Disposable Teens (Maniggy)

Chapter 1

A/N: My first story here. I hope it's alright!

Brian's POV

It was a cloudy, quiet afternoon. I anxiously tapped my foot against the cold floor, irritated that the chairs here in the common room were designed to be too heavy to lift and throw, so I couldn't tilt back like I liked to. I was bored and fidgety, having run out of things to read aside from the Bible every student here is given on check-in, and I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me even touch it. There wasn't really anything to do except wait for dinner time to roll around and see if whatever we were having tonight was edible.

Welcome to Holywood Academy. My parents sent me here, feeling I was too much for them to handle and that I needed a strictly controlled environment to turn out a productive member of society. It's a school for troubled teens, out in the remote countryside. I'm sure the view beyond the concrete walls is lovely. Funny how the brochures don't mention the razor wire.

Mom and Dad got unhappy when I started doing things like dyeing my hair or wearing nail polish outside the house. I never understood that. It's only the surface of your body. It doesn't necessarily mean anything about your inner self.

If it had stopped there, none of this would have happened. But it didn't stop there. My grades were slipping at school because I discovered how much I loved poetry and music, and thus found it hard to care about things like how many cannons were at the Battle of Gettysburg or how the find the square root of 738. Strike two.

The last straw was when I got caught doing the unthinkable. I kissed a boy under the bleachers while I was supposed to be in detention, and some goddamn ass-kissing hall monitor found us. My mom was puzzled. My dad lost his fucking mind. Two days later, they told me to pack my things and say goodbye to anyone I'd miss (except that boy, of course) because they were washing their hands of me for now.

I resented that this is how they chose to deal. But at the same time, I couldn't just suddenly stop loving them. I didn't want to think I'd been abandoned. I hoped they'd find their way to making peace with who I was, and I could once again be the boy they loved. If I got too lost in thought, I could still feel my mother's tears soaking into my shirt when she hugged me goodbye. It was upsetting, dealing with the conflict of emotions welling up in me. Fortunately, the staff of Holywood Academy found a way to numb the pain to some extent. Unfortunately, that way was cutting off contact with the outside world after I'd gotten into a fight and had the nerve to defend myself. Violence between students for any reason wasn't tolerated and was met with swift punishment.

Violence from the staff, on the other hand...

I don't want to think about that right now. That's not the point. I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I turned my head when I heard the heavy front doors of the dorm building swing open and then slam shut again and automatically lock. Extra staff didn't usually show up this time of day, unless...

Two guards walked in, one on each side of a boy who shuffled his feet nervously as he lagged slightly behind. My jaw dropped at the sight of him. He was skinny and pale, below a tangle of dark hair was a face covered in makeup, and he was wearing a dress. Holy fuck, a dress. I was surprised they even let him past the front gate like that. Maybe he didn't have any other clothes when he got here. Some of the kids here come from pretty bad homes. He nervously scanned the room with his dark eyes. I gave him a half-assed wave, not wanting to show any emotion one way or another and bring any more grief on myself.

The duffle bag he had with him was thrown aside. "We'll find you something more appropriate to wear tomorrow, after you've gotten a better look around and learned the rules," the guard said.

The shorter of the two men escorting him fiddled with some papers from his clipboard. "All right, Jeordie, looks like there's only one empty bed right now, so you'll be rooming with Steve." He shot me a withering glance. "And Brian."

Well, today finally got interesting.