includes explicit language lol
You walk into your chemistry class, taking a seat at your lab station. Conor, your partner, briefly looks up as your chair squeaks against the floor. You send him a small smile but he just glares.
Conor has always despised you, ever since the day you transferred in. He came off as the boy who gave zero fucks about others feelings. You wondered what you ever did to make him hate you, and being around him made you feel kind of insecure since he was always finding ways to insult you.
"Good morning class, today we are going to be doing a separation lab. Here is a mixture of 3 substances, salt, sand, and iron. Your goal is to separate the three and find the mass of each of them. You'll have the whole class to do this."
With that message from your professor, everyone starts working. You stand up and turn to Conor who is still lazily slumped in his chair.
"Okay so I think we should use a magnet to first extract the iron from the mixture, and then we can boil the salt and sand in water to dissolve the salt," you say and continue on when Conor stays silent, "and then we can use a funnel to-"
"Wow! You're very very bright! Amazing thinking y/n! Now why the fuck are you telling me this? Go take your shitty ideas and do them on your own," Conor cuts you off, rolling his eyes.
You cant think of what to say so you just turn away and start working.
'Why does he have to be such an asshole? Does he take pleasure in making other people feel like shit?' you wonder.
After about 10 minutes of you working on your own, the teacher notices that Conor hasn't been helping and threatens to fail him if he didn't get to work. He reluctantly makes his way over to where you are and asks you how he can help.
After 30 minutes of working and small talk, you guys are almost done. He has been awfully nice and it surprised you. You started feeling bubbly inside at the thought that maybe he has warmed up to you and that he could be a potential friend.
Spacing out, your arm accidentally bumps into the hot plate, causing the beaker with the mixture and water in it to fall over and spill everywhere.
You curse and quickly grab the beaker, trying to save what's left of the mixture but it's no use since the contents are all over the table and ground.
Conor laughs bitterly, "Oh my god you're such a lowlife, you fucking mess everything up. We are gonna fail this project thanks to you." He harshly slams his fist on his desk as he slumps back into his chair.
Finally deciding that you've had enough of his bullshit, you snap at him, "THANKS TO ME?! Ever since I walked in this school you've been an absolute asshole. Thanks to the administration, I've had to put up with your crap in 4 of my classes.
Every time I get paired up with you for something, you always refuse to put real effort into the project. I've been at least trying and all you can do is shut down my ideas and point out how shit of a job i'm doing. I'm so done with you."
You quickly wipe your eyes, hoping that Conor didn't notice the tears starting to form. For a split second, you see the emotion and guilt in his features, but it's quickly covered up by his usual blank face.
Looking at the clock, you grab your bag and leave the classroom after telling your teacher that you weren't feeling well.
later that day
After school, you tutored 5th graders for two hours, so by the time you were done it was already getting dark outside. Since your parents worked late, you usually walked home for your house was only a few blocks away from the library you tutored at.
You were passing a few houses on the way back when you heard screaming ahead of you. You hesitantly walked forward when two bodies came into view.
In the light, you saw an older man and Conor? He was violently pushed out of the house with a bottle being thrown out after him. You jump at the sound of it shattering all over the sidewalk.
"Get out of here you filthy boy! You deserve to freeze out here like the worthless piece of shit that you are." The man curses in Conors face.
He cackles, "What a fucking mistake you were," and slams the door shut. You slowly approach the boy who is now leaning against the wall.
"Conor?" your voice wavers a bit when his head snaps toward you. You instantly frown when you see his tear stained face and the bruise forming around his left eye.
"What the hell happened to your eye?" you ask worried, reaching out towards his face.
He turns his head to the side, away from you and says angrily, "it's none of your business," but you can hear the crack in his voice. He was so broken.
This boy has been nothing but a complete douche and yet it still hurts you to see him like this.
"W-was that your dad?" you ask sadly.
"Didn't you hear me? I said stay out of my business!" he yells.
"Come on lets go. You can stay at my house," you state sternly.
He looks at you with disbelief. "I don't need your pity," he spits.
You laugh bitterly, "God Conor! You really love pushing people away huh? Fine, just freeze out here, have a nice night," you say, turning around.
"Wait," his voice cracks causing you to stop in your tracks, "were you actually going to let me come with you?" he sniffles.
"Of course. I wasn't just gonna let you sleep out here in the cold all night," I turn back around to face him, "the offer still stands."
He wipes his face with his sleeves and looks at the ground, "okay that'd be cool."
- - -
"Here you go," you hand Conor a few pillows and a blanket from your closet. He lays it onto the floor as you climb into your bed.
"Thank you," he mutters quietly.
"Sorry it's not the most comfortable setup." You apologize for making him sleep on the floor.
"Don't," he growls "just letting me stay here at all is kind enough," you hear him sniffle and you glance over at him to see tears rolling down his face.
"W-what's wrong?"
"It's just that," he grows silent, "no one has done something this nice. Especially when Ive been so rude to you. I'm so sorry. Sorry for always making you feel like shit or insulting you. I-I've been through a lot with my parents and I tend to cope with it by shutting everyone out of my life. I'm so fucked up, I let everyone down," he cries uncontrollably.
Your heart swells at the sight of it. You slowly slip down onto the floor next to him, "hey don't say things like that, everyone goes through shit, it doesn't mean your messed up."
You hesitantly wrap your arms around him and after a few seconds he does the same. You guys just sit there in silence as his tears stain your shirt. After a few seconds you both awkwardly pull away and he looks up at you.
"C-can you and me maybe start over?" he asks softly.
You smile, "you mean I have to forget the fact that Conor the hot badass who doesn't care about anything has feelings?"
"Shut up," He glares jokingly but a smirk quickly appears on his face, "So you do think i'm hot huh."
Your eyes widen as you blush lightly, "Psh I didn't say that!" you groan as you bury you face into your pillow.
1332 words
12/31/19
