“Oh my god, oh my god. Samuel look at me. Samuel, you need to breathe. Take a breath. Breathe in, breathe out. Just focus on my voice. Look at me, Samuel. Come on look at me.”
Samuel’s head spun as he tried to focus his vision on the owner of the voice, only to find that the one sitting in front of him was none other than Austin Mayor. “I-I’m,” Samuel’s voice shook as he tried to inhale.
“Don’t worry about apologizing or whatever you’re trying to say now. Just continue to breathe. I’m okay, see it’s just a bruise. Oh, and if you’re worried about my father, don’t worry I already spoke to the nurse and Ms. Gionna, they nor I are going to tell him. It’s my fault, okay? I surprised you.”
Samuel was breathing steadily now. The Mayor boy wasn’t mad, and the actual Mayor wasn’t going to find out about it. He still had a chance to save the Xs. His tears started again, but this time from relief.
“No, please don’t cry, I’m telling the truth. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Samuel smiled at Austin. “I’m sorry for crying,” he said through tears, “these are tears of relief, I guess. I was really worried about your finger.”
Austin smiled back at him. His voice was so smooth and gentle, it matched him perfectly. Austin wished he would keep talking, but he didn't; he just laid his head back on his knees. Austin held back a sigh of disappointment lowering his head, just to find the floor covered in blood. “Oh my-. Don’t move.”
Samuel almost laughed at the comment. His brain was exhausted. His head and heart were pounding hard. He wasn’t going anywhere for at least ten minutes.
Austin sat back down. “Show me your hands.”
Samuel lifted his head and cocked it at the Mayor, whose eyes shot to his hands. Samuel followed the boy’s gaze to his hands; they were dripping in blood. His whole body jerked at the sight, “Did I- did I do that. I don’t- I couldn’t have- I don’t remember doing that.”
“You had a panic attack, right?” Samuel shrugged, still processing his hands. “You probably don’t remember doing it because your brain was preoccupied with other things, like the lack of air entering your lungs. Seriously, dude, you were purple. Now give me your hands, we should clean those cuts.”
“I can do it myself.”
“You could, but both your hands are bleeding so what are you gonna use?” Samuel’s eyes narrowed as he reluctantly stuck his hands out. “There you go,” Austin carefully placed the soapy paper towel on Samuel’s palms, slowly revealing the cuts underneath. “They’re small but deep, you should probably go to the nurse.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Austin scowled then sighed realizing there was no use in arguing. “Does this happen a lot?” No response. “Okay, we don’t have to talk about it. So, you don’t like to be touched right?”
“Not by surprise. You’re touching me right now, aren’t you? But see how you asked first? That’s usually the polite thing to do. Instead of poking a stranger.”
“Sorry ‘bout that.” He smiled apologetically. “There, all clean and they’re not bleeding anymore. Are you ready to go back to class? I promise no more touching.”
Samuel nodded as Austin helped him to his feet. They both looked at the floor. “I’m going to clean this up first, you go ahead.” Samuel walked past Austin to get some paper towels.
“I don’t think I should leave you alone.”
Samuel grimaced. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be right behind you.”
Begrudgingly Austin agreed, warning Samuel that he would be back if he had not returned to the class in 3 minutes, which Samuel agreed to with a roll of his eyes.
----------------
When Austin returned to the classroom, the class erupted with applause. Austin laughed and bowed showing everyone his finger was fine, which was received with a collective sigh of relief.
Ms. Gionna was talking about something probably important, but all Austin could do was stare at the clock. The time seemed to slow almost to a halt. His leg bounced up and down, fingers tapping the desk in a strange rhythm. 1 minute. No Samuel. 2 minutes. No Samuel. 3 minutes. No Samuel. Austin lunged out of his seat getting him a look of surprise from everyone. One person across from him actually fell backward. Austin was about to make up some excuse to leave the classroom, not that he couldn’t just leave without any problem when the door to the classroom opened slowly.
Samuel stepped through head tipped forward toward the ground. The entire classroom went silent, and he could feel 15 eyes of red-hot anger on him. Ms. Gionna didn’t even look at him as she told him to please quickly take his seat.
Austin sat back down and watched as Samuel navigated his way back to their desk. Unlike Samuel, he was completely unaware of the change in the atmosphere. Samuel didn’t even look at him as he sat; he just placed his head on the desk in his arms. Ms. Gionna resumed her lesson without a second glance, but no one was paying attention anymore; they all, instead, were fixated on the Mayoral attacker.
Other than the intense cloud of tension and hatred surrounding Samuel, the rest of the class went by without incident. Samuel looked at his schedule, he had English next. Thank god. Austin, as he had told him several times, had Maths next, so he would finally get a break from the talkative Mayor and could just sink into his classwork. Plus, there would be some students in that class who weren’t in Ms. Gionna’s homeroom, so people who have yet to learn about the little hiccup.
This time Samuel made sure to pick and claim a seat as soon as possible to avoid any more disturbances. Sadly, his hopes of a fresh start were quickly destroyed as students filed into the classroom, talking each other’s ears off before noticing him and either going completely silent or whispering something to their unknowledgeable friends. In the end, no one sat next to him. Not that he really cared. He didn’t need new friends. He had two friends, and he was here for them, so he couldn’t let himself get distracted by anything or anyone.
English class went the same way as Biology, with everyone shooting daggers into his head. Samuel tried to focus on the teacher, whose name he’d already forgotten, but what felt like a thousand eyes threatening to kill him if he breathed, was hard to ignore. In the end, he learned nothing. It was going to be a long year.
---------------
As Samuel grabbed his lunch from his newly assigned locker, he heard a voice call his name from the bathroom. Thinking he was just hearing things, Samuel ignored the voice and started to head toward the cafeteria. But the voice repeated itself. Samuel quickly turned on his heel, just to see Austin Mayor standing in the entrance of the boys’ bathroom waving his hand to call him over. Everyone in the hallway had stopped. Everyone in the hallway was staring. He had no choice but to lumber his way into the bathroom.
Austin hopped up on the sink, “So how are you feeling?”
Samuel cocked an eyebrow, “Well if you must know I’m exhausted, but why do you care?”
“What can I not ask about my attacker’s current mental space,” Austin giggled trying to lighten the mood, though it didn’t seem to help.
“You think I’m going to hurt someone else, don’t you?” Samuel’s eyes shot to the ground as his fists clenched.
“What no! Well, not someone else,” Austin’s eyes darted to Samuel’s hands,
“But- um- you know—”
“We’ve known each other for like 3 hours,” Samuel’s voice started to raise, his knuckles going white, “And yet you think that you can suggest something like that! Who the hell do you think you are? Mayor or not you have no right!”
“Samuel, when I came into the bathroom this morning, it was so scary. I mean there was blood all over the floor. So, you have to underst—”
“No, I don’t understand! I don’t have to understand anything! I’m sorry you were scared. I couldn’t possibly know the fear YOU felt in that moment.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. You were probably-er- no-definitely, more scared than I was, but please stop yelling, you’re just gonna make yourself more upset. I really did just want to know how you were doing.”
“Well, you shouldn't, so you can stop. We are not friends. I do not want to BE friends. I just want to be left alone. So please stop talking to me. Because you truly know nothing!”
Samuel stormed out of the bathroom, his hands dripping in blood once again. As he exited at least ten people hovered around the bathroom. All of them had heard him yell at Austin. Every face in front of him held absolute disgust. He tried to head towards the cafeteria but a few of the onlookers blocked his path, forcing him to turn around.
Austin was off the sink at this point. His face drooped. He hated himself. He was truly terrified when he found Samuel purple and on the verge of passing out, in a puddle of his own blood. But he didn’t help. Instead, he seemingly made it worse, and he hated himself for it. Mayors were supposed to help people, not upset them to the point of storming out of a bathroom, steam practically blowing out of their ears. As he sat contemplating his actions, he neglected to notice his ‘followers’ blocking Samuel’s path and causing him to become more ostracized than he already was.
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