Internal - Blurryface

Chapter 8

"Hey." I nearly have a heart attack as a voice creeps up behind me.

"Jesus Christ.." I mutter, my hand still on my chest from the scare.

"Sorry. About earlier, and now I guess too. I tend to sneak up on people, as you now know." The boy from earlier smiles warmly at me.

"No problem. I'm used to it." I mumble, looking at the ground.

"Well you shouldn't." His smile doesn't fade.

I stare at him for a few seconds. He's out of his performance clothes and now in somewhat regular attire- wearing black skinny jeans and a patterned sweater along with some vans. They say someone's shoes says a lot about a person, which I quite frankly never understood since they're just freaking shoes and are meant for walking. And fashion.

"So-" "I-" we both start talking at the same time. "You first," I tell him trying to ease the awkwardness. "No, you. My apologies." He replies.

"I was just going to say that you look very familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" I ask him nervously.

He chuckles. "No, I don't think so. I mean, besides this morning where you dropped your iPod on the bus." I cringe at the memory. "I'm Tyler, by the way." He holds out his hand.

"Hayley." I take his hand and shake it briefly. I can feel my hands slightly shaking from nervousness. "Sorry, just not used to formal introductions."

"Understandable. I just like how classy things were way back then. You know, I believe in times where chivalry wasn't dead and all of that." He replies with a smile. Damn, this guy is practically beaming with glee. I don't know why he even bothered to come talk to me as before it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with me. Is this a prank? I bet it is. Rebecca doesn't know when to stop, I don't think she'll ever get tired of torturing me.

"Tyler!" A voice calls from behind me. Turning around, I see the red headed boy playing alongside Tyler from before. "Hey, I think we should get going, it's almost one-fifteen" The two of them are now beside eachother.

"Oh, yeah, right." Tyler scratches the back of his neck. "Josh, I was just talking to Hayley here. Hayley, meet Josh, a friend of mine." He introduces us. Josh gives me an uneasy look.

"Yeah, friend, I guess you could put it that way." Josh retorts back but earns a swift smack in the head from Tyler. "Nice to meet you, Hayley. Cool shoes." I look down at my feet and then to his own to see us sporting matching shoes, his just about twice as big as mine.

My eyes widen after hearing another voice come up from behind me. "Well hello there." I quickly get shoved aside, hair thrown in my face as Rebecca moves between us. "What are you two doing over here by yourselves?" She traces a finger down Josh's chest. Tyler blushes.

"Uh we were just talking with Hayl-" Tyler starts but is cut off by the blonde infront of him.

"Oh! Hayley! Didn't see you there. Look, you're clearly annoying these two handsome men," she gives them a wink, "so you should go make yourself useful- I mean, chase air, whatever it is that you do, and do us all the honour of leaving them alone. Run along now." She ends in a snarky fake-smile.

My blood boils. So good news, Rebecca didn't set them up to this. Bad news, she's sucked them in anyways so goodbye to that. Had to bring up my "episodes" too. She always does this; whoever she wants, she gets, and doesn't stop until she has them in her grasp. That usually doesn't take that long as by the end of the day she probably has some of their DNA on some part of her body. I shudder.

A look is given at me by the girl, her hands shooing me away. Behind her, Tyler glances at his watch. Sighing in defeat, I turn and walk away. "Now where were we?" I hear fading in the distance.

The bleachers come closer and closer into view as I run towards them, tears pricking my eyes. I quickly find my way and sit hidden underneath them as I let the tears flow. How come this always happens? For once our school gets new kids and she manages to scare them away from me in less than two minutes. These guys could have been my fresh start, two new people who have no idea about the history of this town. No idea about what fucked up things have happened to me and what fucked up things I have done. People who haven't seen me go off my rocker. And now she basically pre-told them about my frequent trips to crazy town. I swear to God there's no hope for me out there.

"Are you okay?" My body jumps as a voice speaks to me. My eyes dart around, but the only people I can see are Rebecca, Josh, and Tyler waaay out of earshot, and some guys playing soccer on the field.

"Seriously, I hate seeing you crying. It hurts knowing that I can't do anything to help." I quickly wipe my tears away- or at least try to before more slip out.

"Oh, it's just you." I relax slightly. Of course, it's been a while since I've heard him, it's just about time he showed up again. I know I can't fake sanity forever.

"Wow, thanks for the enthusiasm. And, for the record, you don't have to fake anything." the familiar voice replies.

"How did you-" I begin to ask but am cut off.

"You project your thoughts waaay too much. Gives me a headache sometimes." He replies.

"Projecting? Thoughts? What?" I ask. What is this, some sci-fi movie?

"Yeah. You think too loud." I'm told. "Let me put it this way- you know what you see in shows and films? Those superheroes with telekinesis who can move stuff with their minds? It's kind of like that, but instead you move/broadcast your thoughts instead of moving items."

I scrunch my face. Great, now even a made up person think's I'm a freak.

"I'm not-"

"Shut up."

A laugh interrupts us from where Josh, Tyler, and Rebecca are. More people have joined around them. Everyone seems to be laughing, but Tyler is just looking at the ground, not seeming to pay attention. A sigh escapes my lips.

"Don't worry about them. Everything will be okay." He tries to console me.

I laugh sadly, tears still in my eyes. "Yeah, sure it will. That has got to be the most cliche thing I have ever heard. And the least helpful." I bury my head in my knees.

"Hey Hayls! Who're ya talking to?" Melissa sticks her head under the bleachers. I jump up and brush myself off.

"Oh, uh, I was just on the phone. My mom needs me to pick up some paper towels from the store on my way home." I try to cover up. I don't like letting Melissa know or see the strange things I do or that happens to me, even though she has been the only person to not freak out, I'd like to seem as normal as possible.

"Okay, well come out! There are two major hotties from the assembly that are out here that I can not wait to get my hands on. C'mon." She extends her arm. Rolling my eyes, I hold her hand as she guides me out of the bleachers.

An uneasy feeling makes its way into my system as we make our way towards the front of the school. Melissa starts to go on about some gossip she heard around, talking about the new boys and who she'd rather sleep with. I can't help but tune her out as anxiety creeps onto me stronger and stronger, my system on high alert for whatever possible threat may come our way.

The bushes beside us shake as something comes running out. A scream slips through my lips, causing heads to look our way.

"Jeez Hayls," my best friend laughs, "I didn't know you were scared of chipmunks." she wipes tears away from her eyes.

"I-I'm not. It just startled me, that's all." I place my hand over my heart.

People around us start to focus back on their own conversations, and my eyes lay on Josh and Tyler, who are both looking at me. God, they saw that. How embarrassing. Now whatever Rebecca has told them is really going to show through with this proving her right. In the shadows by the front doors a pair of red eyes are found staring right at me, the dark figure leaning against the wall. Quickly averting my gaze, I see Tyler who looks at his watch once more before nudging Josh, and the two take off.

Well, just when I thought shit sucked, the world threw in two more people to add to hell with me.