THE PITIFUL CHILDREN ; bmc x deh

[ TWO ]

Evan hated lunch. The lack of structure always made him nervous, and with no assigned seats, people were free to go to and fro wherever they wanted. And 'wherever they wanted' generally wasn't even on the same table as him.

He was supposed to be putting himself out there, though. Right? Talking to new people, actually interacting.

He took a deep breath. That's what he'd do.

Maybe he could find Michael and Jeremy, the two who'd been kind enough to sign his cast for him. They'd probably be with Jared, though, and they didn't always get along. They were family friends, but Evan was fairly sure he only talked to him so his parents would carry on paying for his car insurance. More than fairly sure, actually — he'd been told multiple times.

They were all hanging around one table. Jared normally sat by himself, coding or doing god-knows-what on his laptop, but this time Michael and Jeremy were there too. They were all chatting away like old friends, even though Evan was pretty sure they hadn't known each other at all before this year. He should ask one of them about it.

As he was walking over, albeit hesitantly, someone passed between him and the table. All three of them looked up from their conversation, and Evan glanced up too.

The shadow making his way past was Connor Murphy. Someone he recognised but didn't associate with particularly good things. His hair was thick and brown, settled on his shoulders, and he wore a dark grey hoodie. Bracelets clacked on his wrists as he walked past, and Evan quickly crossed behind him towards Jared.

"Love the new hair length. Very school-shooter chic," Jared murmured, the same smirk on his face. It quickly faded when Connor turned back towards him. The glare he shot Jared could have killed a small animal. "I was kidding. It was a joke."

"Oh, I know. I'm laughing. Can't you tell?" Connor snapped, completely deadpan. "Or am I not laughing hard enough for you?"

The smile had completely disappeared from Jared's face now. Michael was tugging on his sleeve, more nervous than Evan had ever seen him.

Jared scoffed. "You're such a freak."

Before Connor could do anything in retaliation, he'd darted away between the tables. Michael followed, but Jeremy hung back, unnoticed.

Evan laughed awkwardly; he hadn't found Jared's 'joke' particularly funny, but at least it was something to do, a way to break the tense silence. Connor turned to him, and he shrunk a little.

"You're laughing at me? What the fuck are you laughing at?"

"I— no, I'm not laughing at you, I—"

"You think I'm a freak, right?" Connor pressed, his eyes narrowing. There wasn't even much of a height difference, and the pair were roughly the same age and even build, but he seemed more powerful than Evan at that moment. Intimidating.

"No, I don't think you're a—"

"Well, I'm not the freak. You're the fucking freak."

Evan swallowed.

Connor looked like he was about to say something else — maybe do something else — for a split second before what he actually did. Shove Evan to the ground and storm off.

A jolt of pain surged up his injured arm as he hit the floor. From his position, he could vaguely see people passing, walking around him, whispering in voices ranging from urgent to amused. Jenna, Brooke and the other girl whose name he hadn't heard passed him by, Jenna already tapping something out on her phone with her tongue between her teeth.

"Evan! Are you okay?" someone suddenly asked from just above him. A hand lowered in front of his head. He automatically reached up to grasp it, met with the familiar face of Jeremy. His brow was furrowed in worry as he helped Evan up from the floor.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbled.

"That kid's a psycho, right?" Jeremy managed a little smile, letting go of his hand as soon as the other was on his feet again.

"Uh... yeah, I guess so."

"You should come to sit with me and Michael," he suggested, but Evan shook his head.

"It's alright."

Jeremy wrinkled his nose. "You sure? You're not just gonna sit on your own, are you?"

That was exactly what he'd planned on doing, but he shook his head anyway. "No. I need to do some stuff. In the computer lab."

"Okay." Jeremy shrugged. "But we have a chair free, and you have a sandwich, so..."

Evan looked down at the (now squashed) sandwich in his hand. Get out there. Make new friends.

"Well— if you don't mind, I guess—"

"I wouldn't have asked if I minded, idiot," Jeremy laughed. "C'mon."

He led Evan past the table they'd initially sat at, to the one behind, where Jared and Michael had escaped to while the whole Connor Murphy fiasco was going on. Michael was talking loudly and emphatically about a game, Apocalypse of the Damned, while Jared just looked bored, picking at his food. He groaned when the two approached.

"You better tell your mom I was nice to you. I need the insurance money," he muttered, as Evan sat down opposite him. Michael elbowed him yet again.

"Goddamn it Michael, you need to stop fucking elbowing me. You'll have broken my arm by the end of the day," Jared snapped, but there was much less hostility in his tone when talking to Michael than Evan himself.

"You're being an asshole," he replied cheerfully, moving on within the second. "Hey, Evan. Did you know that humanity has stopped evolving?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes good-naturedly, snatching a piece of Michael's sushi. "Here we go."

"Yeah, it's amazing! Evolution is survival of the fittest, right? But now, because of technology, you don't have to be strong to survive! Which means—"

"There's never been a better time in history to be a loser, we've heard," Jeremy cut across, mouth full of rice. "Why do you tell that to everyone you meet? You're basically telling them that they're a loser."

"I am not!"

"Implying it, then," Jeremy argued.

Michael huffed. "I just think it's cool. And stop taking my goddamn california rolls."