This Is Me

Auditioning For The Role (Part One)

Auditioning For The Role (Part One)

"Is hand okay?" I asked, reaching over to touch Leroy's bloodied hand, but stopping myself and letting my hand fall on my knee.

We had been sitting in silence for a little over ten minutes, neither of us knowing what to say, though Leroy continually wincing as he touched his hand prompted my words.

However, the longer we sat, the foggier my mind seemed to get. It seemed the two hits Mitchell had landed on my jaw had indeed done some damage.

"My knuckles are killing me," Leroy mumbled before trying to move his wrist and sharply inhaling. "And I think I sprained my wrist."

"Maybe you should go to the school," I mumbled, not realising I hadn't finished the sentence.

The conversation that I had been having with Leroy was a great distraction from the pain I was feeling and the unbelievable headache I had.

Of course, the conversation was far from rainbows and butterflies, but it did stop the throbbing through my body and face. sadly, that conversation was over, and I was being thrust back into my aching reality. It was seemingly affecting my brain's capability to function.

"I think you need to go home," Leroy said, flinching again as he propped himself up and moved directly beside me against the toilet stall.

"I'm 'kay," I whispered, feeling myself lean my head toward Leroy, and doing my best to keep it upright.

"It looks really bad, Pete," Leroy whispered back, stretching around me to grab some toilet paper from the stall.

"I've never been in the face before," I muttered as Leroy gently began to wipe my face.

"I think you missed a word there, bud." Leroy chuckled, and God, I missed this.

Not the excruciating agony—but him.

I looked up at Leroy and saw the concern on his face. His soft eyes were laced with worry as he slowly moved his hand to rest on the side of my face, doing his best to gently wipe the blood from my face, grimacing from the pain in his hand.

"Which one?" I asked, closing my eyes and leaning into Leroy's hand, causing him to stop cleaning my face.

It wasn't intentional, but my brain was in too much pain to do anything to stop me. I never knew getting punched in the face could make it so painful to think.

"Cooper!" Leroy suddenly called out, and I wished he hadn't.

His voice was so loud and it clashed with the once current thought bouncing around in my head: were my school clothes going to have urine on them?

Cooper was right, the restroom was disgusting.

"What's wrong?" Cooper called as the bathroom door opened.

His voice echoed off the titles, and I clenched my eyes shut as my head pounded at the sound. Why did people have to be so loud?

"He needs to go see a nurse," Cooper said, and I heard him move closer to me.

"This school doesn't have a nurse," Leroy pointed out, and I opened my eyes to see him shaking his head.

Slowly, he moved around me, grabbing my arm and wrapping it around his shoulder, gesturing Cooper to come and help with his other hand.

"I thought we had a whole room for sick kids?" Cooper moved forward and gently sat my other arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, the sick bay. But it's more of a single chair in a room behind the office where they give you a Panadol."

"Stop moving, please," I muttered as the room began to spin, and I felt Leroy's grip around me tighten.

"Pete, we haven't started moving yet," Leroy muttered, and I chuckled.

"Whoops, that's just my brain breaking."

"I think he needs to go home," Cooper suggested, and I heard Leroy hum in agreement.

"That's what I said."

As Cooper and Leroy carefully pulled me to my feet, my mind began to swirl, and somehow, the blackness of my eyelids started spinning.

"My face is falling off," I mumbled, staggering along with Cooper and Leroy, putting most of my weight on them.

"That much pain?" Leroy asked, and I heard a door open.

'No, you limp rabbit. I'm in a world full of rainbows and lollipops.'

If only the strength had come to me to say that.

Straining my eyes open, I saw that we had moved into the hallway, which was, thankfully, empty, though I had no idea how much longer it would stay that way. I didn't know how long Leroy and I had been in the bathroom, so, the bell could be ringing any minute.

"The bell is going to end me." I groaned, trying to keep my eyes on something that wasn't in motion. Which was difficult because we were fucking moving.

"Do you think we can get him to his car before the bell rings?" Cooper asked, but before Leroy could answer, a loud ringing ran through the halls and echoed in my mind.

It felt like my brain was melting.

"No. No, I do not," Leroy muttered, readjusting my arm around his shoulder as students began piling into the hallway.

I did my best not to look at any of them, though I couldn't do anything about hearing their voices.

"Oh, my God! What happened?"

"Is he okay?"

"Who did this?"

"I'm going to kick someone's ass!"

"Pete, are you all right?"

The voices of my peers filled my eyes, and my heart fluttered at how many people seemed to care. Although my brain was about to explode because of all the noise, it was trying to process as more and more people tried to ask questions about what had happened and comfort me as I walked past them.

I looked up at Leroy who was waving and asking for people to get out of the way, flinching at each movement of his hand.

"What the living fuck! Peter!" Blaire's voice shot through the hall as the bell stopped and it sounded as though every student in the hall moved up against the walls to get out of her way.

"Please don't yell," I mumbled and felt a warm hand gently touch the cut above my eye.

"Leroy, what the fuck?" Blaire spat, and I had an inkling she was accusing him.

"No, shush. We're okay," I managed to get out in a quiet voice, and I looked at Blaire to see her trying to process everything.

"What happened?" She asked, looking from my groggy face to Cooper and then Leroy, glaring at him as she did so, and looking at his hand. "What happened to your hand? Leroy—"

"Mitchell went the punch and Leroy punched the man. Can we be the quiet now, please?" My voice got quieter with every word I spoke.

I knew I was making next to no sense, but I couldn't think too hard about what I was saying. Every time I tried—the inside of my head set itself on fire.

"Leroy Addins to the principal's office. Leroy Addins to the principal's office." A static voice made its way through the halls, and Leroy sighed.

"Get him home," he muttered, and Blaire huffed, moving him out of the way and taking his spot.

Closing my eyes again, trying to stop everything from spinning, I felt another warm hand gently touch my face before I was carefully moved again. A voice in the back of my mind told me it had been Leroy's hand, but I blocked it out.

I had no idea how I managed to get to my car or get home, but the next thing I knew, I was laying in my bed. The throbbing in my face continued, but each pulse of blood that ran through my head seemed to get fainter and fainter as I fell asleep.