Baby Fat

ten

*SLIGHT TRIGGER WARNING. EVERYTHING WILL BE RECAPPED NEXT CHAPTER*

"Hey, what's wrong?" Corrie puts a hand on Bradley's back to steady him as he tips over.

Bradley puts his head on a locker and sighs.

"Didn't sleep much." Bradley outs on a fake smile but Corrie's unconvinced. Something's wrong.

"Bradley, what the actual fuck is wrong?" Corrie pulls Bradley into the boys bathroom which definitely caught some eyes. Corrie couldn't care less.

"I'm just tired." Bradley's not lying about that. He didn't get much sleep from the impromptu Leo phone call fiasco.

Perhaps that's why Bradley hates people. They're unpredictable.

"No, something else is going on." Corrie crosses his arms over his chests. Bradley's leaning against a grimy bathroom wall and Corrie's blocking the exit. Even if Bradley were to attempt to run, Corrie would catch him.

"Look, some shits going down at home, alright. Julianne was stressed as fuck last night because Xander gave her a time limit on his stupid ultimatum. I spent the night talking to her. I swear, that's it."

Bradley's lie is very convincing, but not enough.

"So if I were to call Julianne right now and ask her what she was doing last night, she would say the exact story you did?"

"Yeah, she would." Bradley lies. "But if you called her you'd be breaking our trust. If you trusted me you'd believe me. You wouldn't have the need to call her," Bradley points out.

"I'm not going to call her. But you lying to me would be worse than me calling her."

Corrie leaves the bathroom on that note, leaving Bradley with his pounding headache. God, he can't shake the dizziness.

Bradley pushes himself up from the wall and grabs a granola bar from his pocket. He wasn't going to eat it, just took it because his mom was watching. But he's hungry. He takes a seat on the disgusting floor and leans his back against the wall. His legs are stretched out in front of him.

He opens it the package and takes a bite. He takes another bite, and another, and another. Soon enough he's finished the bar, and he's crying.

Why am I such a disappointment, he thinks, why?

He finally pushed himself off the floor and goes to the sink. He splashes some water on his face before looking the the mirror. He looks like a wreck. He feels like a wreck. And he still has to see Leo.

"You can do this, Bradley," he whispers encouragingly to himself, "you can do it. You have to do it. For your Mom. For your Dad. For Julianne. For Corrie. They're all counting on you."

He pushes himself off the sink he was leaning on and fixes his shirt.

He picks his AP English items off the floor before heading to class. He's late, twenty minutes late. When he walks in, he has to open the door. Of course, the door creaks so everyone turns to look at him.

Leo tilts his head in confusion and disquiet due to Bradley's splotchy face.

"Bradley, how nice of you to show up to class." Mrs. Castillo greets annoyed. "Since where you were was so important that you had to miss class, I'd love to know where you were."

If looks could kill, she'd be six feet under.

Bradley wordlessly walks to the empty seat by Leo who has his laptop out. He's typing away, ignoring Bradley.

"Detention, Johnson," Mrs. Castillo calls out. Bradley ignores her and looks at what Leo's doing.

The word count moved up from 2,000 words to 5,000. Bradley hadn't typed any of those 3,000 words.

"Are you alright?" Leo asks after a brief moment of silence. His fingertips are still typing, his eyes still on the computer screen.

Bradley knows if he hears that question one more time he might break.

"Peachy." He states, a bit too harshly. Leo did answer his call during sex with Whitney when he could've easily let it go to voicemail. "Let me have the laptop."

Leo wordlessly passes the laptop to Bradley who reads over what Leo's written. He hums when he sees things that need work and corrects them or adds to them. Leo really likes when Bradley does that. But he can't, so he doesn't think about it.

If he doesn't acknowledge it, it's not happening, right?

Quicker than Bradley imagined, the periods over. Him and Leo haven't spoken a word. He's not sure what to say to Leo though.

Hey, I just wanted you to know that you answering the call while fucking Whitney really hurt my goddamn feeling even thought we aren't anything, even though we haven't even classified our feelings, even thought I don't even know if I like you. Oh and by the way, you smell really nice. Did you get a new cologne?

Yeah, no.

Bradley leaves the classroom, Leo hot on his heels.

"Bradley!" Leo calls and Bradley spins around. Leo being right behind him, they hit foreheads.

Bradley clasp's his forehead with both hands and backs away from Leo. He bumps into other students going from class to class but he couldn't care less.

"Ow!" He screeches like a baby.

"Are you okay?" Leo asks concerned. "Here let me see." Leo reaches his hands out to see Bradley's forehead. Bradley's too tired to pull away.

Leo looks at Bradley's forehead, and runs a hand over the knot growing on his head.

"God, I'm sorry." Leo apologizes profusely.

"No, it's fine," Bradley amends. "I need to head to my locker so I can go to lunch."

Bradley pulls away from Leo's grasp and spins around on his heel.

"I'm sorry," Leo calls out behind him. "It was a jerk move..."

Leo's voice fades out while Bradley walks away. He's so done with life.

He's so done with it all.

He's ready to end it.

He's so ready for the end.

__________

☒ - unedited

Was that bathroom scene too hard? Should I put a trigger warning next time? What are your opinions on Leo? Why do you think Bradley's doing what he's doing?

Please tell me if you see any mistakes, I'm the queen of typos.

Read, vote, comment, and please, please share! Tell me what you liked/disliked. Constructive criticism is very, very welcome!

Rant of the chapter: i'm watching hannah montana man, i miss that show. it was my shit

Dedicated to: @ people who haven't had a good day and those who have !! :)

Next update: not sure guys

Teaser: are you excited to see corrie next chapter?

Quick notes:
[ 1 ] juicy shirts gonna go down comment what you think.
[ 2 ] i was planning to have a spin-off for corrie after i completed this book but i don't think anymore...
[ 3 ] seriously y'all, come chat with me on twitter. right now it's only open so people i follow can message me but if you tweet me telling me you've read baby fat then i'll definitely follow you back and we can chat!

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