Notoriety

If I thought that hours of being stuck in my own room was hell, then I have never tried 5 days. After that conversation with my father, I have never gone out again. I'm surprised I haven't gone crazy from doing nothing but thinking all week long.

All I thought about when I was here was Reez and how he was doing in school and in his house. I should be mad at him, for being mean to me that time, but as that anger dissipated, concern flooded me and I could only hope he was doing fine. I suppose he was though. I'm sure that altercation with his father was not the first so he better be okay.

If I wasn't thinking about Reez, I was fighting my urge to tear the goddamn door and slap it in everyone's faces. That was the level of frustration I had. I kept resisting breaking out in the middle of the night when I know everyone is asleep and they wouldn't bother checking on me anyway. The only time I had to ever interact with any of them was when they gave me food and I loved that, I needed every space I could get between us. And at least this time they did something humane and parent-like for once.

Then school. That was the most frustrating thing for me, that was the only thing I was ever good at and now I can't have it, too.

The amount of times I pulled my hair whenever I felt distressed, which was every other hour, would probably make me bald.

Another thing that kept boggling my mind was how I seemed to have an out-of-body experience every so often. It was like I was here but I wasn't controlling my body. That scared the hell out of me and I wanted it to stop. Maybe it was a result of too much stress and thinking for me. One time, I woke up in the middle of the night in cold sweat trying to scratch an itch that was forming inside of me, quite literally, too. I managed to escape that.

I also have been seeing weird things lately, I would see shadows in my room or a green ball glowing outside my window. I still haven't used my glasses, I felt completely fine without it. Creepy but I could get used to it. My nose have became more sensitive to different smells which made me very picky with the things I ate, and my ears became more sensitive to sound. Getting mad at a soft cough or movement from upstairs that used to be drowned out by the walls. It was starting to freak me out and it didn't help with my overthinking.

Luckily, I was set to return to school today. I would try to catch up with the lessons, and best thing is, I would see Reez again. Worst case, Harry would finally think that now was the time to make me pay. I actually haven't thought of that more than I should. Maybe I just fully accepted it. It was almost 3 AM and I still couldn't sleep so I decided to do some push ups. To my fright, I also did other work outs with my time here because I feel like my body told me to.

I didn't even noticed the sun rise until I saw the first glow of the day. I have been on the floor since then and not catching a single blink of sleep, but rather than feeling disoriented and weak, I feel more energized than usual.

Walking out, not even bothering to check if it was locked, I managed to break the door. My father and stepmother were already in the kitchen making breakfast. I didn't want it to ruin my mood so I pretended they weren't there.

"Come sit with us and eat." My father chimed and my plan of pretending they didn't exist failed already. Weird thing is that ever since that confession, if you call it, my father has been nothing but nice to me. It was fun to see him get eaten with his guilt and swallowed by his conscience, but I would rather not have it.

"No thanks." I said, grabbing the bread that was in the middle of the table and returning to my room. Finishing my much needed breakfast, I walked to my bathroom and got ready for the day.

After tidying myself up, I fixed my shirt one more time and proceeded to go out of my room. At last, fresh air. No annoying face greeted me outside the house and I felt relieved. Walking down to the same old path that I took to get to school, smiling at everyone I see. If I was indeed going to die today at least I made a good final impression. That thought made me laugh to myself.

As soon as I entered the school premises, I felt the same feeling of insecurity and petty again. Despite the news being a week old, I expected it to die down and be replaced with a different scandal, but I guess I was still the talk of this town based on the looks they were ALL giving me.

"Gabe the Brave." A guy somewhere inside the hall pointed in my direction. I guess Marty spread that insult around and now everybody would use it to their taste.

I only rolled my eyes, letting the laughter that followed it be unabsorbed by my mind. Then I saw Reez, and right now, all I needed was Reez to distract me from everything and everyone. I stood frozen and only looked at him, since I know it would be too loud and excessive if I waved or called out to him.

Telepathically, I hoped he sensed that I was calling out to him, begging for him to look at me. And he did, for a split second, before he turned his head away as though he didn't see me.

Was he even affected of our little fight? What was happening? I feel like I was losing him, even if I didn't have him to begin with.

"Reez." I whispered to myself, feeling my heart contract a little. But I ignored it, letting it slide for now. Maybe he really didn't see me.

But that wasn't the case. As the day progressed, I felt more and more brushed off by him. Everyone else was giving me attention except him.

When I was collecting words of insult and hate, that would also be the time for him to chime in. He would smirk at me with those familiar eyes that I despised for so long. But I let it pass again.

I had no self control left. So when he jumped in and called me names directly to my face while pointing his accusing fingers, I let myself grab his arm tightly.

"Stop it, Reez." I whispered lowly, only for him to hear. I wanted him to know that it was hurting me as much as it amused him.

"Why should I? Are you gonna blackmail me and tell everyone what you saw at my house?" He taunted. As if I was going to hurt him. I was planning in my head how to make everyone else shut up in ways no one had thought of, but to him I would never think that way.

"No. Just stop avoiding me." I let my face get closer to him. This time I see his confidence slip and he seemed to get scared.

"Let go." He whimpered as he struggled letting himself free from my grasp.

"Not until you tell me what is going on with you." I dared. He glared at me with those beautiful hazels.

"Nothing is going on. I do not have to explain myself to you. So let go!" He ordered me one more time but I was seriously getting fed up right now.

"NO. You stay here."I spoke with a compelling growl in my throat.

"LET GO, YOU FREAK."

And again, he proved that angry minds tell the darkest truths.

He must have realized what he said to me was damaging to an extent that he only knew now, but it was too late. I looked at him lifelessly and I couldn't even wear an expression of shock. It used to be normal for him to tell me that so why did this hurt worse?

I didn't even noticed that there were still other people in the room, luckily no professor, that stood to watch us.

"Okay." I muttered lowly, letting go of his hands and looking forward. I see him in my peripheral vision still standing beside me probably contemplating if he talked to me or apologize. But I get it, he had a reputation to uphold so he wouldn't dare.

And he didn't.

He returned to his seat on the back of the class and I could feel his eyes wandering anywhere but to my direction.

The rest of the day, people started to get physical. In the cafeteria, I had my head slapped and my shirt soaked with water. In the hallways I would be blocked by jocks that jumped on the trend of making my life worse.

I always had the urge to fight back but I was too weak inside to even worry about myself. I didn't even flinch when I saw Harry five feet away from the door of my last class for the day. I was the last out of the door and everyone was standing in a circle 1 meter away from us, scared to be involved in what is about to go down as probably the worst bullying case in this school.

"Parking Lot. Now." He ordered loudly, threatening me with his voice. Everyone who heard gasped and made a wide path when Harry started walking out.

I followed him mindlessly, it was better than resisting, that I knew from all the past incidents that I witnessed.

"If anyone else dares to follow us, I'll make sure I'll get to you first." He declared. Stupid teenagers who had their phones up nodded in fear. Guess they're not getting video content.

When we were walking out, I saw Reez as a part of the crowd too. We made brief eye contact to which I saw remorse in his expressions. But he never defended me.

We were headed to the corner of the parking space inside campus. This was far from the buildings so I guess he has serious plans for me if he doesn't want anyone else to see.

To my surprise, I saw the teal-haired girl around. She was leaning towards a black shiny car with his right foot propped to the car. Once she made eye contact with us, she straightened herself and approached us.

"You-" I managed to squeak out.

"Lucy. Nice to meet you, Gabe." She smiled, extending her arm for me to shake. I took it mindlessly.

"How did-?"

"Oh, we all know." She snorted. I was confused at first but remembered, I was in fact (in)famous in this campus now and everybody knew me.

"Get in." I perked up at Harry's voice. He was holding open the passenger's seat of the car. I slowly sat down rather than protesting while Lucy followed and sat at the back. Harry went to the driver's side and entered.

I don't know what this was but it was definitely suspicious. I never thought that I would ever wish for my death to come faster.

•°•