Ease My Mind (Skrillmau5)

Project

A/N: Just giving a warning right now that this story will contain mentions of self-harm, drug use, suicide, homophobia, and sex. Turn back now if any of those bother you. Thank you.

Sonny Moore wasn’t your average sixteen year old. He was a quiet, shy boy while the other boys his age were loud and very outgoing. Sonny was made fun of a lot for this – something he couldn’t help. Sonny was just quiet and shy by nature. He tried so many times in his life to be louder and more open, but he just couldn’t do it. He was afraid to speak up – and for that, he was bullied a lot.

Little Sonny rushed through the halls in school, hoping not to run into his once childhood friend Joel Zimmerman. Joel and Sunny used to be great friends when they were little, but then something changed. In junior high school, Sonny noticed that Joel was talking to him less and less and eventually, he stopped talking to him until the eighth grade. One day in the eighth grade, Joel had slammed Sonny into the poor boy’s locker and laughed at him when he cried.

“J…Joel! Let me out!” Sonny cried, banging on the locker door.

“Go fuck yourself, faggot,” Joel laughed and walked away with his friends, leaving poor Sonny alone.

“Why are you doing this to me?!” The raven-haired preteen wailed loudly, “I thought we were friends!”

Sonny shivered at the horrible memory and entered his last class of the day – English. The teen found his seat in the back of the classroom and sat down, opening up his notebook. This was the only class he had Joel in and to be honest, he was scared to death to see his childhood friend. Usually after class, especially on Fridays since the teacher would leave early, Joel would keep Sonny back and punch him a few times.

Sonny looked up at where Joel usually sat, only to find the short-haired teen laughing with his “friends.” Sonny frowned. He wanted the old Joel back – the Joel that never hit him, who never said nasty things to him, who actually still cared about him. That Joel was long gone and poor little Sonny almost started to cry at that thought, but the teacher snapped him back to reality.

“Okay, class. Today, we are going to work on a big project. This will be your final before winter break, so listen closely because if you fail this, you will basically fail this class,” the old lady spoke at the front of the class, placing a piece of gray hair behind her ear.

“For this project, you will have partners –“

Before the teacher could continue, she was interrupted by the students chattering – excited that they could have partners for this project.

“–but I will be choosing who you will be partnered with,” the teacher smirked as she watched the students groan in annoyance.

“But first, I will explain what the project is. For this project, you will have to read Julius Caesar and answer these worksheets,” the teacher held up a big pack of worksheets. She sighed as more students groaned in annoyance.

“I know, I know. It’s a lot of work,” she said, putting the packet back on her desk, “that’s why I’m partnering you all up. Now, I will tell you who your partners are.”

Sonny listened carefully, hoping that he was paired with someone nice. He didn’t know anyone else in the class besides Joel, despite being in the class for a whole semester. He was glad that he read Julius Caesar last year on his own. He understood most of the story, so he could easily answer the questions on his own if he needed to.

“– and Sonny More and Joel Zimmerman.”

Sonny stared at the teacher in fear as she called his and Joel’s names. He was partnered up with Joel? This wasn’t going to be good.