New Kids (Prinxiety/Logicality)

Chapter Seventeen

Virgil heard a knock on his door a few minutes later and opened it, letting Roman inside. He looked disgruntled, and for a moment, Virgil wondered why until he spotted someone behind him.

"My dad wouldn't let me leave him alone in our house," Roman grumbled, arms crossed.

"So this is your half-brother?" Virgil said, finally giving the kid a proper look instead of a glance. His eyes widened. "Remus?"

"Roman! I had no idea that you were dating my old friend Virgil here!" Remus cackled.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Roman gawked at the two of them.

"I used to go to his school before I moved here," Virgil muttered. "He was just about the only person who... acknowledged me there."

"You guys are friends, then?"

"Oh, yeah! We're super buddy-buddy and all that good stuff! Isn't that right?" Remus leered.

"I said that you acknowledged me. Not that we were friends." Virgil crossed his arms and stared at his feet.

"So he was basically a horrible person, or..." Roman started. Virgil nodded. "That's to be expected, then," the princely teenager said.

"Oh, that's a bit harsh," Remus pouted. "I didn't do anything."

"The only times that you even talked to me were when you told me to kill myself," Virgil snapped back. Roman's eyes were darting back and forth between them, like he was watching a tennis match.

"I never phrased it that way! I merely said things along the lines of 'no one would notice if you disappeared since you're not a huge presence here to begin with' and all tha—wait, I see the problem."

"Oh, do you?" Virgil grumbled. "Took you long enough."

"If you didn't like it, you could've told me to stop," Remus went on, cackling.

"Oh, shut up. I did!"

"Only because you agreed with me and you didn't want to hear the truth. Look, I was doing you a favor by being honest with you! No one else was doing it anyway, so someone had to."

"Okay, that's enough. I'm really sorry, Virgil," Roman sighed, grabbing his half-brother by the collar and dragging him back out the door. "I guess I'll come back when he's gone. It's just the weekend, after all."

"Yeah, my mom actually needs me. She wouldn't survive if I disappeared for too long," Remus said as Roman continued to drag him away.

"It's okay, Ro, there's no way you could've known about us," Virgil muttered, scratching the back of his neck. He closed the door and sighed, sitting down. Why did they end up being half-brothers? Literally anybody else. Why them?

-

The weekend was finally over. Remy hated weekends, mainly because he was left in his house all day with his dad until his mom came back at night.

He got the the bus stop just in time and immediately noticed that Deceit looked anxious up until he'd spotted Remy, then breathed out a sigh of relief. That's weird.

They sat down next to each other and Deceit asked him, "So, how was your weekend?"

"Why do you want to know?" Remy asked, immediately on guard.

"No reason. I just... well, I may have screwed some things up a bit on Friday and I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Deceit said, blushing slightly.

"You. Worried about... me," Remy raised an eyebrow. Did he somehow figure out about his life at home? "You going to explain why, or..."

"Um... never mind. Just forget I said anything," De said, staring out the window. He didn't say anything the rest of the bus ride, but Remy did notice how heavy the blush was across his face.

"Already done," Remy shrugged, but was, in reality, still deep in thought wondering what it was about.

-

He sort of understood when they got to school and he opened his locker. A note fell out onto the floor (how had that even gotten in there? Had someone pushed in in through the slits on the top?) and he picked it up, slightly confused.

You should just go die, it's not like anyone would care.

Right. Well, too bad I don't give a crap, Remy thought to himself. He rolled his eyes at this pathetic attempt to make him feel... bad about himself? Is that what that was? Who even gets kicks out of stuff like that?

He crumpled up the note and tossed it in the recycling bin. He spotted Vicky across the hallway watching him. When she noticed his gaze, she turned away just as he put two and two together.

"So this is what De was talking about. He screwed up with Vicky and now she's trying to get revenge through me," Remy said to himself aloud. "Only, why me? I mean, he has been somewhat decent towards me, so he might consider us friends or something, or at least Vicky night think so. She must think that she can hurt me like this to get back at De for messing up whatever it is they were up to together."

Remy laughed to himself. It really was funny. Maybe he should pretend not to have figured it out so quickly and just annoy Vicky by not reacting to the notes at all, since there were bound to be more.

-

He was absolutely right; come lunchtime, there was another one. He was sure that Vicky was watching from someplace, so he may as well put on a good show for her.

The world would be better off without you.

Tch. Was that really the best she could come up with? What a basic way to tell someone to kill themselves. She could at least try to be a bit more creative.

Remy actually laughed aloud, and threw out the note on his way to the cafeteria.

Once he got there, he sat down next to Deceit.

"Oh, hi Remy," De said upon noticing him.

"Hey. Oh, remember what you said this morning?" Remy started, deciding to cut to the chase just so he could thank him for the subtle heads-up that something had been on its way.

"Um... Yeah. Sorry about that again," he scratched behind his neck and seemed to sink into his seat.

"Don't apologize, I wanted to thank you!" Remy laughed. De raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so turns out she's trying to get back at you by telling me to kill myself through notes she's slipping into my locker."

"You're kidding," Deceit's face went slack. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for her to attack you like that! This is my fault, I never should've ended things with her—"

"Calm down, it's okay. Remember how I said I was thanking you?" the sleep-deprived boy put a hand on the other's shoulder.

"I—oh yeah. Sorry."

"You know, you don't have to apologize for existing," Remy smiled. "I just wanted to let you know that I was grateful for the heads-up, you know? It's just her luck that I won't believe a thing she says. I'm totally fine, see? You'd be able to tell if I wasn't."

De let out a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that." For maybe the first time in his life, Remy saw Deceit smile. Not a smirk that made it seem as though he thought he was better than everyone else, but a real, genuine smile. It was actually kind of cute.

I'm totally staring, aren't I?