Die A Little

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

A couple of weeks later, I was parking up at school just like I usually did. Reaching for my backpack and books, I climbed from the vehicle and locked it behind me before heading for the entrance to the school.

As I was walking, I noticed that other students were giving me strange looks and whispering amongst themselves. The feeling of anxiety and fear that they were talking about me returned as I hugged my books tighter into my chest and pulled my hood over my head, keeping my gaze down and beelining for my locker.

Once there, I listened in on the conversation happening beside me between two students who I thought didn't even know who I was, let alone knowing what they did. Something was wrong and it didn't sit right with me.

"Did you hear that Q is gay now?" The blonde-haired boy gossiped as his friend cocked a brow.

"Dude, really?" He perplexed. "I bet it's that little runt at his party."

"You're probably right there, Asher." The blonde snorted. "He's probably only fucking Q to get popular."

"I doubt that would happen now, Lucas." The brown-haired boy chuckled in response. "Q's ruined."

Slamming the door to my locker shut, I turned to them both. Asher scoffing at me. "Oh, look who it is."

"Get your facts straight before you believe the bullshit that goes around this place." I glowered. "I'm not fucking Quinn."

"I'll get my facts straight when you learn how to act straight, Pussy." Lucas snarled, using his advantage in height to lean over me. "Gonna go running to your boyfriend now?"

"Fuck you, Lucas." I growled, shoving him back a step as he turned to Asher in surprise.

There was one benefit of sleeping with the toughest guy in school, he had taught me a thing or two about defending myself. He knew everyone's weaknesses and clearly, Brian and Lucas had had trouble in the past.

Lucas and Asher stormed off and as I turned around, Brian was stood behind me; his fists clenched tightly into a ball either side of him, his nostrils flaring and a look of pure fury across his face.

"What the fuck have you done, Sal?!" He shouted, his voice echoing off of the walls.

"What do you mean?" I questioned. "I haven't done anything!"

"You couldn't help yourself, could you?" He scoffed. "Now everyone in the fucking school knows."

"Brian, I have no idea what you're on about!" I argued. "It's been months, don't you think I would have said something before now?"

Startled, I immediately regretted my words as Brian grasped my shirt in his hand and pulled me up off of the ground and pinned me against the wall of lockers. He pointed a sharp finger towards me and gritted his teeth. Lowering his voice, Brian leaned in closer.

"You're dead fucking meat. Be on the field after school or you'll regret it." He threatened, dropping me back down onto his feet and storming off.

Swallowing hard, I dusted myself off and looked around. Thankfully, majority of the students had already headed to class but a couple of drifters had stumbled upon the interaction between Brian and I.

As the school bell rang to mark the end of the school day, I grabbed my stuff and traipsed my heavy feet out of the classroom. I went against the force of the crowd of students, heading for the field. My eyes laid onto the grass, seeing four figures stood in the centre; I knew exactly who they were.

Getting closer, Brian, Jiggy, Joey and Murr all stood glaring at me. One held a baseball bat while the other cracked his knuckles. I came to a stop in front of Brian, staring into the floor and praying that it would open up and swallow me whole.

But it never did.

"I knew we could never trust you." Joey spat at me. "You just couldn't help but continue with the rumours, could you?"

"No." I mumbled, deciding it was better to just go along with what they said rather than argue.

"Boss says you've been going around telling everyone that you and him are fucking," Jiggy jeered.

"I haven't said anything to anyone." This time I looked Brian dead in the eye. I was innocent in all of this; the only ones who knew were Brian, my mom, Murr and I.

"Bullshit." Brian scoffed, pressing his hand to my shoulder and shoving me back a step. "You're delusional. As if I'd fuck you!"

I could feel the tears forming, shaking my head and trying my best to hold back my cries. "You don't really mean that."

"Try me." Brian sneered, intimidating me. "Murr, get him."

"Huh?" I spluttered.

Brian took a step back and before I could retaliate, Murr picked up the baseball bat and swung a hit just below my right knee. Screaming out in cursing pain, I collapsed to the floor clutching at my leg and rolling left to right. He took another swing, this time hitting at my side as I howled louder.

By this point the tears were streaming down my now mud-covered face, before multiple feet started kicking at my back and sides. I curled into a ball, protecting everything that I could, soon looking up at the boys towering over me.

"Same time tomorrow, Vulcano." Brian ordered, spitting at me as his saliva landed with a splat at my cheek.

The four of them wandered off, leaving me a dishevelled mess on the grass. Everything burned, everything ached and I could barely breathe by how hard they had beaten me. Dragging myself up onto my feet, I managed to limp my way back to my car, only to find that 'gay' had been keyed into the side of it.

Same time, same place. There I lie once again, day in and day out for weeks on end, taking hit after hit in the gut, in the face, wherever he could lay his hands upon as his friends looked on and laughed. Blood splattered onto my clothes, pouring out of my nose as I felt a fist thump at my jaw. The bluntness of the punch was so hard that I could have sworn that I felt my tooth be knocked out of place.

"Piece of shit." Brian cursed, taking one last shot at my stomach with his foot before spitting down across my face. "Get up and fight, Pussy!"

I staggered to my feet, my head spinning. I brought my fists up to my face, holding my defence. I looked like a newly born deer with my knees desperate to buckle, my walk wobbly and off-balance.

I felt the full force of his fist after Brian threw the first punch, his knuckles coming into contact with my temple, hitting the bruise that he had only given me a day ago. Falling down, Brian threw himself on top of me; his punches came flying at me from every direction. The first few times I went through this torture, I would be screaming, crying, whimpering in pain, but now I was numb to it all. I laid there and took the beating, just waiting for it to end.

His knuckles were grazed over with the blood of the wounds in which he had inflicted upon my face as Brian soon targeted my ribs. He kicked brutally, making me curl up into a ball, screaming internally; my voice lost in the depths of my throat. Tears streamed down my face as I choked back a breath.

Brian wrapped his hand around my throat, leaning down to drop his bodyweight atop of me. His grip tightened as I felt the air being cut off from my lungs. He brought his lips to level with my ear.

"I will never forgive you for what you did." He whispered sharply, soon breaking away.

I lay there on the floor, staring up at the clouded sky as the group walked away, wishing that I could be anywhere else in the world. I didn't want to go home; home is where questions were asked. I didn't want to go to school; school is where the pain occurs. I didn't feel safe anywhere. When was this nightmare going to end?