My Submission Is Your Addiction

The next day I rode to school with Daniel and I ignored him the entire way
there.

When we arrived I got out of the car pulling my bag and crutches out of his
backseat before heading towards the building.

"Guess what?" was the first thing I was greeted with as I got to my locker. I
turned to see Rachel standing there, "I got paired up with William for our US
history projects!" She squeaked out before I could ask putting her hand over her
mouth wide eyed.

I started laughing, "So, you've had a conversation with him finally?"

Her excited expression dropped, "Kinda," she shrugged, "We have only been paired
up so far. So we haven't gotten to hang out yet." she smiled.

"But still," I returned the smile, "That's so exciting!"

I hadn't spoken much to Rachel since this morning, but I've had a lot of time to
think, and I know what I want to do. On my way to my locker to put my books away
for lunch, I was focusing on my feet when I bumped into someone, "Sorry," I
started, but stopped when I saw it was Jon.

"Hey," he spoke sounding about as uncomfortable as I do, "I need to talk to
you."

I was taken back for a second, "I need to talk to you, too." I paused swallowing
hard before questioning, "Can I go first?"

"Yes," he nodded quickly, "Please."

"Okay," I sighed, "Listen, I know we are not really anything more than friends
with benefits or whatever, but I don't want to see you anymore." I told him
glancing at the ground before I could see his reaction. It was silent for a
minute, and I was about to walk away when he spoke, "Okay," I glanced up to see
him nod, "So, I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "See you." with that I headed down the hall towards the
cafeteria. I was relieved to see Rachel was sitting with William. I headed over
and sat down next to her laying my head on the table.

"This is Dale," Rachel spoke, "Dale, this is Will."

I lifted my head up giving him a quick 'hey' before laying my head back on the
table. "Anyway," Rachel spoke, "So, if we make a poster for..." I tuned her out
after that, closing my eyes before more people sat down and someone patted me on
the back. I sat up confused to see Daniel along with Travis, Pete, and Hana.

I dropped my head back onto the table miserably.

"So, you got off easy the other night," Travis spoke quietly, and I glanced up
at him expression blank.

“So, this is what we’re going to do,” He continued, “We’re going to leave school,”

“Yeah, yeah,” I cut him off nodding, “Whatever, let’s just go.”

I turned to Rachel, “I have to go work with my project buddy,” I told her sarcastically before standing and exiting with Travis. He kept one hand tight on my arm which made it hard to maneuver through the lunchroom with my crutches. We got into the front hallway, and Travis started to push the main doors open.

“I’ve got a bone to pick with you, McCoy!”

We both turned to see a guy with dark black hair making his way quickly toward us.

“Fuck off,” Travis responded turning back to the exit. Right as he reached up to push on the door the guy grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

I’m not sure why, but Travis looked fucking terrified. He’s Travis McCoy, and this guy is like, okay, this guy is a little intimidating, but Travis is twice his size.

“Your guys have been pushing around my friend’s girlfriend, and I think you need to stop.” The guy glared, and I squinted. He’s one of Jon’s friends?

“Alicia had it comin’ to her.” Travis rolled his eyes, but this set the guy off, and he shoved Travis backwards. Travis’ back thudded against the wall, and I felt a sick twist of satisfaction as fear flashed across his face.

“Watch it, McCoy,” The guy growled lowly, “You touch Alicia again, and I’ll fuck you up.”

Travis didn’t say anything, but I doubt that he’ll be touching this Alicia girl ever again.

“He bothering you?” The guy asked suddenly shifting his attention, and I glanced at Travis who was glaring at me, and then I looked back at this new guy. I nodded, and the guy glared at Travis, “Come on,” He spoke, and I followed him. I gave Travis a glance over my shoulder, and he was still glaring. I did a victory dance on the inside.

“Who are you?” I asked the guy as we got out of Travis’ earshot.

“Frank,” He answered, “Frank Iero.”

“Thanks, Frank,” I told him, “I’m Dale.”

“I know,” He nodded, and I squinted at him.

“Are you one of Jon’s friends?” I asked him squinting.

“Walker?” He asked, and I nodded.

“No,” He shook his head.

“So,” I muttered, and he continued walking silently, “How do you know me?”

“I pay attention,” He shrugged, and I squinted, “I see things,” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes, and I almost felt like rolling my own, but if Travis is afraid of this guy then maybe I should exercise some caution. We got back into the lunchroom, and I smirked as I saw Rachel and William in a very animated conversation. That didn’t last long though as I was quickly hurrying away from Frank and into the girls bathroom. I didn’t make it to the stalls in time, and I was soon puking in the sink. I grimaced wiping my mouth and going to the nurse’s office. She called my mom, and I sat in the main school office until my mom got there.

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you take care of me yesterday,” She groaned, “Now you’ve got what I had.”

I didn’t say anything, following her out of the building and to the car. When we got home, I felt fine, and I even ate something and didn’t puke it up. Maybe it was just what I’d eaten for breakfast.

I planned on going to school the next day, but the sun wasn’t even up yet when I was waking up and puking into the trashcan next to my bed.