Choke on Your Misery

Zack

When I got to school on Thursday morning, my friends jumped all over me. It made me realize that they really had been worried – even Evan and Grieco. I kept glancing over my shoulder to see if Brent, Jake, Dylan, or any of the other varsity football players were nearby, but so far I hadn’t seen any of them.

“Zack, do you realize that you nearly gave me a heart attack?” Rian demanded, leaning against the lockers as I put my coat into my own locker.

“Sorry,” I sighed, not looking up at them.

Jack leaped onto my back, his arms around my neck, “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”

“I’ll try not to, Jack,” I chuckled, shrugging him off of me. My body was sore from working out the previous night, and my stomach was still pretty bruised up. I had put the concealer over my black eye again this morning because it looked worse than it had before. I was hoping it would last throughout the day, so no one would see the black eye.

“Seriously, Zack. Rian was freaking out so much in sixth period that I finally went out to search the halls for you, and you were nowhere to be found,” Evan said, raising an eyebrow. “So you went home sick?”

I nodded firmly, though I could feel my stomach churning in shame as I lied to my friends. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling too well so I checked out and went home.”

“Did you walk, or did your mom pick you up? A few people said they’d seen a dark haired kid walking away from the school during sixth period,” Rian said, looking at me skeptically.

“I walked home,” I said, and Rian frowned at me. “What?”

“It’s nearly two miles to your house, Zack; why would you walk home if you were feeling sick?” Jack asked, also frowning.

“My mom didn’t get home from work until two hours after school ended. I didn’t want to ride the bus and feel sick, so I chose to walk,” I said, pulling my history book out of my locker. That wasn’t a complete lie – my mom hadn’t gotten home from work until long after school ended, and Rian knew how much I hated the bus.

“The varsity jerks haven’t been hurting you or anything, have they?” Grieco questioned.

I frowned at him, “No.”

“But there are people saying that they have been,” he pressed on.

“No, Grieco,” I said, avoiding the others’ eyes.

“But-”

“Grieco, shut up,” I finally interrupted him, sighing and looking up.

Grieco’s face flushed, looking away from me, “Sorry.”

The bell rang and I shut my locker, “I’m going to class.”

I began to walk away, and the others also headed to their separate classes. Unfortunately for me, Rian is in my first period – and he pulled me off to the side when he caught up with me in the hallway. “Zack, cut the act,” Rian said in a quiet voice.

“What act?” I asked simply.

“Stop acting like nothing’s going on – we all know you’re being bullied. Hell, we’ve been trying to stop the bullying. But you really do need to tell us if you’re actually getting hurt or anything, okay?” Rian asked, staring straight at me.

I bit my lip, nodding slightly. I hate lying to Rian.

“Good. You know if you need anything, you can just ask us.”

“I know,” I mumbled. No, all I want right now is Alex.

Rian sighed, “C’mon, let’s get to class.” We walked down the hallway, past everyone else rushing to get into first period. I saw Brent walk by as I was walking into the classroom, and he smirked at me. I heard him laugh as he walked away – he probably noticed that my black eye was hidden. I walked to the back of the classroom, sinking down into my seat in shame.

••••••••••

Before dinner that evening and before I went to bed, I worked out in my dad’s exercise room again. As sore as I was right now, I was hoping it would pay off in the end. I was sweating a lot through my shirt, though; I couldn’t take it off because of the bruise on my stomach. I knew my parents could walk in at any time and would freak out if they saw the bruise. It was hurting like hell as I worked out, but I knew it would go away within a few days.

After I’d finished working out, I sat down to drink some water and catch my breath before I headed upstairs. Just as I sat down, my phone began to ring. I picked it up and smiled slightly to see that it was Alex.

“Hey Alex, what’s up?” I asked as I answered the phone, still out of breath.

“Hey baby! Why do you sound out of breath?” Alex asked with a chuckle.

“I was jerking off,” I said teasingly, running a hand through my sweaty hair.

Alex was silent for a moment before he whined, “Without me?”

I laughed, “Babe, I was kidding.”

“Oh. Damn,” he complained.

“You sound like you’re feeling a lot better today,” I commented, picking up my water bottle to take a drink.

“I am! I woke up feeling a lot better, but my mom still wouldn’t let me leave the house. But that’s okay; I get to go to school tomorrow and see you,” he said cheerfully.

I smiled, “Good. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, it’s killing me to not see you,” Alex sighed. “Speaking of school – is everything going okay? Rian mentioned you’re having issues...”

I sighed, “He told you about me leaving yesterday, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did,” Alex admitted. “I know you said you felt sick or something-”

“I did,” I interrupted him. Yeah, sick of being beaten up.

“Whatever; I won’t fight you over whether it’s true or not. Have those varsity players been the ones harassing you?” he demanded.

“They’re some of the people doing it, yes. It’s mostly the varsity football players,” I told him.

“And I’ll bet Brent is the leader of the pack,” he said in a monotone.

I sighed, “Yeah, Alex.”

“I’m gonna hurt him if he lays a hand on you,” Alex practically growled.

“Chill, Alex. I’ll be fine,” I sighed, “Look babe; I gotta go take a shower. I’m all sweaty and gross.”

“You can come take a shower at my house,” Alex teased.

I chuckled, blushing, “I’d rather not get sick.”

“I’m not sick anymore!”

“Good; that means I can kiss you tomorrow morning,” I smiled.

“Fuck; I think I’m gonna fall asleep now just to wake up sooner and see you,” Alex groaned. “Do you want me to give you a ride to school?”

“My dad’s been giving me a ride on his way to work; I’ll just meet you at school,” I said.

“Alright, sounds good.”

“I’m going to go take my shower now, okay?” I said, standing up. I winced as I stood straight and my bruise throbbed. My muscles were totally tight from working out.

"Okay; go have fun getting naked and wet," Alex said, and I knew he was smirking.

"You're just a little pervert today, aren't you?" I asked.

"You have no idea."

••••••••••

In the morning, Rian, Jack, and I were hanging out near Alex's locker, waiting for him to get to school. I had put more concealer over my black eye this morning just to be certain that Alex wouldn't see it. It had faded a little but was still a gross yellowish-purple color. I was talking to the others when I stopped mid-sentence, seeing a messy-haired boy sticking out over the other kids.

Sure enough, Alex emerged from the crowd of people and headed toward his locker. His face lit up as he saw me, walking over more quickly. "Zack!" he said happily, immediately wrapping me in a hug and crashing his lips against mine.

I kissed him back firmly for a few seconds before pulling back, a smile on my face, "Hey Alex."

"What am I; chopped liver?" Jack pouted at us.

"JACK!" Alex said over-enthusiastically, leaping onto Jack's back. Jack laughed, trying to knock Alex off of him.

"Yep; Alex is definitely not sick anymore," Rian laughed.

I shook my head, "Nope."

Alex hopped off of Jack, opening his locker and digging his textbooks out. "Nope; I'm not sick at all. It's a good thing, too, because we need to practice for the Battle of the Bands on Monday."

"Fuck, I forgot that we were going to have to practice," Jack sighed.

"Of course we have to, you lazy ass," Rian teased with a chuckle.

"I'm not the lazy ass!" Jack protested.

Alex chuckled as they bickered, wrapping his arms around me from behind lightly. "I missed you," he whispered into my ear.

"I missed you too," I said equally as quiet, turning my head to peck him on the lips. He smiled and squeezed me in a tight hug. I instinctively whimpered as his hands pressed up against the bruise on my stomach. I froze when I realized I had done so, at the same time that Alex realized I had let out a whimper.

"What?" he questioned, dropping his arms.

I shook my head quickly, "It's nothing."

Rian and Jack had stopped their bickering, and they looked over at us. "What's wrong?" Rian asked.

"Did I hurt you?" Alex asked, ignoring Rian and frowning at me.

"No," I said, shifting my weight from foot to foot nervously. Shit.

"Something hurt you," Alex frowned at me, looking me over. He reached for me, attempting to grasp my shirt. I stepped back and he raised an eyebrow. "Alright, be that way," he said. He took me by the wrist, tugging me down the hallway toward the bathroom.

"Alex!" I protested. I managed to pull away from him, but not until we got into the nearby bathroom. These bathrooms were only empty when I needed people to be around, weren’t they?

"Where are you hurt?" he asked, crossing his arms.

“Nowhere,” I mumbled, avoiding his eyes and trying to step around him. Alex grabbed my hand, this time more gently.

“Zack, seriously,” he said softly, stepping closer. He lifted my shirt slightly, eyes widening as he saw the bruise. “I’m going to kill them.”