The New Kid Plays

We left that slim hallway in silence and walked back down to the third floor. Then we began to make our way to the nearest infirmary in silence. While we were walking, I noticed that the hallways were empty, the new kid was keeping a good distance behind me, as if he was making sure that there was enough room to get away if he needed to, he did seem like the cautious type, and not only that, he seemed to be syncing his foots steps with mine so I didn’t know exactly how far away he was or if he was even still behind me. Even I began to feel nervous. But I felt like I couldn’t look back at him, or rather, I shouldn’t, because the air was so tense I thought he would run away again.

We made it to an empty infirmary. I grabbed a bandage while the new kid washed the blood off of his finger. I gave him the bandage and he wrapped it around his finger silently. It was quite. “Hey,” He responded to me simply by looking at me. I was only able to see one of his eyes, and it seemed his eyes were bright orange. They were too bright, and they didn’t fit his dark and quite image, but nonetheless, they were bright orange. “Just to clear things up, you are a mute right?” I was straight forward; I didn’t like being roundabout with people I just meet.

He simply nodded his head and that was all the confirmation I needed.

We both left the infirmary in silence. We walked through the building together. He still kept his distance, but it seemed that without a word, we knew where we were going. Now we were back at ground zero, in front of the soda machine. It seemed that nobody took the opportunity for a free soda since the kid just pressed the button and out came his soda. It seems he chose grape. I, now thirsty, also got a soda. I settled on orange soda. We both sat down in front of the soda machine. We both opened our sodas and took a sip.

“Well then since we went through all that trouble so far, care to tell me your name? I mean, it’s the least you can do for making do all of this so dam early in the morning.” I took another sip. “Oh, and I don’t know how to read sign language just to let you know.”

The new kid reached around and grabbed his bag, which apparently, he left next to the soda machine. He pulled out a sketchbook and a pen. He placed the sketchbook in between us and began writing with his left hand. “I don’t recall making you do a single thing. And I don’t know how to read sign language either so I guess that makes two of us. Plus, what do you mean “So dam early in the morning”? Isn’t it already past noon?” His hand writing absolutely perfect, he was writing at unimaginable speed even though he was writing while sipping soda and writing it so that it faces me, it was perfect.

“Heh, a sarcastic little guy, aren’t we now? I only woke up an hour ago so it’s still early in the morning for me.” I took another sip. “Anyways, let’s skip the minor details, what’s your dam name?”

I saw his hand twitch out of the corner of my eye. “What’s your name?”

“Hey! I’m the one asking the questions here. I caught you didn’t I? Meaning I won, also meaning your suppose to reward me by answering my questions.”

His hand seemed to hesitate. “Fair enough.” His hand hesitated again.

“Well? Out with it man.” I took another sip.

His hand was writhing slowly almost as if he didn’t want to write it. “Lone Infernus.” His hand twitched. “Go ahead, you can laugh. I know it’s a stupid name, but I can’t help it if that’s what I’ve been called for as long as I could remember.” His hand writing was now faster than usual but it was sloppy.

With that, it was apparent that he shows his emotions through his hand writing. “Hehe, you want to talk about stupid names?” I took another sip. “My name is as stupid as they come! So stupid in fact, I haven’t told anybody my real name for years. Not even the school knows my real name!” Somehow, I was proud of keeping real name a secret even from the school.

Lone’s hand twitched again. “You said that with pride. What is it?”

“Stupid. Didn’t I just say I haven’t told anybody my name for years? You think I’m going to tell you!?” I was mocking him as much as I could at that point.

Lone’s hand moved again. “Hey! That’s no fair! I told you my name; it wouldn’t kill you to tell me yours!” His hand writing was sloppy and it was angry.

There was a smirk on the other side of my face. “Life isn’t fair bro. Deal with it. But if you really want to call me something that badly, call me Atol.”

“Atol?” His hand writing was neat and perfect once again.

“Yea yea, I know it’s a stupid name too but I didn’t ask you. Anyways,” I took another sip. “Onward to the next order of business. Why did you run away in the first place?”

“Because you scare me.” His hand writing seemed embarrassed.

“Pansy.” I couldn’t help but rub salt on the wound.

“Shut up.” Lone somehow managed to make the hand writing seem curt.

“Fair enough.” I took another sip. “Why did you toss me the second I touched your shoulder? And more importantly, where did you learn to do that?”

“Like I said, you scared me.” He was embarrassed again. “And I threw you instinctively; I didn’t learn it from anywhere.”

“Hmm, that so?” I took another sip.

“Anyways, what was wrong with you after I threw you? I was scared you were hurt, but then it looked like you actually enjoyed it. Are you one of those masochist people?” His hand writing almost looked mocking to me.

“Shut up. No need to go into detail.” My masochism was somewhat of a sensitive subject to me so I wanted to change it as soon as possible.

“Can you really blame me for being scared? You had this crazy look on your face. I thought you were going to try and kill me. I didn’t know what to do other than run.” His hand writing was looking for sympathy.

“Come on man, what so scary about me and my face?” I was being sarcastic.

“Well first of all,” Lone took it seriously. “You’re more than a foot taller than I am.”

“Shrimp.” I somehow managed to interrupt his writing at the right moment.

“Shut up.” He was angry again.

“Continue.”

“Well, that look in your eyes combined with that big scar running across on the right side of your face made it seem like you’ve killed a man for less.”

“Oh really? I was sure that I covered that scar with my hair.” I made sure to readjust my hair. I am also slightly self-conscious about the scar. I took another sip.

“Yeah, I saw it when you were upside down on the ground. And to top it all off, you have that thick dirty blond hair. All of that makes you look like a stereotypical Mafioso.” He was writing almost as if he was complaining. “All you’re missing is a blood stained suit and a gun.”

I hold my finger up and point towards him with my finger-gun. I shoot. “Pew pew.” I then prepared my voice for a stereotypical Italian accent. “I did it for the family.” I take another sip.

“Haha, you’re hilarious.” He wrote sarcastically.

“Aren’t I?” The bell rang for the end of lunch. I finished the last of my orange soda. “That time already. Dam doesn’t the time fly?” I watch as Lone stands up. “Hey, what do we have next? I haven’t been here for awhile so I can’t really remember.”

Lone grabbed his sketchbook. He wrote and turned it towards me. “Delinquent”

“I knew that already, but it didn’t exactly answer my question.” I stood up too.

“P.E.”

“Crap. I hate P.E.” I let out a tired yawn. “But, it is the only one of the classes where I can pass by only attending once or twice a month.”

“Why?” His hand writing was curious.

“You’ll see.” I started walking towards the gym.

Lone grabbed my shoulder and had me turn around. “Don’t tell anybody that I’m a mute. It causes trouble.” His handwriting was serious.

I turned back around and started walking again. “Hmpf, not like I have anybody to tell.”

We walked to the gym together. That was the first time in years that I actually had some type of conversation with somebody. That was also the first time anybody walked along side me. He didn’t walk behind me at a distance, he didn’t sync his footsteps with mine, he simply walked along side me as if it was natural. It was a comfortable feeling to have somebody walking along side me, it was a feeling I could get used to. “Heheh, this stupid.”

Lone gave me a confused look that simply questioned, “What?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself as usual.” I felt even stupider, because I had just realized that in reality, I have been talking to myself this whole time.

I go straight to gym while Lone goes and changes into his P.E. clothes. I sit in my usual corner in the gym, where nobody goes near, for about five minutes until Lone shows up. He quickly spots me and nonchalantly begins walking over to me. I was somewhat surprised; since in the back of my mind, I was thinking he would never look my way again, let alone actually go out of his way to come to me. I was somewhat happy, but I would never show it.

Lone comes up to me and points at my clothing with an interrogative finger. It was obvious what he was trying to ask.

“It’s not polite to point.” It was a natural habit of mine to try and make things difficult for people.

He got irritated, which was exactly the reaction I was looking for, and tugged on my uniform.

“Oh, you mean my clothes?” I gave him a stupid look. “They are very comfortable. What about them?”

He got even more irritated, I was really enjoying this. He gave me uniform a good tug while he was grabbing on to his own P.E. uniform.

“I know I know, you want to know why I’m not wearing a P.E. uniform right?” I decided not make him any angrier. I felt like he was going to throw me again.

Lone seemed to calm down quickly after he let go and nodded.

“I never came around to getting the clothes for this class. It would be a waste of perfectly good money since I never come to school in the first place.” I made a little distance between me and Lone just to get comfortable.

Lone gave me a sharp look that seemed to be sarcastic at the same time. It just screamed the word, “Delinquent” at me.

“What’s with that look, I’m not such a bad guy. Most of the time . . .” Lone sat down and gave me a questionable look. “Maybe.”

I sat down as well. Lone and I didn’t look at each other as the gym began to fill up with the other students. Then the teacher came in stomping in. “Everybody sit down and shut up so I can take roll.” He starts walking around checking off the students on his list. He then sees Lone and I in the corner and starts walking towards us. “Well well well, didn’t think I’d see your sorry a*s around here again!” He was talking to me.

“Well that’s too bad now ain’t it? Your just gonna have to deal with this sorry little a*s today now aren’t you?” I slowly stood up to stand my ground while Lone watched with slightly shocked eyes.

“Smart a*s as usual, what happened? Get tired of jacking off in that room of yours you little s**t?” He was trying to piss me off.

He was failing. “To tell you the truth, yeah; this morning I had to debate with myself whether are not I wanted to see my favorite d********g.”

He looked like he was feeling an unearned sense of victory at the moment. “Your one to talk you d********g.”

I felt the urge to tell that down. “Hey you brain-dead waste of space, if I wanted my comeback I would have wiped off of your mother’s chin.” I had a large smile on my face.

The teacher was now in a silent fury. He rushed up in my face. “Hey you little piece of s**t. If it wasn’t for the sake of keeping my job, I’d have my foot so far up your a*s I’d be wearing you like a shoe, you got that you snotty little punk a*s?”

I stood firm. “Oh really now? Come at me bro.” I brought him to the pinnacle of rage. He was staring me dead in the eyes with a crazy look on his face. I simply stood there with a warm smile as the rest of the class held their breath. Some time passed in silence. I was getting bored. “Hey, so we gonna get down to business or what?”

He backed off. I won that round. “Hmpf, you feeling like a bad a*s kid? Fine, let’s do this.” He turned around and blew his whistle. “Alright! I want all of the boys to go get some dodge balls, and if any of you ladies wants to teach this a*****e a lesson, you go grab one too.”  Most of the boys rushed to get a dodge ball, some of them did so reluctantly, none of the women move an inch, and Lone just sat there with a confused look on his face.

“Same deal as usual I presume!” I was still standing there with my usual confidence.

He turned towards me again with anticipation. “Yea yea, don’t get hit by the ball and I’ll pass you for the quarter, same s**t as usual.” He starts walking away again.

I watch as he starts to walk away. I look behind me to see Lone barely starting to stand up with the same dumbfounded look on his face. I look back at the teacher. “Hey, Mr. Brainless!”

“What the hell do you want now?!” He didn’t bother to turn around.

“You think poor little me could get somebody on my side to help me out!?”

“Hahah,” He started walking again. “Sure, why the hell not!?” He found the idea absolutely hysterical. “If you can find living soul who would want to help a punk like you out!? Hahahaha.” He left laughing.

I turned towards Lone who was still standing there confused without a single clue as to what he should be doing. “You heard the man. Do you want to help me out?” I was more than less excited to see how well Lone can move.

His expression told me that he had no clue what I was talking about.

I turned my body completely towards him to begin explaining. “Since I never come to school, it only natural that I have a bad grade in the class right?” I waited for Lone’s nod to confirm that he was paying attention. “Well, most of my teachers just float me by since they don’t like me, along with the rest of this school, so they don’t have to deal with me. But this teacher is a d********g and likes to do these things a bit differently since he seems to hate me a hell of a lot more than the other teachers. Are you following me so far?” Lone gave me a hesitant nod but I was sure that he was getting the picture. “Well, anyways, he likes to make me try and win my grade. So when ever I play for my grade, he always has me pit against the entire class, or at least all of the boys, in this big dodge ball game. To make the rules simple, don’t get hit and you get a passing grade for the class. Simple as that.”

Lone was giving me a somewhat horrified look.

“Heh-he, what? Are you thinking that it’s wrong to single me out and do this kind of stuff to me?”

Lone gave me a quick nod.

“Well this is normal.”

Lone gave me another weird look.

“Normal for me anyway.”

Lone’s expression seemed like it was in a culture shock. It asked a simple little question, “Why?” But the answer was not quite as simple.

I stepped in, grabbed his shoulder and shook him out of it. “Come on bro. You gonna help me or what?” I couldn’t help but smile and chuckle to myself for some reason.

Lone gave me a hesitant nod.

“Hey, hurry your punk a*s up so I can kick it! I don’t have all day you know! It’s getting hella annoying just waiting for you like this! Ya hear me!?” The teacher yelled from a distance.

I whispered to myself, “Pshh, perfect timing.” I turned around standing tall. “Yea yea, quit complaining! I can smell your vagina from here.” I started walking towards him.

“What the hell did you just say punk!?” The teacher got mad.

I decided to ignore him to add insult to injury. As I was walking I couldn’t hear Lone walking behind me. After turning around, I was not surprised to see Lone still standing there with a confused look on his face. “Hey! You coming or what!?”

Lone seemed startled as he stumbled over nothing, but he gave me a quick nod and started walking towards me with more slightly composure.

After he got in a comfortable range, I started walking again, and we made our way to the teacher. We stopped in front of the teacher and I began to stare him down with Lone at my side. “Well, are we going to get started or what?” I felt more confident than usual; I felt that I was capable of just about anything right then and there. Why? Because I had the timid Lone Infernus by my side? Plausible, but not enough evidence to come to a conclusion. But the reason didn’t really matter in the first place.

“So you were able to get someone to help a d********g like you out? I’m shocked. Something must be wrong with him.” He said that without even glance at Lone. “How the hell did you get him to help you anyways?” The teacher was being skeptical.

“I used something us intelligent people like to call ‘Questions’ I’m sure you’ve heard of them.” I was being sarcastic.

            “Shut the hell up you cocky b*****d.” The teacher then stared at Lone with a slightly threatening look. Lone, who was still slightly confused, shuffled back a little bit. The teacher looked back at me. “Who the hell is he?”

Now I was shocked. The thought that Lone could be this unnoticeable was utterly incomprehensible. “You screwing with me right?”

“Shut the hell up and tell me who he is!” He got angry. He wasn’t joking.

“S**t man, I know your stupid but come on, there has to be a limit.” I then spin around behind Lone, who has at some point made his way behind me, and push him forward. “You can’t seriously be telling me that you’ve had this kid in your class for over a week now, and you don’t even know his f*****g name!?” I was getting angry for some reason.

Lone noticed my anger too. For a split-second, he was looking back at me and we made I contact. That eye contact said a lot. “Why are you angry? It’s not that big of a deal.”

I had no answers for him so I gave him a light jolt and he looked forward once again.

The teacher was getting angry too, but that was because he is stupid. “Shut the hell up! He’s that new kid right? What was his name? Um . . . John? No, umm, Lucas? No! Umm!” He seemed to be overworking his brain. “Jere-”

“Lone you retard! His name is Lone!” I was getting angrier. I let go of Lone realizing that I need to calm down. I turn away from him. “God dam you’re stupid.”

“How the hell was I supposed to know?” He pointed a Lone. “This kid transferred in a week ago and he hasn’t said a word to anybody!”

“Hmpf, just shut the hell up and let’s get started already.” I look and Lone and nudge my head as a signal to follow me. He does so without a second thought and the two of us make our way to the middle of the basketball court.

“Baah, whatever! Just make sure he knows the dam the rules!” He blew the whistle. “Everybody get your asses ready!”

As everybody got ready, I stopped and turned towards Lone. “That’s right! I still haven’t told you how it’s set up yet, have I?”

Lone seemed to get irritated pretty quickly at the question as he gave me a quick and angry nodding of his head.

“Haha, well it’s simple. Like I said earlier, it’s practically dodge ball. They will be standing on both sides of the basketball court and we’ll be in the middle. If we both get hit, we lose, if we don’t get hit within the time limit, we win. You got that?”

Lone had a concentrated face as he gave me a slow conformation.

I just noticed that I couldn’t see his left eye through his hair. “Hey, don’t you think you should put that hair of yours to the side? You might not be able to see the ball coming at you like that.”

Lone took a couple quick steps back and shook his head slightly frantically.

We both froze for a moment. I decided to turn away. “Fine by me.” I also decided to ignore how stupidly suspicious that was.

When it seemed like everybody was prepared, I looked over the teacher. “Hey! What’s the time limit for this one?”

The teacher looked at me with a somewhat sadistic look in his eyes while holding the ball maliciously. “Well, since you really pissed me off today and you tricked some poor kid into helping you, how about twenty minutes? Does that sound fair to you?”

“Like hell it sounds fair.” What he wanted to say next was completely obvious, but I was feeling generous and decided to indulge him.

“Well life isn’t fair, so shut up and stop complaining you d********g.” He seemed proud of himself; probably because he thought he was leading this stupid conversation.

“Let’s cut the chit-chat and get started already. I want to go home.”

“Sounds good to me!” The teacher pulled out a stopwatch and began to set a timer.

While he did this I looked over to Lone. “You ready?”

Lone gave me a quick shake of the head, “No”.

To me it looked like he was getting excited too. “Well that’s a shame.”

The teacher seemed to be ready now. “All right let’s start! Everybody, after me!” The teacher threw then threw the ball full throttle. It was now barreling through the air. In the short time that I watched it closely, I was able to hear it whistling through the air because of its high velocity.

It was getting closer, closer, closer, closer, closer, I lazily step to the left. I look at the teacher with a challenging eye. “Oh, was that aimed at me?” I nonchalantly put my hands in my pockets just for the hell of it.

“Shut up, this is just getting started!” He snapped his fingers and somebody handed him a ball. Before he threw it, another student next to him threw it towards me, and then he did the same. Now I had two balls flying towards me. One on the left, one on the right. It’s times like these when I actually begin to think. Hmm, it would take an a*s load of energy to go to one side and dodge it. If I want to last twenty whole minutes, I better save my energy. With hands still in pocket, I quickly sit down on my haunches. The two balls whiz over head. I quickly look over to the teacher with a smirk. The teacher had an even bigger smirk. Why is he smiling? I hear the sound of a ball flying through the air. S**t! I didn’t have enough time to stand up, so I pivoted my body on one foot to the right and see that another student has thrown a ball towards me. That ball bounces on the spot where I pivoted from. That would have ended badly; but knowing him, he probably had one of the students give him a ball already. I better not stay in one spot. I lean my body to the left and quickly do a small somersault. Out the corner of my eye, I see a ball fly past where I once was. I then quickly stand, with my body sideways and my hands still in my pockets. I stand there for a moment. S**t I’m a badass. I look left and over at the teacher, who has the face of a man whose plan has just failed, with a smirk, of a man who has just thwarted a silly plan made by a silly man. “Aww, did your pathetic little scheme not work? Did you really have to plan something like that out? And against one sixteen year old kid?” My rhetorical questions were pulling a lot of anger out of him. Just the way I liked it. I then look away from the enraged teacher. “Well I guess it really can’t be helped since you never actually beat me at this. Even with the entire class on your side. But seriously man, even you could do better than that! I didn’t even break a sweat!” I looked at him from the corner of my eye. His face was flushed with rage. Oh, he looks pissed. I think I hit a new level with this guy. I put a giant smirk on my face. Achievement unlocked.

My body jolted as I felt two small feet hit the upper part of my back. It was a blunt hit, the type of hit not meant to inflict pain. The kick then pushed me forward. I look to the left again to see a ball that has already flown by me. I quickly regain my footing and turn around to see Lone landing on the ground. Wasn’t he about ten feet behind me? I stood there for a moment slightly shocked. I didn’t even hear his footsteps. Lone was readjusting his clothes. This kid is more dangerous than he looks. It takes a s**t load of training to cover up your footsteps, and he just did as if it was second nature.

Lone then gave me a sharp look that said, “Pay attention.”

Out of the corner of my eye I see a kid getting ready to throw the ball at Lone from the right. I nudge my head in that direction while Lone was watching. The ball was already in mid-air before he got the message. He turned his head completely towards the ball, and then he dodged it by simply sliding to the left.

I had intended to give him an insulting smirk, but I didn’t have the time since the entire class was finally getting involved in the game. I was dodging balls left and right. At some point, I had taken my hands out of my pockets. Well, looks like I might have to stop messing around for now. I glance at and examine the right side of the court. Ten boys. I dodge an onslaught of balls. I glance at and examine the left side of the court. Ten more boys plus one retarded teacher. I dodge a second wave of balls. Twenty-one versus two? I’ve always hated the boy to girl ratio in this class. I glance at Lone. Lone looks like he’s having fun. He’s moving around like a cat that got set on fire out there. More importantly, it looks like the class is cut roughly even when it comes to who they are aiming at. Doesn’t seem they realized this would be easier if they all worked together to take one of us out at time. Oh well, makes it easier for the both of us I suppose. The entire classes attack pattern was getting repetitious. Left, right, right, left, duck, left, right, left, left, duck, repeat. This is getting old. How much time has gone by? I find just enough time to take out my pocket watch and check the time without getting hit. About ten minutes? Yeah that sounds about right. In a split second, I spot the teacher; his face was gleaming with rage and hatred. Its faces like that that really makes being hated worth it! Me being who I am, I could not help the urge to make an insulting smirk at him within the split-second. I was able to get an angry reaction out of him. That made me happy. But then I grew wary. The teacher now had an evil look on his face as if he just had a dangerous revelation. B*****d. I think he might have actually thought of something intelligent.

The teacher stopped and blew his whistle to get everyone’s attention. “Hey, we’re wasting our time going for both of them! Let’s all gang up on the d********g first to make this easier.” He cocked the ball and got ready. “On your mark! Get set, go!”

It was quickly apparent that I was that d********g. S**t, there are twenty-one balls in total, and all of them are aimed at me. I’m not going to last long like this. How much time left? About ten minutes. So if I can just last for at least five, I can probably rely on Lone being able to handle just five more. What is Lone doing? My body was moving furiously. As it was moving, I caught a glimpse of Lone’s smiling face as he stood there calm and with his hands in his pockets. Pfft, looks like he’s enjoying himself. Maybe I should let myself get hit just so tha- My thought process completely stopped as I simply stood there is self-loathing shock. I had been hit. I had been hit while distracting myself thinking about letting myself get hit.

“Hahahaha, you cocky b*****d, you got hit meaning you lose!” The teacher was ecstatic.

Hehe, how stupid can I be? I turned around and started walking off court. “Are you forgetting something you retard!? You still have to get Lone before the time limit ends in order to win!”

“I know that! I’d be damned if hitting him will take longer than a minute!” The teacher was being cockier than me.

I sit down at the edge of the court as a spectator. “Shut up, you’re wasting time!” I pull out my pocket watch a sneak a quick glance before they start attacking Lone again. S**t, looks like he’s going to have to last about seven minutes if he wants to win this. I look back up to see that they had already begun the onslaught on Lone. Lone’s tiny body was moving whimsically and at abnormal speeds. Pff, little b*****d is faster than I am. And he is so nimble. He really is a child. Lone continued to dodge left and right, moving and twisting his body in various directions, almost unnecessarily. Why is he moving like that? It’s almost like he’s purposely overdoing it. If he goes on like that, I’m sure that tiny body of his is going to burn out I no time. I began to notice a pattern. Somebody behind him makes a sound as they throw the ball. Lone turns his entire body around to the right too look. Lone dodges. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat . . . Why is he only turning right? There are many instances where turning to the left would be much faster. Lone continued with the same pattern. Well, that leads to speculate an assortment of different theories. Lone didn’t seem to be anywhere near slowing down. Well doesn’t matter right now, I’ll test them later.  How much longer does he need to dodge? I look down at my pocket watch. Two more minutes. Two more minutes and he wins this. I glance at the teacher. Heh, looks like he’s getting impatient. A ball rolls to him. In my eyes, the scene began to play in slow motion. He picks it up. He didn’t make a single sound as he threw it, since he didn’t use his lower body at all. The ball was now flying towards Lone, whose back was towards me standing sideways. S**t, if he doesn’t see it in time, that ball might actually hit him. Lone’s head began swiveling towards the left. Good, at that angle he has already seen the ball. So hurry up and get out of the way Lone. Lone has yet to make a movement to escape the ball’s path. Come on Lone! Get out of the way! There is no way you haven’t seen the ball coming yet! The ball nails Lone directly in the face.