The next day at school was rough. Dylan’s first period was chemistry, which had to have a quiz he’d forgotten to study for. Adding onto this lousy luck, his next period was geometry, which he’d shared with Markus. Dylan hadn’t cared to tend his appearance in the morning, but his sour expression only enhanced his disheveled demeanor. Dylan’s seat was near the door, around the back left of the classroom, with Markus at a desk adjacent to the left of him. Dylan had difficulty focusing since the (other) man of the hour sat the whole class restlessly. It wasn’t like he wasn’t already a distracting presence, but his constant shifting and head-scratching and desk tapping and nail-biting exacerbated his attention-catching aura.
This made things even for Dylan since being preoccupied with staring at a boy in geometry class wasn’t at all ideal. Dylan’s math grade was barely clinging onto the edge of a C-, not because he was terrible at math but because he always struggled to focus in class. He couldn’t help it, though! The teacher was just so dull and would be on these convoluted tirades about the problems’ answers but would rarely explain the actual process. As a result, it was boring, and Dylan would often end up falling asleep.
He’d gotten in trouble for it a few times– around 7 or 8 times this semester, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He needed to find a tutor. Good thing Markus wasn’t that good at Geometry either. Dylan didn’t know Markus’ grade in the class but had caught a glimpse at a few of his quizzes and tests. Markus seemed to struggle in math but would always pass any graded assignments. Dylan had caught himself feeling jealous for a moment but quickly reminded himself that he was still passing without even trying. Markus was getting average grades by trying his hardest. The thought gave him this odd, melancholy ego boost. He couldn’t help but faintly grin at his sadistic thoughts. He found it quite funny, if not mildly concerning.
Dylan knew he was a bad person, though. So he’d just decided to accept that fact and roll with it. He wasn’t too fond of doubling down on these aggressive behaviors but found comfort in the conformity of it. It was cathartic to be a bitch all the way.
He’d gotten lost in his twisted existential thoughts while staring at his avoidant-style hate crush and was caught off guard when he heard the bell ring. He panicked momentarily and scrambled his stuff into his backpack to try and ditch the class before any aforementioned hate crushes could try to talk to him. But, of course, in agreeance with trope culture, he failed at this. Markus walked up next to Dylan’s desk as he panic-packed, with a sort of awkward, nervous posture while he spoke. It was clear that Markus’ brain was riddled with anxiety. “Heyy, Dylan… uh, I don’t want to bother you, but is it ok if we talk at lunch?”
“Why?” Dylan responded hastily, not leaving a single breath to linger between Markus’ question and his own. This had caught Markus off guard, but he reacted regardless. “To…talk? Sorry was that not, um…obvious?... Wait, I mean– It’s ok if it wasn’t! Like, I don’t want to ‘social que’ shame you or anything, sorry….” He swallowed after he spoke, his pupils seeming to dilate even more, and he began to fidget with his fingers.
Dylan avoided eye contact like the plague as he finished packing and stood up, “Yeah sure, meet me at the gym entrance, the one inside. Ok bye,” he tried speaking ‘normal’ rushed, but then again, he wasn’t sure what ‘normal’ rushed would even sound like. He started to feel bad for being rude, but he only let it set in after he’d made his way down the classroom and into the hallway. He’d always felt a sting of regret for his coldness or undeserved attitude but had decided it was for the better.
Dylan walked for about a minute before realizing he had no idea where he was going and that he’d been mindlessly walking forwards. This was because it was already lunch. It was already the lunch period. Markus was asking if they could talk now. And Dylan had walked away. Oh my god. He stopped dead in his tracks and immediately turned around, dashing toward the gym. He was really reaching new levels of bitchery today.
It took him about a minute and an overworked pair of lungs to reach the gym entrance, and by the time he did, he felt so out of breath he could faint. Luckily, Markus wasn’t here yet. Best case scenario, he didn’t show up. But, dear god, Dylan never wanted to see that kid again after that dick-nipped stunt he pulled. It was irrevocably. He rested his back against the hall wall and slid down into a sitting position, gasping to try and catch his breath. His vision started to get static-y, and a white noise started in his ears as he began to lose consciousness. He was weirdly prone to passing out, but it was probably because he had so little regard for his well-being.
He was lucky enough not to pass out and regained his normal senses and breath, but his surroundings suddenly felt off. Everything looked pretty standard, but he had these terrible goosebumps crawling over his skin like some fucked up blanket of uneasiness. He stood up slowly, cautiously peaking down the hallway before turning his attention to the gym door. These narrow windows on the door gave a decent view into the gym, so he peered through them to try and see if the possible ‘threat’ was in there. Lo and behold, it was.
The gym was empty besides this odd, furry skeletal reptile as if dinosaur bones wore an unfinished bear rug as a sort of skin suit. Its eyeballs were small, and it seemed to have these odd leathery eyelids that didn’t sit quite right on the skull, like they were stapled on. The creature stalked low to the ground in a slow, calculated way, its eyes meticulously scanning the area like Dylan’s.
Dylan felt his soul leave his body. He fucking hated these goddamn hell creatures. He was lucky that he had the most op ability in the universe. His cautious attitude dissipated as he pushed the gym door open and confidently strode over to the beast, cracking his knuckling and sighing. As soon as the creature saw him, its ribs flared out, and it let out a bone-chilling howl. The beast kicked its claws off the gym floor as it sprinted towards Dylan, who barely flinched at the aggressive clammer of bones and sealed hardwood. As the creature lunged at him, he grabbed on tight to its nostril and jumped over its head to avoid it biting him. His feet landed on the thing's skull, and he did his best to keep them glued there.
For the next five seconds, he’d have to play a game of chicken with death.
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