Changing Personalities

Chapter 3:

It was Monday today and for some reason I was feeling more energetic than usual. I dressed myself in the usual white t-shirt, denim jeans and black converse shoes. I looked into the bathroom mirror and saw a face staring back at me, my face, the face of a happy guy. I grabbed my bag, walked downstairs and waited outside for the bus to come.

The bus wasn't the best way of getting to school cause of all the people standing up and falling on top of you but Mum had too much stuff of her own to do.

The bus came and I jumped up the stairs, the doors closed and I looked around for a spot to sit. Up the back I saw one next to Duke and went to sit there.

"Hey Damien!" Duke screamed as he gestured a high five.

"Hey" I said as I dropped myself on the seat.

Duke went on and on about Leah and I last night, and how the whole school knows now. I zoned out and started looking around the bus to see girls, and boys in either crop tops or hoodies talking about the least interesting stuff. Then I looked two seats down from us and saw a boy cramped up in the corner of the seat with earphones in. He was wearing black skinny jeans, grey singlet and a black jumper. He stared out the window.

"Aye! Bro? Are you even listening?" Duke asked me as he poked my shoulder.

"Uh, yeah, yeah I am"

"Well are you trying out for the team? You said you would"

"Oh yeah, uh sure I'll try out"

"Awesome man! Try outs are at lunch tomorrow"

The bus stopped and everyone started to walk off...except for the boy. He waited for us to move. Duke nudged me to keep walking and as I walked I couldn't help but stare back at him.

Once we got off the bus I saw him slowly move inside the school. I went inside too and went to my locker. I shoved my books in, grabbed my chemistry book and headed to class.

When I walked inside the room there were lab tables everywhere and the teacher told us to stand behind one. Duke, Ray, Sean and I stood around the back one.

"Right class, uh, pair up! I'll be back in a moment okay? Wait, Damien! Don't go with anyone okay?" The teacher said as he rushed out the door.

Duke and Sean paired up so Ray was left to go with William (the class geek). The class waited and waited for the teacher to come back until he walked in the door telling someone to come in.

"Okay! So class! This is Josh Dylans! He is new here so make sure to put an extra effort in to make him welcome!" The teacher tried to make everything sound exciting but then when the person walked in I recognised the black hoodie, grey shirt and black skinny jeans. It was the boy.

The teacher walked him over to me and told me he was going to be my partner. At first he kept away from me, trying to keep his distance but after a while he didn't seem to care much. It was silent the whole time but now and then i'd look over to him for a little while. When I did he'd shake a little bit, slightly turn his head but still stare down at his book. The whole time he looked like he was struggling with the work and just as I was about to say something the bell rang. Duke walked over to me and told me he was going home early to practice for tomorrow. 

As I was walking to the lunch room I was thinking about him for some reason until I saw something happening ahead. I starting to run towards it and when I got there I dropped my bag. 

"HEY! What the hell are you doing?" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I panted. 

"What do you think? We don't want a closet emo in this school. We're simply teaching him a lesson" Ray replied as he punched the boy one last time. 

"Look just leave him alone dude, he's not hurting anyone" 

"Well maybe he's spreading his gay germs all over the place, yeah ever think of that? Maybe you got a case of the gay to Damo since you seem so bloody obsessed to help this fag!" 

"Why would it matter anyway? Gays are just people! Just leave him alone" 

"Oh okay now you're getting serious aye Damo?" He wiped his mouth, chucked his bag on the ground and gestured for a fight, "We'll just have to change that. Maybe this'll teach you a lesson" 

Ray charged towards me and tackled me right on the ground. My back started aching immediately, my shoulder hurt and Ray kept punching me in the stomach. It hurt but I couldn't fight back, I wasn't strong enough. He gave me another hit to the face, then another to my shoulder. I screamed in agony while everyone watched. I thought it would never stop until someone caught his hand and bent it back. 

"Don't touch him" 

It was Josh, the boy. He punched Ray in the face and he fell down to the ground. I looked at him and smiled, he just looked at me then left. 

I ran to the bathroom after I gained enough strength to walk. I splashed some water on my face and cleaned up the blood. I looked in the mirror and saw bruises on my face, my mouth had a huge cut on it and when I lifted up my shirt slightly I saw bruises on my stomach. It hurt to breath. 

The bell for the next period rang and I went to class again, this time English. When I looked around the room everyone was staring at me. They whispered to each other saying how I tried to defend a fag but I got beat up instead. The teacher walked in the classroom and everyone went silent. 

"Ah yes class today um, Damien? Why are you standing up?" The teacher asked. 

"Uh well" I didn't know what to say because I'd never actually gotten in trouble before. 

"Just go and sit down somewhere okay? I need to get on with my lesson" 

There were only two spare seats left, I could either sit next to Ray who I just got bashed up by or I could sit next to Josh. I looked over at Ray and he told me to come sit next to him but I went over and chucked my bag on the desk next to Josh. He looked at me and moved further towards to the corner. 

"I'm not gonna hurt you" I said as I grabbed my book out of my bag, "Look why don't you just talk to me? I'm not that scary am I?" I chuckled a little bit. He looked at me again.

"U-Uh, no I just don't talk to people" His voice was a bit deep but it suited him. I smiled while he talked. 

"As you can kind of tell, i'm not that normal" 

"Not that normal? You hang out with all the big guys"

"Not anymore" I sighed a bit. 

"Why? Cause you stood up for me like an idiot?" 

"You know, I kind of thought that maybe as the closet emo you'd be a bit nicer" 

"I just don't want to say anything stupid"

"Just talk okay, like yourself"

"Not around these people" He loosened up a bit and started writing the notes the teacher put on the board. 

"Fine, hang out with me today after school" 

"You should write this down" He said as he kept writing, looking up at the board and back down to his book. 

I didn't know what to say, to think. For some reason I felt like this guy may be really nice underneath all the tough guy act and all I want to do is thank him for what he did or i'd be in hospital. I looked over at Ray again and he stared at me until I looked away. 

"Just come over to my place or something" 

He turned to face me again, half smiled and said, "Okay" 

We agreed we'd meet up after last period outside the school doors but after that it was complete silence. The bell rang and he got up straight away. I started to think maybe he didn't like me or maybe he wasn't really gay.