'Horrible' was a great example of a clear understatement as to how Yuu felt. Not only was he mortified, but guilty for being the cause of the pool evacuation for the day.
And the rest of the week.
At least he didn't have to stay back and help clean.
He sat in the nurse's office, blowing the remaining pool water out of his nose and coughing up the rest. He was rewarded with a expired lollipop and his uniform back.
Freshman year was much similar to this - the harassment, the inconveniences, the occasional homicidal thought. The last thing he wanted was to turn out like one of those crazy kids, however, so those thoughts stayed forbidden in a grim part of his mind.
As tempting as they often sounded.
The world's gone to shit and everyone around you is nuts. How could one not feel tempted to join the insanity?
Yuu's appetite was nonexistent when he arrived in the packed lunch room which reeked of over-buttered popcorn, sweat, and all kinds of mysterious greasy foods. Not only was the lunch food just downright putrid, but his mouth still burned with chlorine and that fishy aftertaste of vomit.
Maybe I'll just buy something to get the taste out of my mouth...
He nervously approached the ruckus of a line - which was honestly more like a crowd - and got on tiptoes to peer at what was being served.
Those disgusting, watery mashed potatoes... Yuu's stomach churned. They mind as well just serve a bowl of water with flour thrown in it! That's what it tasted like, anyways.
Then the French fries. Okay, those were pretty good, but half the batch was always burnt because they cooked it at a temperature that was too searing. Either that or they forgot they were in there.
Worth a shot.
As usual, five people cut Yuu in line, completely disregarding his tiny existence. He was stepped out of the way, nearly tripping over his own two feet. He looked up at the taller bodies, sighing deeply.
One day, he thought, I'll be taller than all of you.
But that day was too far away. Yuu was a late bloomer.
Finally arriving at the serving shelf, he picked out a prepared tray from up top the rack, making sure no loose hairs or any other body parts had wound up in it. As unappetizing as it appeared, he just kept his sights on those fries, luckily none too burnt.
Typically, he ate with the librarian in the sanctuary in his office; decked out hippie-style, mini water fountain decorations, beautifully long plants, and scented burning sticks all over the average sized room covered in cheesy quotes said by old fat dudes with big beards... Ah, yes, he could stay in there forever, sinking his toes into the fuzzy rugs and listening to the old man's life lessons and tales as water droplets splashed in the distance along with the sound of pages turning in books.
And that would've happened today - much needed as well - if the librarian wasn't absent. Yuu peered into the dim office window, not seeing a speck of light anywhere. And nowhere to be seen was his curly white head of hair.
He took a deep breath, returning to the cafeteria with his tray in both hands and a bad feeling in his core.
He passed many tables of the obnoxiously loud kids, looking for an abandoned spot somewhere in the corner. That's where he always was. Somewhere abandoned.
His green eyes targeted a dusty aged table in the far righthand end, a small spark of hope flickering in him. He made his way, eyeing down at his French fries with slight hunger now.
This shouldn't be too bad. It's just one day. He'll be back tomorrow.
In that moment, he wasn't aware of what was even happening. It was as if he was kicked, or tangled in something... The floor was getting closer and closer, his food suddenly levitating. Those mashed potatoes had went directly through his baggy shirt with a loud crash and squish as he was laying atop of them on the floor, and his fries were flying all the way down the aisle, completely fled of his tray. And now uneatable.
Silence conquered the room at his collapse, only the faint choir of "oohs" and swears of amusement to be heard.
When the hell did he fall?
"Oh, shit," chuckled one of the juniors in a seat across from his body on the floor. He retrieved the book bag strap entangled in Yuu's shoes. "My bad. You okay, dude?"
Besides trying not to sob, Yuu was splendid. He felt his nose tingle, his throat thicken with the oncoming cries he battled. He slowly got to his feet, the liquid potatoes on his shirt splattering to the floor. A murmur of laughter sounded from all directions. He collected his tray, ignoring the giggles and eyes boring into his scene as he carefully gathered every last fry. The puddle of potatoes remained untouched on the filthy floor, for most of it was designed on Yuu's top.
And then he kept walking to the end of the cafeteria. And sat. And stared. And cried quietly to himself, hiding his face in the crook of his arm.
The first week of school was always the worst.
Mika witnessed the entire scene adjacent from Yuu's table in one of the booth seats, watching the boy cry silently to himself. He was wondering why the hell this kid was showing up so much in his life. Besides the primary fact of them being in the same district and building... What was this, a sign from God? Being a neophyte in his religion, he could only assume.
Sully chucked a fry at his face. "Bro."
The blond flinched at the fry assault, giving him the look. "What?"
"You saw that?"
"Yes, I saw it. Everyone did." Mika sighed, crossing his arms as he impatiently bounced his leg underneath the table.
The brunette snorted loudly, pounding his fist on the table repeatedly at the hilarity of the situation. "Damn! That was too funny. He could've practically tobogganed down that aisle with that tray." He made a pathetic wing gesticulation with his hands. "Like a penguin. Weeee."
Mika rolled his eyes, fiddling with the sleeves that covered the ink in his skin. He watched the boy, seeing his hands uncover his eyes red with tears. His eyes were the colors of Christmas, green and red. He sniffed, wiping the mess on his fingers off with the end of his shirt. Even his black bangs hung heavy with a clump of potato at the tips.
He wasn't even prepared for the amount of regret he'd feel after subconsciously focusing in on the sound of Yuu's voice. His heart skipped a beat, his gentle voice sounding far beyond broken. Shattered, hurt... Almost scared.
Crying.
Crying.... Crying... Stop crying... Mika's head ached, his stomach swirling into a blackhole of pity. He clenched his hands into fists, eager to turn around and knuckle the fucker with the book bag and take Yuu away, but sane enough from his pills to remain and do nothing.
Don't cry. Please.
He forced himself to look away, his heart pounding in his chest.
Sully cocked a brow in puzzlement, gazing back and forth between the boy and his blond companion. "Does, uh, watching someone else cry give you like... A boner, or something?"
"Shut up," Mika huffed, leaving the booth.
Sully stole a handful of fries before escaping off alongside his friend.
"Just sayin'."
Yuu picked out a fry that had remained on his tray through the incident, inspecting its crispy nature. Then he looked down, and chewed sadly on it.
Awful, but better than nothing.
"Chinese for dinner?" Sully offered as Mika collected his things for the day out of his locker. The brunette chewed a toothpick, swaying it from his pink lips as he bounced on the heels of his high-tops.
"Mhm," hummed Mika, sliding on his jacket that was echoing with the ravishing scent of that expensive cologne. He shut the metal door, fiddling his car keys between his fingers.
"Hallelujah. You gonna sell anymore of those trophies anytime soon?" he asked, following the taller male down the hall.
The thought made Mika swell with annoyance. There was always some irritating side effect with the jobs. Either money deficiency, questioning, or eavesdroppers. After the incident with that kid, he considered putting that shit off for a month.
Well, then again, he was sick of living in an attic with cold meals throughout the day. And the awful air conditioning. And gas money. And his phone bill. And the tip in for rent.
He sighed, "Well... Maybe in a week... I've gotta better locate these transactions and see how good I am at lying about that gold one."
"Yes, you do, mister. Plus, I want my PlayStation already. I miss my lady Lara Croft's amazing tits on video game graphics," Sully expounded with pure sincerity in his tone and dramatic hand gestures. He annoyed Mika beyond mental capacity ninety-eight percent of the time.
"I'm sure you do. Now go wait in the car for me, lover boy, I need a minute," ordered the blond, dropping the set of keys into Sully palm. "Don't drive off or I'll castrate you. I know where you live."
"The bedroom right below you."
"Exactly."
"Alright, alright," Sully raised his hands in defense. "I won't drive off, Christ lover. Just don't pray for too long, will you?"
"I'm not praying, you idiot... Piss off," Mika hissed, watching him jog off with an involuntary butt jiggle and chuckle. "Dickhead," he murmured to himself when he was out of earshot.
He could never really hate him, though. They'd been through far too much.
The blond leaned against the lockers, sliding to the floor to sit amongst the tiles of a building worth a thousand crimes, and shut his eyes. His mind replayed the same film.
Patter... Patter... Patter... Patter, patter, patter, patter patter patter patter...
He could hear echoing bellows of dread and gunshots in his mind, footsteps pounding down the halls in a race for survival and cries and screams. Last year's war between the coteries cleared the building for a week. He still had yet to hear a peep from their group of six against his four, a sign, or anything. Even a dirty look in the hall.
Anything to pull the pin off the grenade and start hell.
Every time their bodies passed one another in the halls and the gaze they shared that seemed to slow time and speak a million words in between yet remained completely unspoken... It was a threat. There was no forgiveness, no sign of hope or surrender. Nothing. Except the promise for that other person to be dead.
But those were just warnings. It all truly began when a fight was ignited and someone pulled a gun. That was the signal for war.
Mika killed nobody but himself last year. He hadn't killed anyone in his life.
Others, however, had no problem killing anybody else. Eleven students died last year in the massacre of Harbor Lee on January 4th.
He questioned himself. What am I really doing here?
The sound of an opening door down the hall yanked him from his brood. "...sign up for tutoring, where you can fix it - yourself."
"It doesn't work for me," that familiar boy spoke through fear as he was urged out of a doorway by a teacher with poorly groomed facial hair. Once again, Mika was watching that black-haired boy haunt his life. "I've tried, I have... They only call me ignorant and diagnose me."
"Have you considered these diagnostics? Yuichiro, let me tell you, I honestly believe in this whole 'learning disability' case that's come to me from five different teachers. It's inevitable! How did you ever make it to sophomore year?"
Yuichiro. Mika repeated the name in his head.
"Please," Yuu begged, his hands trembling as he covered the dry potato evidence embedded in his shirt. "Just don't give up on me like they did. They only look at one test and call me retarded. It isn't like that; I swear... It's just really hard, and I don't get it sometimes, and no one will-"
"Two weeks," the teacher held up the matching number of fingers, "and then I'll test you. I can't believe they passed you with your exam results."
The door slammed in his face, and Yuu was only left to stare at the fake wood of the door.
"But I don't get it," Yuu whispered to himself as his throat thickened once more with cries. He covered his face, sniffing back the snot of endless mistakes. That's all he ever seemed to do - cry.
Because nobody liked him. Nobody was on his side. He wasn't used to this much loneliness, despite that being the only thing he grew up around. Sure, maybe by his senior year this reality of loneliness would seep in through his skin. But not this school year.
Maybe not ever. He was too good of a boy.
He played with his fingers as he wept, a tear landing on his hands. He placed his thumb over the droplet, crushing the weakness.
He looked up through blurry eyes, gazing into scarily familiar sapphire eyes that were ablaze, staring directly back at him. He knew those eyes too well, and they made him scared every single time. His breathing skipped, another tear hitting the floor.
Mika was having an internal panic attack hearing Yuu's cries, seeing his tears and red eyes. His chest rose and fell violently, sweat sticking to his forehead. He quickly got to his feet, leaving the doors as fast as his legs would let him.
The heat of the sun breathed against his skin as he rushed outside. He hunched over, pulling on the delicate yellow strands flowing from his head as anger surged his bloodstream. His small ponytail threatened to stay tied.
He wanted to murder that teacher... And he'd done not a thing to him.
Just like 'horrible' was an understatement for Yuu, 'frustrated' was an understatement for Mika.
Stop crying! You idiot!
But Yuu was still in the building, and Mika was far outside.
The sounds of it were playing over and over in his mind, haunting his head like a monster a child would fear. The pain in Yuu's weeping, the sniffle, the crack in his pubescent voice...
His pills were wearing off.
He repressed a scream of agony as he stood tall, his chest puffing in desperate need of air.
He made his way over to the Ford with haste, Sully whistling to the radio in the passenger's.
"Hey, bud."
Mika ignored his greeting, plopping in the driver's seat and slamming the door behind him. He heaved, gripping onto the steering wheel so tight his knuckles bled white.
Sully stared with astonishment and a small smile, watching the blond close his eyes and grit his teeth. "Me-owww. What's up with you?"
"Where are my pills?" Mika lowly asked, his eyes stinging with tears.
"Uh... Back at home."
His jaw tightened. "Hold onto something."
His tires screeched down the parkway, smoke burning behind his vehicle. He drifted down the intersection, speeding past the stop sign.
"Ohhhhohoho, shit!" Sully whooped. "It's the fast and furious, baby! WOO! Let's try not to die, though! I still want my fried rice, okay?"
Mika just kept his eyes locked on the road, the sight of a teary-eyed boy's face that was now very significant implanted in his mind.
He contemplated murder for the next person to make Yuichiro cry.