"Matt no." Marybeth said.
"Matt no." Colin said.
"Matt no." Ashton said.
"MATT YES!" Matt declared.
Matt slid his tray onto the table next to her. "Hi Jessica!"
"What do you want?" Jessica scowled.
Matt made his voice high. "Hi Matt! It sure is gonna be fun rehearsing with you! Sit down and eat lunch with me."
Matt sat down. "Don't sit here." Jessica told him.
"Why not?"
"I'm Jessica Montigue, the girl who was voted most popular and most beautiful in elementary school. I don't sit with the lower class." She stated.
"Funny you should mention that, because I'm Matt South, the boy who gave literally zero fucks and I'll sit wherever I damn well please." Matt smiled.
Colin sat down next to him so did Marybeth and Ashton.
"Ugh, are you seriously wearing skinny jeans?" Jessica scoffed. "Aren't those only for gay guys?"
"Yes," Matt said, taking a bite of his salad.
"Ew, no." Jessica said. "You're all disgusting."
"Disgusting huh?" Matt raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry you feel that way. But guess what? Disgusting or not, you still have to kiss me."
Jessica ran off at top speed.
"I think I handled that well." Matt said.
"Matt! Could you come here please?" Angel called.
"Yes?" Matt asked.
"Zip me up." She pointed to her back, where there wasn't a zipper to be zipped.
"There isn't anything to be zipped." Matt said. "I'll fix it."
"What?" Angel asked.
"It's simple." Matt said. "I'm just going to go to the designers on stage crew, borrow a sewing machine, it'll be done in fifteen minutes."
"You can sew?" Angel asked.
"Honey, I can do everything. Go change." Matt said.
"Hey Matt," Colin said. "It's little miss homophobia. She won't stop staring at you or me."
Sure enough, Jessica was glaring at them with total disgust.
"I got this." Matt said. "*Ahem* Hey Jessica!" He shouted. "Does it bother you if I hold Colin's hand?" He took Colin's hand and made it very obvious. "Does it bother you if I do this?" He kissed his forehead. "DOES IT BOTHER YOU IF I-"
"Stop it!" Jessica ordered.
"Make me!" Matt stuck out his tongue.
Jessica walked up to him and pushed his chest. "Stop. It. Now, you faggot."
"Sticks and stones..." Matt said.
"I'll have you suspended." She threatened.
That doesn't make sense, Matt thought. The principal can't do that. She's bluffing.
"For being gay?" Colin cut in.
Jessica turned and brought up a hand to slap him, but before she could Matt punched her down. He wrapped his arms around Colin and screeched "DONT FUCKING TOUCH HIM!"
The drama teacher ran over to them. "What on earth are you doing?"
"Jessica was being all homophobic and calling me stuff like faggot and being a bitch and threatening me and then she tried to hit Colin so I punched her because I was standing up for my friend." Matt said quickly in one breath.
The drama teacher sighed. "She was making fun of you for being gay?" He asked.
"And she thought for some reason that she owns the place and can have us suspended because of our sexuality." Colin said.
"That's stupid." Matt said.
"Very stupid." Colin agreed.
Jessica groaned and got up. She swung her fist to try and punch Colin, only for Matt to kick her in the gut. "I SAID DONT FUCKING TOUCH HIM!!"
"Try and stop me." She said.
"ILL RIP YOUR STUPID EXTENSIONS OUT!" Matt lunged at her. Colin grabbed him around the waist. "Someone needs a time out." He said calmly. Matt continued to kick as Colin dragged him away. "ILL KILL YOU! DONT EVER TRY AND TOUCH HIM AGAIN! THIS ISNT OVER!!!"
Matt sat with Marybeth and Colin in the guidance counsellor's office.
Matt tucked his legs up to his chest. He looked like he might cry. "I don't like it here." He whispered.
"Sweetie, you just need to calm down a little bit." Marybeth said.
"No!" Matt screamed. "She tried to hit him! She can't touch him! She can't touch else that I love either!"
"Matt," Colin said. "It's oka-"
"No it's not!" Matt cried. "She could have hurt you! No one is ever going to hurt you."
"Matt, at some point in my life someone will hurt me and there's not going to be anything you can do about it."
"Over my dead body." Matt grumbled.
"Just try and relax," Marybeth said. "You took your meds today, right?"
Matt stayed quiet.
"... Matt, you did take your bipolar pills today didn't you?"
Silence.
"Oh my god Matt, you know you have to take them!" Marybeth cried.
"Stop yelling at me!" Matt put his face in his hands.
"Oh Matt." Colin sighed.
"I'm sorry! I forgot!" Matt sobbed. "Don't be mad at me."
"Oh sweetie, no," Colin said, wrapping his arms around Matt. "No we're not mad at you."
"It's my personal job as your best friend to make sure you take your pills." Marybeth said. "I'm not mad, I'm looking out for you."
"Your words are telling me you're not mad, but your face and your voice are telling me you are." Matt said.
"I'm not mad." Marybeth said.
"I have to leave," Matt tried to get up only to be pulled back down.
"Mr. Hartlen said you needed a break for a while." Colin said calmly.
"I have to go fix Angel's dress." Matt said. "How long will this take?"
"Not long." Marybeth said. "I gave the dress to Jake from-"
"State Farm?" Matt asked enthusiastically. He hummed the Statefarm jingle.
"... Jake from design crew." Marybeth said. "He fixed the zipper."
"Oh," Matt said, disappointed that it wasn't Jake from Statefarm. "Can we go home soon?"
"Chill man." Colin said.
"I don't like this tiny space." Matt complained. "I want to leave."
"I know you do, honey." Colin said. "But we have to stay."
"Or we could leave." Matt suggested.
"No." Colin said.
"Poop." Matt said.
A few minutes passed before Matt groaned "Can we go home?"
"For the last time, we have to stay here." Marybeth said.
"Whhhyyyyyyyyy?" Matt whined.
"Because I said so." Marybeth said.
"We've been here for like, eight millennia." Matt said.
"We've been here for seven minutes." Marybeth said.
"Same thing." Matt said.
Colin sighed. "I didn't want it to come to this, but-" He fake coughed to cover his words. "Penis." He whispered very discreetly.
Matt smiled. He loved that game. "Pen-"
"Guys no." Marybeth said.
"Boo." Matt frowned.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Colin said as he stood up. "Hey Matt!"
Matt smiled. "Hey what?"
"Hey Matt!" Marybeth and Colin both shouted.
"Hey what?" Matt shouted back.
"Show me how you wigglo!"
Matt stood up and raised his hands in the air. "I'll show you how I wigglo! With my hands up high and my feet down low, this is how I wigglo!" Then he did a silly dance move that was a cross between the Funky Chicken and the Sprinkler. "Wigglo!" They all shouted. "Wig- Wigglo! Wigglo! Wig- Wigglo!"
"Hey Marybeth!"
"Hey what?"
"Hey Marybeth!"
"Hey what?"
"Show me how you wigglo!"
"I'll show you how I wigg-"
The door opened and Mr. Hartlen, the music teacher walked in. "What're you doing?"
"We got bored." Matt said.
"Are you okay?" Mr. Hartlen asked.
"Yes." Matt replied truthfully.
"Well get out of here then." Mr. Hartlen said. "Day's over in two minutes."
"Yes sir." The three of them said.
They all left the room. Matt spread his arms and took a moment to appreciate that he wasn't in such an itty bitty space anymore.
"Oh would you look at that," A voice said. "Queer, Nerd, Braces."
"I happen to think braces are super cool and fashionable." Matt said to Jessica, trying to defend Marybeth.
"Yeah, well your judgement has been proven to be wrong considering you find members of your own sex attractive." Jessica said as if that were the smartest comeback in the world.
"I've heard snappier comebacks from a bowl of Rice Krispies." Matt said.
Jessica pushed Matt to the ground. "Listen. You're just a stupid queer, and that's all you're ever going to be. You think you're so brilliant but you're a talentless idiot. Nobody likes you. You might as well just kill yourself."
Colin could see Matt didn't have a sassy comeback for that. He could see that Matt was definitely going to start crying if he didn't get him out of there. And Colin couldn't let Jessica have that satisfaction. As if on cue, one of Matt's favourite people arrived. "Hey Angel!" Colin called, super obviously so Matt could hear.
Matt turned and gasped. He smiled. "Angel! Hi!"
Jessica huffed and walked away because she hated not being the centre of attention.
"Hey Matt!" Angel said, running over to them. "Okay, so I know you're big on the whole Romance thing and I was just looking for you to tell you something super exciting."
"Okay, okay tell me!" Matt bounced up and down.
"Clark asked me out!" Angel said.
Matt screamed. "Oh oh oh! Oh this is brilliant!" He said this because he knew they were soulmates and they would get married someday.
"Let's go then!" Matt cried.
"Where?" Angel asked as Matt dragged the three others along.
"To get you ready!"
