angel baby (heavy editing)

12

TW: BULLYING, ABLEISM 

Chris bit his nail nervously as he stood in a corner near the building he was supposed to be in. He wanted to go in but his legs felt so heavy that he felt he couldn’t move it. Kathy wasn’t there with him neither was Mr. Cubs. They both promised to be there. He hated them both.
A sharp pain from his pinky made him pull it away from his mouth as he winced. He looked at his fingers which he had been biting for the past ten minutes and they were all bruised up and reddish in colour. His mother was going to scold him for that. She wasn’t here either. She promised she would be. He hated her too.
“Chris, there you are, we’ve been looking all over for you”
He looked up to see his art class classmate, Mia. His first instinct was to withdraw. She looked mean.
“Come, the show is about to start”
Leave me alone, I am not going anywhere with you
She looked at him weirdly and he withdrew more until his back hit the wall.
She’s really mean, mean like Kyle, mean like Ezra.
“Chris, are you okay?”
Can’t you hear me? Leave me alone.
Mia moved closer to him. In panic, he shielded himself away from her with his arms.
She’s really going to hurt me. Leave me alone.
“Okay, now you’re scaring me. I’m just going to get Evelyn”, Mia announced leaving quickly.
Chris sat on the floor in the corner rocking back and forth, his head buried between his knees. He wanted to go home. Mia was going to come back and beat him up.
“What do we have here?” Chris heard the voice before he saw the face. He didn’t need to look up to know the individual. As scared as he was, he felt angry, really angry.
He felt Jacob move closer and wished the walls would open so he could run away.
“Hey, hey I’m not here to hurt you. I actually came to apologise for what I did to you. I even brought ice cream”
Hearing ice cream, Chris raised his head and turned to face Jacob and he was in fact holding an ice cream cone.  Chris’ whole demeanour lighted up. It was his favourite flavour too.
“Come on, take it”
He reached for it but before he could, his hand was slapped away and his chin was grabbed rather tightly. 
“Oh, you want this? You can have it”, Jacob forcefully shoved the ice cream cone to his mouth.
Chris, not wanting it anymore because his chin was hurting refused to open his mouth so it got all smudged up.
“Wait, you’re not potty trained or what? When you’re offered something, you open your mouth and accept it. Open up bitch”
Chris refused to budge. He wanted him to let him go.
Let go.
“Do you know what it feels like to have a scar you can never get rid of at the center of your face that was put there by some kid with a fucking disorder? You don’t because you’re that kid and nothing can touch you because life is hard enough for you well fuck that. I should mess you up. I should beat you up until no one recognises your sorry ass”
Chris, though still in pain, licked at his lips and the flavour of the ice cream around his mouth made him feel a bit better. 
“You fucking retard, I’m talking to you”
“Do you know where Kathy is?”
Jacob let go of his chin and pushed at his chest so his back hit the wall hard.
“You’re sick in the head”, Jacob finally stood up. “Next time I see you, you’re dead”
He left, not before he spat near his leg. 
A few seconds after Jacob left, Mia arrived with Evelyn. The sight of Chris with Ice cream around his mouth left them confused.
“Chris, darling, what happened? Are you okay?”
Chris proceeded to wipe the thing around his mouth and cleaned it on his trousers.
Evelyn cringed.
“You shouldn’t have done that, I have tissues”, she moved closer to him to help him up. Once he was on his feet, “Come on, let’s go”
“Can I go home?”
“Chris, no the exhibition starts in minutes. We’ve come this far and you actually stand a chance of winning. Don’t give up now. Come, I know you’re anxious but I’ll be with you every step of the way. Come, come”
Rather reluctantly, Chris had no choice but to follow her.  
           Lia almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. As she sat in the doctor’s office seated side by side with Jessica Borghese who sat next to her husband and beautiful Lena stood behind them, Lia was really going to laugh. So in short, her son Chris was switched at birth with the son of the Jessica Borghese, Oliver. It was really absurd. She was laughing out loud before she could stop herself.
The doctor, who was explaining an important detail to both families involved stopped abruptly as they all turn to face Lia.
“Is anything funny?” Jessica spoke up first.
“Oh nothing. I was just thinking of how small the world is”
“Considering I don’t know you from anywhere, in this context, it is not”
Lia snorted.
Of course she doesn’t know who I am.
“Is anything the problem?” Jessica was baffled. What was this woman’s problem?
“Um ma’am”, she heard Lena whisper to her.
“Yes?”
“Her son is the boy you offered scholarship to a while ago, about a month ago”
Something flipped in Jessica’s chest. She had met her biological son before. But then the said boy could be the older brother or younger brother.
“I offered a lot of scholarships to a lot of people, you have to be more specific”
“The one Oliver, um hit, the one with Asperger’s syndrome”
Lia, overhearing their conversation turned to face Jessica frowning. That experience traumatised her boy.
“Wow, you did a really good job raising your son”
Jessica turned to face her equally frowning, “I beg your pardon and technically he is your son”
“Oh my god, you’re worse than I thought”
“Woman, I don’t appreciate you-”
“Ladies, ladies, can you please calm down?” the doctor interrupted before the argument could go further.
"I know we are all tense and that's understandable but we need to discuss this calmly and rationally"
Calmly and rationally, my ass, Lia thought.
She was in hell. They were in hell.