① 𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬|| 𝗵𝗮𝘄𝗸 𝘅 𝗳𝗲𝗺!𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

𝟚𝟞.

"Okay, everybody, fall in!"

Lining up again, the crowd was now barely half of what it was yesterday. Why am I not surprised? "Where is everyone?" Sensei questions. "Crater face... Nose ring. Sling shot?" He recalls some of them. "They quit, Sensei..." Miguel rips the bandage. "You serious?!" Johnny exclaims, clearly not expecting that.

"I mean, good!" He quickly corrects. "That was a test." He covers up. "I wanted to see who the quitters are." He shrugs. "Not you guys." He then smiles fakely. "You're in it to win it." He muses. "Right? You could be at home playing your iComputers..." He rambles.

"Playing your video games, eating candy..." He lists. "Instead you're here!" He states. "Doing push ups, learning how to fight." He says, and then turns to Eli. "Lip." He calls. "Look, even lips is tougher than those guys." He deadpans. "He's no quitter." He finishes.

"Can you please not call me that?" Eli requests quietly. "Excuse me, what?" Johnny raises a brow. "Could you please not call me that?" Eli repeats, only with a louder voice this time. "Um- I'll warm em up Sensei..." Miguel quickly changes the topic, knowing where this was headed.

"No, nono. Lip has something he wants to say." Sensei paces up to Eli. "Sorry, speak up lip." He scoffs. "Or is your tongue messed up too?" He taunts, facing the nervous boy now. "Are you one of those challenged kids?" He then asks when silence followed.

"The doctors said I could be on the spectrum..." Eli mumbles to himself. "I don't know what that is but get off it pronto, alright?" Johnny scoffs, making me throw my head back in annoyance. Can't he just drop it already?! 

"If you don't want me to call you 'lip' then don't have a weird lip-" Sensei rolls his eyes. "Can't you get surgery for that?" He then asks. "I was born with a cleft lip." Eli replies. "This is the scar from the surgery" He explains. "You mean it was worse before that?" Johnny raises a brow.

"Or did the doctors screw up?" He questions. "Because if this is the after photo, that sucks man. You should sue-" He mocks. "Can we just please just change the topic?" Eli requests, clearly not wanting to deal with this shit now. Not after dissecting that cute baby pig. 

"You don't think I want to?" Johnny scoffs. "It's tough when it's right in front of me!" He defends. "If you wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, then you gotta flip the script. Okay?" He says. "Get a face tattoo or gouge your eye out, we'll call you 'patch' all right?" He suggests.

"No, actually don't do that one..." He quickly realizes what he just said. "You'll still look like a freak." He sighs, slowly walking away Eli, who couldn't control his tears any longer, just storms out through the back. "Aw great, another quitter-" Johnny rolls his eyes.

Worried for the boy, I too decided to leave. "Hey l/n, where do you think you're going?" Sensei calls as I reach the door. "Don't worry, Sensei. I'm not a quitter." I assure before leaving. I look around a little for the uncomfortable boy, but he was nowhere near.

"Eli- Wait..." I sigh, running up to him when I finally spotted him about a minute later.

"Leave me alone, y/n." He sighs, walking away, refusing to face me anymore. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened, okay? Sensei's a dick, but--" I say, but he cuts me off. "But what?" He asks, shooting me a glare, his eyes all red and glossy.

"He's right?" He raises a brow. "I know that. You think I can't see it every FUCKING day in the mirror?" He yells, making me shut up now. It was the first time I heard his voice raised... "I know you think my entire personality revolves around my lip. I can see it in your eyes." He starts.

"And yes, you're right. It does. It's all I can think of." He shrugs. "Every time I'm sad, I curse my lip. Every time I'm mad, I hate it. And every single fucking time you make me happy, Kyler or someone ALWAYS finds a way to remind me why I CAN'T be happy." He rants.

"You think that by normalizing my facial deformity, you're making it normal, and maybe in a way you are, but it's never going to be normal." He scoffs. "They're never gonna stop making fun of me, because I'm a loser!" His voice cracks a little.

"You're not though." I mumble, feeling my heart sink.

"Wake up, y/n!" He cries, walking up to me now. "I'm a freak!" He yells. "I'm never gonna make other friends, I'm never gonna get a girlfriend, because WHO THE FUCK would want to kiss this shit?!" He quotes Kyler from the other day. "Admit it, y/n. You already know it." He sighs.

"You know it damn well, I'm never going to be anything other than the kid with the WEIRD lip!"