Tripping Eyes and Flooded Lungs

~~~~~

The laughter and silent stress of the students at Rydell High filled the hallways. People were everywhere, doing everything. Cramming for tests, selling drugs,making out with their long-time boyfriends/girlfriends, whatever the case was, Ryan and the T-Birds were too cool to be caught up in all of that.

"Hey, Brendo, where's your little girl? Couldn't make it? Is she..." a shamefully crass gesture was made, "a little busy?" Sonny said, taking drags from his cigarette and laughing afterwards, nearly falling off the lunch table he was seated on, Putzie and Doody joining right in. Ryan never approved of the way they made fun of Brendon, but he was a grade lower than them. He had to tolerate it to make sure the standards of the T-Birds were always kept in check.

"No... she's out. She's on a vacation with her family in Hawaii. She won't be coming back until August 15th." Brendon replied sheepishly, knowing the guys were gonna hit him with more insults. He continued to eat his sandwich. digging himself further into his cubicle of personal space, as the guys continued to egg him on by punching him in the shoulder and stealing his brown bagged lunch.

"Ah, so she'll miss our graduation in two weeks. What a shame, I was really looking forward to... talking... to her afterwards." Sonny retaliated, and once again, Putzie and Doody joining in on the laughter. Others were staring now.

"Okay guys, that's more than enough. Sit down and eat your lunches." You could hear the pure anger in Ryan's voice. Brendon formed a slight smirk on his face, and Ryan saw out of the corner of his eye. Ryan and Brendon always sat together at lunch. After he found out Brendon's home environment was about as good as a hooker living on the streets, Ryan took Brendon under his wing, and has been taking care of him since he met Brendon when he was a freshman, three years ago, while Ryan was a sophomore. This year, Ryan was graduating, and heading off to his first-choice college. Both he and Brendon were terrified. Ryan saw how bad it got for Brendon.I can't leave him, Ryan thought, He doesn't deserve that type of horrid treatment.Everyone had been quietly eating their lunches, until the bell rang. Everyone said their goodbyes, while Brendon and Ryan stayed outside on the table. Brendon put the remains of his lunch in a garbage can not too far from the table, and came back to sit across from Ryan. Ryan didn't have a lunch. Usually, he just picked off of Brendon's lunch, since he was the one packing it for him anyway. You could see the pure emotions right on Brendon's face as he began to speak.

"Ry, what am I gonna do, you're leavin' me in two weeks already, I can't go back home, my folks would just beat me to death again. Please Ry, can't you take me with you?" Brendon had reached across the table to where Ryan was sitting and grabbed his hands, They were now intertwined on the table, perfectly in the center.

"Brendon, I swear to you, I have been trying everything I can to figure something out, to try and work something out, but nothing has come back up. You know if I could, I would take you in less than a heartbeat. I just can't. I'm so so sorry. I know you'll work something out. You're my strong beebo, right?" Ryan was gently stroking Brendon's hand. A tear rolled off Brendon's cheek, as the memory of where that nickname came from flooded back.

When Brendon and Ryan first met, Brendon was a terrified, small freshman, intimidated even by other freshman. He wasn't confident enough to walk up to a principal or janitor, so he walked up to this seemingly freshman-esque, moderately tall guy, wearing a cool leather jacket that had "T-Birds" embroidered on the back of it. This guy was alone at his locker. Brendon tapped his shoulder.

"Uh, I'm sorry... Do you know where room 124 is? I'm sorry for bothering you..." Brendon stuttered a little, terrified of what the outcome might be. Without looking back at him, the guy slammed his locker closed. Brendon flinched, and let out a quiet, but audible, squeal of fear. The guy then turned around.