uncool, stanley barber

34

34 - pretty mind blowing stuff

"alright ladies and gentlemen, if i may have your attention please" mr file says as the microphone squeaks. "stop talking and look up here, please."

we all turn to look as most of the murmurings have stopped. "it is my privilege to introduce your homecoming king and queen; jeff butters and julie frasheski!"

we clap for our classmates who we've known since birth pretty much. nobody really leaves this town unless their lucky. people come like syd and dina, but no one ever goes.

"what up westinghouse?!" jeff says into the microphone making us laugh and cheer. it's just the automatic response to anything like this. "i wanna thank my mother for-"

"LISTEN UP!" bradley storms onto the platform and snatches the microphone away from our homecoming king, who sulks like a little kid who was told magic isn't real. mr file tries to take back the mic, but bradley cuts him off. "give me a second, GIVE ME A SECOND."

it doesn't take a genius to know that brad has been drinking, a lot. he was jittery and breathing really hard into the microphone, making the feedback go wild in our ears.

"what's he gonna do?" stan whispers into my ear. he seems pretty chill as he probably thinks brad's going to confess his love for dina. someone will record it and it'll be viral for a few hours. because, what else can brad do? and that question alone has my nerves going all over the place.

"i would like to take this moment to talk about something important that affects everyone here" he says. "sydney novak!"

he calls out into the crowd as i turn to look for her. she's standing rigidly with dina beside her looking very fed up.

"hey sydney, yeah raise your hand. give a wave so everybody can see you!" he mocks because he's a fucking jerk. syd looks frightened more as i wanna make my way over to her, but my feet won't let me move. because it all makes sense.

i grab stan's hand. "els," he says lowly "what's wrong?"

"you see, what a lot of people don't know about sydney here, she's one hell of a writer" bradley reveals a book with half a cat and half a mermaid. it's similar to my poetry book from mrs capriotti. it's gotta be her diary.

"he knows."

"he knows what?" stan asks whilst i'm still watching for brad's next move. stan figures it out soon enough. "what?! she wrote it down? who does that? is she crazy!" he freaks out quietly before he shushes and gets nervous too.

brad jumps off of the platform and stumbles back a little due to his drunk state. whitaker will most definitely be having words afterwards.

my other hand starts to shake as stan quickly grabs it and holds it tight. i feel sweaty, i wonder how the fuck syd feels.

"you know it's-it's funny, because everyone's so fast to call me an asshole," he starts to make his way through the crowd, barging into everyone to seem powerful. "but while i was downstairs banging jenny tuffield at ricky's, guess what sydney was doing upstairs."

"she was kissing dina" i say under my breath, finishing the sentence subconsciously.

"wait, what?" stan asks. i just bite my lip and nod.

"she was kissing my girlfriend" brad spat into the microphone. the crowd started to murmur as both of my friends looked really uncomfortable under the stares of our classmates.

"now don't get me wrong, chicks get drunk, they make out sometimes and i'm all for it" he smirks evilly making my insides churn. "but being a full-on d***. that's a whole other ball game."

i was speechless. stan was speechless. syd was speechless. how could a person do this? how could a person be so cruel?

"i mean, syd is fucking in love with dina. page after page, it's absolutely pathetic-"

"oh shut up, brad!" dina shouts angrily. she looked so betrayed, so embarrassed to have ever thought of being with this monster in front of her.

"and my god. don't even get me started with the daddy issues on this one. everyone in her life thinks she's a piece of shit, and i mean everyone" brad cruelly laughs in her face as i feel my hands loose the touch they once had.

stan was storming his way over to brad so i followed in tow. "hey, man! leave her alone!" stanley shouts.

but bradley punches him slam in the face, knocking him out. "stan!" i gasp, making myself seen by everyone as i fall to his side.

"but that is not even the weirdest thing about sydney novak. for example, ladies and gents, look at dear ella dawson" brad says, as my breathing increased. "your fellow classmate. your fellow druggy thanks to stanley barber, her banging buddy or so it says in here" he flaps the diary.

"you really wanna know how ella got that cast? cause sydney novak gave it to her" he growls. everyone's eyes are split between me and syd as she looks at me, her fists tight and a tear leaking from her eye as i feel some prickle my eyes. "and you wanna know how syd did it?"

"shut the fuck up!" i storm over to him, not even caring if i get punched because i wanna punch him. instead, brad pushes me back as i land awkwardly on my bad arm.

an audible crack is heard from everyone as i start to weep. i'm hopeless on the ground, i wanna fight but i can't. i wanna help stan. i wanna help syd. but i'm frozen as brad takes a breath.

"get this, sydney claims she has-"

splat.