The Nerd, The Jock, and the Bully
by Victor Thomas
Chapter 5
We ended up on the sofa, me on the right and Melissa on the left. I gave her a blanket and her own bowl of popcorn. That's as nice as I'm going to be. It's getting to the juicy parts of Teen Wolf . I couldn't believe that they would kill Allison like that.
I mean, she contributed so much and she was the hottest of the females, of course. Hey, just because I'm gay doesn't mean that I can't notice a beautiful girl when I see one.
I sneak a glance over at her and she looks bored out of her mind. I'm just going to ignore her. I won't let her ruin my evening, even if it's just a few more hours until mom gets home. As it turns out, she was planning the same thing.
"How can you watch this crap?" she asks. "This is just…"
"Okay! That's enough," I said, interrupting her.
"What? Can't take a little criticism, or are you going to cry like a little girl now?" she said, mocking me.
"Oh no, I can take criticism, it's just you snarky bitches that make me want to tear your head off," I said in a friendly tone.
Before she can respond, I put my finger up and shush her.
"Listen here, you midget! I have had a hard day today, and this show is helping me to release some of my stress. I'll be damned if I let some ginger with a bad attitude try to ruin it. My house, my rules, so you either shut the fuck up, or get the fuck out."
I'm breathing heavily when I'm done.
She just stares at me with a shocked look on her face, like she wasn't expecting something like this from me.
"Well, shit! Look who grew a pair. Don't worry, I won't give you another reason to throw a bitch fit," she said with a smirk.
I just huff and go back to watching my werewolves. She goes to the bathroom once, but other than that she doesn't interrupt me. The episode ends and the next episode is about to begin, but I can feel her staring at me. I quickly hit pause, look over at her, and she's looking at me like a hawk.
"What?" I ask her.
As if she realizes she's been staring at me, she snaps out of it and returns her attention to the TV. That was weird! I just ignore it and start to push play on the remote, when I hear her speak.
"How do you do it?" she whispers.
I might not have heard her if she hadn't been sitting so close.
"How do I do what?" I ask her, frowning.
She looks at me like she wasn't expecting me to hear, but then goes on.
"How are you happy?" she asks, looking baffled.
"What do you mean?" I ask, although I think I have an idea.
"I mean, you get pushed around a lot, the names they call you would make even the Pope cry, and you have no friends because nobody wants to be friends with the certified school queer. No offense," she said seriously.
I look at her and everything she says starts to sink in.
It's normal for me to deal with it, so it doesn't affect me, but hearing someone else map out my whole school life is fucking depressing.
I look down at my lap, contemplating what she just said.
"My life may be sad, hell it is sad and fucking depressing, but if I let all this get to me, the bullying, name calling, all that crap, then it would never stop. Why am I happy? I'm not happy, trust me, I'm far from it. The word I would use is… patient. There's nothing I can do now that will stop it, but in the future, when I'm done with school and have a reputation, maybe then I can make a difference. So, giving up right now is not an option. For the sake of myself and maybe others as well that are going through the same thing as me," I say, still looking at my lap.
I look up at her and notice a small wet trail running down her cheek, as well as water on the rim of her eyes.
"Why are you crying?" I asked her.
She wipes away the remnants of her tears with her sleeve.
"No, you fucktard! It's just your story is so fucking gay and boring, it made me tired."
Instantly she fucking ruins the mood and makes me hate her more for mocking me.
I try to ignore what she just said and go back to putting the next episode on.
"You better fucking mean it," she murmurs.
"What?" I ask, anger clear in my voice.
Who the hell is she to tell me that I'm talking shit?
"Everything you just said. It's easy to say shit like that and sound like a hero, but I hope you fucking mean it, because otherwise I just lost all respect I had towards you," she said with emotion in her eyes that I recognize well.
"Well, you didn't have any respect to begin with, so I didn't miss out on much," I said sarcastically.
She starts to get tense. Her shoulders become more rigid and she looks to be on guard. I look back towards the TV while answering her.
"I meant every fucking thing I said, so don't try and tell me what I should and shouldn't say," I said softly, but loud enough for her to hear.
I can feel the tension in her start to flow out and her shoulders and body begin to relax.
We don't say anything to each other, but this silence is different from the ones we usually have. Instead of malice and hatred for one another, it's one of understanding and… calmness.
I felt something change that night with Melissa, a good change. Somehow, I feel closer to her now. I'm not saying we became friends over night, but we came to an understanding with each other.
At first, I thought she gave me so much shit because she just generally hated gays, or just me. But looking back at all the things she said to me and how expressionless she was, it was more like she was testing me to see my reaction, and I can't for the life of me understand why.
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