when you met me

imbeciles

Imbeciles

Dud slipped off his glasses as soon as the bell sounded. He hated the feeling of touching his eyes, or even thinking about it, so contacts were out of the equation. And yes, Mara was right. He couldn’t see much further than a foot in front of him before his vision got blurry. 

“Last day.” Students seemed to whisper on repeat as Mara walked down the hallway, feeling a jittering in her stomach. She had no plan, and yet she knew exactly what she was doing as soon as she got out of school. Her army boots and dark red top screamed the statement she’d kept through the entirety of secondary school: DO NOT TALK TO ME. Only her friendship with Dud watered down her well fought for persona.

She couldn’t wait to open up and be herself. Who she was around Dud with other people. But she refused to do it with the idiots in her school. No, she’d wait to find people out there, who were on her level. Who actually knew things.

She walked in time to the beat of the song that boomed in her ears. She couldn’t hear a thing. That’s why Dud had to grab her shoulder to get her to stop. He wore the usual. A shirt with exactly two buttons on the collar, and shoes that were definitely not designer. She put her headphones off of her head and onto her neck. “New headphones?” Dud asked as they walked together towards the cafeteria. Mara nodded, “My newest ‘sorry, but let’s never mention this again’ present from the parents.” She said.

Mara often talked about things she would like in casual conversation around her parents, waiting for them to have a blow out and get it for her. She had a bass guitar now, and loved the sound so much that (she hadn’t told Dud) she was convinced of making a go of a band.

A sudden BANG caught Dud’s attention at the end of the hallway. He looked at Mara, who shrugged, “Last day.” She said, “May as well try one last time to be a secondary school hero.” Mara didn’t enjoy watching Dud getting hurt, but what she enjoyed even less was the look of guilt he had on his face every time he didn’t intervene.

Dud sprinted towards the end of the hall, where Riley Whitehall was trying to coax some money out of Everett Coleman using brute force. What Dud admired about Everett was the fact that he never handed over anything Riley asked of him. He got beat up several times a week since he arrived in the school, but Riley would have to snatch the money out of his unconscious, bloody fingers before Everett would submit.

Dud pushed Riley’s shoulder right before his fist was about to meet with Everett’s unimpressed face. Riley, red faced, as he always was, turned to Dud. “Come on man, it’s the last day.” He tried to reason. Riley rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it’s the last day. So how about you save yourself a heroic beating.” Riley mocked.

What he didn’t notice, as usual, was that Everett had taken the opportunity to grab his bag and make a run for the cafeteria. Riley growled like a frustrated gorilla and tried to go after Everett, but was tripped by Dud. “Can’t we just put this stupid bullying behind us?” Dud asked, in his most condescending tone.

Riley chopped at Dud’s legs with his branch like arm, and Dud fell back, inviting Riley to hound on him with no compassion. Dud heard his glasses crack and whispered a curse as he rolled over to try to get away from Riley’s excessive beating. A crowd was starting to gather, and Dud kicked Riley in his red face as he stumbled back into the legs of the crowd.

Mara finished off her crisps as she walked towards the crime scene. She put on her headphones and nodded at the new Chemistry teacher, who was the only one bothered about the fight. He was new, after all. Every other teacher had given up at this point.  You can’t protect a group of imbeciles that big.

She parted the crowd, reached into her bag, and pulled out a can. She glanced at Dud, who was bloody and preparing himself for another round, and Riley, who was less bloody, and ready to kill. “Oi, pig face.” She called out to get the attention of the animal. Riley turned to her, and she sprayed him with a high concentrate pepper spray. That, ironically, she had made in Chemistry class.

The crowd dispersed, not wanting to be hit with any spray, leaving a screaming Riley on the ground, and Dud getting up to walk with her back down the hallway. After a minute of trying to look strong, Dud grabbed Mara’s arm to help him walk. “I broke my bloody glasses.” He said, “My Dad’s gonna murder me.” He used his free arm to wipe his bleeding nose.