When I got to my locker after fourth-hour Joshy was waiting there leaning against the metal boxes. It felt nice to see him again after a while because I didn't want to spend time writing responses since he knew quite a bit of sign language
~Hey Joshy~ I sign.
"Hey T." He responds, tapping his fingers on the grey lockers, looking deep in thought, my presence seems to break him out of it.
~I know this might seem a little weird but Sebastian Reynolds asked us if we wanted to sit at his lunch table with him and his friends today... can we?~ I ask him, giving him a pleading look even though he'll probably agree anyway.
"Sebastian Reynolds?" he repeats, I nod. " well if you want to then sure, why not? It'd be a change from sitting outside by the smokers"
When he finished his sentence we began our walk to the cafeteria. Upon arrival, Joshy makes his way over to wait in the obnoxiously long line while I stand awkwardly by the door of the lunchroom surveying the area for either Sebastian of Kacee.
"Hey! Talon!" I hear the loud voice of Kacee yelling out towards me. I turn around to see her as a greeting, she skips excitedly. I wave to her as a greeting. She skips around a bit before telling me that Sebastian is in the line getting both himself and Kacee food for lunch. After that, she tells me to follow her and continues skipping through the cafeteria tables to get to the one we were going to inhabit.
I feel like I'm in the Wizard of Oz with all the skipping shes doing. She finally stops skipping at a large table in the very center of the room with people sitting at it.
"Guys, gals, friends of all nature this right here is Nugget, Nugget, these are my friends!" She announces to the group of four at the table. I don't really know why she called me nugget but I blush anyway.
I give a smile and wave to all of them. I can't even say that 'Nugget' isn't my real name because I threw away my other paper due to lack of writing space on it.
"Nugget?" asks a dirty blond haired boy sitting down at the table.
"Yes! Nugget, y'know cause he's really short?" Explains Kacee like its obvious adding a little cackle at her new name for me.
Oh. Now I get the name.
"You're a fucking idiot did you know that Kacee?" laughs one of the girls, causing the rest of the table to join in, it even got a little laugh from me. Because it's accurate.
Soon after, Sebastian and Joshy join us standing next to me and Kacee because we still haven't sat down yet.
"Hey Talon, has Kacee introduced you to the group yet?" asked Sebastian while he indicates for me to sit down on one of the chairs around the circular table and U do, glad there was enough space for me to still avoid touch. Kacee sits down across from me, Sebastian sits next to me and Josh sits next to another girl who occupied the seat on the other side of me.
"Of course I did!" Kacee says raising her voice acting like shes offended.
"She said his name is Nugget." The girl next to me deadpans.
"Jesus Kacee, anyways, guys this is. Talon, he doesn't like to speak and doesn't like being touched so please keep that in mind, even so, he's a cool dude, and this guy-" Sebastian points to Josh, "Is his best friend, Josh, they can probably tell you more about themselves... uhm, why don't we all introduce ourselves." Sebastian says. Everyone at the table agreed to his proposition.
First to speak was the girl sitting on the right side of me, she had long teal hair and milky skin, green eyes and strong cheekbones. "My names Aarya and I'm an excessive cusser just so you know."
"And I'm Max, short for Maxwell but don't call me that. I like video games and doing math stuff." A brown haired, brown eyed boy said, earning two super obvious fake coughs with a 'neeerd' in-between coming from Aarya. Max reaches across the table and shoves her and I chuckle at their antics.
Next to speak was a petite blond girl with a soft-spoken voice, "I'm Marilyn but please call me Mari or Lyn" She said giving me a warm smile so I gave one in return. She kind of seemed like a shy girl.
Then there was a quiet blond guy with blue eyes, "Hi my name is Cameron, uh... I play on the football team with Sebastian"
After they finish speaking Josh finishes a bite of spaghetti, speaking up to introduce himself, "Well I'm Josh, I like video games and watching basketball, uhm it's nice to meet you all."
Sebastian spoke next "Well I'm Sebastian, all of you have met me before, anyways, I'm the running back of the team here, I love playing practically all sports and I'm a total comic junkie," He said laughing lightly.
Everyone else had already introduced themselves and something about them leaving only me left. I looked over at Josh and he was looking back at me so I signed to him asking if he would be my translator.
"Okay, I'm-" Begins Joshy before being cut off by Max.
"You guys know sign language?!" He asks surprised and we nod. "That's so cool!"
"Ooh, I know some sign language too!" Mari says excitedly, signing the words 'I like pie.'
I laugh a little at what she said and then I sign back
~Me too.~
Josh chuckles " Anyways, I'm gonna translate for Talon" I start signing as he speaks the words my hands say as I sign them, changing a few words so it doesn't sound like he's talking about himself.
"This is Talon, he likes anime, art, video games and he's a pretty fast runner"
We all talked for a couple minutes more until the bell rings signalling for people to leave the cafeteria and get to their next class and that's what we do.
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After my fifth hour free period I went to my physical fitness class and I don't even know how it happened but the whole lunch crew was in the same gym class, including Mitch and two of his friends.
I entered the locker room, changing into gym uniform inside one of the bathroom stalls.
I have a couple of scars and bruises down my legs but not enough to spark people asking questions or to make people think that I'm using self-harm, especially since most people in this school or at least my grade know about my relationship with Mitch. They just don't know how far he really takes it and no one does anything to stop it anyway, well except for Sebastian and Josh.
Once I finished dressing, I threw my bag into an empty locker making sure to put my dial lock on it so nobody can mess with my things. Then I made my way out of the locker room and into the gym room where the rest of the class was waiting.
Kacee waved me over to where she and the rest of her group was standing. It felt so weird to be part of a group larger than two. I was way more than I was used to but it was okay because I have more than one friends for once. Hopefully, this isn't some big cruel joke.
"Alright kids, today we're going outside and were running half a mile on the track and once you're finished you play football or you walk the track, Now everyone meet at the starting number on the track!" The coach yelled, his voice echoed through the gym. The plan for today caused many people to groan as we walked up to the track field.
When we made it outside to the field some people began stretching while others just lined up at the starting numbers. I was one of the people who didn't stretch, mainly because I didn't want to hurt myself because I didn't want to hurt myself by pulling on the bruises that took place on my skin.
I was a pretty fast runner either way - primarily because of my years of experience from running away from bullies - and I think I could handle not doing a stretch.
When everyone was ready and lined up Coach blew his whistle and everyone started running off. Josh and I were up near the front of the group.
"Race you!" He shouted over to me, running faster and grinning back at me.
I laughed at his challenge and gave him a 'you're on' smile. I picked up my speed to catch up to him and soon after I passed by a couple of people who weren't very fond of running.
I was so far in front of Josh it was like he wasn't even trying!
My one mistake was running past Mitch and his friends who were messing around on the back of the group. Suddenly as I was running past, Mitch jutted out his foot, causing me to fall and tumble to the ground.
I landed on the track making a loud sound that emitted from the impact. My body ached from the running and the bruises that covered my skin. I put one hand on my chest, feeling my fast beating heart
My other arm laid out beside me, one of my legs was bent up, the other sticking out in front of me. When I looked up and saw Mitch's face, I knew this would end badly. The rest of Mitch's crew continued running on past me, each one running on top of my outstretched leg. I gasped and cringed at the pain.
After they all passed me, squishing my leg, Mitch gave me a wicked smile. He stood on my leg, putting all of his weight on it, leaning down as if he was helping me because I tripped. He kept jumping slightly on top of my leg, and it hurt pretty bad.
I didn't even try to stop him because one, I didn't want to touch him, and two, I was probably too weak to stop him anyway
Eventually, I heard a sickening crack sound, and I let out a scream. Mitch quickly stepped off of my leg as I saw Coach turn around and start running our way.
"Oh my god, Talon! Are you ok? What happened?!" Mitch exclaimed, a fake expression of concern and worry crossing his features, but I could see the malevolence behind it.
That little bitch.
"Talon, Are you alright? will somebody help him down to the nurse's office?" asked Coach, he was showing genuine concern, and so were my new friends who were still running over.
I could see Mitch making his way to raise his own hand but thank god before he could, Josh spoke up.
"I'll do it, I'm his friend. I'll take him."
"Thank you, Joshua, everyone else please go back to work," Said Coach.
When Josh was awkwardly helping me up, I could see Sebastian giving Mitch a dirty look.
Joshy helped me into the nurse's office by somewhat holding onto my shirt while I limped next to him. It wasn't ideal, but it helped, and we made it to the nurses anyway.
Eventually, I was in a hospital room again with my brother and mom, getting a cast for my leg. A fun way to spend the day. The whole process of getting the cast was tedious. We told them to try not to touch me as much as possible, they had to touch my leg a little bit to put the castings on while I grit my teeth trying to push away the old memories.
"So obviously your leg is broken," the doctor said explaining how serious the break was. "How did this happen?"
I hoped he wouldn't ask that question, even though I knew he would have to because it is his job after all. I look at my brother, he gives me a questioning look because he's wondering the same exact thing.
~When I was running, I tripped, I think I landed on it weird~ I lied. I still don't want him to worry about the bullying problem; I already get pitied enough.
"He said he tripped and landed on It weird" Darryn relayed to the doctor.
"But these bruises," The doctor inquired, touching my cast, " they're very extreme, and there are so many on the leg for falling the way you describe." He says, pointing to the many other bruises from a couple days ago.
My other bruises scatter about on the leg, and almost every other part of my body, but they don't know that.
"He got jumped a few days ago," my brother explained. I think back to that day and relive the bruises I received from that day... All of them kicking me, Mitch's initials...
"Well, you'll need crutches," The doctor says, snapping me out of my thoughts. He told us about how I was supposed to deal with my new broken leg. Just what I needed, More pain...
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"Sooo, Mitch broke your leg now too?" Josh asks me as he swivels around in my desk chair. I was sitting on my bed with my faulty leg resting on some pillows to keep it somewhat elevated.
~Yeah, that's what happened,~ I sighed
"Dude you've gotta report him to the principle.. or-or the police, this isn't bullying, this is assault Talon."
~I know Joshy, I know but... I can deal with it. I've been dealing with it all this time, what changed now?~
"Talon. I didn't like it before, and I don't like it now either, ok? Its gotten worse since then dude... I don't like seeing you like this!" Josh said, I saw a tear slide down his cheek, and I really felt bad for not taking his advice, all he wanted to do was help... but I am fine, I can live through it.
~Thank you for caring Joshy, but its fine, IM fine. Can we just play games or watch anime or something?~ I asked, changing the subject.
"Sure I guess" He responded, wiping his face. I grabbed my remote off of my table, turning on one of our favourite animes, My Hero Academia. I get why he is worried and why he wants me to report this, but I can deal with it. I've been through worse, and I don't want anyone to pity me.
Today was Sunday and tomorrow I had to go back to school; I missed so much school recently that it wasn't even funny.
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When I arrived at school the next week, my morning was different than usual. Instead of meeting only Josh at the fountain, I met Sebastian and all of the other new people I had met.
It was such a new experience for me I was taken aback. I hobbled over to everyone on my crutches, still getting used to using the stupid things correctly. The cast on my leg pressured the bruises, and it was not something that I was very enthusiastic about.
"Hey, Talon!" Kacee yelled from the fountain to where I was walking. She really is a loud one. I waved back a greeting in return.
When I finally got to where they were standing, they seemed to be talking about some sort of plans.
"OK, so now that both of you are here we were wondering if you two wanted to hang out with us at the mall after school," Sebastian asked Josh and me.
I thought about it. I mean I do need to get out more... and I'll be able to spend more time with Sebastian. Both me and Josh agreed and were told to meet at the same fountain after school finished.
Wow.
Who would've thought that someone like me would ever hang out with Sebastian Reynolds; a popular, football player, hot. Especially since I am Talon Brooks; a weak, ugly, outcast, the list could go on forever if you let me.
After sitting and conversing around the fountain for a little while, we proceeded to our lockers and then, to class.
English class went as normal; The teacher droned on about something boring, Kacee, Sebastian and I cracked jokes, we attempted to get work done, we didn't get work done...
I was kinda excited about going to the mall with them and everyone else later today, I had only ever hung out with Joshy and believe me, those times were fun and we sure made a lot of memories but these new friends made me happy too. They were funny and natural together and I liked that.
I enter my History room for second block and relief washed over me because I had escaped Mitch in the hallway. There was one of his friends in this class but his friends normally don't initiate anything with me without him being present, although he did stare at me when I arrived.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I see Kacee walk into the class. My luck seems to be fluctuating between bad and good for the past couple of weeks, but I kind of enjoy it more than just straight up, constant bad luck.
I even made a few new friends! At least I hope they consider me as such.
Kacee sees me when she comes in and her neutral face turns into a smile.
"Short Stack! Hey, I didn't know you had this class... well that's probably because I didn't really know you before last week... but whatever! C'mon let's go sit over here!" She announces to me when she gets close enough for it to not be considered yelling. My breath catches in my throat when she throws her arm out to grab my hand, and I flinch backward suddenly.
She notices my sudden change in behaviour and stops her previous motion.
"Uhm... are you alright? Did I do something..?" She questions. I calm down from my mini panic attack and motion for her to follow me, and I sit down in a chair on the far right of the classroom. I reach into the pocket of my black joggers and pull out the now crumpled paper, unfolding it as I get the pencil out from the side pocket of my backpack.
'Please don't touch me... ever' I write while giving her a pleading look, only so I don't look like an asshole because she doesn't know my reasoning.
She slowly nods her head and the silence between us becomes pretty awkward. Good job Talon. You've just shone her how weird you are. She'll never like me, and she'll probably tell Sebastian what a pathetic excuse for a human being I am. I have just ruined my chance of having new friends. Now don't get me wrong, I love Joshy to pieces, he's like a protective older brother, - even though I already have one of those who is very good at his job -- hence the ride problems these few weeks--- He's funny, nice, and he protects me when he can, during school, and even outside of school, but who wouldn't want to have more friends? Sure Josh is sufficient, but having more friends would make me happy.
"I'm truly sorry about that Nugget, I forgot, it won't happen again, Dude Nugget is such a good nickname for you! You're like a little Nugget!" She says, and at the end, she laughs like she just told the funniest joke in the entirety of human history. Her humour lifts my spirits, and I chuckle.
She doesn't even care! This is a true miracle. Most people would take both the refusal of touch, and the refusal of speech as an instant deal breaker, but not Sebastian or Kacee, or the other friends at the lunch table. Maybe there's more to life than just people that hate you.
The class eventually starts, and by the end, I had lost count of how many times Kacee and I had been reprimanded for laughing out loud and interrupting the teacher's lesson, because of Kacee cracking idiotic jokes, I even made a couple that made her laugh. It made me feel pretty good that I made her laugh, I never thought of myself as a very funny person, I was more like a.. a depressing waste of air.
Throughout the rest of the day, I went without being touched by Mitch, or anyone else for that matter. Mitch didn't even spare a passing glance at me, which relieved me, but at the same time; it made me nervous.
The school day seemed to go by slowly, probably because I kept looking at the clock in anticipation. When it was finally over though I slowly hobbled over to the fountain where we were supposed to meet everyone else, Sebastian following close by.
"We really need to work on that project for art so we can get them in on time since the assignment is due tomorrow" He says, we only really got stuff done in the actual class, and even then it wasn't much because of how much I've left school early or missed school recently. Though we somehow managed to get to a point where we are almost finished with them.
I agreed with him through a silent head nod, he was right after all.
Finally, we had made it to the fountain where everyone else was waiting, we talked for a bit and then all got into each other's cars; we had figured out a way to all get there for those who didn't have cars.
I rode in Josh's car to go to the mall and we regrouped and started walking to the building. I've never been to the mall in this town before. It was a large modern place with tons of trees and plants surrounding the outside and it was way bigger than the mall in my old town.
We got inside and I started to kinda regret agreeing to go. The place had crowds of people walking all over it. It was noisy and it didn't seem cramped but it does seem like a risk of touching people. My palms started to sweat and my breathing picked up a bit, I haven't been in a place this crowded in so long.
I contemplated leaving and going home to sit alone in my room like I normally do, but I didn't want to ruin this new chance with my new friends. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to this after all.
The others started slowly walking forward, discussing where they were going to go, but they didn't notice I wasn't following, everyone except Josh.
He turned around to face me. "Are you ok dude? I can take you home if this is too much for you, we could hang out at your house or whatever you want..."
We could go home... no. I'm not ruining this chance. I need to regain some confidence. One by one, I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans and signed to him.
~No. its fine, let's stay, yeah ill be fine.~ I'm sure it seemed more like I was trying to convince myself more than I was trying to convince him, which is true.
"Ok then, just try to stay in the middle of us or something," He said, beckoning me forward so we could catch up with the rest of the group.
Walking through the mall was being proven difficult for me. I was slow on my crutches and I was trying to stay between everyone, my legs were hurting slightly but I was still having fun nonetheless.
After a bit of shopping, everyone had bought at least one thing at a store, I found some cool clothes and bought some stuff for my room too. We were all a little hungry though so we went to the food court.
"So there's this one store here that's like a Japanese place, and they have the best chicken you'll ever eat, you guys have to try it," Josh told the group. Sometimes Josh would come here just for the chicken he was talking about and bring some for me when he came to hang out. Its some pretty good chicken if I do think so myself.
We made it to the food court and everyone went to the place to get the chicken that Josh mentioned, except for Mari, whos a vegetarian, And Max, who wanted Subway.
We were sitting at a table in the right corner of the noisy food court eating and joking around. Max stole a few pieces of my chicken because he wanted to try it and then he realized how good it was and just started stealing it.
~I'll slap you to next weekend if you don't stop Max~ I signed. I knew max didn't know sign language but Mari and Josh started laughing.
"Wait, What'd he say?" Max inquired.
"He said hell slap you into next weekend" Mari relayed.
"but I didn't do anything though..." Max whines, but I give him a pointed look as he stuffs a piece of chicken into his mouth.
"What?"
I was about to go on a rant to Max about how stealing food could land him a death penalty from me personally but before I could a stranger walked up to our table.
He had very short brown hair, deep green eyes, and tan skin. he looked like he was in his late forties, but for some reason, he looked so familiar. I tried to pinpoint in my memory who he was but I just couldn't figure it out.
"Do you guys know where the pet store is? I need to buy a new collar for my dog and I just can't seem to find where it is," he asked, although weirdly enough there was a mall map a couple tables away.
The whole time he was waiting he seemed to be staring at me in particular... Maybe he thought I looked familiar too, how weird.
"Hum yeah, the pet store is just down that way," Mari answered, pointing off somewhere where I assumed the store must be. "There's also a map of the mall a little bit behind you if you need to find something else," She said with a polite smile.
I looked back at him and surprise surprise, he was still staring at me, but this time he wasn't looking at my face, but at my chest. I look down to see that my sweater fell a little and was revealing my collarbone, and also the long scar spanning across it. A look of realization or something struck his face.
I quickly pulled my sweater back up and he looks away.
"Thank you for your help" He spoke, turning around and hurriedly walking down in the direction of the pet store.
"Well, that was... interesting," Cameron stated, causing the rest of us to agree.
"He just stared at Talon the whole time, it was fucking weird," Aarya remarked.
The whole situation left everyone confused, especially me, but I also felt creeped out and a little scared. What was the reason behind his look of realization and what did it mean? In a way, I kind of wanted to leave the mall now and just sit at home.
We decided to just attempt to brush the situation off, going to a couple more stores and then finally deciding to leave. This time I rode with Sebastian in his car because we decided to work on our art project together and finish it today.
All we really had to do now was finalize our portraits of each other and then start doing the little details. We reached my house and he helped carry in my bags for some reason, even though I only had like two bags that I could get on my own but it was nice of him anyway.
We were both using our drawing utensils to finish the pictures when suddenly my mom came into the room.
"Hey Hone- who is this?"
Sebastian looked up at my mother's surprised face, giving her a large killer smile. "Hello Miss Brooks, my names Sebastian, I'm a friend of your son here" He greeted, standing up and shaking her hand.
"Wow, you're such a gentleman!" She praised.
"Uhm since your here Miss Brooks I think its as good a time as any to ask if you guys would like to come over for dinner on Thursday, my parents wanted me to ask your family over."
My mom smiled at him. "Well thank you for the offer sweetheart! Unfortunately, me and his brother both have to stay late and close on Thursday. However Talon, you can still go own your own if you would like. I don't want you to have to stay home alone like that."
~Its fine mom, I'm alright with those plans, ~ I answered her with a smile, I understood why they would both have to stay late because the places they work at both seem like the ones that would be busy.
"Alright, well Sebastian he said he would love to come over for dinner then," My mom said, I look away, a little embarrassed at her exaggerating what I said to her.
"Great! It'll just be me, my parents and my two sisters, and wed love to have you!" Sebastian said happily. He seemed kinda excited for some reason.
Sebastian Reynolds was inviting me to his house to go have dinner with his family.
Sebastian Reynolds. Me. His house. His family.
Wow.
I was so surprised I just nodded, getting a smile from Sebastian in return. He's so nice.
"Aw thank you so much, Sebastian! It was nice meeting you, I'll be off to my room now." My mother said, waving and then exiting the room. I can't believe it, I'm going to have dinner with Sebastian Reynolds.
Shortly after discussing we went on and finally fully finished our pictures until Sebastian looked at his phone, suddenly getting up and starting to pack his stuff.
"Shit. I gotta go, man, its almost time for me to be home, see you tomorrow at school Talon!" He said, swinging his bag on his shoulders and making his way to the door. I waved at him and he waved back, then he left.
That night I laid in bed and I thought about Sebastian. Even though he was so popular he chose to hang out with someone like me, and he treated me with respect, and like an actual friend even though I'm weird. It was something so new to me that it seemed impossible.
I also thought about how unbelievably hot and charming he is. I felt bad about doing it but I couldn't help it. He's so nice to me and he makes me feel safe. I think I might have a crush on him...
I thought about what tomorrow holds, and soon I drifted to sleep.