No One Really Understands

Demon.

I woke up to red. Red, like fire. Red, like blood.

"What the...?" I muttered sleepily. I sat up and squinted around my room. "Oh." I stumbled over to my lamp and snatched off the red shirt that I'd tossed there last night. The redness disappeared and I breathed and internal sigh of relief. I'd been wondering when my eyes were gonna fail me, and I thought this was it. I padded over to my closet and slipped on one of my Broken Record shirts and a pair of black skinny jeans. I brushed my teeth and looked at my reflection in the mirror. My blood red eyes stared back at me. I grinned.

"Classic Strider," I murmured to myself.

Demon. I froze. The thought had darted through my mind so swiftly; I almost hadn't had time to comprehend it. My cheeks reddened and I looked away. I struggled to drive in from my head before the bitter memories appeared as well. It'd been months since it happened, but I was still having flashbacks.

No, listen. You have friends now. Friends who accepted you. You're different now. You're not who you were all those months ago, I told myself. I shook the thoughts from my head and grabbed my backpack and shades.

Slipping them on, I shouted, "C'mon, Dirk, we're gonna be late!"

A moment of silence hung in the air and the door to dirk's bedroom opened slowly. He was still in his sleep clothes. I groaned internally.

"Ah, damn. Is it that time already?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Gimme, like, 5 minutes." I rolled my eyes. He started to turn away, but stopped. "Dave."

"What?"

"No sunglasses in the house. You'll ruin your eyesight."

Damn. I cut my eyes away from him, cheeks warm. I was hoping he wouldn't notice. "Sorry. I forgot. Force of habit."

Dirk seemed to hesitate, and reached out to push my glasses onto my forehead. I turned away from his touch. I walked away and heard his door shut softly. In the kitchen, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that John was texting me.

ghstbstrs_nrd: hey dave

striderite: sup

ghstbstrs_nrd: why arent you at school yet?

striderite: bro woke up late again. Its like the asshole doesnt even want to get an education

ghstbstrs_nrd: heh yeah :)

ghstbstrs_nrd: COM3 TO SCHOOL N3RD >:]]]

ghstbstrs_nrd: sorry. terezi took my phone

ghstbstrs_nrd: she says hi by the way

striderite: tell her im coming on my majestic steed

striderite: sorry gotta go bros ready

ghstbstrs_nrd: see you at school ;)

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and looked up to find Dirk standing in front of me, holding out my helmet.

"Are you done talking to your boyfriend yet?" he smirked. I scowled at him.

I followed him to the garage and waited for him to fire up his candy-apple red Harley Davidson. I fixed my helmet on my head and climbed on behind him, clinging to his backpack. My stomach lurched as he sped down the driveway and down the street. Not that I'd ever admit it to anyone, but I wasn't too fond of riding Dirk's motorcycle. Or at least, not with the way he drove it. Felt like I could fall off at any moment. But I hadn't woken up early enough to walk and at the very least it helped with the whole "badass" thing I had going on. When we finally arrived at school, I hopped off as soon as Dirk killed the engine. I tossed him my helmet and put on my sunglasses, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

"Later, Bro," I said as I walked away, waving over my shoulder. I heard him start to say something, but it was drowned out in the din of the crowd of teenagers milling around the courtyard before the bell rang. I swung my gaze around, looking for John and Terezi. I noticed Game in one corner, hanging out with several other people in a thick cloud of smoke. I could see his blood-shot eyes from where I stood.

"Not even 8 yet..." I muttered. I followed the flow of students inside and broke off to put my stuff in my locker. When I closed it, I found a familiar red head leaning against the wall, fluorescent lights gleaming off of her red-tinted glasses.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," she murmured, examining her nails.

"Terezi, I'm not that late. Technically, I'm not late at all."

"Aren't you?"

"No, I'm not," I said, playfully punching her arm. "Where's John?"

"Homeroom, waiting for you. C'mon." Terezi hooked her arm in mine and proceeded to half-walk, half-drag me to our homeroom, whacking nearly everyone within 5 feet of her with her cane.

This is what I get for letting a blind girl walk me to class.

When we got there, I immediately spotted John in the back, staring down at his phone. He looked so cute I couldn't help but grin a little.

"Hey, Egbert," I said as I approached. He looked up and when he saw me, he smiled.

"Dave! Thought you'd never get here. What kept you?"

I leaned in and gave John a quick peck on the lips before replying. "Dirk woke up late and I didn't wake up early enough to walk. Sorry, by the way. We can walk tomorrow."

John waved it off. "It's fine. You can make it up to me later, after school." He winked suggestively and I rolled my eyes at him.

"We'll see." I slipped my hand into his and leaned in to kiss him again. Beside us, Terezi cleared her throat.

"Ah-hem. No excessive PDA," she said in a mock-stern voice.

John rolled his eyes. "You can't even see us. How do you know we're kissing?"

"I can smell the blush on your cheeks from here."

"Suuuuuuuure, totally." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

Terezi pretended to mope, and John laughed in the cute little way he does. I watched them and smiled.

* * *

The rest of homeroom and 2nd period were uneventful, but when I walked into 3rd period, something felt off. The back of my neck felt warm. Someone was watching me. I looked around and found one of the trolls staring at me from the back of the room. Karkat. That was his name.

Him. I knew him. He'd helped me and John and the others back in Sburb. He'd been okay back then, I seemed to recall, if not a little angry. He had dark, messy hair and circles around his eyes that stood out strongly against his pale, almost grey skin. When he noticed me watching him, he blushed bright red and dropped his head. Something about him felt off. The old Karkat wouldn't have looked away. He seemed... different. More submissive. Shyer. This change in manner felt vaguely concerning, but I pushed it from my mind. The bell rang, and I slid into a seat beside a kid I didn't know.

But for the rest of the period, I could feel Karkat's eyes on my back. The moment when he'd realized I was looking at him, his eyes had seemed... sad. Forlorn, almost. They reminded me of the ay my own had looked in the mirror all those months ago. I tried to forget them, but for the rest of the day until dismissal, I couldn't get the image of those empty, despondent eyes out of my mind.

A/N: I will probably try to update every Friday, but then again I probably won't stick to that ( ;-_-) Remember to leave comments on how you like the chapter!