Mercy- Ethan Dolan

Chapter Two

As the bell for lunch goes off, I pack my bag up as quick as I can. My morning has been really long. I just can't wait to meet up with Grayson and see if his morning was any better. We have our spot that we meet every day. We took advantage of the fact that the school cut funds for literally almost all of the arts programs, and we eat our lunch on the stage that use to be used for drama club, which I was a part of. But, nobody ever comes down here, so we like it.

As per usual, I'm the first one here. My class before lunch is closer than Grayson's is. He's in the separate building for English. He also has Mr. Hank. I don't get why they couldn't have just thrown us in the same class, but I guess not everything can go the way you think they should.

Quickly, I notice that Grayson is taking longer than usual to get here. I send him a quick text to make sure everything okay, but he doesn't get back at me. I shrug it off even though it kind of worries me. I just pull out my juice box and take a small sip.

Soon Grayson runs in the door and jumps up on the stage. "I'm so sorry I'm late. "He says, pulling his sandwich out. "Mr. Hanks wanted to talk to me after class. I thought I was in shit, but it turns out everything okay."

"What did he want from you if you weren't in trouble?" I ask.

"He told me about what you did." Grayson says. "Thank you, but you didn't have to."

"I know I didn't have to, but I needed to. It gets on my nerves, all the stupid, ignorant incorrect things that were being said. You did nothing wrong, they can't keep treating you like you're-" I cut myself off. "Anyways," I say after thought. "You're your own person. Not anyone else, and other peoples actions shouldn't be reflected on you. That's all I was trying to say. You did nothing wrong and they act like it was you that did everything."

"Yeah," He says with a shrug as he looks down.

"What's up?" I ask, noticing a change in his demeanour.

"Nothing." He says, shaking his head. "You know how they are here tho. They're all so judgmental and very narrow minded, in their minds everything they say is probably fact and you're the dumb one for not understanding. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that's how it is in this town. That's how it's always been. As much as we want, we can't change it."

I frown at that. "I know, I know." I say. "It's just hard, I was raised so different from all these people."

"You were raised right." He tells me, causing me to smile. "We're gonna get out of this place eventually. Go be with other people who aren't a bunch of knobs. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect." I say with a sigh as I fall back on the stage, resting my head on my arms. "So, how are you doing with everything?"

"You can say his name, you know." Grayson says laughing a little bit. "He's Ethan not Voldemort."

I laugh a little. "How are you dealing with the whole Ethan situation?" I ask, after rolling my eyes slightly as his name comes out my mouth.

"I just don't know what it's gonna mean when he's back, you know?" He says. "Is he going to make friends, be a loner? Hang out with us? Will he even acknowledge me? I just have a lot of questions. The kid probably hates me."

"I'm sure he doesn't." I tell him. "How could he? You've been nothing but civil to him."

"You don't even know, man." He says. "The kids always hated me, I mean."

I just shrug. We'll figure it out together. I'm not gonna let him ruin your life. Best case scenario is everything stays the same as it is now, and theres just a new kid in town, who happens to look like you." I say, knowing that's most likely not gonna be the case. I'm just trying to make him feel better.