•| Nefarious |•

12

"...is he being bullied?"

Ashlyn asked us.

"It's him again."

Taylor told her brother.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."

Tyler went up to the bully and confronted him.

"Barron. What are you doing?"

I followed behind him to try and drag Logan out of the middle of this.

"Oh great."

Barron mumbled.

"...I'm just talking to my science partner about our project."

"I'm sure you-"

I cut off Tyler.

"Bullshit like he would want to partner up with you."

I poked his chest.

"Oh what? Does he need a girl to stand up for him?"

Barron scoffed.

"First off a girl has nothing to do with this. Second off instead of being insecure and being mean to others, fuck off."

I poked his chest again.

"Poke my chest one more time."

He put his hands on his hips, his voice lingering with annoyance. Tyler grabbed my shoulder signaling me to buzz off  but I shook it off. My finger hit Barron's chest again as I poked it.

Barron lifted up his hand but before he could do anything Tyler interfered.

"You're already skating on thin ice with coach, so buzz off before he finds out how you're treating your others."

"So annoying, fine."

Barron put his hand down and stomped away from our group.

"...Thanks."

Logan cowardly said.

"You're seriously scared of him?"

Tyler asked him.

"After being around those things every night. Pathetic."

I slapped Tyler's shoulder.

"People and figure are two totally different things. People can actually think and we can't use weapons on them."

"What was that about?"

Taylor came over and grabbed Logan's shoulder.

"I forgot to do his part of the project..."

"How is he supposed to survive when he can't even stand up for himself? Right now isn't the time to be soft."

I was about to hit his shoulder again before Ashlyn spoke up.

"Tyler's right. Though his way of saying it is uncalled for, Logan definitely needs some strength training. We all do."

She walked over to us.

"That's why I'm thinking of asking my parents to teach us self-defense. They taught me some when I was younger, but I don't remember enough to teach you guys on my own."

"Weren't you worried about us getting sent to an asylum or something? What are you going to tell them when they ask why?"

Tyler remarked back.

"Yeah, that's the reason I haven't asked them yet. But after what just happened, I think we can use Logan being bullied as an excuse. Something along the lines of him wanting to defend himself, and to be supportive, we're all going to learn with him." 

Ashlyn continued.

"That sounds pretty believable."

I said.

"I guess, anyways where's the psycho and big guy?"

Tyler asked the group.

"Oh- um... I think Ben started acting weird. Aiden said that they were going to the vending machine and would see us in class."

His sister responded, everyone nodding. When we got to class they were never there and they never showed up in the first place. The final bell rung as everyone stood up.

"Alright, everyone turn in your assignment on your way out please!"

The teacher yelled at us, kids packing up ready for lunch. I turned in my assignment and stood by the group waiting at the door for Ashlyn.

"Hurry up."

Tyler said to her.

"How about you shut up?"

She scoffed, we all made it to lunch grabbing our meals and sitting down at our table.

"Am I seeing this right?"

Tyler stood with his arm crossed. We all were looking at Ashlyn's shadow, her braids were still on her head but the shadow was not there.

"Woah that's pretty rad-"

"Let go before I break your arm."

Ashlyn yelled at Aiden who was holding her braid in his hand.

"Ha...Another Mystery..."

Taylor smacked her head on the table.

"This might have something to do with why injuries from the phantom dimension don't transfer over to our dimension." 

Logan looked down.

"Speaking of injuries how are you holding up?"

I asked him looking towards his side.

"Oh, um...it kinda feels like I have a rash and it's pretty sore. Like I've been doing sit ups or something. But it's nowhere near as painful as it was last night."

"What happened to you guys?"

Ashlyn asked Aiden and Ben.

"Ah- right. That. Ya sure you want me to tell them?"

Aiden asked Ben.

Ben typed on his phone what to say and played it out on an audio message.

"It's best to have these types of things out in the open if we're going to be a team. But I'm putting my earbuds in until Aiden's done."

Ben plug his earbuds into his ears.

"Ight well that's that then."

Aiden shrugged.

"He is right though, it's probably best to let you guys know before you accidentally set him off or somethin."

"Set him off?"

Ashlyn asked.

"Yup. But this conversation doesn't go outside the group. Understood?"

We all responded with ok's and nods but Tyler decided to be difficult.

"Don't tell me what to- Ow! Fine."

Taylor pinched his arm mid sentence before Aiden continued on with his story.

"I don't think any of you have realized this yet, but Ben has anger issues. Like- extreme haha. Much worse than half-wit over there."

Tyler put on an annoyed face but I place my hand on his arm to calm him down.

"And... the reason also has to do with why he doesn't speak. Ben was in sixth grade when the accident happened or was it seventh? Anyway, he's always been a big guy for his age, and his size tended to intimidate people. Despite his appearance though, Ben was always pretty timid. And more than anything, he loved singing. It was everything to him. However because his appearance didn't match his personality, he started to get bullied for it.

"It didn't start out as bullying, the group of idiots offered to 'fix' him first. Offering for him to join their group and they would teach him how to fight. Once Ben refused though, that's when it started. They started to beat him nearly everyday. Afterwards the leader, Shane, would ask Ben to join his group, and every time, Ben told him no. Then one day Shane decided to take things to a drastic level."