Happier

Chapter 4

He couldn’t stop staring at them.

Aaron felt his heart flutter when he saw Mark.

How Mark looked.

He was so distracted he didn’t hear Evan trying to get his attention.

“Aaron?”

“Aaron?”

“Aaron!”

Aaron jumped and turned to Evan. Evan looked worried as he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Oh uh yeah. Sorry just distracted.”

He heard a huff and turned to Delirious; who appeared to be pouting.

“Delirious are you okay?”

He only got a huff as response.  

Nogla than laughed and said, “Don’t mind him. He’s just pouting because you were focused on that Mark guy and his friends instead of him.”

“Oh”

“So do you know those guy or were you just checking them out,” Evan asked.

Aaron blushed but answered, “I used to live around here when I was younger, and they were my friends before I moved back home.”

That got Delirious’s attention. “Wait you used to live here?”

“Yes I lived here from second grade to middle school.”

“Then why did you leave?”

Aaron went silent and looked down. Delirious quickly apologized. Aaron hadn’t even realized he was crying until Evan wiped away his tears. Aaron tried to apologize but Evan stopped him.

“Don’t ever apologize for something like this. It’s okay.”

Evan and Delirious both hugged Aaron until he calmed down. Everyone at the table looked worried. Aaron took several deep breaths and looked up. He stopped breathing. Mark, Bob, and Wade were all looking at him in shock.

Aaron is snapped out of his thoughts by the bell ringing. It’s time for drama club. Aaron said goodbye to the group except Evan and Delirious; they wanted to make sure he got to class safe. They help Aaron get threw the hoard of people and got him to the drama room. He said goodbye to them and headed inside. He saw Mark sitting in a corner but he seemed upset about something.

Aaron took a deep breath and started to head over to him. He was ready to talk to him. He was nervous but excited. His path was cut of by Bob and Wade. Wade looked sad but Bob looked pissed. Aaron was so happy to see them and wanted to hug them but the looks they were giving him threw him off.

“Hi Bob. Hi Wade.”

“Don’t ‘hi’ us asshole!”, Bob stated.

Aaron was shocked.

“I don’t know why you’re back but I wish you had stayed in England. We can’t stop you from being in our club but we can stop you from talking to Mark. If you even so much as say hi to him I’ll personally kick your ass! Understood?!”

Aaron couldn’t bring himself to talk so he just shook his head. He was holding back his tears.

Bob looked at him one more time before saying, “You should just leave this club and this country.” He then turned and walked away with Wade behind him.

Aaron ran out of the room and into the nearest bathroom. He let himself cry and fall to the ground. Suddenly He felt someone grab his shoulder. He looked up at the person and could see a worried Delirious threw his tears.

“Aaron are you okay?”

Aaron just let out sad cries and buried his head in Delirious’s chest. Delirious rubbed Aarons back until he calmed down, then he picked Aaron up bride style. Delirious started taking him somewhere but Aaron didn’t notice until it got really cold. He looked around and saw that they were in an ice rink. There were people on the rink playing hockey.

Delirious sat Aaron on a bench close to the rink and ran to the side.

“EVAN! EVAN GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!”

All the hockey players paused as Evan started heading over to them. He laughed and yelled, “What the hell do you want!” Once he was close enough to see Aaron he quickly became worried. He started going faster.

He turned to Delirious,“Is Aaron okay?”

“I don’t know I found him in the restroom like this.” Aaron noticed that Evan’s jersey said VANOSS on the back.

Evan and Delirious were on either side of Aaron trying to calm him down.
Delirious had an arm around him and Evan was rubbing his head.

Evan asked quietly, “ Aaron, can you tell us what’s wrong?”

Aaron sniffled a bit and whimpered, “Not here.”

Delirious and Evan shook their heads in understanding.

Delirious asked, “We could head to my truck. Would that be okay?”

Aaron thought for a moment. He really did want to talk to someone about this. He shook his head yes and they lead him to Delirious’s truck.

When they got to the parking lot, Aaron could tell which vehicle was Delirious’s right away. It was a blue, just like his hoodie, but had random stuff spray painted on it. Like whoo-deeny, and TEDDY BEAR, and HAAAAAAAAAAA! It made him smile.

They all got in the truck and Aaron broke down. He told them everything from how he meet Mark, Bob, and Wade, to how he realized he had a crush on Mark, to his dad beating him and forcing him to move, to his dad destroying his phone, and finally what had happened in Drama club.

They listened patiently and were a little pissed at how badly Aaron was treated.

“Okay”, Evan started, “You are not going back to drama class.”

“But-

“No buts.”

“Then where am I going to go?”

“ With me and we can watch Evan practice,” Delirious said.

Aaron thought for a second and agreed.

“Great!”, Delirious cheered.

They all laughed and headed back inside. As they were heading back to the ice rink, Aaron lied and said he forgot something in the Drama club and needed to go grab it. Evan and Delirious wanted to go with him but he promised he’d be okay and would meet them in them at the ice rink. They reluctantly agreed.

Aaron looked around the Drama room and saw Mark by himself looking over some papers. He looked around and saw Bob and Wade were busy talking to a blond girl. He sneaked his way over to Mark but before he could get to him he was grabbed. It was Bob. They forced him into the hallway and forced him against a wall.

“WHAT DID I TELL YOU!”, Bob screamed. “DIDN’T I TELL YOU IF WE CAUGHT YOU ANYWHERE NEAR HIM WE'D BEAT YOUR ASS!”

“Yes but-

Aaron was caught off by Bob’s hand punching him across the face. Bob hit him again and again and again.

“Hey!”

A guy with green hair and an irish accent appeared. “Bob what the hell are you doing!”

Bob turned to Jack and said, “Do you remember that English prick that hurt Mark? Well this is him.” Jack’s eyes turned dark and he punched Aaron too.

Jack turned to Aaron and said, “You are a worthless human being.” They left Aaron in the hallway in tears with a busted lip, black eye, and a nose bleed.