Prologue:
When Richy entered the boy’s locker room, a semi-circle of boys formed around him almost immediately. Gleeful faces stared out at the helpless figure of a brown-haired, poorly-bred boy with untrimmed hair and spectacles resting on his nose. Peals of laughter rang out from the ring as the boy was kicked by the bullies.
“Loose your way again Richy? The girl’s locker rooms are that way geek!”
“Stop teasing me freaks!” Richy’s face was a look of innocent anger. “Just leave me alone!” Tears of anger welled in his eyes. He tried to shove his way through the circle, but they pushed him back into the middle.
“Oh... I’m sorry, do you want your mommy?” The leader of the gang jeered. Another chorus of laughter echoed through the room.
“Get some athletic tape Justin. Let’s make his day real uncomfortable.”
Richy swallowed utterly terrified. Justin, an adolescent with a high-pitched voice eagerly rushed to his locker and pulled out several rolls of white tape.
“This should be enough! Gna gna gna!” He laughed.
Justin began handing out strips of tape while the rest of the boys pinned his limbs to his body. Then, like a cocoon, they wrapped him tightly in the stuff. When Rich was tied and gagged, the boys noisily carried him out of the locker room howling with laughter. Down the hall they moved with their burden until they burst into the girls locker room. The room was empty because the boys were at school for an early morning practice. Obviously, this had been planned far in advance. They glanced around the room, looking for a suitable place to deposit Richy.
To Richy’s horror, one of the boys cried gleefully, “Lets tie em to the toilet!”
The rest of them agreed heartily and they swung open the bathroom door. Five or six of them crammed into one of the stalls and plopped the writhing Richy onto the seat. With the extra tape, they strapped him onto the toilet seat. Once finished, they ran out of the room laughing, “Have fun Richy!”
Part 1:
An unrequited love
The first-period bell rang and Richy’s mind only tried to shut out the insulting voices that still rang on in his head. Rushing to class, he avoided eye-contact with anyone else and stared at the ground.
“Why did I ever come to this school?” He thought ferociously. Then he remembered it was his parent’s fault. Ever since he had been orphaned at an age too young to remember his parents, his foster parent’s, who cared little about the him, had consistently chosen the worst schools and only when death threats began being beat into poor Richy’s head did they consent to a change of location. Finally he was at the end of the hall and he turned the corner into a classroom. As usual, he was early.
“Good morning Richard.” A stern-faced teacher said about as cheerfully as he ever said anything. “I received your message containing the essay. It was a delightful read.”
“Thanks.” Richy mumbled and sat down in a corner seat. He dragged his chair even further from the one adjacent to it. He didn’t want to make it any more awkward for the person who had to sit next to him then he had to. People began filing in soon after and Richard fixed his eyes on something in his binder shyly. Only when Rachael passed did he glance up. All he saw was her retreating back as she moved to the far end of the room. Richy hungrily took in every visible feature on the girl. She looked remarkably beautiful today. Seeing her was the only thing in the world that he looked forward too. The only star in an eternal night which was his life. She sat down at a table filled with giggling females and looked up. Her face was angelic. A perfectly formed face and joyful green eyes. Her nose was straight and thin, her lips were remarkably kissable. Wisps of hair dropped loosely down her shoulders and it was a lustrous shade of deep black. Their eyes met and Richy looked at his feet and blushed. When he deemed it safe to look up once more, he continued staring at her, this time careful to not be caught. In another minute, the talking died away and the teacher began the class.
