I can't Hurt You - Marcus Lopez Arguello

15

The next morning I met up with Marcus at his locker.

"What's up, loser." I said coming up to him.

"Not much, headed to first period." He said closing his locker and starting to walk.

"Shab gotten on your dick this morning about 'showing you the ropes'?" I asked using air quotations.

"Nope, probably soon though." He said.

Just then, almost on cue, Shabnam showed up.

"Yo! Marcus!" Shabnam said sprinting to catch up to us.

"You jinxed it, dumbass." I said pushing Marcus.

"You brought it up." He replied defensively.

Once Shabnam finally caught up with us he started spewing out a bunch of complete bullshit about being a rat.

"Let me tell you what I was talking about yesterday. Now, Rats, your people, they're usually the first of their family to attend King's, so they're like the serfs during feudalism." Shabnam started.

"Then why isn't Emma a Legacy? Your parents attended King's right?" Marcus asked.

"Key word, usually. In my case my parents attended King's but they were both Rats, so I can't take part in any Legacy." I explained.

"Yeah, say if one of her parents were in a Legacy gang, she would be able to join it." Shabnam explained further.

"Killer. I've enrolled in the dark ages." Marcus said.

Was he actually interested in this shit?

"Some Rats get extra jobs. Uh toilet scrubbing, infirmary watch. Shithead Lex does mail." Shabnam said as Lex rushed by us throwing a bunch of mail at people.

"Emphasis on the shithead." I muttered.

"Mopey Petra's on kitchen patrol." Shabnam further explained.

"So if this place is built on classism, why are you talking to us?" Marcus asked.

What I wanted to say was 'I don't know, but he should fuck off!' but I didn't. I wasn't in the mood to hurt the school nerd's feelings today.

"I'm friends with everybody." Shabnam said.

"Sup, dildo?" An upper class douchebag said to Shabnam before hitting him in the back of the head making me laugh a little.

"Yeah, ha-ha, Boyd!" Shabnam shouted at him trying to make it seem like they were friends.

I looked at Marcus with a 'this couldn't get any worse' look on my face which he returned.

"We're just messing with each other. We used to-" Shabnam tried to explain before Marcus cut him off.

"You shouldn't let people treat you like that." Marcus said sympathetically.

"That's part of my specialty. I let people think I'm weak and they never suspect the ole Shab-attack!" Shabnam replied enthusiastically with a chuckle.

"Ha-ha. Cool." Marcus said sarcastically.

Just then we walked up to the legacy dance ticket table. The preppy cheerleaders held one out for Shabnam.

"See you ladies on the dance floor." Shabnam said taking the ticket.

"Gag me." One of the cheerleaders said to the other in disgust.

"No Rats at the Legacy dance." Shabnam said to Marcus.

"We're aware." I said with passive aggressiveness lacing my voice.

"Oh, bummer. I just had my asshole freshly douched." Marcus said sarcastically.

I let out a small laugh.

"Joke all you want, but be careful. Week of the dance, Legacy hazing is a time-honored tradition." Shabnam said to us seriously.

We heard a scream from across the hall and saw Billy with a rat trap caught on his fingers.

"Caught one." One of the Legacies said with a laugh, high fiving their friends.

"A mousetrap? I get it!" Billy said trying to play along with the sick joke.

"I gotta go. I'm gonna be late." Shabnam said before he walked off.

Marcus and I automatically felt relieved.

"What's all this shit about hazing?" Marcus asked as we walked to our first class.

"The week of the dance, which everyone but the Rats are invited to, all the Legacies play fucked up jokes and pranks on the Rats. It's like their goal is to make us even more miserable than they do on the daily already. We never really prank them back, though. We're outnumbered as fuck, there's no point." I explained.

"So, what? We're supposed to just take it?" Marcus asked.

"Pretty much. Worst week of the semester if you ask me. It's like it goes by way slower than usual. It's fucking exhausting." I said as we walked into our first period.

"I assume so." Marcus said.

Just then the bell rang.

We looked at all the students already changed into Blow Dart Workshop gear.

"Shit." I said under my breath.

"I thought I told you to come prepared." Ms. DeLuca said.

"We overslept and forgot." I lied.

Silence overtook the room as she looked us up and down and judged us.

"Very well, grab a pair of sweats from the basket and change quickly." She said with a judgmental look on her face.

We quickly put our bags down with the rest of the students' things and went towards the basket she was referring to. We grabbed a pair of black sweats which only had the school's logo on the front of the hoodie. We exited the class together.

"Maybe this year we should do something about the hazing." Marcus suggested as we walked towards the bathrooms.

"Dude, we can't. It's the whole school against five students." I said.

"What if they didn't know it was us?" He asked.

"Who else would prank the Legacies on hazing week dumbass?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes and continued thinking.

"Just stop. I've been trying to come up with a way to prank these motherfuckers back since I was ten and no luck. Trust me, if there was a way, I would've figured it out already." I assured him.

We made it to the bathrooms and went our separate ways to get changed. We came back out with our clothes folded up in our hands.

"Okay, but what if-" Marcus said before I cut him off.

"Shut it, Arguello. There's no point, mark my words. The second you prank them back they'll come for you even harder." I explained.

He let out a sigh in defeat.

Once we got back to class we set our clothes down next to our bags.

We then walked to the front of two separate lines that were next to each other. Ms. DeLuca handed us blow darts. I looked at it like it was an everyday object, having held it and practiced with it so many times. Marcus on the other hand held it cautiously as if the dart would pop out and poke him. I scoffed in amusement as we blew our first ones. Mine landed on the punching dummy's eye, while Marcus's landed on the floor. He looked down at it in embarrassment before heading to the back of the line along with me.

"Nice going, Arguello." I said trying to conceal my smile.

"Fuck you." He said.

"Okay. You know where to find me." I said in amusement.

We both let out a little laugh as the line kept moving. This class wasn't going to be so bad.