Chapter 5 - Framed Again

I ignored the dirty looks all around me and headed for my seat, sitting down quietly while the anxiety in me slowly began to build as I wracked my brain to try and figure out what this was all about.

I began to lean forward and ask Bytra what was going on, but decided against it since the first period was already underway, and...I was still kinda flustered over last Saturday.

Seriously, though...what the fuck's going on?

After first period ended and the teacher left, I decided to ask her.

"Hey, Bytra, did something-?" I began.

Before I could even finish asking my question, my other classmates suddenly chimed in...

"I can't believe this freak..."

"You really don't have any trouble acting like everything's fine no matter what you do, don't you?"

"Ugh, what a creep. How can you talk to her like normal after what you did?"

"Wow, you've sure got some nerve, don't you!?"

Seriously...what the fuck is going on!?

"What I did...? Go on, enlighten me," I remarked, with both frustration and curiosity.

That only prompted more similar remarks, much to my chagrin, until...

"Hold on now, everyone...he's probably confused since he doesn't think what he did is wrong," Tairo chimed in with a slight smirk.

"...so, what did I apparently do, anyway?" I replied impatiently.

"It's what you did on Friday, of course! Remember, after school on the rooftop?" He said with a condescending smirk.

Huh? I only go up to the rooftop during lunch, what was he talking about? Before I could say that, he continued...

"You tried to ask Bytra out, but she rejected you, and then you lost it and started threatening her...who knows what would have happened if I hadn't shown up when I did?" He stated with a shake of his head and condescending smirk.

...what?

"Huh, I have no idea what you're talking about! Bytra, tell them-!"

"D-don't talk to m-me, please!" She blurted out nervously, without even looking at me.

Huh?

"Wow, you traumatized her, she can't even look at you, you creep."

"And after she showed you so much undeserving kindness too!"

There was a lot more, but I didn't hear any of it. I was just...stunned. What...what is going on here?

...

Seriously, what is this!? What, did I transfer over to a parallel world or something!? I was currently at the rooftop, it was lunch break. Just great, my desk was probably going to be a mess when I get back to class...

"H-hey..."

A familiar voice then snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked over in surprise, to see Bytra standing in front of me, her expression wracked with guilt and conflict.

"Bytra! Hey, what's going on-?"

"I-I'm sorry, I know you're probably really confused right now. Let me explain...when I first came to this school, the others all warned me about you. And then, Tairo and a couple of others approached me...they asked me to help them frame you for some reason, something about hot coffee or whatnot, and I...I agreed."

I felt my chest tighten...

"...why?"

"Well, because...at first, I thought you really were an awful person, and also...back at my old school in the West Quadrant, I...I was like you, an outcast in my class and constantly bullied, that's why I transferred here. So, when the most popular students in this class came up to me all at once, I saw it as an opportunity to avoid becoming an outcast here too, and so...I didn't even hesitate to do as they asked."

There were a lot of emotions welling up inside me right now, churning and building rapidly. It felt...stifling, like I couldn't breathe.

"Oh...so the last two weeks were...just an act-?"

"No...! I mean...it started off that way since I honestly thought you were the horrible person I had heard about...but when I spoke to you, I felt certain that you were telling the truth. And I genuinely enjoyed spending time with you-."

"Then why!?" I cried in anger and indignation, something inside me finally snapping.

"I...I just didn't want to be an outcast again, but I didn't mean to hurt y-!"

"But you did anyway, and it's not like it was accidental, so there's no point in saying that."

"Y-yeah, you're right..."

"I honestly couldn't care less about what the others in our class think of me, I'd long since gotten used to being treated like shit by them. But you're so much worse...at least they were always honest about how they felt about me."

"You've got it wrong, I...!...I really like you, Kilzachs, in fact...in fact, the original plan was to...frame you for attempting to sexually assault me, but I convinced Tairo and the others who were in on it to change it to-!"

"Oh, wow, thank you so much, I feel so touched! Instead of framing me for a crime, you framed me to look like a creepy freak, what a great fucking deal, except you forgot about one detail...either way, I'm getting framed!" I remarked sarcastically.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"In this situation, an apology is about as hollow as you can get. Huh, now I get why the rest of the class weren't as outspoken as I'd expected when we started talking to each other...its because those that were in on it must've held the others back, it was all part of the plan to trick me into getting close with you, in order to hurt me as much as possible when framing me. Am I right?"

"Y-yeah, that's right. According to Tairo, the idea was that if I continue to be friendly towards you while acting like I was ignoring all the warnings to stay away from you, you would...you would trust me faster."

This hurt...this really hurt, as much as I wanted to deny and ignore it, I just couldn't...this hurt so much. My chest felt tight, my breathing shallow, my head felt hot, my hands were trembling...the emotions swirling inside me, there were so many that I didn't even know exactly what I was feeling...

I forced them down and continued asking her about it...I wanted to leave absolutely no room for doubt. And there was something that didn't add up...

"How did the amusement park fit into this? What, was someone supposed to take a picture when you kissed me and pass that off as me forcing myself on you or something-?"

"No, you're wrong!...the amusement park...had nothing to do with this. In fact, the others don't even know about it. I...I honestly wanted to hang out with you, at least once, before...before this happened. Like I said, I was an outcast in my old school, so...I had never hung out with a big group before, the idea was overwhelming. But the idea of hanging out with just you was...appealing to me. This much is true, I had a lot of fun that day, I honestly did...! So much so that I almost forgot about the whole framing thing-!"

"But you went through with framing me anyway."

"That's-!...I-I was torn...I really liked spending time with you, but...being popular, having a lot of friends and not being an outcast...I had desperately longed for those things for so long, so I-...you know. That's why, at the very least, I wanted to have as much fun as possible with you when we went to the amusement park, though I ended up having a lot more fun than I expected to..."

I felt my anger rising further...

"Oh, so that's it...that day at the amusement park was just you taking pity on me. Well, it all makes sense now. You got this weird look on your face for a moment when we were in the ferris-wheel, when...when I thanked you for being my friend. I didn't get it at the time, but I sure as hell do now."

And not just then, there had been multiple times where she got a strange look in her eyes and couldn't meet my gaze...I finally got what that emotion was, a mixture of pity and guilt.

"No, it wasn't just pity-!"

"It was, and deep down, you know it. I've dealt with my fair share of cruelty over the past few years, but you know what the most cruel thing I've gone through is? Your half-assed kindness. The kinder you were to me, the crueler this whole thing became, and the amusement park was just the nail in the coffin...if all that never happened, this wouldn't hurt nearly as much as it does."

"I-I'm sorry-."

"Just shut up...your apologies aren't going to do anything for me. Are you going to go tell the whole class that this was all a set-up? No, I'm pretty sure you aren't going to do that. And even if you did...I won't forgive you. I'll...I'll never forgive you," I growled, my voice cracking.

"H-hey, stop c-."

"Just shut up, already! Why are you even still here!? Go suck up to your new friends or something, because congratulations, you just ensured that you won't be an outcast here! Don't you ever talk to me again, got it?"

"I...I don't want that-."

"You can't be fucking serious. Your plan worked perfectly...you hurt me more than anyone else ever has, and by quite a significant margin at that. Oh, but I suppose I deserve it, I am the guy who splashed coffee back at someone who 'accidentally' almost dropped it on my head, after all."

"Kilzachs, I-!"

"Fuck off, already...I've wasted enough of my precious lunch break as it is. I expect you'll eventually be giving me those condescending looks and remarks I get from the rest of the class...talk to you then."

"I wouldn't-...!" She began, trailing off as I plugged in my earphones with a cold look and turned away.

She turned around and slowly dragged herself away, leaving the rooftop.

As soon as she left, I slumped back against the fence weakly, trying to ignore the sharp pain in my chest to no avail. I looked down at the ground with a sigh...when suddenly a couple of droplets appeared on my glasses. Wait, was I...crying? Hold on, how long had I been crying? Did she see?

...based on the heavy streaks running down my face, and the small wet patch on the ground...yeah, she almost definitely had seen me crying.

I took off my glasses and wiped my face, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling to try and slow down my heart rate. I...I won't let this happen again. This humiliation...I won't forget it, I'll never forget it. I've had enough of going through crap that was in now way my fault. I swear, no one's ever going to deceive me again...

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