Whaddya Mean No? | Anderperry DPS BL |

Chapter 3: First Day

Todd and I finished up in the bathroom and headed to our room to put on the mandatory uniforms. You know, for a school of such high prestige, you would have thought that the uniform would be of higher quality. However, it is not, and ever since I've been attending this school, the sensation of the harsh fabric against my skin, always, and I mean always, makes me squirm. What did they make this shit out of? Straw?

We entered the dorm and I still remember my routine. I start to strip my clothing from the day before and reach into my closet to gather my uniform. I turned back and it seems I forgot about something, Todd. His face was flushed red as can be. He had turned away when we made eye contact. I had completely forgotten that Todd would've been in the cafeteria by the time I had gotten up. He was always up so early, as to not bother anyone like a true introvert.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Todd." I had said to him as I hurriedly dressed. "I'm not used to you being in here"

"Yeah, um, it's okay, I was just uh, I'm going to head to the restroom to get dressed." Todd nervously let out as he darted to his closet to retrieve his clothes.

"No. Don't. Look, I'm already done getting dressed," I replied "I'll just head out to get breakfast, meet you there!" I scurried out of the room in disbelief.

"How could I do something so embarrassing on the first day? This isn't you Neil Perry, wise up!" I thought to myself as I walked to the cafeteria. Then I ran into a familiar set of faces on the way there. It's THEM! Oh god how I missed them.

"Neil, you're back!" exclaimed Charlie, I mean Nuwanda. The whole group of friends suddenly all turned around when they heard Nuwanda's words. Every face began to start beaming with excitement and joy.

"NEIL!" the whole group shouted as they started to run towards me like a stampede. I began to brace for impact but it did not help. They had knocked me over onto the ground and it hurt like hell. All those days spent healing in the hospital all became redundant. They all began to talk at once, I didn't know who said what.

"We missed you so much Neil, I almost lost all sense of self purpose."

"Neil! You scumbag, how could you leave, you owe me 10 dollars."

"I couldn't study without you Perry."

The rest were all garbled messes that I could not comprehend. After being in the hospital, with what felt like freezing temperatures, I finally got to feel warmth. I wanted to get up but they were all still on top of me.

"Guys, guys, I know, you all miss me, but, please, let me get up, my head is killing me." leaped out of my mouth.

"Ok fine," Nuwanda says with a roll of his eyes. "Guys, get your asses up, let's give this man some space." Everyone began to part from the dog pile and brush themselves off except for one.

"But what if we don't want to." remarked Meeks who began to tighten his hug on me.

"I don't give a shit, get your ass up." Nuwanda then tugged on Meeks' uniform causing Meeks' eyes to widen as he was pulled away from the embrace.

"No, let me go! Just one more hug so he doesn't run away!"

I got up from the floor and gazed at my surrounding area to see if anyone had seen what had just happened. No one saw, thank god. Then, I saw Todd come out of the room and start to walk towards us. He looks puzzled as to why our group of friends were trying to restrain Meeks as if he was a prisoner resisting.

"Hey Anderson, I just got viciously attacked by a pack of wolves." I said with a smile on my face.

"Oh really, are you hurt anywhere?" Todd replied in a sarcastic tone as he walked towards me.

"I got a boo-boo on my head, can you kiss it and make it better."

Todd began to look embarrassed when I said that. He became a bit fidgety and started to play with his fingers.

"Uh, why not." in a nervous laughter, Todd mumbled. His cute response made me smile. We all began to walk to breakfast. I barely got to eat at all because we were all catching up on what I missed. When I was healing in the hospital, I had longed for times like this again. Being with friends that actually make me happy. Even when being away from the group, I thought about them. I wrote poems.

A hole present at the back of my head,

An empty space with nothing.

Not made by any physical body,

But by my absent counterparts.

Whom worsens the black hole is but one,

Away from you is unnatural.

Like a phantom to a lonely road,

You are supernatural.

To be without you is no longer a life,

It is a void,

Absent of any meaning.

Writing these poems allowed me to rethink my situation a lot. Whenever I tried to write poems about Todd, they seemed to always evolve into a love poem. That's when I realized I had feelings for the dirty blond. I started to plan and strategize how I should ask Todd. At first, I was going to take him to the cave and ask him out there, but I realized there was nothing significant for him to accept my feelings there. Then I thought, hmm, maybe I should give him a belated birthday gift and when I hand him it, I would give him a peck. However, knowing Todd, he would be scared for his life if I did so and run away to his safe haven. No matter how much I cudgeled my brains, I just couldn't fathom a way to ask him out without him fleeing the scene. I gave up, I'll just let it happen naturally. I hope that happens.

~

It was time for Keating's class; I had no idea what to expect. Will everything be the same? Does he know what happened? All these questions kept floating in my head, slamming into my cranium, or was that just a symptom of shooting-a-hole-in-my-head syndrome? Nevertheless, I proceeded into his classroom. I took my old seat and nothing about it has changed. This is where I belonged, I thought to myself. Todd is already there in his seat looking down at his notebook. Has he always looked this majestic whilst doing absolutely nothing?

"Good morning class!" Abruptly Mr. Keating entered the classroom with his joyous voice. "Welcome to another day of English with the one and only, me!" I turned around and made eye contact with Mr. Keating.

"Mr. Perry, I'm glad to have you back in my class at this school." Keating said with a giant smile smeared across his face. "Class hasn't been the same without you bud."

I grin back at him and look back at the front of the classroom. The students around me all start whispering to each other like some kind of teenage girls. One of them didn't know how to whisper properly so I was able to pick up on the conversation.

"I heard he was absent because he tried to shoot himself"

"Really? What kind of loser is he?"

Rage overcame my body. Who are they to talk about me like that? They don't know the shit I had to go through, all the pain and suffering I dealt with my entire life. I didn't want to cause a commotion on my first day back so I decided to ignore them looking forward but if my eyes were laser beams, there would have been a giant hole in the chalkboard. Class proceeded without a hitch, the same old good feeling Mr. Keating class. Our homework was to write a poem about nature. Seems simple enough I suppose, but the prompt is very broad.

"That'll be all for today's class." Mr. Keating said as he surveyed the classroom. "Neil, may I speak to you after class."

"Yes sir," I replied. Oh boy, what now?