SPASE

BEFORE: CHAPTER TWO

"You're nothing, you fucking hermie, faggot," Greg says, sucking in air through the gap in his front teeth, and shoves Maddie into their locker. Their knees buckle, hitting the concrete floor, hard. Contemplating whether they really want to get up, Maddie remains there for a few minutes. It's the third block, AP Chemistry. The thought of sitting with Rob as their lab partner makes their stomach ache.

Maddie thinks, "I'd rather give birth."

So, they sit there, unmoving.

Greg: five foot four inches, dark buzz cut, and a mole the size of Texas on his left cheek. Every time words come out of his braced-filed mouth, they slither like a snake and stick Maddie with the venom. Maddie is his personal target, and he loves going to the range.

"Come on, cry. Cry little baby," the words slithering like a snake out of Greg's teeth. He laughs violently as his face draws closer and closer to Maddie. He spits a fat loogie in their face to seal the deal.

Not moving or saying a word, they sit along the bottom of the chipping, teal lockers, as Greg and his posse close in on them. Five against one. Fair isn't in Greg's vocabulary. Greg and Maddie's dads are one and the same, both unforgiving and bullies. Maddie hears their dad's voice in their head,

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Look between your legs, twat! There's nothin' there! Try actin' like a lady like your Momma would've wanted you to!"

A part of their insides cowers hearing his voice. Another part, somewhere deep, is just angry. Their blood starts to boil and their lips curl under. Not making eye contact, they wipe their cheek free of the loogie.

Just when they are about to make their move and scurry away, Greg lunges at them. At first, Maddie thinks he might be attempting to push them further into the locker, (if that's even possible), but Greg's face hits the locker next to Maddie. Greg's bottom lip instantly becomes swollen and begins to bleed. Maddie wishes the asshole would have been knocked out cold.

"What the fuck?" Greg shouts, as he jumps to his feet, slobber coming out of his mouth, just like the dog that he is.

"Um, yeah, that was me, asshole. How about ya get out of here and stop being a fuckin' jerk," a voice exclaims.

Peering up, Maddie locks eyes with her and their world becomes still. The girl's wavy, chestnut hair cascades to her shoulders, perfectly outlining her collarbone. Her gray sweatshirt and faded blue jeans hug her curves. Maddie can't help but look at the girl's worn, green converse embellished with handwritten stars in every shade of gel pen. She's like a porcelain doll with perfectly painted features, looking hard and fragile at the same time. Her voice makes her as tough as granite. She snarls at Greg through her teeth like a tiger; fierce, brave, proud.

Greg snorts as he stands up next to her, putting his face close to hers. Coming up a few inches shorter than her, Greg stands as tall as he possibly can. It's almost as if he is trying to stand on his tiptoes and compensate for something. He stumbles on his words, "I dunno who the..."

"I'm Melissa," she interrupts. "I think you need to fucking leave... now."

Taking a step back, Greg hunches over and brushes off his pants glares at Melissa, and struts away with his posse, trying to hide the fact that his ego's broken. Melissa stares at their backs as they walk down the hallway. Stunned by Melissa, Maddie stays frozen to the floor.

People talk about sparks flying when a person meets their special person. Someone that holds them to the ground, so they don't drift away into nothingness or some sort of an abyss. Maddie reads about moments like this in books that they hoard from AFK Books. They find this scenario in between the lines of the comics that they read. They never thought it's actually a thing. Maddie's still, mouth partially gapping and staring up at Melissa. In that moment, Maddie's an astronaut, drifting out into space. Melissa just became the line keeping Maddie from floating too far.

"Hey, it's Melissa," she says, as she reaches her hand out to Maddie to bring them to their feet. Maddie hesitantly reaches out for her hand, grabbing it and pulling themselves to their feet. Melissa lets go and bends forward to put her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. Despite the help, they stumble to get on their feet. It took Maddie a moment to remember how they came to sitting on the floor in the first place. Time stops. People fade. All that's left is Maddie and Melissa in the hallway for the rest of the third block.