Company

Chapter One

I want to punch David Cunningham in the teeth. I want to punch him so hard.

But the teachers are watching. And Randall the security guard. So I guess David's teeth are allowed to live another day.

He's just so fucking pretentious, you know. He and his "award-winning novel" (which was ripped off from mine) make me want to murder him and his stupid-ass friend, Benny. As David reads an excerpt of his book to our class, Benny just sits there, and looks like he has seen God.

I want to throw up so badly right now. Then I can leave, and hopefully David will slip in it and die.

I know that I'm saying really hateful things right now. You're probably all like, "How can you hate someone so much? It can't be that bad."

David and I have an interesting history. We were the only good writers at this school (now his work is shit, I dunno what happened there) and we both entered a young novelists competition. 100 winners of the competition would have the opportunity to have their novel to be published. David got chosen, I didn't. I'm not upset about losing, that's just petty. No, I'm upset because David took one of my old works and passed it off as his own, without giving me a lick of credit.

It was an old novel that I had finished. I wanted to self-publish it, but I needed someone to edit it first. I sent it to David to edit. He did edit it and sent an e-copy back, saying he wanted a hard copy because he liked it so much. In fact, he liked it so much, he submitted it as his original novel. I didn't find out until I was at Barnes and Noble, searching for a new read, when I stumbled upon his book. And the best part is, he denies everything. The fucking asshat denies everything. He says it was his idea. The other day, John Green e-mailed him about meeting up for coffee and a discussion about young authors.

Fucking David Cunningham. I dream of his demise. He deserves nothing good in life. NOTHING!

"I stood there, watching my sister say her wedding vows and thought how my life will change now. Her husband knows nothing about our time travel abilities. Will we have to hide them, or will he be accepting of our powers?" David read. The girl next to me let out a small sigh. I looked at her and examined her up and down. Dyed red hair, painted blue fingernails, silver-alloy rings on every finger, and a Guns n' Roses t-shirt. She wore a short denim skirt, black leggings, and red converse with paint splatters all over them. Ugh, she could not be falling for this crap!

"Psst," I whispered, leaning over. She looked at me with surprise. I looked at her with dead seriousness and said, "I've already red the book. The husband, he kills his own wife when he learns about their time-travel secret." I leaned back to my chair and looked straight ahead, pretending I didn't say anything. Out of the corner of my eye, the girl gave this look of disgust and shock.

Muahahaha, I thought. Anyone falling for this crap deserved to have the book spoiled for them.

When the bell rang, I shot up and ran outside. I was free. I could go to my house and hang out in the basement and whine about everything.

"Heard you had to sit through David's reading. Sorry, dude," said a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Orsnick, my best friend. He wore a weird t-shirt that said HIGH FUNCTIONING SOCIOPATH.

"Yeah. Whatever. Orsnick, do you know what a sociopath is?" I asked, directing conversation to his t-shirt. I really didn't want to talk about David Cunningham and "his" novel.

"Yeah. Why?" he replied, pulling me to his locker.

"I don't think that's the best t-shirt to wear in a school setting."

"And your point is?" Orsnick asked, pulling out books.

"It's just a weird shirt to wear in a school setting."