ty ily all for the crazy read count guys even those people who didn't comment last chapter and are now ded bc I found them and cancelled their life subscription rip

A NOTE TO ALL THOSE WHO READ THE ORIGINAL: THE STORY DIVERGES FROM HERE. IT WILL HAVE DIFFERENT OUTCOMES THAN THE LAST.

The OG plot may or may not be rewritten into a new book. Thank you.

to those who haven't- ignore everything you just read 👌👍

TW: Violence

^°~Darryl~°^

I'm glad I sat with Zak today.

Even though it wasn't that long, I can tell he's a nice person.
Luckily I hadn't chose wrong when I needed to sit with someone.
It could've gone a lot worse if I had sat with the wrong people, I know that now.

Zak definitely was the right choice.

But now, I think that feeling last night might of been wrong. Today's been pretty nice.

And hopefully, it'll stay that way.

I just have to be myself, no more lies.

No more stupid homework.

I sit through the rest of my third period, looking forward to seeing Zak later today.
It's good to know I definitely have at least one new (real?) friend this year.

Yeah, I do have other friends but...
You never know if they suddenly moved or something came up or if all of a sudden they realize...
They hate you.

Nothing much goes on during my Geometry class, we aren't even doing any math yet.
It's mostly my teacher just explaining math from kindergarten to where we are now. How everything relates and connects, and honestly I can see him trying desperately to impress us with things we already know. How algebra fits with geometry, so on.

He's pretty nice, but this is starting to drag on.
There's only so many things you can talk about involving math without actually doing any.

I glance to the digital clock on the wall.
We still have ten minutes.
Ugh.
I honestly like math-I mean I find it interesting.
This class period however, is not.

I rest my head on my hand as I draw invisible circles with my fingers, feeling the smooth wood table under my hand.
Since we aren't doing anything, I guess I can let myself drift into my thoughts...

I'm excited for 6th period, but the looming thought of Allison finding me sometime out of class in the halls sends shivers down my spine. Who knows what she'll do. I might just end up pinned against another wall, threatened till submission.

Like always.

An audible sigh escapes my lips.

The teacher glances over to me, still lecturing us.

My impression with teachers has always been good, and I have always tried hard to make sure they don't resent me.
When my relationships with kids fail, I fall back onto my teachers.

He glances back up to the clock, and stops lecturing us.

"Alright class, we get out in 2 minutes, go ahead and pack up."
He goes from the front of the classroom to his desk, and begins typing loudly on his laptop.

I stand up from my desk, grab my bag and pull it over my shoulder. A loud buzzing noise echoes through the classroom, and I head to the door.

Off to 4th period.

I dodged many people, a shoulder bumping me here and there. I walked on, before hands shoved me forward, dirty words mumbled under their breath as I felt the air in my lungs pause at the sensation of falling.
My hand caught something, moments before falling, and with a death grip I pulled myself up.

"Sorry-" I apologize to the person I had accidentally clinged onto, my hand immediately reaching to fix my disrupted glasses.
My blood ran cold as my eyesight adjusted to the face that met mine, the fuzziness around my surroundings fading as my glasses were reaffirmed on my bridge.

A large grin spread across Allison's face.
"Hey Darryl."

I couldn't say anything. I was frozen.
There's no way I'd do this again this year.

"I was looking for you actually... Seems like whatever you look for ends up finding you eventually." She lets out what seems to be a friendly chuckle, but I know for a fact it's laced with bad intentions.

She looks at me.

"What's wrong?" She gives me a frown

"I-I gotta get to class-" I mumble out, attempting to duck past her, trying to escape.
I felt a sharp tug on the back handle of my bag, almost enough to throw me off my feet.

"You can spare a second, Darryl." She says with an iron grip, chuckling again.

God I hate her.

"N-no really, I-I gotta get to class,  Bell's gonna ring in a minute.."

She glances at the clock in the now almost bare hallway, then back to me.

"I guess that's fair," She says, pushing me a little too violently away as she let go of my backpack "See you after 6th!"

She jogs away, then turns further down the hall, shoots me a grin along with a wave, then disappears into another hallway.

I stood there, head pounding, the interaction playing on loop, my mind trying to make some sort of sense of it.
My body felt numb; stiff, unable to move in the slightest.
Even the thought of flicking a finger seemed overwhelming; impossible.
I simply stood, idle, feeling both numb indifference and the vibrant colors of anger and sorrow coursing through my veins.

The bell echoed through the empty hallway, half snapping me from my intense trance.

Come on Darryl, get yourself together.

I shake my head, a sad attempt to shake the intense feelings boggling my mind, and put one numb leg Infront of the other, heading to my next period.

...

\~Zak~/

Finally, the end of 5th period.

The bell rings, and I yank the bag over my shoulders.

My thoughts dance around in my head, thinking of seeing Darryl again.
A puddle of warmth held in my gut, reminding me of his sweetness during lunch.

I brushed past other students before finally making it to the room; 314.

I opened the door and scanned the room before realizing wasn't here yet.

I took a seat near the middle row of the classroom, beginning to tap on my desk.

"Hey Zak!" A small smile pulls at my lips as I'm greeted by the face of Darryl.
"I can sit here, right?" He asked, pointing to the desk next to me.

Soft warmth stirred in my stomach.

"Of course." I smiled at him.

The teacher then walks to the front of the class and starts to introduce themselves.

"Do you like science?" Darryl whisper-asks me.

"Not really." I reply honestly.

He nods "I honestly don't like science cause it's so easy. I want something that's more of a challenge, you follow me?"

"Yeah, its honestly waaaaay too easy- I could do this in my sleep-" I say, acting as that's what I meant by disliking the subject.

Darryl smiles.
"I wouldn't say I could do it in my sleep but-"

"AHEM." Teacher cleared their throat, dead eye staring the two of us.
"As I was saying, I'm about to take attendance, so I need total silence. Thank you."

The teacher began listening names,
Occasionally meeting silence

"Zak."

"Here!" I say.

They continues listing names.

"Darryl."

"Present!" The cute boy next to me exclaims with excitement.

Cute?? Zak, what the fuc-

...

"I can wait for you if you want-"
Darryl starts.

"Nah, go on without me. I'll catch up."
I'd feel bad If I made him wait for me.

"Ok. I'll be out in the hall then!" I watch as he turns away and walks out the door.

The bell had already rang about 2-3 minutes ago, and my backpack had decided to give up on me and spill all my school stuff onto the ground. Darryl, being as nice as he is, helped me pick most of it up. He put it on the table, and I told him I'd put it the rest in my bag on my own.

^~Darryl~^

I walk out of the corridor into the main hall.

I finally have a new friend.

The thought makes my heart swell with happiness.

I have a new friend.

"Oh hey Darryl!"

Oh.

I can feel my heart drop to my shoes; my blood ruins cold at the sound of her voice.

Allison strides towards me, with that stupid grin still plastered on her face.

"H-how-"

"How did I find your last period? I work in the office, silly! They let you print out any schedule you want or need, whenever!"

I can't do this, not this year.
I can't do this again.
I just can't.

"So..." She walks closer, and with every step she takes forward, I take one back.

"The whole route from last year... It's on for this whole year," she lets out a malice-laced chuckle. Then stares me dead in the eyes ".. Right?"

"I-I well actually-"
I bump into one of the lockers, finally going as far back as I could.
I'm trapped.

" I- Actually Allison, I-I was thinking- t-that we.. you know uh- wouldn't
...do that this year.."

She let out a harsh laugh

"You little bitch."

She slammed her arm against the lockers, making me flinch.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?"

I felt lightheaded.

"I-I-" I couldn't think. A wave of dizziness washed over me, making everything spin.

"I said" She got closer to my face as I began to look for any form of escape from her grasp.

"HEY!" She grabbed my face and turned it back to her.

"Who" shesaidinasmallbutfuriouswhisper," Doyouthink" shewassoclosetome, Icouldfeelherhotbreathonmyface."Youare?"

I let out a small whimper.
It was the only noise I could make.

"WellI'lltellyouwhoyouare. You'reaweak, PATHETICnerd, who'sgoingtodowhatIsay, orelse."

Mymindhissedattheremark, pridebuildinginmychestatthethoughtofputtingherinherplace.

"Ohyeah? Orelsewhat?" Iblurtedoutwiththesuddenconfidentboost.

That was a mistake.

Sheslappedmyface, asharpstingrupturingmycheek.

Iletoutahissofpainasshegrinned.

"Then I'll make sure you fucking pay."

Shebackedoff, andalight, innocentsmilereappearsonherface.

"SowhenIendupgettingmyfirsthomeworkassignment, I'lljusthanditofftoyouover  here, right?"

Ihadanever-growinglumpinmythroat. Icouldn'tsayanything, andhellevenifIcouldIwouldn'ttrustmyselftosayanythinganyways.

I nod my head reluctantly.

"Ok! See you later Darryl!" She practically skips away, down towards the exit of the school.

I stand there, breathless.

I thought I was used to this.

I clench my fist.

I hate her
I hate her
I hate her
I hate her
I hate-

Ascreamechoedthroughthehallway, snappingmebacktoreality.

I looked over, startled.

Allisonstumbledback, herhandcradlinghercheck. Someonestoodinfrontofher, clutchingtheirfists.

"What the fuck is wrong with yo-"

Another punch was thrown, knocking Allison back into the wall, where she let out a small sob, scrambling to grab the bag that slid off her shoulder before the figure kicked her in the face, making her body go limp.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Blood dripped from her nose, rolling off her lips and onto her shirt.

My eyes focused back on the perpetrator - no, the hero,- who still stood, fists locked, heavily breathing, his teeth clenched.

This man, this person, has done all I've wished to have done, things I  never have had the confidence nor strength to do.

I felt a small smile on my lips.

There was no way this was real- no way I had witnessed such justice.

I kept my eyes locked on him, before his eyes shifted to me.

A small gasp of recognition parted from my lips.

"Zak-?"

2049 words.