*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
A boy slowly awoke in his dark room. Curtains pulled and no light on; he slowly sat up, hitting the alarm clock off on his way up. After a few moments of waiting for his eyes to adjust, he stood up and headed to the bathroom. He turned the light on before covering his eyes, slowly looking up at a mirror. Splashing water on his face finally woke him up as he stared back at the E/C eyes in the mirror. He slowly undressed before hopping into the shower.
"Fuck!" He shouted as ice-cold water dripped down his back. "No fucking hot water again!"
He decided to just bear with it for the day. After a few minutes, he stepped out. Once again looking into the mirror, E/C eyes staring back at him, he stood staring for a while before being pulled out of his trance by a phone notification. It was a message from his friend Eli.
"Meet you at school. Deme has the new edition."
He smiled before sending a thumbs up and placing the phone back down. He brushed his teeth before throwing on a jumper and quickly rushed out of the house, skipping breakfast. He looked across from him and saw a kid he hadn't seen before chasing after Mr. Lawrence.
"Hi, I'm Miguel. My family and I just moved into 109," he said. Mr. Lawrence turned to look at him.
"Great, more immigrants," he said, then continued walking. Y/N didn't hear the rest of the conversation after that, but the boy returned shortly after, looking disheartened.
"Hey, Kid!" Y/N shouted, and Miguel turned to look at him. "Ignore that guy. He's always like that. Y/N, by the way."
"Miguel. Nice to meet you," he greeted back before turning back to his room. Y/N stepped out into the street before grabbing a bus to school.
Once he reached school, he met with his friends, Eli and Demetri. He got through the morning pretty easily, with casual jokes made at his expense. Once lunch came, however, things took a turn for the worse.
"Hey, look who it is," one guy said as they walked over to the table Y/N sat at.
"Go away, Kyler. Can't be arsed with your shit," Y/N replied, continuing to eat his meal, which consisted of soup.
"I heard you and Sam broke up. Might give that a go," Kyler replied, chuckling to himself.
"If you want my seconds, go for it," Y/N replied, still looking at his food. This caused a lot of "ohs" from the group around them.
"Shut up, bro. You're just angry because she left your ass, like your parents did..." As soon as the words reached his ears, Y/N jumped up towards Kyler but got instantly slammed to the ground.
"The fuck did you think was gonna happen?" Brucks, one of Kyler's friends, asked. Y/N tried moving from beneath Kyler's foot, but it was dug into his back.
"Yeah, kneel for me," Kyler said, laughing with his group.
"Kyler, leave him alone," As soon as Y/N heard the voice, he grew relaxed. It was Sam's voice.
"Sure, sure, no worries. By the way, let me get your number," Kyler said, turning to Sam. They walked away, leaving Y/N on the ground, seething. He got back up to the table, still seething at the interaction.
"Well, Y/N, that's why you don't respond to them," Demetri replied, who was the resident smart-ass of the group.
"Saw a new kid this morning. I think he might be joining this school," Y/N said in an attempt to change the subject.
"Let's hope he doesn't join Kyler's group. We don't need another bully to make my life miserable," Demetri replied, causing Eli to laugh. Eli was a boy of few words. The rest of the day went by pretty easily.
Once he reached home, he spotted Miguel waiting outside.
"Hey, what's up?" Y/N asked. Miguel looked up at him and smiled.
"Hey, do you know any nearby shops? My Nana isn't feeling too great, and we don't have Wi-Fi set up yet."
"Yeah, sure, I need to go grab some gas anyway," Y/N replied. The two of them spoke for around 20 minutes on the walk to the shop, by which time it had grown dark. Once they got into the shop, Y/N got in line while Miguel went looking for Pepto-Bismol.
"Yo, Mr. Lawrence, how's it hanging?" Y/N asked as he waited at the counter.
"Listen, kid, I'm not in the mood for a talk at the moment. And second, you still haven't paid me back for the window you smashed, and also, it's not Mr. Lawrence; it's just Johnny," he said before turning back to the counter. "You got a plate for that?"
Miguel had just walked up to the counter as well. "My Grandma's not feeling well."
"Didn't ask," Johnny responded. "What's Spanish for 'gimme my damn slice'?"
The cashier looked up before looking to Miguel and said something in Spanish.
"What did he say?" Johnny asked Miguel.
"You don't wanna know," Miguel replied, still looking down at the counter.
"I know it was something bad. Just tell me," Johnny demanded.
"He said you have a tiny..." Miguel told him, which caused Johnny to throw the cash at the cashier before leaving.
"Fuck that dude, man," Y/N said as he gave the cashier his money. Y/N turned to see the door open, and Kyler walked in. "For fuck's sake."
"Wassup?" Miguel asked Y/N.
"Nothing, they're just some bullies from school," Y/N whispered back.
"If it isn't Y/N. What's good, man?" Kyler shouted.
"Leave Y/N alone. He doesn't need your shit in school and here," Miguel shouted back.
"What the fuck did you say?" Kyler pushed Miguel into the parking lot, causing him to drop his bag.
"I didn't know you guys were trying to buy beer, sorry," Miguel said. Y/N rushed out to his side.
"What we got here? Pepto. Oh, shit, someone has frickin' diarrhea," Kyler chuckled before his sidekick butted in.
"Hey, we should call him 'Rhea," Brucks said, causing the group to laugh.
"Give it back, dude. It's for my grandma," Miguel pleaded.
"Oh, it's for your grandma. Ah, sh*t, I'm sorry, man. Hey, you want it? Hey, you can take all that," they said as they poured the medicine all over Miguel's hair.
"Fuck off, dude," Y/N said to Kyler.
"Didn't get enough this morning?" Kyler replied. "By the way, Sam's a great texter."
"Asshole," Y/N and Miguel said in unison.
"What'd you say, 'Rhea?" Kyler turned to Miguel.
"I-I didn't say anything," he responded before Kyler punched him in the stomach.
"Oh, what? You crying? Hey, where you going, pussy?" Kyler asked as Brucks shoved Miguel into a car. Y/N swung at Kyler but missed by millimeters.
"Hey! Watch the car, man," Johnny shouted from the curb, where he sat with a slice of pizza. "Just leave the dorks alone."
"You see this guy? Eating his dinner at the mini-mart like a bum," one of the group said, pointing at Johnny.
"Wait, I-I think I know this guy. He's the jerk-off that cleaned my dad's septic tank," Kyler told the others.
"That explains why he smells like shit," Brucks joked, causing the group to laugh again.
"All right, trust me, you guys are pissing off the wrong guy on the wrong day, all right?" Johnny replied as he approached the group.
"Get the hell out of here, loser," Kyler said as he pushed Johnny away from him. A fight instantly broke out as Johnny landed a kick to Kyler's cheek. The rest of the group attempted to jump him, but he easily parried them off and landed a kick to one. He then delivered kicks and punches to the rest of them, leaving them flattened on the floor.
"Holy shit, how did yo-" Kyler tackled the man from behind, interrupting Miguel. He flipped Kyler, leaving him on the ground. The group surrounded him again as he easily knocked them back until it was just him and Kyler. He got him into a chokehold before the cops showed up and pepper-sprayed his eyes.
The next day Y/N went to school before Mr. Lawrence returned. In school, the bullies weren't present, but when he returned, Miguel told him what happened when he saw Johnny later that day and how Miguel asked Johnny to teach him. Yet he refused. Y/N thought nothing of it and went about his day playing video games. As Friday blended into Saturday, Y/N was surprised when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it to see Miguel giddily bouncing up and down.
"Y/N!"
"Hey, what's good?" Y/N replied, not opening the door too much.
"Mr. Lawrence said he'd teach us! Karate. You wanna join?" Miguel asked all too quickly, so his words melted into one.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Y/N replied absentmindedly. He didn't realize what he'd just got into.