It's Harder Breathing Next To You // KELLIC

1

'I hate this', I thought to myself as I walked up to the large, daunting building. This school was about 10 times bigger than the school at my home town and that terrified me. Back home I had to deal with 5 people in my grade. Sure, they hated me and would pick on me every day, but it was bearable. I hate to think what this new school would bring. I had a plan though. I was going to just fade into the background and hope that everyone ignored my pathetic existence.

As I walked through the crowded halls I silently cursed my Dad for making us move from our quiet town in Michigan across the country to San Diego. He said he wanted a 'change of scenery' but in reality people started to ask questions about the bruises that were covering me. My Dad was smart though, he learnt to only hit me where my shirt covered so that wasn't a problem anymore. The final straw was when the local alcohol shop refused to sell him any more beer after he went on a drunken rampage through town one night. I remember that night clearly. He came home mad, very mad.

"Watch it." Some random snapped at me when I accidentally bumped shoulders with them in the hallway.

"Sorry." I mumbled in my usual quiet voice and continued on my way.

The bell rang and I stopped dead in my tracks after realizing that I have absolutely no idea where I'm going. I looked at my schedule and tried to decipher the code. What? Floor what? Room...2? I looked around helplessly but there was no one there anymore. I looked back down at the schedule and a minute later my code-breaking session was interrupted when my schedule got yanked from my fingertips.

"Hey!" I said as a reflex and looked up at the schedule stealer.

A Hispanic looking boy who was quite a bit taller than me was standing on a skateboard, rocking side to side on it and analysing the piece of paper. He looked like the kind of person my Mom used to warn me about. He had piercings and was wearing kind of baggy clothes. He looked like a cross between a punk and a gangster.

"You're on the upstairs floor, room 3." He said with a smile and handed me back the schedule.

"Uh, thanks." I said.

"I'll take you there!" He said with an excited tone. "My name's Mike, aka rapper extraordinaire and possibly the greatest person you will ever meet." His cocky attitude had a hint of a joke behind it so I find myself feeling instantly comfortable around this stranger.

"I'm Kellin." I said and fell in step next to his slow skating.

"You're new, right?" He asked as we got to the stairs. He jumped off his skateboard and we jogged up the stairs two at a time.

"Yep." Was all I said. I'm not really a conversation kind of person, well at least not with people I've just met.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"16." I said and he stopped walking near a closed door.

"Oh sick, me too, high five!" He said and held out his hand. I hesitated but awkwardly gave this strange boy a high five.

"Yeah but, like, your schedule said you're doing all senior classes, what's up with that? Shouldn't you be junior or something? Or are you one of those super nerds, like a Mensa kid? Dude, can you do my homework? I'm just kidding, unless you actually want to do it. I suck at home work. This is your classroom by the way." He spoke at a lightning speed which I found difficult to keep up with.

"Uh, I umm, my old school didn't have many students so I got extra tutoring so I skipped a grade, but I'm not that smart, and thanks for showing me to my class." I said, hoping that I had covered everything, but I purposely left out the homework bit.

"No probs dude." He said and leant against a wall. I waited a moment for him to walk off but he made no signs of doing so.

"Uh, shouldn't you be going to class too?" I asked.

"I have gym. I don't do gym." He said with a deadly serious expression on his face.

"Fair enough." I said and hesitantly put my hand on the doorknob. "Thanks again, Mike."

"Don't worry about it. Catch you on the flip end of the lollipop!" He said and with that he was skating down the hall. Catch me on the what? What a strange kid.

I decided to walk into my classroom quickly before I get into any more trouble for being late. When I walked in a middle aged man, who I assumed was my math teacher, turned and looked at me past is thick rimmed glasses.

"And you are?" He asked.

"I-I'm Kellin." I said and mentally slapped myself for stuttering. Ugh, get your shit together, Kellin!

"Oh yes, Kellin Quinn, the new boy. I'm Mr. Gee. Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?" He said in a monotonous tone.

"No." I said bluntly. He gave me a disapproving look.

"Well it's a good thing I read your file before class then, isn't it?" He said and turned to the class. "Kellin here is from Michigan, he finished top of his class since grade one and got skipped ahead a grade. Maybe if all of you followed Mr Quinn's example then you would have a chance at actually passing this class."

I wanted a black hole to open up in the ground right now and swallow me up. I hate when attention is brought on me and I hate when I get singled out for something like being smart when I'm not smart, I just finished a grade quicker than normal.

"Take a seat, Kellin." The teacher ordered.

For the first time I looked at my fellow classmates. They were the normal kind of people you would expect to see at school. "Nerds" up the front, Jocks in the middle with trashy preps surrounding them and then there were the stoner kids sitting up the back and scattered throughout the room were people who didn't look like they belonged in a group at all. I spotted a spare desk down the back and decided it was mine.

"Loser." I heard someone cough as I walked past the desks. Wow, how original. I stopped at his desk and I couldn't help what came out of my mouth next.

"I don't remember asking for your opinion." I said to the blonde boy. A bunch of "ooh"'s and "aah"'s filled the room. He was going to reply, I knew he was, but the teacher interrupted him to continue on with the lesson and I went to my seat down the back. That lesson I found out that the boy who said that is named Craig Owens and what a cliché, he's on the football team and is a complete tool. His friend, Josh, isn't much better either. They kept throwing looks my way which made me want to slink further down in my chair and bury my face in the math textbook or something. They would whisper with their friends and all look at me and laugh at me. The random mocking came as somewhat a surprise at first, but in all honesty I expected to be bullied by people like them. I'm this ridiculously skinny kid with his black hair falling into his eyes half the time, who wears black jeans and band shirts. I expected to instantly become enemies with the popular kids, but I can handle that. I always have.

The next couple of classes went by much like the last one. Teachers found it necessary to introduce me in every class, so in every class people were judging me. I heard their comments too. It seemed that I was being labelled a 'loser' just because I was younger than everyone else. The people weren't all as bad as Craig though. On the most part they ignored me which was fine by me.

Everything was going okay until I left my history class before lunch. I was walking along the halls when I saw a person walking backwards and shouting to his friends. I tried to dodge him but he wasn't looking where he was going so he ended up running straight into me and dropping his books. The whole hallway went completely silent. I looked around confused at the people watching me and this boy. I looked at the boy now to see what the big deal was. He turned around and looked at me. The first thing that I noticed was that he looked kind of similar to Mike, only shorter, but he was still maybe half an inch taller than me. He had straight, shoulder length brown hair and was wearing black jeans with a simple black shirt. He crossed his somewhat muscular arms across his chest.

"Pick them up." He ordered, glancing down at his books then back up to me.

"Some manners would be nice." I shot back. I have zero tolerance for people who don't have the courtesy for simply manners.

If possible the hallway got even quieter. Everyone's eyes were on us, like it was some huge deal that this was happening. I don't understand what the big deal is, but when I looked back at him I got the kind of vibe that he was someone to fear.

"Jaime." The boy said and clicked his fingers.

A second later a boy who was standing next to him grabbed my arm and pushed me into an open locker before shutting it, locking me in there.

"Hey! Let me out!" I shouted and hit the door. What the fuck are they playing at? I thought this kind of thing only happened in the movies.

No one came to my aid. Slowly I heard the crowd in the hallway thin out and then I was alone.

"Hey!" I shouted to no one in particular. It was no use they were all gone.

It was dark and cramped inside that small space. If I wasn't so skinny then I doubt I'd fit in here. I doubt a normal sized person would. I waited in there for, well, I don't even know how many hours. I know the bell rang a few times and I asked countless amounts of people to help me, but none of them would. Most of them ignored me. One girl even said "sorry, I can't" in a sympathetic tone and kept walking. What the fuck is wrong with people in this school? Does no one care about the little guy? The final bell rang and I started to panic. What if no one lets me out? What if I'm stuck in here all night, or longer? The hallways were loud with chatter for a while and I tried banging on the locker again, but no one helped. Eventually the halls went completely silent.

"Fuck." I whispered to myself. I was in panic mode. I can't stay in this fucking metal box any longer! This would have to be the worst first day in the history of first days. I was beginning to lose all hope that anyone cared when finally I heard a clicking sound and the locker door swung open. I stepped out quickly, relieved to be out of that thing. My relief was short lived when I saw who had let me out. It was him! It was the guy that was responsible for putting me in there all day.

"What the fuck!" I yelled at him. Yelling at someone was so out of character for me, but I was just so angry at this jerk right now.

"You're welcome." He said in a bored tone and went to walk away, but I was having none of that. I caught up to him, spun him around and connected my fist with his jaw, hard. That was the first time I have ever punched someone and it fucking hurt, a lot. I subconsciously cradled my right hand in my left hand. The boys head had flung to the side when I hit him and when he looked back he looked pissed off. He came at me, grabbed my shirt, and swung me towards the lockers. He slammed me up against one roughly.

"How about some fucking gratitiude!" He spat at me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Gratitude?! You want me to be thankful that you let me out of there when you're the one who put me in there in the first place?" I asked him in shock.

"You should consider yourself lucky I'm going easy on you, newbie." He sneered.

I glared back at his rage, yet amused, filled eyes.

"Vic, let him go." A voice came from down the hall.

Both me and this 'Vic' guy turned to see who it was. It was the guy who helped me this morning, Mike. He was skating towards us slowly.

"Stay out of my business, Mikey." Vic said.

"Don't tell me what to do." Mike said.

Vic looked hella annoyed that Mike wasn't doing what he said. This made me think he was used to getting his own way. Vic looked back at me with a glare.

"I should fucking destroy you." He seethed.

Him? Hurt me? My Dad has abused the fuck out of me for the past few months and he thinks he can hurt me? Anyone else would be terrified in a situation like this, but I was used to threats and I was used to the threats being carried out, so his violence did nothing for me.

"Vic." Mike said again.

Vic just scowled at me for another minute before he pushed himself away and walked down the hall. My anger at him was still sky high. What kind of sane person locks someone in a locker for doing nothing and then asks for gratitude when they let you out? What a dick!

"Hmm, that's strange." Mike said.

"What is?" I asked while rubbing my chest where Vic had been pushing.

"He doesn't usually take pity on anyone, like ever." He said.

I glared down the hall at Vic who was just leaving the building.

"I feel so special." My words were dripping with venom. I fucking hate that guy.