Real quick author's note:
In this chapter, I mention some of the other cheerleader characters from the movie. I don't know if they have any canon names, so I just made some up. I hope that's okay. If they do have canon names, just tell me in the comments and I'll fix it. :)
On with the chapter!
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"(Y/N)... (Y/N) wake up..."
"..."
"(Y/N)"
My eyes jolt open.
"Huh?" I wake up and forget where I am. The room that I'm in looks unfamiliar until memories of yesterday pop into my mind. I'm at Lloyd's house. I don't know how I forgot that.
"You need to get up, (Y/N)." It's Lloyd who's been saying my name as he pushes gently on my shoulder in attempt to shake me awake.
I sit up and my eyes are trying to adjust to the bright light of the room. "What time is it?" I ask. It seems a lot earlier than the time that I usually wake up.
"Six A.M."
"Six? Who wakes up at six? I don't wake up until seven fifteen." I say, trying not to sound too angry that he woke me up.
"...But That's not even an hour before we need to be at school..." He states with a bit of concern.
"All I do to get ready is put on a hoodie."
"Really? You don't even eat breakfast or anything?" He asks.
"Nope," I answer and Lloyd just shrugs his shoulders and continues getting ready for school.
At first I thought I was going to regret going to sleep that early, but now I don't regret it as much because I'm still tired...
I'm always tired...
I lay back down on my back, but I don't go back to sleep. I just stare up at the ceiling. I look up at the same star stickers that I was staring at last time. I don't know why they were so intriguing to me. They're just little pieces of plastic, stuck to the ceiling with a piece of sticky foam, yet they bring back so many memories. Memories of better times. I miss my brothers. They don't come around very often. They just don't want to see my mom. I understand that, but I figured seeing me would be worth it. That's kind of a selfish thought... I'm not really worth it.
I need to stop saying negative things about myself. I just need to stop being so negative. That's what my family always tells me. 'Lighten up,' they say. It's hard to lighten up sometimes. Being an angry little ball of rage is just part of my personality. I was just born this way.
"You doing okay?" Lloyd asks.
"Yeah."
"Well, it's just that you keep staring up at the stars on my ceiling. Is there something wrong?"
My attention is still on the stars. I don't even look away from them for a second. "I'm fine."
"...You sure?"
"Yeah, I said I'm fine." That sounded a lot more mean than I wanted it to. I look up at Lloyd, finally and he was obviously kind of hurt by my response.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that, I just... I don't know... things have been rough lately," I plop my head back down onto the pillow and look up at the ceiling again.
"Nah, I get it... Life sucks sometimes," Lloyd says.
I sit there for a second until I turn my head a little bit to see my bag on the floor in the corner of the room. I figure I should probably get changed. And I don't just mean slap on another hoodie and call it a day. I feel like Lloyd might find it weird if I wear the same shirt and pants to school I wore the previous day. Nobody notices if you don't tell them, but obviously Lloyd would know because I would be getting dressed in his house.
I sit up and make my way toward my bag. I didn't bother to see what Lloyd was doing, but I think he was putting some of his books into his bag to get ready for school. When I approach my bag, I unzip it and pull out my clothes. I had a T-shirt, black jeans, and a grey hoodie. I start to pull off my shirt and hoodie and toss them on the floor. And now, I can see Lloyd staring at me through the corner of my eye. I don't really have a problem with it. Guys check each other out in the locker rooms all the time and this is no different. I'm not really much to behold, though. I have an average body type. I'm not ugly, but I'm not what people would ideally find attractive. But I continue to get dressed anyway. I throw on my shirt and hoodie and then unbuckle my belt. I toss it off to the side and then remove my pants. I slept in my regular clothes last night. People might think it's uncomfortable, but I think it feels fine.
When my pants are down around my ankles, I just kick them off to the side. I'm wearing you're average blue boxers on underneath, so not much was exposed. It's pretty much just the equivalent of wearing shorts. I pick up the black pants that I had in my bag and put my legs in and slide them up over my legs. I zip them up and pick my belt up off the floor and begin to slide it into the loops of my pants. I can still see Lloyd looking at me. I don't know why he keeps looking. I'm really not doing anything that interesting.
I look up at him, still with my hands on my belt that I haven't yet buckled. "Are you done staring at me?" He looked surprised. He probably didn't know that I noticed him looking at me. "I- uh... sorry," he looked down at his bag and I just laughed a little. I thought it was funny how easily embarased he got. Is that mean? I feel like that's mean. Whatever.
I direct my attention back to my belt and buckle it and pick up my bag. I put my old clothes in it and swing it around my back. I noticed a mirror in the corner of Lloyd's room and I make my way over to it so I can fix my hair. I probably have bed head.
I stand in front of the mirror, and I was right. My hair looked like a mess. I play with it and try to get it to lay down flat. My hair is always messy, but at least I make an attempt to fix it. I wanna know how Lloyd is always able to get his hair to lay down perfectly. It's like he's never had a bad hair day in his life. His waves always hung perfectly just above his shoulders. And it's like his hair was the perfect length as well. It was long enough for his waves to be visible, but not too long to the point where his hair weighed itself down and lost its curl.
I remember one time I tried to grow my hair out a little longer, but instead of it actually looking good, I just looked homeless. Now I just keep it at an average length. Sometimes I spike it for special occasions, but not very often.
I eventually get my hair to a point where it's somewhat presentable, and that's good enough for me. I look over at Lloyd and it looks like he's done packing his things up for school.
"Are we ready to go?" I ask.
"You're already ready?" He asks back.
"Mhm," I confirm.
"Oh, well I have a few things that I need to do before we go," he says.
"Alright," I sit back down on his bed.
I pull my phone out of the little side pocket on my bag. I'm never really on my phone much, but I check it every so often. It's one of those really cheap phones that you can get. It's only good for calling and listening to music and it can only run a few apps without crashing and it comes from some unrecognizable brand, but I'm fine with what I have. I know that there's someone out there that has it worse than me, so I try not to complain about the little things.
When I check my phone, I have no messages. As usual. My texts only ever come from my siblings and sometimes my mom. Never any texts from my dad, though. My dad stopped trying to contact me after he had had enough of my mom getting on his back for it. I miss my dad, and he misses me. I don't know why my mom hates it when he tries to talk to me. I've always preferred my dad over my mom. I guess that's why she doesn't like me talking to him. Because she knows I like him better.
I brush it off and put my phone back in the pocket of my bag. I look up and notice that Lloyd has left the room. I figured he was probably in the bathroom or something. I have my bag on my lap and hold it up against my chest as I rest my chin on the top of the bag and close my eyes. I'm ready to go back to sleep, honestly.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"(Y/N), are you ready?" Lloyd pokes my shoulder.
I open my eyes and apparently I had fallen back asleep without even realizing.
"(Y/N), we have to go," Lloyd says again, softly as to not startle me out of my sleep.
"Mhmmm," I hummed as I stood up with my bag in my hands and swing it over my back once again. I didn't want to go to school, but I guess I had to. If I could never go again, that would be preferable, honestly.
We both make our way to his bedroom door and leave the room. We're now in the living room and Koko is sitting on the couch.
"Bye, mom," Lloyd waves as we make our way to the exit. "Bye, have a good day at school, love you!" She yells as he's practically already out the door. "I will. Love you." He closes the door with me right behind him as we make our way outside of the apartment building.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
We stand at the bus stop for a while. There's a few other kids who refuse to look at us when we get there, but I prefer the lack of attention. I just keep my head down and kick at the rocks on the ground, seeing how far I can send them across the street. Lloyd just stands and watches in silence.
"...You think you're gonna pass the algebra test on Wednesday?" Lloyd asked out of the blue.
"Probably not," I keep kicking rocks.
Apparently, the other kids at the bus stop weren't used to Lloyd having a normal conversation with another person, and they looked at us in shock. Like they had never heard him talk before or something. I try to ignore them, but I see Lloyd deliver a small glance at them and his face resorts to a bit of a frown.
I try to change the mood a little. "What about you? Think you'll pass?"
"One hundred percent, yes. I've been studying this test for forever."
"That makes one of us," I laugh, still kicking rocks. I haven't even looked up from the ground since we got here.
But the other kids at the bus stop were still surprised by our casual conversation. A couple of them even pulled out their phones and started recording us. There goes my chance at keeping my 'average reputation.'
I finally look up from the rocks on the ground and look straight at the two who had their phones out and were recording us. "Could you not?"
"What? We're not doing anything!" One of them says in defense.
"Stop recording us," I demand.
"We're not," one of them snickers. I roll my eyes and look back down at the rocks. I pull my hood up to hide my face. I really don't want to be on camera right now. Or ever, for that matter. I don't know why they felt the need to record us. We're not doing anything interesting.
I hear the two kids laugh as they continue to record and I try to pretend they're not there. I step a little bit closer to Lloyd and try to block him from the camera's view. This kind of stuff doesn't phase me very much, but Lloyd seems upset. We've only been friends for a little while, but I can tell he's a pretty sensitive guy. You'd think he would be used to it by now, but I understand. It hurts.
Finally, the bus pulls up. This is probably the first time I've ever been able to actually say I was excited to see the bus. I'm just ready to get out of this awkward situation. The kids put their phones away and get on the bus, and we follow shortly after. We sit in the back, on the left. We sit in silence without making any eye contact. Both of us are processing the prior events. That is, until my phone buzzes.
I pull my phone out of its pocket and see what the notification is from. I've been tagged in something. I click on the notification, and the video has already been uploaded. Lloyd is looking over my shoulder and looking at the same thing I'm looking at. It's just the video of Lloyd and I talking. I scroll down to read the description to see what was being said about the video by the original poster.
'Looks like Garmadon found himself a friend ;)'
And that's it. That's all the post said. I don't have any idea of what that's supposed to mean, but I didn't like the fact that they were referring to Lloyd as 'Garmadon.' I look up at Lloyd. Both of us have a bit of a worried look. I direct my attention back to my phone. I scroll down a little further and read the comments.
'Probably his boyfriend.'
'They're probably plotting the destruction of the city.'
'So now we have two freaks to worry about?'
And there were even more comments than that. Ones that I didn't want to read. Most of them contained slurs. Gay slurs, to be exact. Ones I was way to used to hearing. It's because I'm gay. I wouldn't necicarily say I'm 'out,' but the kids at my old school knew. Telling people I was gay back then was a big mistake. That's when I would normally hear all of those slurs. As soon as I moved here, I took the word gay out of all of my social media profiles and I told myself I would never tell a single soul ever again.
Anyway, even though I'm used to the slurs, Lloyd probably isn't. Most kids only make fun of him for being the son of Garmadon and that's it. They make fun of the way he looks sometimes, but that's just an additive to the whole 'son of an evil warlord' thing. I knew Lloyd was probably made uncomfortable by the comments. How did all of these comments appear so fast anyway? The account doesn't have that many followers. Things just get around quickly, I guess.
I sigh and turn off my phone. I bring my knees up into my chest and cross my arms and rest my chin gently on my crossed arms. I'm curled up into a ball. I feel like screaming. I know this post really isn't that big of a deal, but it's just annoying and stressful. I stare off at nothing. I'm just looking at the back of the seat in front of me, trying to think of how the rest of this will play out. Everyone at school is gonna see it and I'm going to go through the same shit I did at my old school. I'm not ready for that.
"...You okay?" Lloyd asked softly.
Even though the video of Lloyd and I was the cause of my current stress, Lloyd being here right now was a really comforting experience. I guess he just makes me feel safe. Probably because he's The Green Ninja.
"Yeah," I respond.
"You don't... look okay," he says.
"Wow, thanks."
"Nonono- that's not what I meant-" he makes an attempt to correct himself.
"No, it's okay. I'm fine. I promise."
"...I'm sorry..."
"It's really no big deal," I try to reassure him.
"No, I'm sorry that I'm so... So weird, ya know? People wouldn't have recorded us if I wasn't... If I wasn't me..." He even seemed confused by his own words. Like he didn't even know what he was saying anymore.
"You're not weird," I tell him. Well, I'm lying a little bit, of course he's weird. Everyone's weird. He's just an average amount of weird. "The only reason people think you're weird is because you're the son of Garmadon. You're not really that out of place."
"Yeah... I wish everything would stop reminding me of my dad... I wish... I wish we weren't related..."
"Yeah, I get it. My mom might not be some evil warlord, but sometimes I wish anyone else could be my mom instead... At least you still have you're mom, right? She cares about you."
"Yeah, I guess I do," his frown turns into a soft smile. Not too noticeable of a smile, but I saw it.
It seemed like in no time, the bus pulled up infront of the school. I was ready to get off the bus, but I wasn't ready to go inside of the school building. I bet even more people have seen the video within the short span of the bus ride. We both stand up and make our way out of the bus. It's almost like it's a battle just to get out of the bus doors. Everyone is pushing and shoving. We're actually the last two off the bus.
When we exit the bus, I take a deep breath in preparation for what I assume is probably going to be one of the longest school days of my life. As we begin to walk toward the entrance of the school, I keep my head down to avoid eye contact with anybody. I'm really not in the mood.
I push my way through the glass doors and hold them open for Lloyd to walk in behind me. Then the door shuts. "I'm going to my locker, see you in first period," I tell him.
"Alright, see ya," he acknowledges. We split ways and I head upstairs to my locker. As usual, I shove my bag in and grab my books. I go to reach into my locker to grab my pencil, but before I'm able to do so, my locker slams shut. I jump backwards a little bit and I see a pale hand cover my locker, I look to my right to see who it is, and of course, it's none other than Chen. He doesn't seem to have any of his friends with him.
"Hey, kid. Heard you've been hanging out with Garmadon," he says.
"Kid? We're the same age," I mock him.
"That's besides the point," he snarles. "I saw the video, so don't try to pretend like you haven't been talking to that freak, Garmadon."
"I've been hanging out with Lloyd, yes. I don't see what any of this has to do with you though," I tell him.
He finally removes his hand from my locker and stands up straight. He doesn't tower over me or anything, but he is a bit taller than me, even though I'm pretty tall. I'm probably about six foot, making him about six two, or six three. But his height really isn't enough to intimidate me. I still see him as a guy with nothing better to do with his life but pick on others.
"Listen, I don't know if you know this, but pretending to be his friend won't save you when he decides to attack the city with his father," he snickers. He obviosly doesn't believe Lloyd is evil, he just likes to pick on him because he's an easy target.
"You sure do seem pretty obsessed with Lloyd. It's almost like you have some sort of crush on him or something," I give a devious smirk.
"Shut the Hell up!" He yells as he smashes his hand beside my head on the locker behind me, making quite the loud bang. Loud enough to attract the attention of the once loud and bustling croud of students filling the halls. The hall goes silent and everyone looks to us, probably expecting a fight or something.
"What, you can't handle someone who talks back?" I ask, with quite a lot of sass in my voice, I'll admit.
"I told you to shut your God damn mouth!" He yells in my face. I see his fist ball up out of anger, while I try my best to keep my cool. Some kids whip out their phones and start recording because now, they're sure we're going to fight.
"Or what?" I ask, mockingly. I know he won't hit me. He would get suspended and he'll be disqualified from his cheerleading bullshit. He knows this.
"UGH!" He punches the locker behind me in attempt to take out his rage. I'll admit, it scared me a little. "Whatever, I don't have time to deal with this!" He storms off and everyone else is left staring at me. I stare out into the massive crowd that Chen had managed to stir up. I can't believe that all of these kids gathered around to watch Chen 'beat up' a kid they don't even know the name of. There were kids from all different grades gathered around. Eventually, they dissipate from the crowd, leaving me alone, finally.
I gather my thoughts and make my way to my first period class. The only other person there is Lloyd. He's sitting in his assigned seat, scribbling something down on a scrap piece of paper, but when he hears me enter the room, he lifts his head up from his paper and smiles at me. I sit down at the desk next to his.
"What took you so long to get here?" He asks. I stay silent for a little bit. I honestly don't know how to describe what just happened. "Hey... Are you okay?" He asks.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine. It's just... Chen saw the video... and he stopped me in the hallway and everyone saw us argue..." I try to recollect the events in my mind as I tell them.
"Oh... I'm sorry..." his eyes shift back to his pencil and paper.
"Why are you sorry? It's not your fault," I explain to him.
"Yes, it is. If I didn't... If I didn't try to be your friend, then you would still be 'normal.' You wouldn't be friends with a freak like me, I guess. Now everyone hates the both of us," he says, still with his eyes on the paper.
"No, that's not true... I don't hate the both of us," I joke. He smiles a little bit. "Yeah, but I'm sure you don't want to be tormented by everyone else at this school the way I am. You don't have to be my friend anymore if you don't want to."
"Lloyd, why would I stop talking to you just because other people wouldn't like it? That's ridiculous," I tell him.
"I dunno... It's happened before..." he says. "Really?" I ask in surprise. He doesn't say anything in response. He just nods.
"Well, whoever it was, they're not worth your time," I say.
"Heh, thanks," he laughs and finally that smile reappears on his face. He has such a nice smile. Everything about him is honestly really attractive. If he weren't hated by everyone just because of his father, I could see there being a lot of girls with crushes on him. I might even be developing a tiny crush. Not like a 'I-love-you-and-want-to-marry-you' kind of crush, but more of a 'I-think-you're-cute-and-I-won't-be-devastated-if-you-don't-like-me-back' kind of crush. I just think he's cute is all.
Man... What would my mom say if she knew I had a crush on Lloyd Garmadon? She doesn't even know I'm gay. I've heard the way she talks about gay people before, so she definitely wouldn't like it if she found out I had a crush on a guy who also happened to be the son of the man tormenting the city. I stare off a little at the stack of books I had in my hand, and then I realize I forgot to get my pencil out of my locker after Chen slammed it shut.
"Uh, Lloyd, do you have an extra pencil on you?" I ask him. "Uhh..." he unzips his pencil bag and rummages through it. "Um, I have this pen," he holds it out. "That'll work," I grab the pen and stick it in the spiral of one of my notebooks. "I'll give it back after class."
The beginning of class begins to draw near and some other kids begin to enter the room. As soon as I see the first person enter, I return to my seat in the back of the class. I see some people glare at me as they walk in. I don't know why me being friendly to someone they don't like makes them think of me any differently. I bet they didn't even know who I was until that video got uploaded. Most of them probably don't even know my name.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
After our morning classes end, it's time to go to lunch. I walk up behind Lloyd while he's at his locker. "Hey Lloyd," I greet. He jumps a little bit. "I didn't know you were there. I wasn't expecting you to come to my locker," He says. "Why wouldn't I? We're friends," I know after that video was posted, the both of us were probably going to get picked on a lot more, so I'll try to be there for Lloyd the best I can.
"I dunno... I kind of figured that you would talk to me way less after the video... I've already heard people say some nasty stuff about you already during class," he tells me. My heart speeds up. People are actually talking about me, like, in real life? Not just on social media? I expected people to pick on me directly, but I didn't know they were actually having full on conversations about me behind my back. Who knows what kind of rumors are bring spread. Lloyd realizes the worry on my face.
"...A-are you okay?" Oh God, I've started to make him worry about me. The last thing I want is too much attention, whether it's positive or not. "I-I don't know," I begin to shake. Pretty aggressively, actually. My arms and legs can't stand still.
"(Y/N), are you okay?" He asks again. "I-I-I... I don't know," I stutter. I always stutter like this when I'm nervous, but I don't know why my body is just now having this reaction. People talking about me in real life is the same as them talking about me on social media, right? Why am I just now getting all worked up about it? My brain is so stupid. I feel my face heat up and my eyes begin to water, but I refuse to let any of the tears fall. Not now. Not in front of everyone in the hall way... Not in front of Lloyd.
"Do you need to go to the office or to the nurse or something?" He asks as he places a comforting hand on my shoulder, and it feels like as soon as he does so, I feel myself calm down. Like his touch alone was all I needed to relax myself. Of course I'm still worked up a little bit, but I can feel my heart beat slow down, and the tears dry from my eyes. I take a deep breath and the shakiness finally leaves my limbs. "No... I'm fine..." I take another deep breath. "You sure?" He asks, one more time. "Yes... I'm fine." By now I'm feeling back to normal and I force a small smile on my face to get Lloyd to stop worrying about me.
Lloyd notices that I've calmed down and he removes his hand from my shoulder. "...Okay..." he acknowledges. "I'm glad you're feeling okay..." he adds on. He still has a suspicious look on his face, and he keeps a glare of concern as he stares into my eyes, but I just smile. I don't want him to worry about me. He needs to worry about himself. I'm sure he's in a worse mental state than I am. I don't mean that in a mean way, but with all of the shit he goes through daily, I'm sure it can work up a lot of anxiety.
"Let's just go to lunch, okay?" I say. I just want us to forget about what just happened. I'm still keeping that somewhat fake smile, and we walk down the hall way on the way to the cafeteria. I can still feel some of that tension and anxiety, but then, I realize I still have Lloyd's pen. I reach into my pocket and pull it out. "I forgot to give this back. Here you go," I hold it out in front of him as we still continue walking down the hall.
"Oh... I forgot you even had it. Thanks!" He takes the pencil from my grasp and stuffs it into his pocket. "No problem," I reply. After our interaction I feel someone behind me put their foot infront of mine in attempt to trip me. And it works. I stumble forward and catch myself with my forearms, scuffing them up a little bit on the floor beneath me. I let out a small groan of pain as Lloyd is quick to niel down to my level to help me up. He holds out his hand for me to take, but I don't take it. I pull myself back up onto my feet on my own and I look up to see who it was who tripped me, and of course, it was Chen's little gang of friends; Chen, Zoey, Alexis, and Kai. Two of which were Chen's friends from cheerleading, and Kai was a football player. I don't know why Kai was friends with them. They had nothing in common. Kai was actually a nice kid. He has good grades, he's good at sports, he's polite, and he actually has some common sense... Keyword: some. Sometimes he can be a bit of an airhead, but not in an annoying way.
Chen, Zoey, and Alexis are all laughing, as Kai just rolls his eyes at them. "It wasn't me, it was Kai," Alexis laughs as she shoves him a little. "Shut up, you dumb blond, it was not!" Kai nudges back. I was just surprised it wasn't Chen who tripped me. "Just ignore them..." Lloyd comments as he puts his hand on my shoulder. I silently agree as I turn around and continue walking. I knew this was going to be the start of something really annoying. I'm going to have to expect more interactions like this in the future, aren't I?
Even though I'm going to have to experience the same harassment that I did at my old school, I'd rather go through it alongside Lloyd, rather than have no friends at all. And that's how I was for a while. I'm glad Lloyd and I are friends now. Even if us being friends is the cause of bullying.
When we reach the cafeteria, we spot our traditional, dimly lit, corner table and make our way over there. It's nice. It's the one time nobody bothers us because we're by ourselves. We both take a seat next to each other with our backs facing against the wall. It's like we're looking out over a sea of animals. Everybody always acts differently at lunch then they do at any other period. It's because the lunch room is barely supervised. That, and when the teachers are watching, they just don't care.
"So..." I try to think of something to say, but my life has been pretty uneventful lately. The only big things that have happened, only happened when Lloyd was around, so there's no point in bringing it up again. It won't make for an interesting conversation. We stay silent for a little longer, until a thought pops into my brain. "We should go and do something later today. I'm bored," I tell him. "Well, what would you wanna do?" He asks. I think about it for a little bit.
"Maybe we could go get something to eat? Watch a movie? I really don't care. I'm always just bored out of my mind all of the time," I suggest some ideas. "I wouldn't mind... buying us lunch or something," he says. "No... No, I can pay for my own," I tell him. "No, I can pay, I promise," he tells me. "Whatever," I chuckle. I guess I have that to look forward to at the end of the day.
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Oh, hello.
This was originally supposed to be a really long chapter, but I cut it in half so that you guys would have something to read. I've had this half of the chapter done for a long time, bit the other half was taking a while, so I'm releasing this. Yeaaah.
As always, let me know if I've made any grammar mistakes or something like that. Next part should be out soon.