Field - ★ - Brance

- Part Ten -

(Tenth chapter !)

As soon as his alarm rang Bruce was hit with the horrible realisation of which day it was. Monday. He got up and got ready for school like usual. He got onto his bike and pedalled over to his school.  To add onto the misery of Monday the teachers had decided that math was the best first period. Bruce walked in and gave a small wave to Vance who sat behind him. Vance didn't seem to notice him though, so he just sat down.

The class had been going on for half an hour. No pieces of eraser against the back of his head, no notes that got him in trouble, everything was perfectly okay. Then why was Bruce so bored? He took all his notes as usual but if you where to ask him to explain them he wouldn't be able to. He doodled a bit over the paper. 
The bell rang after an eternity, he got up and packed his stuff into his bag. He turned around and he watched as Vance closed his notebook. A thick notebook, the only one Bruce had ever seen him use.

"Hey, when are you coming over again?" Vance glanced at him, after a second Bruce spoke again. "To study?" Vance got up as he pushed his chair back. "Oh, I could come tomorrow." Vance replied. He didn't seem upset or angry, there was no emotion to read on him. Bruce simply nodded and walked out of class along with the others. In the hall he was stopped by Finney and Robin. "Why are they always together?"  He thought to himself. "Hey, Bruce!" Finney called out.

Bruce walked over to them and gave them both a smile. He had heard of the fights Robin had been getting in, so he was a bit sheepish even though Robin had always been nice to him.
"Can we talk to you?" Robin asked after he glanced at Finney. "Sure?" Bruce replied in a confused tone. He followed them to their lockers, it was a small spot where not many people came during the break.

"Is Vance still bothering you?" Finney asked. Bruce couldn't help but to let out a small sigh before shrugging. "No, ever since I started tutoring him he's been alright." He started explaining. "He said he'd leave me alone if I helped him get his grades up." Bruce paused remembering that. That's the reason Vance had been so distant towards him. Robin and Finney nodded as they listened to him. "Just be careful around him, he's, what's the word.. unpredictable?" Finney said, trying to put it carefully as if Vance was listening in on them.

Bruce thanked the two for the warning and quickly headed off to his bench. It was his spot, no matter what had happened there. He sat down and tried to quickly eat half of his sandwich before the bell rang. As soon as it did he packed the remaining half of the bread back into his bag and he sprinted over to his next class.

The day was boring. There weren't many classes that where capable of keeping Bruce's attention for more than ten minutes. He spent his time just thinking. About baseball, about his family, about Vance. It wasn't anything interesting, just a slight feeling of disappointment over the fact they hadn't gotten to talk. 

The last bell rang and Bruce left school. He felt tired, not in a sleepy way but in the way that his brain had to hear so many boring words from teachers that it had exhausted him. Normally he'd love learning, well not love, Bruce didn't think anybody actually loved it. But he could focus. He would tolerate it, to make his parents proud and to make his future self proud. He knew one day all of this would pay off.

He walked over to the front of the school, the place his bike always stood. As soon as he got there he felt the back of his hoodie being tugged. He turned around in surprise just to be faced by Michael and Craig. Vance's best friends. The two never impressed Bruce, sure they would bully him but they weren't interesting. Not like Vance. They just used Vance as some cover up for the fact that if they where to be all alone they'd both be victims instead of bullies.

"Come with us," A short pause followed as Craig tried to think of a good swearword to use. "...Nerd?" He hesitantly spoke out. Michael facepalmed before quickly helping him push Bruce into a small alleyway next to the school. "What do you guys want?" Bruce said. He was less scared than he normally would be, he'd been so used to his regular peace that he didn't know how to act in times like these anymore.

Suddenly Michael landed a punch right in Bruce's face. Bruce sputtered a groan as he did so, leaning his head into his hand. Before he could do anything Craig joined in, landing a kick in his stomach. Sure, they are idiots, but they sure knew how to land some punches. They eventually got him down on the ground, repeatedly kicking him in his ribs. Bruce tried to scramble up, he leaned onto the wall and managed to clumsily stand up as the two bullies laughed at him.

Bruce stumbled forwards and landed a hit right on Craig's face, the smallest of the two. "Great, have to remember to wash my hand after this."  he whined to his mind. Michael let out a weird yell before attacking him again, pulling him by the hair while punching his jaw. Bruce freed himself from his grip before facing them both again, his lip was bleeding and he had to stand in a hunched over position.

He wasn't scared, all he felt was anger. A sense of survival, he knew if he would let this happen it would happen again. And again. Bruce might've always seemed like a peaceful boy, he never chose to opt for violence. Not because he was weak, but because he always thought there was a better way. This was the one time he didn't think there was. The one time. He promised that to himself, to his mother, as he reached down to the glass beer bottle on the concrete.

He aimed for Craig and swiftly hit the bottle over his head, as if it was like swinging his baseball bat at a ball. The bottle cracked and the shards flew over the place. Craig started falling over, wailing in pain. As soon as he hit the ground the sound stopped and Michael could only watch in shock as a small puddle of blood formed around him on the ground.

Bruce looked at the limp body on the ground. After seeing his chest rise once he decided that knowing he was alive was enough. He made a run for it, not caring about the pain in his ribs. He ran to the only place he wanted to be.

Grab N' Go.

He opened the door and the bell gave a small welcoming ring. "Stop your fucking pinball game." Bruce huffed. Vance groaned before glancing around. His hands left the buttons of the machine as soon as he saw the state Bruce was. "Bruce? What the fuck happened to you?" He asked in a slightly shocked tone.

"Craig and Michael beat me up." Vance looked around for a second before speaking again. "Where are they?" He asked. His tone was angry, more than usual even.
 "I knocked Craig unconscious with a bottle." Bruce said as he breathed out heavily.
"You what?" Vance asked. He felt overwhelmed, especially with all of this being so sudden.
"Are you okay?" He questioned Bruce. He just glanced down in response. Vance walked over to the cooler and grabbed a water bottle and after he grabbed a few bandages from the aisle, before quickly paying for it by the cashier, who had been eavesdropping on them after seeing how Bruce walked in.

"Let's sit outside." Vance said as he directed him out of the store. They sat down on a bench close to the store and Vance carefully picked up Bruce's arm. He slide his fingers over his wrist, moving the top part of his arm to face him. It had a smear of blood on it. "Fuck, some glass shard must've cut me." Bruce complained. Vance hummed lowly in response before grabbing the water bottle.

"This will sting a bit." He warned. Bruce bit down on his lip as Vance poured a bit of water onto the wound. His mouth tasted like pennies. Bruce watched as Vance carefully used a clean part of his hoodie sleeve to wipe the watery blood away from the wound. After that he slowly wrapped the bandages around it. "You alright?" Vance mumbled. Bruce could tell he was angry. 

"I'm surprised you would even care." Bruce replied. Vance furrowed his brows. "You knocked him out with a bottle..?" He asked him. Bruce gave him a nod. "Damn, didn't know you had that in you." Vance said. Bruce smirked a bit at this comment. "I don't know what came over me." He replied. "You aren't angry at me? They're your best friends." He asked Vance.

"They aren't really my friends. They just linger around me, that's all. I think they're obnoxious." He sighed. They both went quiet. "I'm going to head off home. My mom must be worried about where I am." Bruce told him. Vance hummed in an understanding way.