ɪ ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ (Gareth x Reader)

VI

Hannah's face dropped, her mouth agape in complete astonishment. It was like she'd just heard that Humpty Dumpty was in fact historically accurate and a completely true tale.

"He did not," she denied. You rolled your eyes at her, exhausted from her over the top reactions and the situation at large.

"Hannah-"

"Listen, let's tell the others. All the guys will take care of him, alright? Like, oh my god. He is a major dickwad. Y'know, Jason's been looking for an excuse to go and fuck that little drummer boy wannabe up, okay? It's better if we just-"

"You're not telling them," you demanded. Hannah bit back her tongue, alarm in her eyes.

"Oh god, oh fuck, oh no," she began, grasping you desperately, "they have you! They got you in the cult! Oh Y/N" Hannah exclaimed, cupping your face and looking you in the eyes, "come back to us!"

You slapped her away, snickering at her performance, "Hannah."

She finally stopped, waiting. She looked at you with a mix of curiosity and expectancy. You sighed.

"He may be a major asshole, but he doesn't deserve you sending the guys after him."

The statement hung in the air for a moment, Hannah blinking back the shock, before she began her escapade for a second time.

"But Y/N," she pleaded, "did you not hear what he said to you?" She moved her hands around exaggeratedly, referencing it. "He basically said you were a slut. A slut. You know what Andy would do if someone said that about me?"

You hummed in response, practically tuning her out at this point.

"He would absolutely fuck that boy up. Break every bone in his body and then some. And you know what?" She paused, waiting for your answer. When she received none, she continued, "I bet Chance would do the same."

The mention of his name brought a slight tint to your cheeks, and a nausea to fill your stomach. There it was again, the expectancy. Hannah was practically insinuating he was your boyfriend, and the thought made you sick.

"Chance is my friend," you retorted, causing Hannah to snort. You glared, catching her eye, which caused to stop and shift uncomfortably.

"I never said he wasn't," she defended. A thick silence fell over the two of you, filling the bathroom with tension. Hannah leaned against the wall, her bangs falling in her face before she blew them away. She looked over at you, searching for what to say.

"So..." she began, a tremor of nervousness in her voice, "what are you going to do about it then? That's not something you can just... say. We need to do something."

You sighed, "Hannah. We're not doing anything. It's fine. I can deal with him."

Hannah scoffed, fluttering her eyelashes at you, "I can't believe you." She then walked off.

-

Gareth sighed, walking up to Mrs. Berkeley, the librarian. She had a dissatisfied look about her, like she was tasting something funny, and her big yellow-gray curls seemed flatter than usual, but she talked to him just the same.

"Find everything alright?" She croaked, her gnarled hands taking the thick, worn book that Gareth was handing to her.

"Yep," Gareth was antsy to get home. He had another Chemistry test to study for, and he had to read this. Mrs. Berkeley didn't give him her warm smile today, just simply signed his name and the date on the inner cover, handing it to him.

"Lord of the Rings" It said, in big bold letters, followed by a smaller "J. R. R. Tolkien." Gareth looked at it curiously, examining it as he strode out of the library. Eddie loved this book, Gareth knew that much. Eddie raved about how in junior high it changed his life. He claimed that without it, DND wouldn't exist. He even incorporated some of the characters or plot into their game. Jeff would get super excited about it, he was also a Tolkien fan, but Gareth...

Gareth never read it. He admitted that countless times to the group, and would get scolded by Eddie, but he just never found the reason. Gareth wasn't much of a reader, moreso a "watch-the-movie-instead-of-read-the-book," kind of guy... he did that with countless of the units in English since the sixth grade, but that wouldn't fly now. There were no adaptations of Lord of the Rings. All there was was this thick book that Gareth held in his hands.

And instead of the dread of being forced to read a book for class, Gareth instead felt the dread of you. You were the one who chose it, most likely because you thought a DND loving nerd like him would love it or something.

Then, a brief thought crossed his mind... you probably chose it because you thought he would like it. First of all, you thought, which is something Gareth didn't think a cheerleader could do. And secondly, you picked a book that you would probably hate just for his sake.

He shook his head, snapped out of it, and remembered what you had said.

That he was a freak.