Weekends

13- Sonic and Scares- B

"Hey, Brendon. I have a question for uh for you." He seemed slightly out of breath. "Are you alright? You're panting," I was kind of concerned. "I'm fine. Does admin know about how people treat you, like Steve and them?" I nodded at him and watched his expression change. His mouth formed the shape of an o, and I swear I saw anger cloud his bright blue eyes. I felt dread fill my stomach at the thought of the attention that he might bring to this.

"We're going to admin," he stated, taking hold of my wrist and pulling me towards the office. The feeling in my stomach multiplied by two. I felt nauseous. It took me a few minutes before I built up the confidence to tell him to stop. I tapped his hand because his grip on me was so tight that it was making my wrist hurt. He stopped walking. "What," he asked, frustration clear in his voice. "You're hurting me." He looked down at my wrist and saw that his knuckles were turning white from the pressure. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, letting go of me. My wrist had red marks from where his fingers had latched onto me. "The bell is going to ring in 2 minutes," I told him as I walked away.

"Brendon, I'm sorry for pulling on your arm," he said. I glanced down and saw that he was about to grab my arm again. I made eye contact with him as he pulled his hand away. There was something different about the way he was looking at me. "I'll see you at lunch."

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"Brendon! Hey, do you want to go to Sonic after school? I um I'll pay. I just- I'm really sorry for grabbing you this morning, and I want to make it up to you. I don't even know if you eat that shit, so we can go somewhere else i-if you want." Dallon rushed over to me. I laughed slightly at his worried face. "Why're you laughing? I-" I shushed him quietly and began writing on my whiteboard. "I'll go with you. Maybe before we leave, we can head over to admin," I suggested. I'd been going over this in my head for the past two hours. I trusted Dallon to take care of this. Dallon put a hand to his chest and dramatically let out a breath.

"I'm really sorry about this morning. I was angry," he told me. "What were you angry about?" He sighed, about to speak before he stopped himself. "I don't know. The stupid administration not doing anything about bullying, my friends for being assholes, and you being so damn pure but people still take advantage of you. I just- can I- can I put my arm around your shoulder? I don't want to have a repeat of this morning, but I really want to put my arm around you right now," he laughed nervously. I nodded.

I quickly fell into step with Dallon as he talked to me about what was on the menu for lunch as we walked to the cafeteria.

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Nerves were eating me alive as I made my way to Dallon's last class when the bell rang. I didn't know what Dallon was going to say to the administration to get them to acknowledge the bullies. They've known about everything for a while now, so I had no idea how he was going to change any of that.

"Hey, are you ready for me to roast everyone in adminis-" Dallon said as he walked up to me but stopped the second he saw my face. "Woah, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you alright?" I nodded but stayed where I was. "Brendon, we don't have to go today or ever if you don't want to." I shook my head. "Hey, it's okay. We can skip it," he told me. "No, I'm okay with going." He sighed. "Brendon," Dallon started, "you're about to cry." I sniffled and wiped my eyes. "I just don't know how they're going to react to someone telling them how to do their jobs, and I don't want them to be against me because of it."

"Let's talk to guidance, okay? I think that you need to talk to your counselor more than anything. Do you know who your counselor is?" I nodded and stepped forward to hug him. He hesitated before holding me close. I felt like he only did that because I was fragile and he didn't want to break me. "Y'know, I can wait outside the guidance office if you want to talk to your counselor in private," he offered. I broke away from the hug and wrote my response. "Can you go in with me? I don't feel comfortable with my counselor." Dallon nodded and looked down to my hand.

"So, Brendon, why did you want to meet with me today," my counselor asked. My hands were shaking as I tried to write. Dallon sat next to me and put his hand on mine. "Do you want me to talk to her," he asked quietly. I nodded and shrunk further back in the chair. "He's terrified," Dallon told my counselor simply. She stared at him with unimpressed eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?" The look on Dallon's face was full of fury. "He gets bullied so much, miss. He told me that Steve Harrison even goes as far as cornering him behind the gym almost daily and kicking his shins. He's scared to go anywhere on campus without someone there to protect him because someone in that group of bullies is bound to be around the next corner," Dallon explained this without breaking eye contact with the counselor. "Well, I had no idea, but why isn't he telling me this?"

Both of their eyes were on me. "He doesn't spe-" She refused to let Dallon talk for me. "It's okay, sweetie. You can talk to me. You're safe in here." I found myself running out of the small room as she opened her mouth to pressure me to speak again.

"Brendon, where are you going," Dallon called from behind me. I stopped running and turned to look at him. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. He saw this and rushed over to me. "No no no. No crying right now, Bren. We're going to Sonic, remember? How can you cry while waiting in line for tater tots?" I laughed and nodded my head while wiping my eyes. "I really love tater tots." He took my hand in his own and pressed it to his chest. "Do you feel that," he asked, my hand resting over his heart. I nodded with confusion present on my face. "Right now, that beats for you, sweet boy."

My smile hurt my face and my skin felt hot. He grinned at down me and held my hand in his. "Let's go to Sonic, Bren." I leaned into his side as we walked out to his car.

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After going to Sonic and spending time with Dallon, I found myself in the best mood that I'd been in in the past year. I didn't want to get out of his car for two reasons. The first one was because I didn't want our time together to end. The second was because I saw my dad angrily leaning against the front door.

"Hey, Brendon. Before you leave, I just want to say that I had a lot of fun hanging out with you, and I'd love to do it again sometime if you're up to it." I nodded and squeezed his hand. "Thank you for everything."

I hesitantly got out of the car and walked up the driveway, turning and waving to Dallon as he drove away. "Hey, Dad." My father didn't even bother looking at my board before pulling me inside the house by grabbing my bicep. "Where were you," he shouted, causing me to want to cower in a corner. "I was meeting with a teacher," I told him. He shook his head and took my board out of my hand and threw it. "How the hell does it take you 3 hours to talk to a teacher? Do you have any idea how late it is?" I looked down at my discarded board, so I didn't see his hand flying towards my face. It didn't register what had happened until I felt the stinging sensation across my cheek.

He'd never done that before.

"What have I told you about lying," he screamed. "What have I told you, Brendon?!" I flinched as he rose his hand again. "Get out of my sight, you waste," he seethed. I nodded and ran to my room, my heart beating so loud in my ears that I couldn't even hear the thumping of my feet on the stairs.

Would it be weird to text Dallon even though I just saw him?

My hands were shaking and my glasses had fallen off my face when I was downstairs, leaving my vision blurry. It felt like breathing was a chore.

Brenny_boy12: Dallon, I'm scared