Field - ★ - Brance

- Part One -

Bruce wakes up. He feels tired and has a throbbing pain in his head. He slowly turns his head to his alarm clock.

8:12 a.m.

"Fuck! School starts in 16 minutes!" Bruce shoots up, his eyes are darting around the room. Shoes, clothes, bag... He quickly pounces up and starts collecting everything, while meanwhile he's also trying to dress himself. He quickly runs down the stairs and sprints out the door.

At least playing baseball meant he was quick. He throws his bag over his shoulder and jumps onto his bike, quickly pedalling down the street. His school is only 3 streets away. He arrives and quickly puts his bike in front of the school. He hops off of his bike and runs over to the school entrance. As he speeds past all the other classes, he sees a clock. 8:34 a.m. Class had already started.

He runs into his math class. "Bruce. You're late." the teacher exclaims. Everyone turns their head towards Bruce. "I'm sorry. I overslept. It won't ever happen again!" Bruce quickly mutters. "Sit down. We're starting." the teacher says. Bruce nods and quickly goes to his seat. Behind Bruce sits Vance Hopper, the strongest boy of the school. Unlike Bruce, who is popular and a good student, Vance is the complete opposite. A troublemaker with low grades, always ready to start a fight. Vance bullies everyone, but right now he was very fixated on making Bruce's life a living hell.

Bruce is slumped over his notebook, glancing up at the board to copy what the teacher has written down. His head hurts and he's still tired. Bruce keeps trying to focus but he feels fatigued. Right as he puts his hand on his forehead to offer some support, he feels something hit the back of his head. He has a small flinch but keeps trying to focus.

Another thing hits the back of his head. And another. He looks at the ground and sees a few pieces of an eraser laying slightly behind him on the floor. He turns around just to be met by Vance giving him a smug look. He gives him an annoyed face and quickly turns back around to focus on class. A minute passes and he feels another piece of eraser hit the back of his head. He simply chooses to ignore it for the rest of class. Vance threw a few more pieces, but with no reaction and his eraser being fully demolished he decides to give up.

The bell rings and Bruce quickly puts his stuff into his bag and puts it on his back. He hurries out of the class, trying to head outside to eat something before the next class. He runs into a small group of people, a few he recognized and the others he didn't seem to know. "Bruce!" a voice from the group said. It was Finney, a boy Bruce knew from baseball. Next to Finney stood Robin, the second-toughest boy in the school. "Oh, hey Finney! I'm going to eat something outside, I'll see you around!" Bruce said. Finney smiled at Bruce and gives him a small wave. "Alright! I'll talk to you at baseball!" Finney says. Bruce walks past the small group.

He opens the back door, turning to the corner where a bench is, Bruce's bench, the one where he sits each break. He quickly sits down and takes an apple from his bag. He sits up again, and right as he is about to bite down he glances someone from the corner of his eye.

"Fuck. Is that Vance Hopper? Did he follow me?" Bruce thinks to himself. He faces his way. "Why did you ignore me?" Vance angrily says. He isn't used to people not reacting to him, and it had made him quite angry. "Leave me alone, Vance." Bruce exclaimed. "Answer my question, moron!" Vance sounded incredibly agitated and it grasped Bruce's attention. "Why would I have to react? You were just being annoying. Leave me alone." He sternly replied. Annoying. The word tumbled around in Vance's head.

"I was being what now??" Vance's tone of voice had become even more aggressive. Bruce becomes slightly worried, watching Vance tower over him as he is still sitting down on the bench. His headache was still throbbing, making him even more annoyed since he didn't want to deal with any of this. He scoots away on the bench. "Vance, I didn't mean that. Please just let me eat in peace." He tries to quickly tell him. Vance looks him in his eyes, Vance's eyes seeming filled with absolute rage. He grabs onto the collar of Bruce's shirt, and delivers a punch right in his face.

Bruce falls against the bench, a stinging pain coming from his cheek. "Well, that's a nice addition to the headache." he thinks to himself. "Don't you ever ignore me again, imbecile!" He watches as Vance storms off after saying that. Vance heads back inside the school, Bruce finishes his apple, sitting on the bench down in spirits.

The bell rings again. Bruce gets up and grabs his bag. He throws the apple core into a trashcan as he walks to history class. "Luckily he isn't in this class." He takes a seat. The rest of the school day is casual, the only thing making it different was the discomfort from the headache. The final bell rings. Bruce gets up and packs his bag, swiftly leaving the class. He roams the halls, making sure not to be in anybody's way. He shoves his notebooks for the next day in his locker. As he leaves the school a few people he passes tell him to have a good weekend. 

Bruce left the school, ready for the weekend. He was on his way to the bike racks in front of the school. He smelled cigarettes right as he was about to turn the corner.  As he turned the corner he saw a familiar face, one of Vance's friends. His name was one that Bruce didn't remember. What he did remember though was that he was a giant asshole, just like Vance. They locked eyes and the guy pushed himself from the school wall and blew out a swirling cloud of smoke. He made his way over to Bruce. He glanced at the guy. "Where are you going?" the guy asked while snarling. "Home." Bruce tries to avoid eye contact with the boy, and he starts to get on his bike.

He pushes his feet off the floor to try to ride away, but the guy kicks his wheel and he tumbles to the ground. The boy laughed out, and Bruce quickly picked up himself and the bike and proceed to get on it while still avoiding looking at the boy. He quickly rides off, while the boy is still chuckling.

(1126 words)