âNot to discount you or anything, but - â Jonah shrugged, with a small smile on his face. âyou donât really scare me.â Heâd seen monsters before in his life and they were not one of them - besides, he was a lot stronger than he looked, he liked to think heâd have the upperhand in any fight. âWell, yeah. There are a lot of idiots, but their hearts are in the right place, they just want to help you. One day youâll appreciate that so many people asked.â Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam had said those words to him - one night after Jonah screamed so loudly his throat burned when he sobbed into Samâs chest. He didnât believie those words then and heâs not sure he believes them now, but they come out of his mouth so easily. âMaybe thatâs a bit cheesy. Whatâs your name? Iâm Jonah.â
Cay narrowed they eyes, leaning forward over the table to look at him. âI donât scare you? Youâre more stupid than you look.â Theyâd done such awful things, the kids here couldnât imagine the shit storm that Cay had created back home. They all treated them like they were just some small, misunderstood kid that wanted to rebel. The truth, unfortunately, was worse. âThey can keep their fake concern. They donât really want to know how I am or whats wrong, they want to feel like theyâve done something by just asking.â They paused, letting the boy introduced himself. âCay. Just Cay.âÂ
Hearing her words almost made him shake. He remembered uttering them so many times - remembered screaming them at the top of his lungs, remembered saying that he would never be alright again and to just leave him the fuck alone already. Listening to them say it made him blank out, but when they snapped at him he closed his eyes and shook his head, taking a deep breath. âI was uh...just zoning out. Iâm sorry.â Jonah lied before running his fingers through his hair. âSome people donât really know what to say. Most people donât take a training course for dealing with traumatic situations.â He offered small smile before sitting across from her.
Cayâs eyes watched the kid as he took a seat on their table, without an invitation. âBoy, youâre brave to be sitting here right now.â They wouldnât have really done anything violent, at least they hoped not, but after the past week and all the shit that had gone down they just werenât sure that anyone should be around them right now. They could never be one hundred percent sure about what they might do. âSome people are also idiots, no matter what they say.âÂ
âItâs an art.â He lets out a scoff rubbing at his eyes. âYou either appear crazy, or like a total assholeâ Making a face Terri shrugs a shoulder before commenting. âIf that doesnât suit your fancy thereâs always the âHey, fuck you I didnât ask youâ very effective.â Pushing a hand into his pocket he glances around the room again. Most of the people were absorbed in their electronics, or simply laughing loudly with eachother.
âWell I mean I could show you the room. I was just coming in here forâ Lifting his bag of chips he shrugs before continuing. âFood. But hey if you want to sit in here with the lipstick stilettos itâs your choice.â With a quick glance around one last time he adds. âThis seems a littleâŠloud. Personally preference and all.â Taking a few steps back he gives a two finger salute. âHave a good one.â Â
Cay nodded slowly, listening to his other suggestion. âIâm pretty good at that one, Iâve had a lot of practice with it.â Way too much practice, if they were being truthful. This guy seemed like the classic nerdy guy everybody made fun of but nobody really had a reason to. That guy in the movies that got famous after school for starting Facebook or founding Apple or some shit... obviously not, seeing as he was here.Â
For some reason, they really did want to go to the I.T room. It wasnât just the âlipstick stilettosâ or how loud it was, but maybe, just maybe, if Cay was somewhere with nobody they knew, people would stop asking if they were okay. And if the people in there were how heâd described, Cay doubted they would ask anyway. âHey-â They let out a short breath, defeatedly getting to their feet. âI guess it wouldnât hurt to know where it is.âÂ
âAlright, first of all, I didnât ask if you were okay. I asked if you needed help with your bag. And second, I think you should watch your tongue, Adler.â Emeryâs voice was as sharp as her gaze as she watched the dark haired student, a firm look on her face as she studied the injured kid. âI tried to reach out to as many students as possible, but I waited to question you. I was hoping youâd find time in your schedule to sit down and talk with meâpreferably without the sarcasm.â If there was one thing that Emery Newman prided herself on when it came to her students, it was the fact that somehow she had gained their respect flawlessly. She wasnât about to give that all up after one Halloween gone wrong.
âSarcasm? I have no idea what youâre talking about, Ms Newman.â Cayâs eyebrows rested firmly on their forehead, eyes watching the woman. âWhat kind of questions do you have anyway, because I really donât think I deal with talking about Halloween again. Itâs all anybody wants to frigginâ talk about.â All Cay had to say was that they got hurt and almost lost their arm, couldnât do any of the things that they loved any more, couldnât help their friendâs when they had most needed it... The entire night had been a shitshow and the aftermath was even worse. Theyâd been through all of this already.
âYou want people to stop fucking with you?â Crossing his arms he looks down at them arching a brow. âYouâve got the look down, but what you need to do.â Resting his hands on the table he lowers his voice. âDonât shout, make sure your voice is extremely calm. And then you project your voice after a small amount of time.â Pointing a finger down at the table he lets out a scoff before chuckling. âSimply yelling at them never works. But raising your voice out of nowhere and then going back to normal immediately after? Thatâs the key.â Looking to them he stands up fully and looks around the room. Shrugging a shoulder he looks back at them before âAnd for the record. I wanât going to ask if you were okay. Not my job.â Making a face he turns to start walking away but stops. Maybe it was becasue seeing them sitting lone reminded him too much of himself in highschool. Or maybe he was just in the mood to try a little shred of kindness. âYou want nobody to stare at you come to the IT room. Everyone in there is too worried about themselves to look at other people. Just a shit storm of lost causes trying to not be lost causes. Who knows maybe youâll fit in.â
His question caught Cayâs attention. Yes, they really did want people to stop fucking with them. The look? They quickly let their eyes float down to scan over their outfit, the boots, the leather jacket that was currently hanging over one shoulder because of the cast. The black, ripped jeans and iron maiden t-shirt... yeah, they understood what he meant. âSo... basically I gotta sound like a crazy person?â They paused, considering it for a moment before a nod began to move their head. âI guess I see that working.âÂ
A laugh huffed from between Cayâs lips, completely understanding what he meant by ânot my jobâ. It definitely sounded like a room full of lost causes was a place theyâd fit in... theyâd been disowned and shipped across the world to a pretenious school that their family knew theyâd hate. All because of their criminal activity back in the states.âThe I.T room? I donât even know where that is.â they were aware that they sounded interested now, and quickly shrugged, leaning back in the chair. âIâm fine sitting alone here anyway.âÂ
âCan people please stop asking me if Iâm okay? Iâm obviously not, itâs a stupid question.â Cayâs eyes rolled back down to the paper in front of them. It was completely blank. They couldnât draw since they arm had been shattered by the spear, they couldnât box or play any sports, they couldnât even shower properly with the weird surgery cast. It was just making them angry. Their artwork was always a way to release anger but with their arm in so much pain after the emergency operation, it was hard to even have their bag on that shoulder. And then there were the dark thoughts that were blocking them from doing anything else, like artist block expect for everything in general. They were just so worried about the people in their life, their own needs didnât seem to matter much. Cayâs eyes flickered back up when the person didnât leave. âAre you just going to stand there watch me or are you going to piss off?âÂ
Cay began to stir, their mind too fuzzy to feel anything just yet. At first, they assumed that they had blacked to last night after drinking too much, the punch was spiked and theyâd had a bit, not enough to get trashed but who knew what else could have been in there.
Ouch
They open their eyes, feeling something pressing on their arm, and looked down at it, the shock forcing them to stop.Â
What the fuck.
Before they had a chance to react, a voice started flooding into the room.Â
âEach of you has demons you are harbouring, trying to keep locked away. Each of you has been exposed to a deadly nerve toxin for the past thirty minutes.â The words had forced them to be quiet but with each syllable Cay was increasingly aware of a pain starting to spread through their right arm. A deadly nerve toxin? What the hell was that? âYou have another hour and a half before the toxin corrupts every inch of your body, and you will drown in your own bodily fluids. There are, however, several anecdotes hidden within the maze.â With a slow attempt at steady breathing, Cayâs eyes opened again, the spear that had pinned them to the ground coming into focus. All at once the reality sank in and they lost control of their breathing, going into overdrive and trembling all over, which only pulled and pressed on the length of the weapon sticking from their arm. For the first time in a while, Cay began to cry, loud wails of pain escaping between sobs.
Cay looked around too suddenly and ended up pulling their arm against the spear, letting out a yell of pain. They quickly retreated to their original position and curled up beside their arm, waiting for the voice to be finished. Their mouth pressed into the ground below them, sending their warm and heavy breaths bouncing back up onto their face. It was comforting in a strange way. âAnd finally, check your phones. I have special messages for each of you.âÂ
Very carefully, they reached down into their pocket and slid their phone out from it, thankful that it wasnât underneath them. The screenâs light was too bright for the darkness of the room, it stung when Cay looked at it but they saw a waiting text and knew that they needed to find out what it said.
âCasey, I hope youâre a leftie.â
Casey.
Snarling down at their screen, they shoved the phone away again and went back to clutching their broken arm. They had no idea how they were going to get out of this alive, if it had just been them they had to worry about they werenât sure if theyâd fight to surive, but thoughts of Elle and Ana and Aliyah and Braelynn and all the other people they considered friends started to sink it. Thatâs when they realised that they needed to get out of here. The voice hadnât addressed Casey on their own, it had been talking to a group, and Cay was just praying it was a mind game to make them worry.Â
The spear was still stuck in their arm when they turned back but they had to do something. It must have been about ten minutes since the voice had left them, which meant they had another hour and twenty before they died from whatever was in their system.Â
Cay tried at first to lift their arm and slide it up the spear but that was immediately too much and they had to stop, not wanting to yell too much. âFucking bastard!â They cussed, possibly louder than their yells of pain. In a moment of weakness, they laid back on the ground, eyes shut and squeezed, trying to forget what was happening. It felt hopeless, they felt useless right now. They couldnât save themself, how were they supposed to make sure their friends were okay?
A frown formed over their brows as they felt something drip onto their face and opened their eyes to see something on the ceiling. There were words up there, formed in blood.Â
âGood luck trying to make it out in one piece. â
Any idea they had of giving up was instantly washed away as their will to stick it to this asshole kicked in. Their sudden determination gave them an idea, twisting and contorting their body to press one leg behind the spear, the other leg carefully wrapped around the front. They knew what they needed to do, they knew how to do it, it was just like a choke hold except they werenât going to stop squeezing because no body was going to tap their leg. They couldnât let go until it was broken... and it was going to hurt.
The yells of pain started again as Cayâs legs tried to break the spear. It wasnât just the way that it was pressing against the wound and moving the bones inside her arm, but the spear was now digging into their legs, no doubt creating large bruises. It took them a few attempts but eventually, it appeared to crack and began to break, splintering at the end. Some of the wood went into Cayâs leg but they didnât care, they kept going and dealt with the pain as quietly as they possibly could. When they finally heard the last crack and the broken side of the spear fall onto the floor, slipping away from their legs, they gave them self a moment to recover. There wasnât much more pain they could have felt at this point so they decided to get this over and done with, knowing that trying to break the spear had taken them at least another fifteen minutes. This just meant that they had to get out of the room and find the antidote and their friends in less than an hour... no big deal.Â
Shifting the weight onto one side, Cay balanced them self onto their legs which were now folded beneath them. The good news was that in their attempts to break to spear, their arm had already been pulled up a little, but the bad news was that there were bits of wood sticking out all over the place. They tried to clear as many as possible before grasping their wrist with their working hand and taking a deep breath, then all at once pulling their broken arm up and off of the weapon. They collapsed on the floor, clutching their arm to their chest and began to sob again. They were wrong about the pain, it was so much worse now, but they had no time to lick their wounds. They had little over an hour left and they needed to get out of there.Â
Stumbling over to the door, their uninjured hand was holding their broken arm against them, the blood soaking into their shirt just as it had the floor. When Cay reached for the door, they hadnât expected it to be locked. It didnât budge and that made them angrier, kicking at the bottom of it with their steel capped boots. All that did was create noise.Â
Getting onto their knees, the brunette tore a piece of their shirt off and began wrapping it around their wound, no idea if it was going to work. They didnât know first aid but it should help stop some of the bleeding... right? Before even looking back at the door, Cay held onto the spear that was still stuck into the ground and began pulling it, their muscles tensing made the pain worse but when theyâd pushed through it and the spear was finally in their hand they were able to see the weapon that had been pinning them down. It was sharp metal on the end which didnât surprise them.Â
Without really putting much thought in, they turned and began hitting the door handle with it, thankful that theyâd been so its body building. Without the mscles they had, the handle never would have broken off and fallen to the ground like it did, letting the door pop open right in front of their eyes. Cay stood for a minute, the battered spear still in their hand as they stared. It was time to get the hell out of there.Â
Anastasia laughed at their comment. âYouâre not crazy, Cayâ she reassured them. She sighed. Anastasia looked them into their blue eyes. âI mean Iâm not really the easiest person to deal withâŠâ her thoughts kind of wandered away. Anastasia sure wasnât the sanest person. âI guess, I have my reasons, but⊠Well, I have my crazy moments as wellâ she kind of murmured along. She looked up from her train of thought and smiled at them. âAnd apart from all of that, youâve always been my friendâ she gently reminded her. Even though they never had conversations like this before, it felt natural. It felt good to comfort her and to talk to her.Â
They were glad that Anastasia found it funny, it would have been a painful end to the night if she had taken offense. Her words didnât sit right with them, though, they were excusing Cayâs behaviour which... although they did have some valid reasons, was still unacceptable. Cay reached up without thinking, taking Anaâs cheek in their hand and pressing their lips against hers, only pulling away to correct her. âI shouldnât have done any of that, no matter what you did or said. It was... abusive. And I deinfitely donât want to be that person.âÂ
She sighed and smiled in empathy. âHeyâ she started softly. Ana gently placed her hand on their chin and looked at them. âI think youâre amazingâ. Anastasia had no clue what they were going through because she indeed didnât understand. But she heard the hurt in their words. And she understood pain like no other. Ana moved a bit closer to them and looked at Cay again. She chuckled lightly, in hopes that she would feel better. Carefully she placed her hand on her forearm again. The weird thing was that, even though this was a heavy conversation. Even though this moment alone was so intimate. She felt safe. Being safe and intimate. For Ana, it was a first.Â
Upon Anaâs gesture, Cay let themself look at the brunette again, this time determined not to look away. They didnât want to seem like they were being rude or disinterested, not after having slept with her on her first time. A smile cracked through their saddened expression. âYou donât think Iâm crazy? I mean, I did punch a hole in your door... And strangle you. And it wasnât even in the fun, kinky way.â At times like this, they liked to make jokes. Thatâs what theyâd learned about themself.Â
Anaâs heart broke a bit. They never have been this honest to her. Cay was funny, loving, smart. At this moment she genuinely couldnât imagine why someone wouldnât like her. But this was a parent. Something different. âBut youâre still the same person, right?â she offered. Ana kept on stroking them. She didnât know what to say or how to comfort her because sheâd never been in that situation. Let alone if her family would it accept. âHell, my parents are Greek, I wouldnât know how theyâd reactâŠâ she said in all honesty with a small chuckle. Ana sighed and looked at them again, with a loss of words. Right now she thought they were perfect.
Cayâs head began to shake as their eyes dropped again, this time focusing on their own hands. It was difficult for them to talk about this. They still cried when they were alone, sometimes weeping themself to sleep just thinking about it. Theyâd apologise to their fatherâs spirit and ask for strength. Cay wasnât a religious person but they talked to their father so much it was almost as if they were praying to god. âYou donât get it.âÂ
She could hear the sadness in their words. This came sudden, but it was honest. Ana ran away because of the past, maybe she did to? âBut why would he be disappointed?â she tried to offer gently. Ana kept stroking their soft forearm as she tried to look them in their eyes. âI mean youâre greatâ she told them with a kind smile. This moment was so pure. Anastasia knew they had a lot in common with her. They always used to talk for hours. But the fact they might be just as broken, or maybe even a little bit shattered just like her never past her mind. Anastasia wanted to kiss them, but she didnât want to ruin this moment.
Cayâs eyes focused on anaâs fingers, running across their arm and trying to be comforting. Or maybe it wasnât for comfort, maybe it was a habit sheâd picked up, smething to do with her hands. Either way, it was making Cay feel better. Her comment about them being great made their eyes move up and watch hers. âMy Dad would always talk about my fututre boyfriends, and walking me down the isle. Being there for my children... He would brag about how well he knew me but if Iâm. If Iâm gay, then he didnât know me. And our jokes and talks were all just lies. None of it makes sense if he didnât know me.âÂ
As she stroked their arm she looked at them, fascinated. Did this mean theyâd stay? âYeah, I kind of recognise thatâŠâ she said softly. Quietly she sighed as her focused turned back to Cay. With warm eyes she looked at them. âWhy though? she couldnât help but ask. Ana could kind of figure why, but somehow she was surprised.
It was a heavy question for Cay, one theyâd never been asked because theyâd never been so open about being gay. About liking girls and wanteing to kiss them and hold them and... well, other things. âI feel like Iâm disappointing my dad.â The words slipped out but they werenât upset, it was nice to be able to talk about it with someone finally. And they used to talk to Ana all the time when she was just Heel.Â
Ana looked at them and couldnât help but burst out in laughing. This was insane. She looked at them, as they lay close to her. âI bet you say that to all the girls, Wolfâ she teased back. With the laugh still in her eyes, she watched them. She placed her hand on their forearm, this moment felt perfect to her. She still couldnât wrap her head around the fact that Cay took her virginity, or the fact that it was with a girl, but right now she couldnât care.
Seeing Ana laugh was nice. Especially after all the trouble that Cay had caused her, but at least sheâd got the chance to kind of make up for all that. âNo, I used to just run away.â They said it as if it was a joke, but it wasnât. Sleeping with girls had always been weakness for them, a mistake and something to keep secret. They didnât want to feel like that anymore, not with ana.Â
A laugh slipped out as the word slipped out and Cay leaned an elbow into the bed beside the girl, propping their head up as they watched her. âNow... if you ask if this is my first time, Iâm going to be really offended.â Cay was being cocky, but they knew that they were good at this. They were good at making girls scream and beg for god, and call for their fathers. It was something theyâd been so uncomfortable with for such a long time but now they were owning it.Â
They had tried to make it last as long as possible, bringing Ana right up to her breaking point before teasing her by stopping, only to start over again. And again. And again. When Cay was finally ready to let Ana have it, they were impressed with how well she handled it. Cay was still thinking about it as they kissed their way up Anastasiaâs thighs, over her hip bones and rib cage and finally met the girlâs lips again, making sure to lay their weight beside the girl. There was something about giving a girl an orgasm that made Cay feel so fulfilled, it was all they really needed.Â