i shouldn't . . [ B X B ]

. three .

there was a hesitation, then a sudden small camera snap that echoed through winnie's brain. it rang in his ears, as tears began to fill his eyes. and without him realizing it, he burst out crying as he fell to his knees, his legs in a w position.

the posse laughed, though cutter didn't. his expression was still unreadable, as he closed his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. "let's go." he spoke without looking at winnie, walking off, down the hallway.

lyle scooted forward and wrapped his arms around the bear, who pulled up his boxers from his thighs quickly, so lyle didn't see him.

it's not like he was ashamed of his size. he wasn't too large, nor small. but cutter now had winnie wrapped around his finger. blackmail. cutter could do anything with that photo. anything.

the pair sat there for a while, no sound except for the harsh sobs of the terrified pooh.

[ . . . . ]

"bye, winnie..! come over tonight okay..? mom will let you sleep over - she's going out tonight and she doesn't want me in the house by myself anyway!" lyle waved as he began to walk towards a white SUV, where his mother was behind the wheel, who also gave the bear a friendly wave.

"sure thing, mouse!.." winnie smiled brightly, waving at the boy, then saluting his mother.

he walked off, heading towards the park so he could catch up on all the work he missed, as usual. sometimes people stopped by to help him when he looked stuck, or confused. he owed a lot of people for his excellent grades.

laying down in the grass, winnie pulled out a notebook, his papers, and a pencil from his plain white, yet dirty book bag. he had gotten all of these things from his school for free, his teachers providing.

he pressed his first paper, math, against his notebook so he had something hard to write on.

senior work was hard. pre-cal was harder. it took 3 people, and 2 hours to complete just that paper. and he wasn't even confident all his answers were correct, but he'd fix them tomorrow when he asked his math teacher.

next. honors US history.
next. honors english IV
next. forensic science.
next. french II.
next. creative writing.
next. Web Development IV.

it was mighty dark by the time the boy finished. he didn't have a watch, but he assumed it to be about 7 or 8 o'clock.

he'd never skip class again. whether it be purposely or accidentally. it was too much work to make up his classes.

winnie sighed as he rolled over in the grass, putting his hands behind his head. looking up to the clear sky, counting stars.

the boy reached a hand up, holding his palm open to the sky.

take me.

he didn't quite want to die. but it was too hard to keep living. the struggle for food, lack of parental affection, bullying of cutter..

speaking of cutter..

cutter didn't even stand by to gloat about making winnie cry. usually he's make fun of the boy when he was about to cry, but when he actually did, cutter would quickly leave winnie alone and walk off.

maybe he assumed that if winnie cried too loud, he'd attract a teacher. although the teachers were scared of cutter anyway, instead of vice versa.

even the principal wouldn't expell scissors, because he loved his own family very much.

winnie was glad to have lyle. the sun of his day. his umbrella if it was raining. lyle's bright smile cheered anyone up. even cutter had a flick of the corner of his mouth when lyle laughed nearby, but quickly went to pick on them.