I shouldn’t have bothered to pick my books back up from the ground. Nick gave me enough time to pick my Biology book up off the tile before giving me a quick nudge with his hip, enough to throw me off balance and send me careening into the locker in front of me, my head clanging off the metal.
“Wow, Milton, you’re pretty fuckin’ clumsy today.”
I didn’t respond, knowing it was useless. I just braced myself against the locker, brushing my hand against my bald head, trying to see if there was any blood coming out yet; there wasn’t, thankfully.
Nick started to walk away, then turned around, his Converse Star Tech sneakers making a loud screech against the linoleum tile. He put a finger to his brow, scratching it gently, before snapping his fingers and announcing to the stragglers that had walked in on the site that “I forgot; let me mark my spot for ya, buddy.”
He then cleared his throat in a very haggard manner before forcefully spitting out a monster loogie directly on my Biology book. A splatter of mucus caromed off the cover and nestled itself in my eye, causing tears to instantly form. He started to chuckle, as a few of the kids joined in. He finally began to walk away, and I started to rise up, using my t-shirt to swab away the gunk. I retrieved my books, and turned towards Miss Donahue’s classroom.
tap tap tap
“Melinda? Is that you?”
The tapping stopped.
“Oh, hi Milton! How’re you?” Melinda sounded cheery and vibrant this morning.
“I’ve…I’ve been better. You know how it goes.” I coughed a little.
Melinda rounded the corner, the tapping of her white cane resuming as she made her way towards the locker bank I was at. She eventually tapped her way into my jeans, causing her to jerk back her cane and gasp.
“I didn’t realize-“
“No no, it’s fine. Really. Same kids doing the same stuff.” I sighed a little, trying to keep my hands out of the loogie beginning to solidify on the Biology textbook.
Melinda scowled, ducking her head down, causing her scarlet hair to cascade over her face. She didn’t bother to adjust it from in front of her. “They are just so immature. I don’t understand what fun they get out of it.”
“Everyone has someone to pick on. Nick and them pick on me, you pick on people’s ankles…“
Melinda giggled, reaching her hand out towards me. I grabbed her by the wrist and led her hand to my shoulder. She gave it a gentle squeeze. “See, if everyone knew just how darn funny you are, you’d be the most popular boy in school!”
I smirked, but as I did, I could taste a faint droplet of blood on my lip. I reached in my pocket for my red handkerchief, and started to dab the top of my forehead, feeling patches of flaky skin fall off and snow towards the ground. I decided to just rest the handkerchief on my head and walk myself and Melinda to homeroom before we were tardy.
“Keep talkin’ like that. Makes me happy. Really. But for now, we need to-“
“HEY LOOK, IT’S NO-EYES AND THE FUCKIN’ BURNT MUMMY!”
Loading comments...