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 Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 5:58 pm
Backdated to the first day of school. Sometimes Énna regretted skipping a grade.
It wasn’t that he missed Knightside or that the coursework at Azure was too challenging. It was that most of the kids he’d grown up being in class with were now a year behind him, and he didn’t know how to make friends among a whole new group of kids. He felt like an outsider among both now — a year removed from his former peers, but a stranger to his new ones.
Énna began the 10th grade with barely concealed misery. Dad dropped him off, gave him a hug, kissed his forehead, said something encouraging that Énna barely heard, then rode off to work, leaving Énna alone. He trudged into the building without making eye contact with anyone, and found his locker at the corner of two halls. He had very little to store there now, but he took some supplies out of his backpack to decorate what parts of it he was allowed.
He lined the inside with wallpaper — turquoise and white in a geometric pattern, with thin lines of gold framing each shape. He set up a plastic container with drawers to store extra pencils, highlighters, and post-its, and a hook on one of the sides to hang his outerwear once the weather turned cold. On the inside of the door, Énna hung up a small dry erase board, a calendar, and a mirror, along with a few magnets and a picture of himself and Dad.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:00 pm
The cool guys were all there, talking about… stuff. Sports? What they did over the summer? Riker wasn’t entirely sure. They were all seniors, and the kinds of boys he was certain his brother would have hung out with, if he was younger and still in high school.
The same boys that would probably know his brother or his brother’s friends -- maybe even be related to them. So making a good impression was important. It would make things a lot easier for Riker in the long run if he didn’t have to deal with his brother on top of everything else.
He saw them look at him -- or maybe it was in his direction. Maybe they weren’t even looking at him at all, but he flashed them his best cocky grin and sized up the easiest target.
Which was a little blond boy who was making his locker all decorated like he was in elementary school or something.
Or maybe he was interested in interior design because he had a bunch of things that matched really well and worked together -- but! It was for a locker! And that was really lame!! That was definitely what his brother would have said about it.
“Hey, you know this is a boys school, right?” he scoffed as he leaned his elbow against the locker next to the blond boy, making sure he definitely heard him, and the other kids might have as well. They were laughing about something. Maybe they were amused by him going to harass this kid? Better to be the harasser, anyway.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:01 pm
Énna stopped straightening his little mirror to glance at the boy suddenly perched against the locker next to him.
He knew a bully when he saw one. One might think a nice school like Azure would be better about weeding them out, but apparently they existed everywhere. Riker Starmount was one such bully. Énna had seen him harassing and picking on other kids all through freshman year, though Énna himself had somehow managed to stay off of Riker’s radar.
Not so now, it seemed.
“Then it’s good I’m a boy,” Énna said coolly. An aggravated little frown twitched onto his face, but Énna didn’t otherwise react. “Do you always go around asking questions with obvious answers?”
He turned away to continue decorating his locker, adding a tiny magnetic vase of fake daisies to the inside of the door.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:02 pm
Riker could feel his ears burn. Not because he was embarrassed! But because this guy was already so annoying! How could anyone stand him?? They probably only gave him the time of day because he looked cute, but his attitude was totally an embarrassment. Not that Riker thought he was cute or anything, because that was definitely… well… he knew of a few choice things his brother would have said about it.
So Riker scoffed and reached out to snatch the little magnetic vase from the locker, taking a step back so he wouldn’t be within arms’ reach of the boy who looked like a girl. Riker was taller than him, anyway!
“Aww, this is cute. Your mommy buy this for you?” he mocked. He was just going to ignore the fact that it was actually pretty cute and well made. He held it carefully despite being a jerk about taking it. He was only looking! It wasn’t like he’d be caught dead with it in his locker!
He glanced over at the other guys again. They seemed to be talking about something. He couldn’t tell if they were paying attention.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:03 pm
Énna wasn’t fast enough to stop him. He hadn’t thought Riker would take any of his things, so he hadn’t prepared himself for it. Énna turned back to him with a deepening frown and narrowing eyes.
“I don’t have a mom,” he said, but didn’t bother to elaborate further. “Does yours let you act like this?”
Énna didn’t usually care for school gossip. It was all so petty. Besides, the more he paid attention to the whispers, the greater the chance he'd hear someone whispering about Daddy, so it was better to not pay attention to any of it. That didn’t mean he didn’t hear some things. The more Riker harassed people, the more those people talked about him — or, more specifically, his mother.
Énna could’ve sworn he heard something about her getting kicked out of one of Riker’s baseball games last year.
“Or is she usually too drunk to care?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:06 pm
This time, Riker could feel his cheeks burning as well. He didn’t particularly like when his mother was brought up. If anything, people couldn’t even tell she was his mother, so he tried to pretend like they weren’t related.
He glanced over to where the boys were in the hall except… oh, they’d already walked off. Maybe they hadn’t been paying attention to him after all. Or maybe they didn’t care. Or maybe they just weren’t impressed.
Whatever the reason, Riker was now left holding a tiny fake plant and being mocked by some pretty boy. Deserved, probably.
He looked down at the little magnet, and turned to stick it against the locker. He didn’t actually want to break it. He wasn’t particularly violent. But he would defend himself if necessary.
Well… depending on who he was defending himself against.
“You’re not worth my time,” he scoffed and turned so he could leave. He just hoped his reputation wouldn’t be damaged by talking to this other kid.
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