Chills & Thrills | Brance

nine

(a TRIGGER WARNING !!! for implications of abuse towards the end.)

That following morning Vance woke up later than usual. He hurried to get ready and shove what he needed in his backpack. He arrived at school five minutes before the bell rang and he needed to be in the room.

Vance didn't have one clue where it was. He trailed the halls until seeing a room with the numbers '142' plastered above. Vance then walked inside and sat next to Bruce, who was already doing work.

There were four other people in the room. Three were asleep, and the fourth was writing on a piece of paper.

"Here's that tape back, I listened to the whole thing," Vance said, removing his gaze from the other students to Bruce. He then held out the cassette.

"Yeah? What'd you think?" Bruce asked while putting the tape into his backpack.

"Meh, it wasn't half bad. Wouldn't listen to it out of my own free will though," Vance said.

"I'll take that," Bruce shrugged with a smile. 

"You two back there! One of you needs to move," The teacher suddenly shouted at the two boys.

Bruce nodded and Vance figured it's either he pick up his backpack or move, or Bruce has to take all of his stuff sprawled across the desk elsewhere. After standing up, Vance held out the cassette tape he brought for Bruce.

"Now you listen to this," Vance said. Once Bruce took it, vance took his bag by the handle and moved in front of Bruce, who was sitting at the very back.

Vance took out what work he needed to finish with a sigh. He'd happily fail if it weren't for the fact he's already done that twice.

The teacher at the front of the room stood up and decided now would be a good time to start talking. She went over the rules, which were just be quiet and do work, and everyone was allowed to eat whenever they wanted to. She made a big emphasis on staying quiet. It was even written on the board in large letters, circled, and underlined four times. Before sitting down she mentioned one last thing about if anyone gets any crumbs or gum in the class she will make them clean not only their mess, but the entire class scrubbed spotless.

In short, be quiet and don't make a mess.

Two things Vance doesn't necessarily like to do. He kept his mouth shut and focused solely on his work anyways.

Bruce however, was having a far more difficult time focusing. He found himself growing bored of the words scattered across the page. His eyes would begin looking up from the desk and towards Vance, who was somehow focusing better than Bruce was.

Bruce turned to look at the clock after hearing a bell ring. It's only been an hour and a half. Before Bruce could look down to his desk, he spots Stella walking down the hall. Then, he glances forward where he sees Vance writing on a piece of paper. It gets him thinking if there's a bigger reason behind breaking up with Stella.

No, he didn't like her anymore, that's it. But, did he like someone else? Bruce tore his gaze away from Vance. Bruce wasn't thinking about him, he couldn't be thinking about him.

••

The final bell went and now everyone was allowed to leave, except for the kid who got caught sticking gum under the desk.

Bruce managed to catch up with Vance, who was quickly walking down the halls, trying to get outside.

"Hold on! Man, you walk fast," Bruce said, having to jog a little to get next to Vance. He slowed down after hearing that.