a/n: great at updating 👈🏻👈🏻

TW: bullying

stay safe, loves <3

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Josh tapped his pencil incessantly on his biology notebook. He had already learned most of the material before; he had been a huge science nerd when he was little, but lately he only really cared about music. He had almost dozed off before a quick skrt and a crash was heard. The entire class's heads swiveled to the back, where Tyler was on the floor, his chair upturned next to him.

"Tyler, what did I say abou--"

"Sorry, Ms. Dexter, Brendon pushed me." Tyler sheepishly fixed his chair and looked down at his notes while Brendon glared at him, clearly annoyed.

Next to Josh, Ashley was giggling softly. Her hand was tapping away at her notes, making a rhythm that only she could decipher. Josh glanced over at her, and she had her hand over her mouth to contain her laughs.

"And, Ms. Frangipane, what is so funny?"

The girl with cropped blue hair glanced up. "Sorry, I just love it when Forehead gets caught with his shenanigans."

"Hey!" Brendon protested, but Ms. Dexter silenced him with a glare.

"Now, if you were listening to the lesson..." Josh tuned out again, trying to make a harmony to Ashley's black-nailed rhythms.

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Josh pulled off his sweater, quickly stuffing it into the small gym locker before pulling on his gym T-shirt. "Hey, look who it is!" Josh tensed up at the yelling. He always tried to change before anyone else entered the locker room, but these people often beat him to it.

Brendon stood in the doorway, Ryan and Dallon behind him. He had other friends, but only these two were in his gym class. "Is that our little gay boy? Shouldn't you be busy sucking someone off in the bathrooms?"

"Can it, Forehead, we all know that you're the only one around here who would suck dick," someone else yelled, followed by raucous laughing. Josh recognized the voice as Gerard, who was known as the Master of Sass among the grade.

     "At least I'm not a fatass," Brendon yelled back, rolling his eyes. He was soon in front of Josh. "So, where were we? Oh, yes... what happened to your nose, Josh?"

     "Nothing, Brendon," Josh returned in the same sugary tone.

     "Really? Well, that doesn't seem believable, does it?"

     "Someone dating you doesn't seem believable either, but it's happening." Oh, fuck. I fucked up.

     "Look, you little f-g, I don't need you telling me what should be going on in my social life. At least I can get someone to even look in my direction," Brendon yelled, shoving Josh backwards and into the smooth, cold metal of the lockers.

     Josh's shoulder blade hit the combination lock painfully as he slipped and fell, causing him to groan and hold his shoulder. Brendon crouched down and grabbed his hair, yanking Josh's face up to look at him. "Look, bitch, if you want to have teeth, I would recommend you stop giving me lip," Brendon hissed, glaring at Josh.

     The red-haired boy didn't say anything, so Brendon let him go and kicked him in the stomach. "You can tell your mama all about what I did to you." Brendon turned away, walking to his locker and separating from Ryan and Dallon.

     When Josh walked out, a small, skinny boy walked next to him. "Hey, man, if you ever need someone to beat up Brendon, you can call us." It was widely known that Frank, Gerard, Mikey, Ray, and Bob were all in some gang. They didn't tell much about it.

     "No thanks, Frank, but I'll keep you in mind. I don't think Brendon is worth the Way brothers' time, anyway."

     Frank laughed in his high giggle. "That's a good point, but Ray and Bob might think he's a good target."

     "Alright, kids, stop talking and line up. We're running laps!" Mr. Minnow yelled--he was officially called Mr. Minnow, but most students referred to him by his first name, Jonathan. It seemed to fit him better.

     As Josh started running, he felt someone glaring at him from behind. He knew it was Brendon, but he didn't show that he knew of him. He saw the boy's foot too late and went tumbling to the floor. He resorted in rolling to the side to avoid being stepped on, before rapidly getting up and running again. He could practically see his participation points for the day fading away.

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     "Mr. Armstrong, why do we need to know 'marijuana' in Spanish?" Patrick asked. The small, innocent boy sat next to Josh in Spanish, and always asked questions like this to the obviously-stoned teacher.

     "It'll come in handy, Tree Stump. Trust me on that." He had names like that for everyone in the class and expected people to laugh at his "jokes" that were almost bullying. No one ever really genuinely laughed, as with any other teacher.

Josh's routine continued that day like it always did, answering as few questions as he could and ignoring most people for the majority of it. Tyler tried to talk to him a few times, but he simply ignored him. Couldn't he take a hint?