The Monsters Inside and Out (Scott Howl x Depressed Reader)

123. It's Totally Fine

During the announcements, Principal Giant Spider reminds students that the Monster Prom is only a few weeks away. The students once again murmur excitedly amongst themselves, but you can barely hear them over the sound of your own heart beating in your chest. Despite the long amount of sleep you got last night, you still feel tired and gross. Throughout your morning classes, you spend more time worrying about Scott than you do paying attention in class. You're pretty sure you flunked a test in your history class, but you couldn't care less as countless thoughts run through your mind. He lost his grandma, and was yelled at by your mom, who also said horrible things to him.

Later, in Spells:101, you suddenly feel an itch on your arm, and you instinctively scratch it. You suddenly reel back and flinch. You clutch your sleeve. You calm down from the pain, but a piece of crumpled piece of paper suddenly lands on your desk. You open it up, reading the barely legible chicken scratch scrawled on it. 'You ok?' You look over in the direction it came from and see Brian. He waves at you from his desk and gives you a thumbs up as if asking if you're okay. You grab your pencil and write, 'Why not just text me?' You toss it back. You continue to have a conversation that way. He replies, 'I forgot my phone at home.' 'Ah, right. I'm fine. Why?' 'You looked like you were in pain.' 'I'm fine. I just scratched myself a little.' 'Ok. Lemme know if you need to talk.' 'Alright. Thanks.' Brian writes something else on the note and throws it back to you. It stops midway however, right in the middle of the air. Joy, the leader of the coven, grabs the note from the air, and reads it. She clicks her tongue in annoyance. She waves her hands around the paper, and then tears it apart, flinging each half towards each of you. You unfold the paper and read it, 'Pay attention you too!' It then incinerates in your hands, and you look at her giving you a dirty look. You quickly turn your attention back to your desk, and you feel yourself blushing from embarrassment.

Once the bell finally rang, dismissing you, you make your way back to your locker and put your things away. You're suddenly lifted up in the air by a pair of strong arms that squeeze you tightly. You kick your legs for a second due to your survival instincts. You hear Scott's voice say, "Don't worry, baby. It's just me!" You stop your kicking and chuckle, "I should've known." He sets you back down, and you turn around to hug him. He seems to be in a much better mood than he was before, which makes you feel a little better. You suddenly feel an overwhelming urge to cry in his arms, but you manage to hold your tears back. He pulls away from the hug and looks down at you with sparkling eyes. "You ready to go to lunch, then?" You feel a pain in your stomach as he mentions food. You reply, "Er, yeah... But I'm not really hungry, so I think I'm just going to skip eating today." He blinks in confusion for a moment before his happy smile returns to face. "Alright, if you're not hungry, then I guess it's okay." He grabs your hand and walks with you to the cafeteria.

When you enter, you go and find a table to sit in as Scott stands in the lunch line. You look around at all the possible options, and suddenly feel overwhelmed. You would prefer to sit in the back, somewhere where there are less people. However, Scott can be pretty perceptive, despite his low intelligence, and you would hate to give him something else to worry about. He has enough on his plate right now. At the same time, you feel too nervous to sit in an area full of people. You can feel your hands tense up, digging your nails into your palms. Before long, you get a pat on the back. "Are you okay?" Scott looks down at you, his lunch tray in his other hand. You stutter, "O-Oh, y-yeah... I'm just not sure where to sit..." "Oh! That's okay. Here, uh..." His hand drags from your back to your hand, and he leads you to a table towards the back. He sits down and continues to hold your hand until you sit down. "Is this okay?" He asks. You nod your head. He smiles and starts eating. You sit and stare at him as he eats. You ask him, "So how are you holding up today?" "Well... It's been kinda tough... But I feel a lot better after her funeral. It's scary though... I'll never say hi and give her a kiss on the cheek after school again." Scott begins to tear up, and you reach over and caress his arm. He lightly smiles, a few tears still in his eyes. He scoots his chair closer to yours and wraps his arms around you. He pulls away and pulls his food towards you two and continues eating. He asks, "You sure you don't want any?" Your stomach growls again in hunger, but you continue to deny. "No, I'm fine. Thank you though..." He lightly scratches you behind your ear, as you would do to him. "Okay, if you say so." He leans over and kisses you on the forehead, and then goes back to eating. Not long after he finishes, the bell rings, dismissing everyone.

As you rummage through your locker for your things, you suddenly remember that your next class is gym, and you start feeling nervous. You walk to the locker room, clutching your gym bag in your hands tightly. You enter it, seeing all your friends and classmates changing. You casually walk over to the bathroom section and enter a stall. You remove your hoodie and look at the bandage around your arm. You begin to remove it slowly, checking to see if the wound is still there, and it is. You take a nervous, shaky breath and put your hand over the few exposed cuts. You focus all of your energy on healing it, but to no avail. You swallow nervously and try again, and again you fail. In a quick fit of rage, you punch your arm, causing you to yelp slightly in pain. Luckily, no one checks on you, meaning it went unnoticed. You quickly wrap your arm back up, change your clothes, and put your hoodie back over your body. You head out to the gym.