the breakup [skephalo]

[21] Baggy Hoodies

trigger warnings: strong language, references to abuse

THE BREAKUP, ch. 21
The next day was weird.

Zak came to school feeling sick and tired. His stomach hurt at the thought of Darryl being mad at him, and the nervousness from the domestic violence case didn't really help him at all. He barely got any sleep last night because of everything, which meant it was going to be a rough day for him.

A baggy hoodie and sweatpants were what Zak's outfit consisted of. The energy drink in his hand and his baggy eyes told it all. His hair was messy and his backpack seemed to weigh a hundred pounds when he walked into school that morning.

Tommy and Tubbo happened to walk by the raven haired boy first. Tommy's eyes widened and he leaned towards Toby to whisper in his ear. "Look at this shit, Tubbo," He muttered. "This man is broken."

Toby's eyes widened at the sight. "That's quite unfortunate," He replied with a small frown on his face.

The two freshman walked right by Zak without bothering him. The boy looked annoyed already, they didn't want to be the ones that pushed him off the edge.

Jacob was the first one to actually approach Zak on the topic. It was first period, Zak was falling asleep with his face tucked into his folded arms. Jacob leaned over and poked Zak in the shoulder, causing the boy to let out a grunt in response. "What?" He grumbled.

Jacob tilted his head and sat back in his chair. "You look rough. Darryl told me what happened. You gotta apologize, dude," He pointed out. "You and Darryl are literally such good friends. It'd suck to see you two drift apart."

Zak huffed, lifting his head out of his arms. "I know," He admitted. "I just don't feel like I can deal with that right now. Kids are getting called out of classes every ten minutes to have a talk with Principal Brown and it's stressing me out."

Jacob shrugged. "You'll probably feel better if you make up with Darryl, I'm just telling you," He insisted with furrowed eyebrows.

Just then, a staff member popped her head into the classroom. "Jacob?" She asked aloud, her eyes searching across the desks.

Jacob's eyes widened. "I'm here," He informed her.

The staff member smiled at the boy. "Mr Brown would like to see you. Follow me," She ordered.

Zak watched as Jacob hesitantly left his desk and walked towards the door of the classroom. He looked behind his shoulder and flashed Zak an apologetic look, feeling bad for leaving the kid to deal with everything on his own. The staff member closed the door after Jacob left, causing the class to fall into silence.

Zak felt his classmates' gaze on him as he stuffed his face back into his own arms, suffering from embarrassment and stress. He was really not enjoying all of this.

It was the energy drink that kept Zak alive through the rest of first period and all the way through second period. The passing time between second period and third period was chaotic, students seemed to all be heading in the same direction. Zak decided to follow them to see what was going on.

The boy in the blue hoodie showed up just in time to witness the argument between Clay and Alice in the hallway.

"Are you seriously shouting at me right now?!" Alice screamed at Clay with fury and hatred in her eyes. She was not in good shape. She didn't have any makeup on and she wore a baggy hoodie. Her hair was crazy messy as well. For a person who cares only about her looks, this was bad. "This is how you repay me for letting you live in my house?!"

Clay glanced around at the crowd of students when she said that. He seemed to be very uncomfortable with the revelation but he continued to shout back anyways. "Okay, so now you're trying to guilt trip me into forgiving you? Do you realize how bad you've fucked up? You literally outed Zak, you outed me, and now everyone knows that you used to hit your ex boyfriend," Clay sassed back to her. "You're disgusting."

Alice's face turned read. "Your daddy was beating you and I was the one who was there for you. Stop acting like I've never done anything for you!" She shrieked.

Clay's face fell. The crowd gasped at the revelation and he couldn't do anything but look down at the floor. Zak felt a pit and his stomach. The silence in the room was so loud for a few moments. Everything was still.

The only thought that crossed Zak's mind was Alice what the fuck.

George busted into the scene, rushing to Clay's side. He rubbed the taller's back and glared at Alice. "If you actually cared about Clay, you'd know he's living with me now," George snapped at her.

Alice simply spit at them in response, before strutting out of the circle, pushing her way through the sea of students. The bell rang, signalling that everyone was late to their class, but Zak didn't care. Neither did Clay or George, since they still stood there together, hugging each other thoughtfully.

Zak saw some kid videoing the scene. Zak frowned and walked up to the student, snatching his phone right out of his hand. "Stop that shit," He told him, ending the recording it and deleting it off of the boy's phone. He handed the phone back hastily before walking towards his friends.

"Clay, you okay?" Zak asked carefully.

Clay didn't seem to respond. He had his face resting on George's shoulder.

George gave Zak a sad smile. "It's okay, I've got him," George assured him.

With reluctance, Zak gave him a solemn nod before beginning to head to his third period. His mind was fogged with fear, confusion, and hatred. His emotions grew dark by the time his third class was over.

Zak could tell that the day wasn't going to end there.

~

a/n: sorry for not uploading this weekend, my cool cousin and his annoying little brother visited lololol