Chapter 5: IV

"I can't believe he did that."

"He's just a gay fag."

"That's disgusting."

Whispers danced through the hallways and disapproving looks were thrown around, mainly directed at me.

It was the day after the party, and I glanced around, filled with utter confusion.

Harry and Lila were waking beside me, equally puzzled, and I felt panic as I saw the disgusted glared almost everyone was giving me.

Trying to ignore the other people, I opened my locker and started to sort out my books, only to find myself shoved into one of the blue panels with my face smushed against the metal seconds later.

"What the fuck did you kiss him for you fag, that's fucking gross." I whimpered in pain when I felt someone whisper against my ear, my arm being crushed under my body which was momentarily making dents into some poor persons locker.

Whoever owned the hate filled voice spun me around and, not even giving me a second to see who it was, punched me straight in the jaw, sending me tumbling to the floor. Throbbing, aching pain shot through my face, particularly the left side, and blood went trickling from my nose. My eyes were watery, my whole body shaking from the adrenaline.

Another hit was aimed directly at my stomach, the pain so terrible it caused me to choke and blood to fall from the corner of my mouth and onto the floor.

"Get off him!" Two familiar voices shouted, and from the very edge of my blurry vision, I saw a pair of bodies collide with the buff looking one whos fist just almost broke my jaw.

Ringing echoed through my ears and small black blobs shifted and shuffled in my vision.

I felt myself fading in and out of consciousness, but just as I felt myself slipping, I heard a whisper.

However, I was too far gone to understand what they said.

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And that was how my Friday morning started.

Pleasant, I know.

I was laid on one of those hard plastic beds in the nurses office with a large plaster on my cheek and a bandage around my stomach the next time I was conscious. Bloody tissues were scattered around after being used to clean up the flowing supply of thick red liquid coming from multiple parts of my body.

I winced as I sat up, quicker than I should have, and peeped under the bandage around my middle, causing me to physically cringe. A large purple-grey bruise had formed where the kick landed and I grumbled softly in annoyance.

I reached over to the table beside the bed and felt around inside my bag for my phone,  pulling it out as soon as I found it and flipped the camera around. I was met with a bloodied lip and a bandage across my cheek where some of the impact of the punch had hit particularly hard.

I groaned, still unsure as to why the hell people decided to get extra violent and homophobic today, when a nurse walked into the room.

"Oh! You're awake. I've called your parents to pick you up and-" the woman started talking but I cut her off.

"Wait no! Can I please stay at school? I don't want to miss my classes."

The truth was, I would give anything to miss out on maths and PE, but I wanted to know what was going on. I also knew if I went home today, I wouldn't find out what the hell I did to warrant this until Monday, and I personally couldn't wait that long.

"But River, you're in no condition to go back. I'm afraid I must insist you go home." She spoke softly, pity lacing her voice.

I sighed before nodding,but I still decided to ask something. "Can you call Lila Adams and Harry Lantern here just until my parents arrive please? It won't take long, I just need to talk to them.

She gave a hesitant look before replying yes and walking through the door that led towards the school building.

Only a minute later, the two of them practically fell through that precise door and almost smacked straight into me now I had moved to sit on a chair.

"Riv!" Lila exclaimed, throwing herself at me only for Harry to intercept and go tumbling down with her.

I gave a panicked expression until I saw their unimpressed looks and started to laugh.

"You could have hurt him you idiot!" Harry ranted and Lila laughed awkwardly, looking down.

"Oh yeah... now, why did you want us?"

I shifted my gaze around cautiously, being sure that no one was around to eavesdrop. Beckoning them closer, I leaned forward so that I could whisper.

"Do you know why he beat me up? And do you know who it was because this bitch was too wrecked to see who that bastard was."

They both pulled away simultaneously and gave each other a look of worry before turning back to me.

"You see-"

"Your parents are here!" The nurse poked her head through the door and I gave her a harsh glare causing her to cower. "I'll say you w-won't be a m-minute." She withdrew from the door and pulled it shut, her heels audibly clicking against the blue and white speckled flooring that seemed to be in every school ever, just in a different colour if you're lucky.

"Geez, you're scary. Anyway, we're not sure what he was talking about but he said something about you kissing 'him', and we have to assume that he was talking about Ash, though as far as I know he kissed you. Oh, and the person who hit you was James Witner." I felt emotionless for a few seconds after she finished speaking, trying to comprehend the information I had just been told.

So... they think I kissed Ash which isn't completely wrong but maybe they thought I initiated it. Plus, why James? He hasn't physically hurt me for a while now; he usually sticks to mental pain.

I thought to myself for a moment before it clicked.

"Oh no. Oh hell no."

"What?" They both replied together, confused as to why I suddenly squeezed my eyes shut and lowered my head into my hands.

"He made it up,"

I paused for a moment, trying to calm myself.

"He made them think I forced him to."

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After I arrived home on Friday afternoon, my mother freaked out and said she would call the school and tell them to do something about what happened. Although, after some serious persuasion, I managed to convince her it wouldn't help at all and would only make matters worse for me personally.

Following that difficult conversation, I curled up on my bed with a blanket wrapped tightly around me and a hot water bottle lightly pressed against the darkening bruise over the right side of my ribs.

I winced and sighed after shuffling, a sharp pain digging right into my core, the feeling similar to an exploding occurring throughout my entire body. My lower lip was puffy and red from earlier, and a medium sized cut had been covered by the bandage dressing my cheek.

Music played in the background as I flicked through my Instagram feed, hundreds of pictures from last night flashing up and vanishing just as fast. I wasn't paying much attention until I spotted one specific image which cause me to take a double take and scroll back to it.

There was a collection of seven blurry pictures, all of which contained me and Ash. There were three pictures where he had his hands on my waist and a red handprint mark on his cheek, three of me running up the stairs with Ash desperately chasing after me, and one...

One of him pinning me to the wall.

All seven looked like they were taken by a drunk teenager who was trying to go unnoticed, which would make sense.

However, I felt anger bubbling in the pit of my stomach looking at them. Couldn't they figure out from the position we were in that he was the one who kissed me?

Couldn't they tell by the blurred but still visible tears staining my cheeks that I didn't want to be there?

Couldn't they tell by the way his lips ghosted over my neck that it wasn't my idea?

Questions flooded in and out of my mind at an unbelievable speed, and I couldn't even understand most of them. I felt hatred, anger and sadness all at the same time.

You might be thinking, 'Why is he panicking so much? It's not a big deal.'

But trust me, it is.

The people at my school are viscous and violent; they're not afraid, and they hate anyone with a 'weird' sexuality.

And by that, I mean me.

I threw my phone down onto the bed and let out a strained shout before crying out in pain when streams of unmanageable throbbing erupted from within me.

Tears dripped down my cheeks silently as I laid there, just waiting for sleep to consume me.

It felt like hours before I finally fell into a void of darkness, soft whimpers leaving my lips as I slept.

I was unconscious for almost ten hours before waking at five in the morning, eyes puffy and red from yesterday's crying and still in pain after the events of Friday.

After attempting to stretch, I slung my legs over the side of the bed and slid my feet into my panda slippers, pulling the blanket I'd been snuggling with me as I carefully made my way down the stairs, a dull throb spiking at my ribs with every step.

I yawned widely as I shuffled along the floor and towards the kitchen. No one else was awake, so I tried to be fairly quiet as I pulled the fridge door open and retrieved the milk.

Reaching into the cupboard, I grabbed the cornflakes and raspberry wheats before pouring them absentmindedly into the bowl and adding the milk. I tugged at the drawer and took a spoon out, scooping up a large mouthful and eating it quickly.

Continuing to drag myself around the house, I plopped down onto the sofa and rubbed my eyes lazily. I reached for the remote which was lying on the arm of the sofa and turned the tv on, flicking along various different Netflix shows before deciding on 13 reasons why.

I lowered the sound as the first episode of season two started, and I swear I would be able to recite the entire script along with the characters because I had watched it so many times.

It never failed to make me emotional though.

A few hours passed before my parents came downstairs, and the were greeted with toast, butter and cheese prepared by yours truly.

"Aww honey, there was no need for you to make us breakfast. You're hurt. Go and sit down while I get you a hot chocolate ready, but thank you so much." My mum spoke in that all-knowing motherly tone while almost shoving me back into the living room and down onto the sofa.

I laughed softly, but the awkwardness was still evident in my voice. "Thanks mum."

After a few moments, my father walked into the room and took a seat beside me, a pained smile on his face. "Are you sure you're okay, son? If you want us to talk to someone we can, just sa-"

I cut him off with a sigh. "I'm sure dad. Please don't get any more involved than you have to. The school already know what happened and have given him a three day suspension, so just drop it. For my sake."

I felt guilty not allowing them to do anything about it as I knew they would worry, but if they started contacting the school, it wouldn't get anywhere and I'd just be picked on more for being both gay and a snitch.

So I had to deal with it.

He sighed in an understanding tone before standing and walking back into the kitchen.

I glanced over at my phone and saw a few texts from the 'Three Musketeers' group chat, so I decided to see what the two of them wanted.

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Rocket(Lila): Hey, how you doing? Broken your rib yet?

Groot(Harry): Yeah, you okay? We're worried about you.

Rocket: Also, everyone was asking about what happened at the party because some people don't believe what Ash and the others are saying.

Groot: Yep, like five people said to me alone they didn't think you would do that.

Rocket: Oh, and by the way, we found out pretty much what they said. Something about you kissing him and trying to pull his belt open.

Groot: I don't get how people believe you would do that.

I scoffed to myself after reading their conversation, half laughing at the fact he made up that rumour just to cover up the fact he was bi for a few seconds.

Typing away eagerly, I sent a reply.

Quill(River): What a douche. Did you see the pictures on Instagram of what happened?

Rocket: No, screenshot and send bitch

Quill: Good god calm down woman. I'll get them

Groot: Me too!

Quill: -attached images-

Rocket: Eww what the fuchsia? That's the gayest shit I've ever seen. Also, he's the one with you against the wall so why do they think you initiated anything?

Quill: Exactly my point

A long minute passed before another message pinged up onto my phone screen.

Groot: Hey Guys...? We have a problem

Rocket: What is it?

Groot: I've see that picture on Coles Instagram... but let me tell you now, it does not look like that.

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- Storm 🌹