The Big Bang

Chapter 5 - Common Events

I realized that it was now the end of the school day when I went on the first floor and instant flock of students came down from the stairs. Some were rushing, some slow, some laughing, and some bored.

Apparently, Mrs. Racoon quickly spread the news to the others teacher, with the way that the other students looked at me while laughing.

“Hey, you got some more of that crack?” a boy with brown hair and goofy bangs joked at me after tapping my shoulder. He had a funny face and he was wearing the dumbest blue jogging pants and jacket. A group of equally funny-faced people laughed and they went on their route.

Two things instantly went into my mind: 1) how the hell did the coke become crack and 2) the teachers are the best gossipers. I mean, it wasn’t even half a school-day and they already managed to spread the news?

It was a good thing that Stacey and Doran arrived. As they did, Keith waved a little at them and at me, smirked, and left. He wasn’t so bad.

Stacey goes near me looking nervous. “Is it true?” She asks me as she rests her right hand on my shoulder.

“Yep, I gave her the coke.” I say nonchalantly.

To this, Doran makes an open hand sign to Stacey like he was asking for something. Stacey takes out a five dollar bill from her pocket.

“You guys bet on me?” I ask, laughing.

“Yep. Five dollars if you actually gave drugs and she gets the five if you didn't. You did a great job, Odee.” Doran says. He continues with “now you're one of us.”

“You guys do drugs?” I ask. I continue with, “by the way guys, I didn't give drugs. I gave Cass coke as in the soda. She was tired back in PE so I gave her one. I didn't know she was sugar hyperactive.”

“Shoot.” Doran says as Stacey copies her gesture and he gives back the five dollars with an additional of five more. “No, we don't do drugs. But you get the image.” He says.

My eyebrows twitched for a second while I thought. “What image?” I say.

“Uhh. You're too sweet, Odee.” Doran says as he taps my shoulder.

“We're losers,” Stacey says with a laugh.

“Not to me.” I say. They looked really normal to me except for Cass' problem.

“Oh, you'll see. Just wait before the usual friendship gesture by the groups here happen. Maybe you'll see it tomorrow.” Stacey says smiling. She had a sad tone in her voice though.

“Tell me when that happens,” I say. They looked comfortable with it already, but I didn't want them to be that way.

“Oh well,” Stacey says. She continues with, “You guys will walk home?”

I reply with, “No, I have a car. You guys nearby here?”

Stacey replies with, “Yep. You get going now, we’re going to see you tomorrow. Bye!”

I waved a hand at them as I made my way to the parking lot. I was going to offer them a ride home, but I didn’t where they lived and I didn’t know how to drive around the city yet.

As I opened the door to my car, I realized that my greatest worry for this day was already answered. By eating with them at lunch, I guess we can already be considered as friends, and with the way they treat me. They looked like a good group of misfits, which I very much belong in.

The one that bothered me the most was the bullying. From what Doran said, it looks they’re used to it already. I wasn’t going to let them be like that, so I prepared myself for what tomorrow may bring.

As I drove back to my house, the sun was already setting, the night stars already visible. It was a cool day, but it was even cooler because of the abundance of plant life in here.

I sang along to the tune that was playing my car, a sad song about breaking up, which I cannot relate to due to the absence of a boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend in my life. Even though that was the case, I still sang with my heart. Nothing beats a good belting out, even without the skills necessary. I was alone. I felt good. Today was already a good day, even with the guidance counselor meeting, and I was ready for tomorrow.

For all the good things that happened in school, the house was the complete opposite.

I arrived at the house with the white bulb illuminating the front porch. With the peaceful environment, the flowers, the pine trees and the cool breeze, the voices of my parents fighting was a big annoyance. My mom's shrill voice especially buried my father’s deep and gentle voice.

“Yes, because you could've done better, right?” Dad says. He was annoyed already but his voice stayed calm.

“Yes, I could. Didn't I tell you to just rent the apartment next to us?” Mom says.

Dad took a deep breath and answered in an angered but calm voice, “You know we couldn't afford that, right?”

“You couldn't, but I could. If this hurts your pride, then it's none other's problem but yours” Mom says annoyed. “I work for us, not for me,” She continues. To this, Dad laughed heartily. He took Mom's arguments as a joke, then.

To this, I opened the door and walked through the silent hallway. My soft footsteps resonated in the walls. I didn't know what to tell them. I just wanted to eat dinner, after all.

I opened the door to the kitchen and faced each of them with a stern face. Just for them to know that I am irritated of their childish actions.

“What?” My mom asks me, annoyed. She was now dressed in her white scrubs.

“Our neighbors might hear you.” I say gently.

Mom laughs at this. “What neighbors? We're literally in the middle of nowhere, Odee.” Mom corrects me. To this, Dad attempts to answer but realizes that our neighbor was one-fourth of a street away. He now sits like a child in the dining chair, holding a guitar. He might have been interrupted while he was singing his rusty tunes.

“Y'know what? Why don't you just start with unpacking the boxes? For you to at least have a worth in the house. I'm off to work,” Mom says to the both of us.

Mom goes near me and gets her keys from a metal hook. She taps me in the shoulder and pushes the wooden door. She shuts it heavily. Obviously, she was the one who started the argument, seeing as how calm Dad is.

“Dinner is pizza. We left three slices for you.” Dad says. He looks at me for a while and then strums his finger while doing a D chord. He was heavily inhaling, ready to sing, when I began to ask him, “What happened?”

He continues playing but answers with, “Nothing. Just the usual drill.” He says this with a laugh.

“You think it's funny?” I ask him as I took a plate. I was able to get a green one with a large circle in the middle.

“Well I think it's better to think of it as funny instead of being like her, you know what I mean?” He says. After that, he sings his first line, “Down the silken road, down the dusty road.”

This is how he treats every argument of theirs. Like a joke. A punchline of the day. He was insensitive, deaf to our pleas and our emotions. Maybe he was a carefree man, but there was a border between carefree and careless, and he was definitely on the side of the latter.

Before, after, or during arguments, he always sticked to the guitar. He would play on different songs, but they all had the same mood that he was trying to convey. For every strum of his aged fingers, for every note that came out of his throat, it all pointed out to one emotion: numbness. He was negatively immune to us. I wasn’t even sure if he still loved us or cared for us.

However, it wasn't always like this. He used to be cheerful but caring,happy but sensitive, and definitely more father-like than before. God knows how I much I miss that guy.

I slammed the door to this annoyingly happy voice, now singing the chorus part of the song.

I gazed at the blue covers of my bed and realized that I haven’t decorated the room yet. I was already planning to put a poster on the left wall and a family picture on the table. However, I was too tired to do anything, so I just slumped my tired body on the bed. It felt soft and smooth like an angel's wing.

Talking about angels, if they existed, I would really like them to be considerate of my family. Yes, it was true, I was having a comfortable life. The rural house, the silence, and sufficient money. However, none of it will be able to match the luxury of having parents. Real parents. Not only biological, but also the emotional ones.

The ones I have are very good ones. Only that, they were only good before. Back when Mom packed me lunch to school, the occasional sweet Twinkies, and the encouragement letter written with curly font in the back of the paper bag. It sounded very optimistic and cheesy to say the least but it was perfect, and so was she.

Dad used to be very firm, very solid. He was still carefree and fun, but he had a sound mind. A mature personality. A father-like character. That was when he had a clean face free from stubbles of growing face hair.

I sighed deeply and stared at the window by the bed. The moon was in full shape, shining in the middle of the violet and sparkling white velvet. It was serene, calm, and sleepy. I stared at it and said my wish quietly. The stars responded with a twinkle.

The next day was no different inside the house. The boxes that contained our stuff were still unpacked, sitting sadly in the corner of the living room. I shouted a loud goodbye, which Mom responded with a soft “Okay”.

The weather was a bit gloomy now, the landscape unfolding in front of my windshield showing gray clouds, a wet road, and a blue filter. It was about to rain again so I made sure to drive faster.

I was able to arrive quickly. I checked the time and it was still 7:00 AM. Thirty minutes before class. I thought of ways to kill time. Should I read some of my notes by the garden? Should I take pictures of the atmosphere?

After a series of thoughts, I settled down and looking for Stacey and the rest. I made my way to entrance and started a slow walk towards the stairs.

On my way there, I noticed that a group of people were swarming by the stairs. Usually in front of their phones, they were now cheering and laughing because of an amusing sight. I wonder what it was?

I took quiet steps, careful not to drag attention to myself.

In a second, my heart suddenly thumped.

In front of the stairs, there was the people I was looking for, Stacey, Doran, and Cass. However, in front of them was Dev and her two minions. They were wearing all-denim, a theme that the three of them followed. They were laughing and sneering, with Stacey and the two looking down.

I realized in an instant that this was a classic scene out of high school. The popular girls bullying the nerds. They're the nerd type B, which means they're the ones who are both nerds and losers. s**t.

“This gay boy once tried to join us, right? Now, that was funny.” Dev says and the two girls laugh as if on cue. They were now in the middle of their bullying session and now on the part of insulting the group after being angry at them. I wonder how my friends made her angry.

“That was one time, Dev.” Doran says while looking down. He was not backing down, I see.

“Yeah, one time, and it surely won't happen again. f*****g loser.” Dev says. Dev looks for another target and sees Cass. "Hey weird girl, I heard you had a major attack again yesterday. Looking for attention again?”

The crowd snickers in the back, with no one even trying to interrupt.

“Ye’ dun’kno anythin” Cass replies quietly.

“Oh yeah, like the fact that you're weird, you speak weird, and you have weird friends?”

“Hey don't talk to her like that, you slut!” Doran replies angrily. Angry as he maybe, he was still looking down, an obvious sign of defeat.

“Oh, look who's talking about sluts. Why don't you ask your promiscuous friend right there for more information about that, Dory?” Dev says, with an emphasis on Doran's name.

I was not having this s**t. I walked silently to Stacey's side, lightly bumping the people that swarmed them. They began to look at me as I unwillingly drew attention to myself. Dev becomes quiet for a while and looks at me. The air suddenly changed suspense to a higher degree of it.

I grabbed Stacey by the hand as she takes Cass'. Doran follows.

“Where you going?” Dev says while smiling. “I'm not finished yet,” she continues.

This b***h is taunting us. Trying to make us look like her. Trying to make us equal to her degraded self. These type of people desperately look for attention, and I was not falling to that level.

“Hey. Hey! Hey!!” Dev says, now angry. “Don't be rude. I'm just starting!” She was trying to make it a joke, but she was definitely angry now.

I was now holding Stacey's hand hardly. They won't like to mess up with me.

“Look at that girl. Isn't she the new one?” One of Dev's henchmen, the one with short black hair said.

“Yeah, I heard she's one of them now.” The other replies, the brunette one. Dev smiles to this.

“Fresh recruits, Stacey? God, your whoreness has no limit, huh?” We were now in the middle of exiting the crowd.

“Hey, new girl, what's your s**t? Are you trying to mess up with me?” Dev says as she follows us. Her two girls follow her too.

“Shut up.” I said calmly as we exit the crowd. The crowd changes their field of view to our direction. They laugh at my show of sass. Not that I tried to garner attention. To this, Dev smiled menacingly.

“Ooh, we’ve got another b***h here.” She says and smirks. “You do not want me to fight you, so stay out of it.” Dev says. Her two girls laugh.

They were obviously ill-mannered. Just your typical school bullies added with makeup, hormones, and lack of manners. I was running out of comebacks, so I said a pretty vulgar one.

“Cunt!” I say. My years of education was slowly tearing itself down on my brain. Of all nasty retorts I can use, I used the dirtiest one. Not to mention, it made me look like an old British guy. Dirty, but effective. At least, basing on the crowd's laugh. We won this round because of Dev's lack of response. She was now steaming, her two girls trying to comfort her. God, she's hopeless.

I was now walking away from the scene with the three. Stacey, though trying hard to look unaffected, looked otherwise because of her distant eyes that looked sad. Doran was whispering something very quietly. Cass had her eyebrows knotted in the middle.

I looked back and saw that the crowd was now dispersing, pleased with the show that I unwillingly co-starred in. They were the antagonists and I was the hero to save the damsels-in-distress. This is B-movie material already.

However, as I was analyzing the whole scene, I found the whole thing to be a big mess. Was this something very common? Also, why are the people not doing anything at all? Three girls with absolutely no fighting skills and weak physique will not be a threat to anybody, at least without the social effects.

“How long has this been happening?” I ask as we walked towards the garden. At this rate, we were going to miss first subject. The three didn’t look like panicking about it though so I was going to do the same.

“Since elementary,” Doran says. With that, I remembered that we were in a small town where kids are classmates with each other since pre-school.

“How did it start?” I say as we took the seats. The benches were cool. The skies were still sad-looking, which was definitely a downer.

“Well, y’know. Everyone is homophobic as usual in rural areas like this. Cass is on the hyperactive side. No one likes us, in summary.”

I started stroking Cass' curls. She was angry, but I her posture looked sad, a rare sight for a usually energetic person.

“Well, how about Stacey,” I ask curiously. It sounded really blunt but I had no other ideas of how to say it without sounding mean.

“Well, I am what I am,” she answers while smiling.

“You are what, exactly?” I ask without thinking. It had a negative effect on her, seeing how she thought for a while. I realized how forceful I was being so I just said, “It's okay if you don't want to answer.”

It was obviously the right reply as she smiled for a bit and started patting Cass' head too.

To lighten up the mood, I told them, “Want to me to treat ya'll for a Coke?”

They all nodded positively, but I wasn't letting Cass pass. “Tea for Cass? Or plain water?” I say with a laugh.

“Bummer.” She says and laughs too.

“We are so screwed for first subject,” Doran says.

“It can go screw itself,” I say.

Stacey smiled and stared at me.

“Y’know, you really saved us back there, Odee. Thank you so much.”

To this, I wasn't able to answer. For me, it was natural instinct to defend them. They were my friends and I wasn't letting anybody take advantage of their submissiveness and lack of will to fight. Instead of replying, I smiled and invited them to go to the canteen for my treat.