More Than Survive

Jeremy Heere and Michael Mell

 Jeremy slumped through the hallway dreading his choice of staying up all night masturbating.

His day went by slowly. He was tired from the lack of sleep he got. His best friend Michael was no where to be seen and he got picked on by the new popular boy named Rich. Chloe, Jenna, and Brooke, who were all popular, were gossiping about him and his "boyfriend" Michael.

Since Michael and Jeremy always hung out and knew each other since preschool everyone called them boyfriends since 6th grade. Everyone, except Rich, have been together since 4th grade. Rich came this year and instantly became popular. 

Jeremy is a tall but lanky boy. He doesn't seem tall since he's always slouching. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He's always wearing a gaming t-shirt with jeans and black converse. Today he's wearing a grey PAC-man t-shirt with black jeans.

He was heading to lunch when someone pulled him into the boys restroom. When he looked at the person who pulled him, it was a shorter boy. "Rich? Why did you pull me in here?"

"Shut up tall ass!" Rich took a breath "Sorry, habit. I pulled you in here because I need to talk to you about something, what I say cannot be repeated to anyone. Not even to your little boyfriend Michael."

Jeremy hesitated when Rich said boyfriend "Michael isn't my boyfriend, he's just my fri-" He was cut off by Rich.

"No one can know! Got it!" Jeremy nodded quickly not wanting Rich to yell anymore. "Good. Now, I have a thing called a squip-"

Jeremy tilted his head "Quick?"

Rich sighed "Not quick...squip" He spelled it out for Jeremy "S. q. u. i. p"

"What's a squip? How come I never heard of it?"

"It's from  Japan. It's a grey oblong pill,Quantum nano-technology CPU. The quantum computer in the pill will travel through your blood until It implants in your brain and it tells you what to do." 

"Super computer? So...it knows everything?" Jeremy was interested in this thing called a squip now.

"Yes, it'll help you to be cool, it'll help you be like me, popular and chill." Rich was getting annoyed with Jeremy now but dealt with him because his squip is calming him down.

"So...it's like, drugs?"

"Jeremy...it's better than drugs. Look, I got a hook up at Payless, bring $600-"

"600 dollars!" 

"Do you want the squip or not Jeremy" Jeremy nodded, "600 dollars by tomorrow." After that Rich left.

Jeremy decided to stay in the bathroom until lunch was over. He was talking to himself in the mirror when he heard someone come into the bathroom, he turned to see who it was and he was met with a tall, light skinned boy in a red hoodie covered in patches.

"Michael!" Jeremy ran over to him and they both hugged, Jeremy pulled away when he felt Michael flinch. "Michael? Are you okay?" He looked up at Michael only to see that his nose and lip were bleeding. His glasses were broken and a bruise was forming around his right eye. "Michael, what happened?" Jeremy had a worried tone in his voice as he spoke.

 Michael shook his head refusing to speak. Well it wasn't that he didn't want to, he couldn't because his braces were broken and piercing through his gums, lips, and tongue.

"Open your mouth Michael." Jeremy was concerned for his friend. He usually talks when something like this happens. When Michael tried to open his mouth he winced and blood spilled out of his mouth. Jeremy's face fell when he saw the blood. "Okay, don't open your mouth...we need to get you to the hospital..."

Jeremy took Michael's hand before he could refuse and dragged him to the nurse's office carefully. The ambulance were called and brought Michael to the hospital. Jeremy wasn't allowed to go with him so for the rest of the day he had to worry about his best friend and pray that he was alright.

As soon as school was out Jeremy rushed out of the school and ran to his house. He told his mom what happened, and since he had his license his mom let him borrow the car to drive to the hospital. He practically sped to the hospital which is usually  30 minutes away but it only took him 10. Luckily he didn't get a ticket despite being pulled over twice by the same cop.

In order to see Michael he had to lie and say he was his boyfriend. The doctor had a strange look on his face but Jeremy didn't think too much of it, well, that was until Jeremy walked into the room to see Jake kissing a sleeping Michael's forehead. Then he realized Jake used the boyfriend card cause he and Michael were dating. He didn't know why but he felt jealous, he was confused because he didn't like Michael that way and definitely didn't like Jake anymore than a friend. 

Jake looked at Jeremy "Oh, hi Jeremy" he said as he stood up starting to head out the door. "I was just leaving so you can be alone with him even though he's sleeping." He left and closed the door behind him.

Jeremy walked over to Michael, he had a weird feeling about him and Jake dating, especially since he was the one who started the rumor that Michael and Jeremy were dating. None of this made sense.

He lost his train of thought when he saw Michael waking up. He eas relieved to see Michael. "Hey Mikie, how are you feeling?"

Michael made a small groaning noise. "How do I look?"

"Like shit"

"That's how I feel. Are my braces gone?" Jeremy didn't realize until now that Michael's braces were gone, he was probably gonna have to get new one's. His teeth were pretty straight (unlike the both of them) for the most part.

"Yeah, they're gone. When I came in Jake was here kissing your forehead...are you two...dating?" Jeremy asked with a questioning voice.

Michael turned away not wanting to look at the boy beside him.

"Mikie..."

"Yes...and no..." Michael sighed, "I did like him...and when he asked me out I said yes. It was going good for the first week...until he started cheating on me with Rich..."

Jeremy sat on the edge of the hospital bed listening to Michael.

"That's when he started being abusive...punching...kicking...hurting me both physically and emotionally.." In a smaller voice he added, "at one point he even raped me..."

That's when Jeremy got pissed. Someone cheated, abused, and raped his best friend. "I'm going to kill him. He's the one who did this to you wasn't it?"

Michael nodded holding back tears "You can't say anything to him though!"

Jeremy's eyes widened "why not?"

"He said if I tell anyone he'll kill the one I love the most..."

Jeremy's face fell. Jake threatened his best friend and said he'll kill the one he loves the most. "I can't leave this be! He's hurting you Michael."

Michael started sobbing, Jeremy immediately pulled the boy into his lap and held him close trying to comfort him by rubbing his back and whispering things in his ear. This is when he realized why he was jealous, he liked his best friend.