, so the brat was getting what he deserved. Wilbur felt considerably smugger, knowing Techno was about to beat the annoying kid up!
————
Techno had no intention of beating Tommy up; in fact he was planning on doing quite the opposite.
He hastily made his way towards the nurse's office, not wanting Tommy to have to spend another second thinking the entire world was against him. Techno was going to be there for him; no matter what. He could deal with Wilbur later, he just needed to know what Tommy was alright.
Finally, he made it to the double doors, and hastily pushed them open, to see...
A disturbing sight.
Tommy was sitting on his own, huddled into a corner. His knees were brought to his chest, and his hands were covering his ears. Tears were dripping down his face, while his mouth was silently chanting 'help' over and over again.
Tommy was having a panic attack, and no one was noticing, let alone helping him.
————
The world is black. Tommy can only hear ringing. He's pelting to the ground, trying to grab onto anything to stop the inevitable fall. Nothing is working. It's useless. His voice is horse from screaming for help, but he doubts he's even made a sound.
Tommy can't handle this. He feels like he's falling farther and farther away from reality. Is this what it feels like to go insane? Is this what if feels like to be mentally unstable? Is this what it's like to know that no one believes in you, no one cares, and no one's there?
Little did he know, at that very moment, Techno was crying at the sight of him. Whether they were tears of anger or sadness, no one knew; maybe they were both. Why wasn't anyone helping the boy? Techno was on the other side of the school a few moments ago, yet he was the one trying to save Tommy, not the adults surrounding him.
Techno was quick to approach the shaking child. "Tommy? Tommy can you hear me?"
No response. When had the attack started? How bad was it? Why weren't any of the adults noticing what was going on?
"Hey buddy, it's me, Pinkie. I'm going to approach you now." Techno's moves were slow and exaggerated, trying to make them as predictable as possible. To be honest, he wasn't even sure if Tommy was noticing him right now, but he knew he had to do something.
"I'm going to slowly rub your back, okay?" There was no recognition on Tommy's face. Nothing to show Techno he was comprehending what was happening.
Very slowly, Techno moved his hand to Tommy's back. Very, very slowly.
Tommy immediately flinched away from the touch. His shaking increased, and his breathing became fast and uneven. Techno immediately drew his hand back.
Shit. Okay... what do do?
Techno looked around the room, to see a few of the adults had noticed the panicking Tommy. They were slowly all becoming aware of the situation at hand...
None of them did anything. Why? Could they not see the panicking boy? Techno looked back towards the panicking Tommy, but that's when it properly registered what was going on in the adults' brains. Well, technically it was only Ranboo, and two other people in the room, but that wasn't the point. They all swarmed around Tommy. You'd think they'd have some experience with stuff like this, but no.
"Everyone get back! You're only making it worse." Techno was quick to take control. "If you want to help, you'll go and find the nurse."
All of the teachers complied, and left the room, but right now, Techno had bigger things to worry about. The shouting had made Tommy tense up much more (if that was even possible).
"It's okay Tommy! I'm here. I would usually ask for five things you can see right now, but it doesn't look like you're responsive..." Techno had started thinking out loud, in the most soothing voice he could muster. "I... uh... I'm going to try and stroke your back again, okay?"
Very slowly, Techno moved his hand back to Tommy's back, and fondly tried to smooth the boy. Like before, Tommy jumped away from the touch, but he soon leaned back into it. Tommy was now leaning on Techno (who had taken a seat beside Tommy).
Okay... this was progress. Tommy's hands were still tightly clutching his ears, and his knees were still firmly up against his chest, but this was progress.
"Do you want to try and copy my breathing Tommy?" No response... Now what could Techno do?
"I... uh, do you want to lie down?" Techno knew he wouldn't get a reply, but he just wanted to see some kind of recognition from Tommy. "I'm not really sure what to do in this scenario... Can you give me a sign, anything, to show you can hear me?"
Nothing.
This was not going well. "I uh... I'm not really sure what do right now." Techno started talking out loud, "You're kind of scaring me, Tommy. Wilbur's panic attacks never went this far."
————
Wilbur. That name.
————
Tommy felt himself falling down into darkness, before he felt a strong poke at his back. He leaped away from the touch, afraid of what it would do.
Not long after, Tommy left something else on his back, but this time, it was soothing. He quickly lent into the stroking.
The overwhelming darkness turned into some sort of blurry room. Tommy couldn't make anything out, except some blob of pink next to him.
The ringing slowly decreased, and faint murmuring could be heard.
Tommy strained to hear what it was saying. Looking back, he wished he hadn't done that.
Tommy could only make out one word.
Wilbur.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
(Definitely not trying to get the word count up)
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no-
The air felt like it was being sucked out of his lungs. His surroundings quickly faded out into nothingness one again. The ringing continued, but louder. Much, much louder.
Tommy was falling. Faster. Harder.
————
Techno quickly realised his mistake. Why did he have to mention Wilbur? He was an idiot! At least it confirmed his suspicions: Wilbur was definitely behind this. There was no denying it now, after that reaction.
What was he supposed to do now?!?!
As if on queue, nurse Niki entered the room, followed my a huddle of teachers.
She quickly got to work. First, she checked Tommy's breathing: uneven and shallow, but there. She quickly positioning him so that he was lying down, spread out across the chairs.
Niki got out a small needle, and quickly injected a clear substance into Tommy's arm. Whatever it was, it made Tommy calm down. His breathing returned to a normal pace, and soon his limbs fell limp around his body. His scrunched-up eyes relaxed and fell closed. Niki carefully picked up the unconscious boy, and placed him into a sick bed. Techno followed close behind.
"What happened here?" Niki was quick to demand an explanation, and rightfully so.
"I don't know, but it's Wilbur's fault"