Every Waking Moment

Chapter 2

*Tuesday - 8:27 AM*

They apparently didn't have much places to choose from because they dragged me to the back of the school's basketball court. At least the place they picked isn't too bad to die in; tall trees, big bushes, and the strong scent of wildflowers growing on the sides of the trees. In all honesty, I wouldn't mind dying here. But being killed by a bunch of muscleheads still sucks.

"Too bad that bus driver didn't come with you," he snarled at me while holding me tight by my collar. His mad expression slowly turned into a maniac-like smile and added, "Now, you aren't safe anymore. You have nowhere to hide." 

I pushed his arm off me and yelled as loud as I could "Help! Someone please! Help me!" but as I was screaming, Alex just let out another sickening laugh. "By all means, keep screaming. It's fun to see how you think someone will hear you even though everyone's at assembly right now." My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I watched him laugh some more at my futile attempt to call for help. When he finally stopped, he looked back at Tony and gave him a small nod.

Tony started to walk towards me which caused me to back away till I hit a tree behind me. "Man he looks so weak, I'm scared this might end too fast." Tony said while chuckling "Well then, you have gotta make sure to take it slow so he can savor every jab right?" Alex added. 'That sounds so wrong'. Just then, Tony landed a punch on my stomach. He hit me so hard that I couldn't stop coughing. He landed one punch after the other not even giving me time to breathe. I feel my nose starting to bleed and my face bruising. '

I want this to stop.' I thought 'Can't I die right away? Why does this have to hurt so much???' These thoughts kept repeating over and over as the pain rips through my body with every single punch.

'It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.' I could only think of these words while my brain seemingly just shuts down because of the pain. 'Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.' "Alright that's enough." I barely hear someone say. My ears are ringing, everything hurts so fucking much. I don't even know who's talking, my eyes are all blurred up. Tony stops punching me and I'm left lying on the ground, coughing and gasping for air. 

"Well Max, I certainly hope you learned your lesson." someone says. "Don't fuck with me next time or I won't stop midway." I hear a couple of footsteps walking away and I'm left on the ground, half dead.

I didn't think I could get up, but luckily he didn't hurt my legs that much so I managed to dust my clothes off and slowly limp myself inside the school. On the way to the bathroom some people gave me really weird glances. Some looked concerned while the others looked disgusted. When I entered the bathroom, I winced as I was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of urine and shit mixing to form an odor so toxic it could kill. '

These fuckers really don't clean-up after themselves.' I looked at myself in the mirror and saw why everyone was looking at me as if I was the most repulsive thing they've ever seen. 

My left eye could barely open while my right eye is all purple. My face is filled with scars and wounds. My lip was busted and bleeding too. Not to mention my stomach, it had a big bruise that hasn't even fully formed yet. '

Damn, he really put his whole-ass life force into beating me half to death huh?' I start to wash my face as I hiss in pain when the cold water hits my wounds.

'What did I do to deserve this?' I kept thinking 'Are my parents right? Am I just a disappointment? Nothing else? Is my existence so detrimental to the world that it dumps all of its shit on me?' As I finished washing up, I started to panic about how I can hide these wounds from my parents. 'Damn it. It's bad enough that I got beaten up, if my parents see this I'll get insulted too.' I paced back and forth the bathroom trying to figure out how to hide them. Then I came up with an extremely idiotic idea. 

I ran to the Arts classroom, barely avoiding anyone who walked towards me. When I got there, I was relieved that no one was having classes there at that moment. I caught my breath and grabbed a peach-colored, acrylic paint tube. 

"This is dumb as hell, but I have no other choice." I mutter to myself. I went to the bathroom again then carefully dabbed paint on my bruises and wounds with the paint. I made sure it was even and didn't look weird.

When the paint dried, I was about to return the tube to the Arts classroom when I saw myself in the mirror. "Shit shit shit I forgot about my lip" I cursed under my breath. I started to panic again because I forgot to bring red paint and class was about to start. The bell rang and I sighed "Ah fuck it I'll just lick it and say I bit it on accident or some shit." After I put the paint back, I ran to our classroom, barely making it. 

I spend the rest of the day with dried paint on my face, just praying to whoever's out there for me to make it through this day without being found out.