four eyes | claire standish ✅

twenty six

Andrew opens his mouth before closing, not finding the answer. However, Allison speaks on his behalf. "He can't think for himself."

"She's right...do you guys know what, uh, what I did to get in here? I taped Larry Lester's buns together."

"That was you?" Angel questions. Her eyes widen slightly, her fingers beginning to fidget.

"You know him?"

"Yeah..." Angel shivers, a feeling running up her back. She hides her face in Claire's neck, hoping doing so will help force the images Andrew will create from her head.

"Well, then you know how hairy he is, right? Well, when they pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off and some, some skin too." Angel moves her body closer to Claire's, the redhead wrapping her arm around the girl in response.

 "The bizarre thing is I did it for my old man. I tortured him because I wanted him to think I was cool. He's always going off about, you know, when he was in school. All the things he did. I got the feeling he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone. And... I'm sitting in the locker room, taping up my knee.

"Larry's undressing a couple lockers down. And he's kinda skinny, weak. And I started thinking about my father, and his attitude about weakness. The next thing I knew, I uh, I jumped on top of him and started wailing on him." A whimper passes Angel's lips, not liking the image in her head. "And my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And afterwards, when I was sittin' in Vernon's office, all I could think about was Larry's father. And Larry havin' to go home and explain what happened to him.

"The humiliation...fucking humiliation he must have felt. I mean, how do you apologize for something like that? There's no way. It's all because of me and my old man. Oh God, I fucking hate him! He's like this...he's like this mindless machine that I can't even relate to anymore...'Andrew, you've got to be number one! I won't tolerate any losers in this family...Your intensity is for shit! Win. Win! WIN!!!' You son of a bitch! You know, sometimes, I wish my knee would give...and I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And he could forget all about me..."

By the end of his monologue, Andrew has tears flowing down his face, as does nearly every other teen around him.

"I think your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling," John states. It forces a dry chuckle from Andrew's lips, the athlete shaking his head tiredly.