Happiness Starts Somewhere

Chapter 1: Halloween

                        Mill Valley, Pennsylvania
                         October 31st, 1968
                         7:30am

     A loud roar jolted Kyle awake, "ugh early again!"
    He groaned as he pulled himself out of bed, throwing on a dirty pair of jeans, with his white T-shirt. "Kyle, it's 7:30!" His mother yelled from downstairs. "I'm coming!!"
       Kyle grabbed his varsity jacket and threw it on before heading downstairs. "Morning." He grumbles.
   "Kyle, were you and your friends up all night again, practicing for the game that is this weekend, you boys need to take a break, you push yourselves too hard." She complains as she starts making a lunch for Kyle. "Sorry mom! Tommy's here! Gotta run!"
   Kyle calls as he slips on his boots-heading out of the door.
     Mrs. Davidson smiles as Kyle's friends wave at her, "good morning Mrs. Davidson."
       They called out from the window, "come on Tom, just drive already! She's driving me nuts!"

    "Alright, let's go girls." Tommy muttered as he started the engine, driving away from Kyle's house, going over the speed limit, with a grin.
      "Smoothies anyone?"

     "Oh yeah! We're down for smoothies."
      Alfred Calvin looked out the window, smirking.
  "Hey Tom! Look who's walking to school today."
Tommy looked at their favorite target, Stella Nicholls. He smirks and pulled up behind her
   "What's up, freak." Tommy gave her a wink.
    Kyle looked out the window, staring at her with look of pity for her until she looked back at him.
     "Hey, you are oddly quiet back there, what crawled up your ass?" Tommy asked.
      "Nothing, I'm fine." kyle lied as he continued to stare at Stella.
"He's been drooling over Nicholls since Middle School, what do you see in her man, she's a freak! She's not even anyone's type in Mill Valley."
      Kyle rolls his eyes at his friends, "I'm not explaining myself again to you two, so just drop it." He huffs out.
   "I think I know what's wrong with you Kyle, I don't think you had enough brain cells in the womb." Tommy muttered as he pulled into the parking lot.
     "Fuck you!" Kyle says as he flips him off.

     "Well aren't you a peach this morning." His friends say as they hopped out of Tommy's car.
    "Let's go girls, I'm thirsty."
        Kyle groaned as he followed his friends into the smoothie shop, still annoyed with his friends.
      Once they ordered their smoothies and found a empty booth, they sat down and waited.
      "You still on for tonight?" Tommy asks as he took a sip of his smoothie. 
         "Well I am." Alfred says as he slurps his smoothie, smirking maliciously.

  Kyle was spacing out, staring at the only person who gets him going. Once Stella Nicholls walked inside the smoothie shop, Kyle was instantly nervous for her, since he's around Tommy and Alfred.
     "oh damn, our day is looking up Tom, look who the cat dragged in." Alfred said with a wink.
      Tommy turned to stare and he also smirked once he saw Stella Nicholls, waiting in line for a smoothie.
   "Whatcha got there, Freak?" He said, with a nasty smirk as he snatched the smoothie out of her hands.
"Tommy, give it back." Stella says as she reached for it. "Give it! It's for my dad! He's the sheriff remember!" She added, arms crossed satisfied.
     "Boo Fucking Hoo." He mocks as he dumps the smoothie on the floor, "Opps! My bad."
   "You dropped something, freak." Tommy laughs out. "You gonna cry, freak?" Alfred asked.
     "Come on guys, we have to be at school by 8."
  He says as he saw the hurt look on her face, he noticed the sadness in her voice. "Please just..leave me alone." She pleads as she roughly wipes her tears.
     "Get lost, freak."

     Stella ran out of the Smoothie Shop, in a flood of tears. She let out a loud broken sob as she sat by the curb. She pulled off her glasses, wiping away tears that still continued to roll down her cheeks.
     A man passed by her, and shook his head as he continued on his way. "Don't cry,things will get better." He says as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "get to school honey, be safe."
Stella sniffles and wipes her dried tears and rose up from her spot on the curb before continuing to walk towards Mill Valley Township High.
     She spotted Milner's Pontiac Catalina, speeding up towards the parking lot.
    The three jocks got out of the car, slamming the doors shut with a loud *slam*
    "Tommy-!" Ruth shrieked. "You were supposed to pick me up, you jerk!" She pouts.
           He stroked her cheek, "stop pouting Doll face, how about this after school, I'll take you around town and maybe dinner tonight, if you don't piss me off, deal?"
        Ruth squeals with delight, "deal." She shrieks.
  Just as Tommy was about to walk away, Ruth flung her arms around tommy, hugging him tightly which always made him uncomfortable, and she knew it.
    "Get off me." He growled as he shoved her off him, glaring at her. "See you later, baby." She Cooed as she pecked Tommy on the cheek, skipping inside.
   "Man, how does a douchebag like you manage to get literally all the girls in this school?" Alfred asked with annoyance.
     "Does it always work?" He asked.
Tommy shrugs, "well if you aren't ugly then I guess it could, why who you planning on flirting with?"
Alfred soon went a deep shade of red.
    Tommy snickers and goes to tell Kyle but he ran off once he saw Stella Nicholls, yet again.

  "Stella! Hey stella wait up!" Stella continues to ignore Davidson until she felt a large hand grab her wrist and he pulled her towards him.
     "S-Sorry, I-um, just wanted to- know what you are doing on Friday night, you going to Homecoming?"
Stella blinked rapidly, she couldn't believe it, Kyle Davidson stuttering. At me.
    I thought it was cute until I realized it must be a prank, she rolled her eyes and shoved him out of her path. "I'm not going to homecoming, I'm a freak remember." She snarls as she stalks away from him.
    Alfred stood behind him, snickering.
   "Don't even start Al." He sighed out, running a hand through his hair several times.
         "Dude she definitely rejected you, hard." He says with a innocent smile. "Shut up."

    Tommy walked over towards them, "what are you girls doing, we've got history..let's roll girls."
Kyle sighed as he followed the boys into their class
He sat next to Stella, it's been awhile since they've been partners let alone in the same class.
   She was so worried about her paper she barely noticed she plopped in a seat next to Kyle Davidson.
            "Hi." He says with a small smile
Stella looked up from her work and groaned, "uh why do I always do this to myself, I'm so dumb."
       Kyle felt a piece of paper hit the back of his head.
He spun around and saw Tommy, looking at him with disgust, "you definitely didn't form all your brain cells in the womb, that has to explain it."

                  Mr. Troy's History class was the Worst he's ever had, their Teacher has one of those voices that would just make you fall asleep. History was always Kyle's least favorite subject growing up.
   The period continued to drag on, he groaned as he listened to the clock slowly tick away. "Come on."
  "I'm starving." Alfred whines from behind him.
    Kyle rolls his eyes at Alfred, "like I'm not hungry."
He whispered to himself until he stared into Stella's eyes, staring at her while she worked.
   He lost his train of thought once the lunch bell rang. "Finally." Alfred says, "I'm starved."
   Stella pulled her book in her bags and headed out of the history class, heading over to catch up with her friends until A powerful force knocked her over, she felt two hands on her back push her to the ground. She landed face-first, knocking her glasses off her face.
          "Happy Halloween, Little Freak."

   "Stella!" Chuck gasps, looking to see who pushed her over.

"Enjoying school so far, losers." Tommy said.

    "Leave us alone, Milner." He growls

"Ooh.. I'm so scared." Tommy snarls as he glides over towards Chuck, making him flinch.
     "You are lucky that I can't carry my bat around, because if I had it right now, I'd beat the shit outta you." He hissed as he smirks with satisfaction once he saw the look of terror on their faces.
   "You idiot! You could've broken her nose!"
Auggie says, puffing out his chest, bravely.
"Boo Fucking hoo, she's fine."

    Chuck angrily growls at Tommy as he swaggered over towards Ruth, pulling her close to his chest, "lunch?"

they walked into the cafeteria, hand in hand, followed by Kyle & Alfred.
Auggie helps Stella up, "New plan guys, We're getting Milner back if it's the last thing we do."

   "Is it something less disgusting then throwing burning shit?!" Asked Auggie hopeful.
   "Yes Auggie, this is something less disgusting than what I originally planned, and it's definitely risky but Milner will never ever mess with us again."
Chuck said with a grin.

"Happy Halloween, Milner."  He snarls as he watched the school bully swagger over towards the salad bar along with Ruth.

This Halloween Tommy Milner will learn that bullying has consequences.....