doppelgänger

bex

^audio of 'done for you' by bvb

The next day when Bex met him to go to school, Dennis was in a bad mood, and she didn't have a clue as to why it might be.

When Dennis got mad, he got mad, and it didn't matter who you were, because no matter what, no one could could fix it. They'd just have to wait it out and see. It wasn't like he had a cold heart or no guilty conscience or anything -- he always delivered Bex a sincere "sorry" every time once he came back to his senses. But every time he got angry, he would lose his mind. Bex tried not to take it personally.

Though every time she would still try to see if he finally let her through to his good side.

"I feel like I don't tell you this often enough, Dennis, and I fell bad, because every girlfriend should. It's my job to always remind you that -- I love you."

Dennis breathed out, shaking his head a little in the opposite direction. "Yeah."

And that was all he said.

That was all he said until they got inside the school to their lockers, and the first thing that came out of his mouth when he failed at opening his locker the first try, was, as expected --

"Damn! Son of a --"

"Dennis," Bex warned.

"Bex, I can curse all I want and you can't do anything abou --"

"Son of a what?"

He sighed, looking down with his head low for a minute. "Gun. Son of a gun, Bex, are you happy?"

She smiled. "Yep. Whatever gets you to stop cursing before you get Wolfie into the habit too."

"Babe, he can't even talk."

"So? What if his first word is the.... f - word? Then it'll be all your fault."

"Okay. You're right. I'll try harder."

"Good."

About halfway through the day, it was clear that Dennis was tired from lack of sleep. He could no longer be dealt with or calmed down like earlier, not even by Bex, and it seemed like it just continued to get worse and worse as time went on. And he seemed to be anxious about something.

Just at the end of the day, when school was about to let out and the bell was about to ring, of course there had to be something -- or , really someone -- to push Dennis to the breaking point.

Of course.

Jack was one of the kids who thought he was cool, but wasn't, and obviously tried way too hard with everything. He was also super critical and judgy towards everyone and everything except for anything that had to do with the popular trends and popular people, which was yet another reason why everyone hated him.

Dennis never paid attention to the guy, which was mature on his part, but there was just something this time that really pushed him over the edge.

Dennis turned around, looking straight at Jack for the first time ever. "What?" he snapped in an irritated voice. "What do you want? Why do you keep staring at me?"

Jack only shrugged, leaving the question unanswered.

The bell ran, and they walked out of the school without a fight. Bex was relieved.

But she should've known that she was never that lucky.

The good thing was that Dennis seemed to have cooled down a little bit since they had walked out the front doors of the school. But when a familiar ultra-annoying voice yelled, "You wanna see who's tougher, goth guy? Or are you gonna be late to church to worship the devil?" -- was when Dennis just couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright," Dennis breathed, "I see how it is. It's a fight, you little shrimp."

But Jack wouldn't move forward. He had already recoiled.

"Aww, are you scared? I know, I know -- I'm scary. The black is a little bit menacing, and the makeup is oh - so very threatening. Come on, Jack, move forwards. Punch me. You seem like you would know how to pick a good fight."

"Dennis," Bex interjected. He wouldn't listen. He didn't even acknowledge that she even spoke.

Jack finally advanced forward, throwing a fist towards Dennis's face, but he dodged it, punched him instead, square in the face, hard -- and then when Jack threw another punch, Dennis caught his fist and flipped him over, slamming him to the ground, looking down at the poor soul mercilessly.

"And that," Dennis said with a smirk on his face, "is how you pick a fight and win it. Oh, and look at that! We're right off of school grounds. Looks like no one will get in trouble this time." He laughed. "Now beat it, you son of a gun."