Red Flags

Cat's Out Of The Bag

Chapter 3

"Kennedy." A voice so similar, his eyes fluttering and pupils dilating to a smirking class. A look of dumbfounded on his face, something felt off.

"Kenny, Natural selection." He stated. Mrs.Fleming's face contorted from peeved to flatter than the paper she held. The bell rang. It all seemed too familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The intrusive thought faded as reality ticked in sync with the clock. He often found himself never being able to remember his dreams, he couldn't recall even having one. The halls reminded him of highways, constantly having to wait to get off the exit ramp and into a lane, then there were the people that didn't follow the flow of movement but in all directions were idiots. High School was anything but orderly, not even the lunch lines, people cutting each other, merging with their friends; it was wrong to him; Nothing was more stressful than finding somewhere to eat, but out of the corner of his eyes, Willy sat tucked in with his big boy bib at the corner table of the lunchroom. Perfect. Willy removed his ear buds, checking for the golden wax and shiny covered earbuds before popping them back in. Pop. Kennys lips stretched in a toothy snare, the vertebrates in his neck snapping into place as he tilts his head to catch Willy's undivided attention. No cognition to Kenny's existence. "Willy." His voice rising, he snapped his fingers with agitation. Squeak, check, pop. Kennedy plopped his tray onto the table, the styrofoam tray bending with the weight of the unknown clumped processed slop. The impact sending speckles of glop splattering across the table. Willy removed one earbud, the faint hum of his caked earbuds music fading into the cluster of voices.

"Kenny? Like watcha doin here?" He said.

"You looked lonely, does my kindness bother you?" Kenny tilted his head.

"No-No but like watcha doin here?" He stuttered. "It's just like you haven't like talked to me, like all year." his face lit up like a jack-o-lantern, his pores glowing like a volcano on the verge of eruption, in fact one began to leak its cottage cream puss. In the corner of his eyes a figure was approaching them, a stern hand cupping his shoulder and between him and Willy a mountain stood. Tyler. Tyle was the Greek god of the school, he was the definition of human perfection, but his heart was emptier than the vacuum of space. He was rancid and known for his cruelty and lineups at parties.

"How are your asses today?" He said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"It's fine." Willy was a fool to respond he had fallen into the butt of the joke.

"So you're a fag?" His sinister snicker escaping between vowels.

The wheels in Willy's head began to spin, Kenny remained silent but left shoulder was beginning to ache. 'Do it.' A voice whispered in the back of his head.

"I am no homosexual!" Willy snapped, his words echoing and the cafeteria's atmosphere got sucked into the raising tensions. Tyler howled with laughter, and so did the cafeteria, nearby girls peeking behind their lunch boxes, with their hands covering their lips to muffle their laughter. Kenny attempted to stand but the pressure of Tyler's hand on his shoulder kept him down, Tyler's attention flowed to Kenny. "Where you think you're going? We're having fun right?" 'Don't resist' His pearly teeth grinning down at him. Willy was shaking like a dog in the rain, his eyes shooting glances back and forth between the two. Kenny blinked slowly, 'You cannot ignore me' his shoulder tinting red and a light shade of purple inciting bruises would appear later. 'D o  i t' Something uncontrollable consumed him, the table flipped with a crash as chairs spun out of the way. He wailed on Tyler, kicking his coiling body till the distinct sound of a breaking tree branch erupted, he shifted back a strand of sweat running down his brow, his hands tinted red and the knuckles white as snow. He crouched down "We're just having fun right?" He whispered into Tyler's right ear.