— — ONE SHOT — —
There are a lot of different ways to bully people. The tactic varies depending on who it’s being used against.
Physical shoves and punches for the enemy.
Verbal lashings for the annoyances.
Mental games for the rivals.
Lies.
He didn’t technically need any of these persuasions, he had some of the best grades in the school, he had several extracurriculars going on all where he was in the leadership position, and he was the most popular and sought after boy in town. And it wasn’t like he abused that daily. Just when people thought they could mess with him.
“Hey George.” Ninja nudged his shoulder as he dug through his locker for his debate class essay.
“What.” He grumbled, eyes squinted into the darkness until his hands landed on a poorly stapled set of papers, which he pulled out into the poor lighting of the school hallway.
“Look who it is~”
The brunette looked at his friend, unimpressed with his tone before the rebellious teenager flipped his sky blue hair out of his face and gestured further down the hall. He followed the direction Ninja had pointed out for his eyes to land on a familiar face.
Ah. A smirk etched itself into his face as the blonde gracefully weaved his way through the crowded hallway, face dug into the cover of the book as he dodged the people around him without losing his spot in the story. His blonde hair looked washed out in the awful school lighting and his green gaze was directed down at the pages he was lost in, barely visible over the cover’s spine.
Ninja shot him a smug look that he rolled his eyes at before stepping directly into Dream’s path. The blonde stumbled, taking a step back and recovering his balance quickly. He opened his mouth to apologize as he looked up from his book and George couldn’t ignore the tinge of pleasure he felt as Dream’s mouth immediately snapped shut, paling when he realized just who he’d run into.
“Watch where you’re going.” He snapped, crossing his arms.
“S-sorry George.” The younger teen mumbled, eyes flicking around nervously, searching for an escape.
“I mean honestly Dream. What if you’d run into somebody else? You could’ve hurt someone.”
“It was an accident.” His voice softened even further.
“It’s always an accident with you isn’t it.” George took a step closer to him, forcing Dream’s nervous green gaze to land on his face. He felt Ninja step up beside him to further enforce his words. “That’s no excuse.”
“I di-didn’t mean to-”
“Maybe I should just take whatever you’re reading to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
His eyes widened as he clutched the book closer. Peering at it now, George realized it wasn’t a story but a journal. Interesting.
“I’ll stop.” Dream blurted out before he could say anything else, scooting back a few steps.
“You better.” He warned. The blonde dipped his head in silent agreement before ducking around Ninja and vanishing into the sea of high schoolers. He was so easy to guilt trip.
Dream’s leg bounced up and down nervously under the table as he kept his gaze firmly focused on the papers before them. George smirked to himself at the obvious unease the younger felt in his presence. He felt eyes on the back of his head and glanced over his shoulder to watch a girl immediately blush and turn her attention back to her partner.
“M-maybe we can do something on optics?” He offered nervously.
George returned his gaze to the blonde, whose gaze dropped back down to the table as he fiddled nervously with the golden chain hanging around his neck. “Sure.” He scoffed. “Let’s do the study of visible electromagnetic radiation.”
“That’s the light spectrum that can be perceived by the human eye, right?” Dream hummed, pencil scratching as he resumed writing down the lay out for their presentation. He blinked, thrown off by the fact that Dream understood what he’d just said. I thought his focus was on music…
The teen twirled his pencil in his hand as his eyes glazed over thoughtfully, staring at a spot just over George’s shoulder. “We could do that. But you’re color blind right? Wouldn’t that affect the statistics we use?”
He knows I’m colorblind? I don’t remember telling him that. “Then we’ll just focus on a specific kind of color vision.”
“What types are there?”
“Normal, tritantopia, deuteranopia, and protanopia.” He replied.
“What one are you?” Dream’s eyes glanced toward his face.
George raised an eyebrow at the action. “Protanopia. More commonly known as red-green colorblindness.”
“So then what’s your favorite color?”
“Blue.” He frowned at the sudden stream of questions. Dream was normally far more quiet, more meek around him. The other teen nodded and the gold chain on his neck glittered, capturing his attention. A plan began hatching in his head.
“Although…” George trailed off slyly. “I’ve been told I look best in gold.”
The blonde’s shoulders tensed minutely as he reluctantly looked up, hand clenching tighter around his pencil. “Should we test that?”
The halls around him were empty save for the janitor’s working hard to erase any presence of the students that came here daily. His marching band practice had gotten out later than usual and he’d actually taken the time to change out of the uniform instead of just waiting to get home when he realized he could feel the layers of sweat and grime that had built up.
He was passing by the band room when the faint sound of music caught his attention. It was soft, like the song itself was meant to be gentle, the 6/8 timed pattern informing him it was done by a string instrument.
George allowed the music to lead him to one of the private recording rooms where he spotted Dream strumming the strings of a guitar. A ukulele was discarded beside his chair, his tongue sticking out in faint concentration as he adjusted one of the knobs on the guitar neck. Once he appeared satisfied, he began humming a tune under his breath and played a few letters. After he set it on his lap and did the same for the ukulele. It was done in the same tone, the only difference was the guitar’s deeper echo, making the music sound sadder.
The blonde nodded to himself once, setting the ukulele to the side again. He must’ve learned it on the ukulele and then decided to switch it over to the guitar for a more emotional piece. George watched as Dream resumed humming before he began to play again.
“There’s nothing you or I can do, so let the stars fall, ’cause from up here the sky is my thoughts and we’re all so small.” He sang, baritone voice echoing nicely with the guitar. He paused for a moment that had to be intentional before picking up again. “... Meteor shower, quick, take cover.”
The blonde took a deep breath, hesitating briefly before his face hardened in determination and he kept going. “But the hues in our hair compliment one another. I’d sell my own bones for sapphire stones, ’cause blue’s your favorite color~”
“A love song?” George scoffed, startling the other student. Dream whipped toward his voice, eyes wide in surprise, mouth gaping open. “That’s not like you. Get over yourself. Or are the rest of your songs this cheesy and lame?”
He left before he could get an answer.
“Dang.” Ninja whistled as he gazed up at the school’s award board. “You got first for your science fair project.”
“Of course.”
“Umm, excuse me…” A flirtatious voice came from behind them. George turned slightly to find himself face to face with Mynx, a purple haired girl who was in the popular girl group. Her sentence however cut off as she noticed the simple gold chain he wore around his neck, barely visible under the collar of his uniform. “Oh. Never mind, I guess you’re taken. Sorry about that.”
“Taken?” He repeated with a snort. “Honey, believe me, I wouldn’t date the owner of this thing in a hundred years.”
Immediately she perked up before recovering her mysterious facade and coyly batting her long eyelashes at him. “Then what about me?”
“Why not?” He purred, earning a giggle from the girl as she handed her phone over to exchange numbers. She winked at him before strutting back over to where a gathering of her friends were talking in the cafeteria. Spoiled brat.
George rolled her eyes at her retreating back. However she was incredibly rich and well known among the students. His reputation would definitely get a boost dating her. He’d use her until he found an opening to be viewed as the victim and then break up with her. Ninja chuckled at his side as the two began heading toward the cafeteria for their own food.
“Speaking of…” The blue haired boy trailed off with a widening smirk. “Where exactly is Dream? I’ve missed messing around with him.”
He shrugged. “Who cares?”
“Ugh, look at those two. Absolutely disgusting.” Mynx snorted from her position on George’s arm, looking further down the hall.
“Mhm.”
“I mean, how dare they!” She continued with her rant, ignoring the lack of input from his side of the conversation. “Acting gay in a public area!? Honestly!”
He glanced up to spot Fundy, a redhead student from the year below him cheerfully flirting with a blonde. George’s stomach lurched when Fundy shifted to the side and gave them a hug before raising a hand in farewell and darting off to reveal a face he hadn’t seen for several weeks.
Dream shouted something after him that the brunette couldn’t quite catch and waved back before he disappeared from sight. What is he doing? Is this some sort of joke?
He was moving forward before he had even thought about what he was doing, leaving Mynx behind for a second. “Dream.” He barked as he approached the blonde’s locker, where he was extracting his journal. The younger student jumped, nearly slamming his head on the locker door before turning to face him.
“George?”
Rage festered in his chest, boiling angrily as he shoved Dream back, an echoing slam resounding from the locker as the blonde let out a surprised grunt. “What the heck was that!?”
“What-”
“Are you serious!?” He snarled, pushing himself up into the blonde’s personal space. Wide green eyes met his, clouded with confusion and fear. “Acting like you’re gay for attention!? Are you that stupid!?”
“But I am-”
“You disgust me.” He whispered into the blonde’s ear, feeling him tense up under the finger he had pointed into his chest. “I’m sure everyone else feels the same, for somebody to be pitiful enough to pretend they’re gay.”
A hint of rainbow caught his attention as he moved away from Dream’s face, spotting the small pride flag pinned up on the inside of his locker. “You better get rid of that.”
Tears were gathering in the corner of his eyes as George huffed, giving one finally poke with his finger before backing off toward where Mynx was waiting with a cruel smile stretched across her face.
“I can’t believe you ever associated with him darling.” She hugged him, intertwining their fingers once again.
“I didn’t.” He gritted out through his teeth, trying to soothe the unexpected anger that had flashed through him, stalking off in the direction they’d come from.
She gave a sympathetic giggle. “No wonder. He seems desperate for attention.”
“You’re right.” He raised his voice, loud enough that he was sure Dream would hear him. “If he knew any better he wouldn’t be dating Fundy at all. Wouldn’t want to ruin his friend’s chances of love.”
The glare Fundy shot him was nothing less than deadly the following Monday.
“George!” Ninja called, racing through the short stretch of hallway that separated them, shoving a few people aside to reach his side. “Dude, you’ll never believe this!”
“What?” He glanced up from his advanced chemistry textbook, comparing his study guide to the assigned chapter one more time before he had to take the exam in his upcoming period.
Normally he didn’t appreciate interruptions while he was studying, but he hadn’t been able to hang around Ninja as much since Mynx didn’t approve of him. He’d gotten away from her about half an hour ago and already it felt like the air around him was clearing up, no longer stuffy from her presence.
“I overheard Fundy talking on the phone.” He plopped down beside the brunette, a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes. “You’ll never guess what he said.”
He bristled slightly at the name of the redhead and the reminder of what had gone down a week ago. Part of him still wasn’t sure why it had bugged him so much, which only served to make him more annoyed. “What?”
“School tuition is going up next semester.”
“Yeah, so?” He already knew that, it didn’t exactly concern him.
“So~” Ninja sang playfully. “He was talking to Dream about funding.”
They’re still talking to each other? I thought I told Dream to stop. His nose wrinkled in distaste.
“-apparently he can’t afford to come next semester.” He tuned back into his friend’s ramble. “His parents decided it’d be better to just move to a different school.”
“Pity.” George rolled his eyes. “Not like anybody here will miss him.”
Ninja laughed. “That’s true.”
He’d missed part of their earlier conversation. He hadn’t thought it to be that important but now his gut was churning in his stomach as he realized it wasn’t Fundy who was leaving but Dream.
It had been Mynx who’d told him. She’d been in the office for her TA period, the last class of the day, and had overheard the conversation between Dream and the principal about packing his stuff and finishing the rest of the semester online.
He was leaving tomorrow.
George huffed as he turned on his bed, trying to find a cooler spot under his covers as he struggled to fall asleep. There was no reason for this to have bugged him so much. Sure, he’d known Dream since they were in middle school but they’d never been actual friends. Perhaps acquaintances at one point before George realized it was simply easier to use the people around him and pushed the younger blonde to the side. The only exception to that rule was Ninja.
He rolled to his side, glaring at the darkness dancing around him until his eyes adjusted slightly to land on the objects laying on top of his bedside dresser. It was just a dumb picture his parents had taken to showcase another one of his accomplishments that would soon be stored in his trophy room with a simple blue ribbon tacked to the side. He’d almost forgotten he had it.
Though it was too dark to see, he knew what it looked like. It was a picture of him at the state science fair with the project he’d done with Dream. The camera had been focused on him as he proudly pinned the blue ribbon to his sweater vest. Ninja had photo bombed the picture, arms slung around George’s own shoulder with a wide grin. But Dream had made it inside the frame.
He wasn’t looking at the camera, instead talking to somebody who must’ve been asking about their project but he had a smile on his face and was using his hands to animatedly describe his answer.
Besides the prize, his platinum wristwatch lay discarded, with a simple gold necklace draped over it, two things he only took off when it was time to sleep or swim. He hadn’t realized how often he wore Dream’s necklace. It doesn’t mean anything.
“Would you mind opening the doors for me young man?” The mover asked, hands full of an open box and a guitar case. George shot him a disgruntled look but reluctantly moved to hold the front door open.
“Thanks!” He nodded politely before exiting the school, not noticing a single familiar object tumble out of the box and land sprawled across the tile. The brunette moved to grab it as the door began to fall shut, preventing it from being damaged. It was the journal, the very one he’d see Dream carry around between classes.
His curiosity grew despite himself and he decided he could afford a tiny peek. I bet it’s just full of dumb complaints.
He flipped open to the bookmarked page, from whatever Dream had been writing most recently;
“I never said anything. I’ve had almost five years to tell him and I still can’t get myself to say anything even though I’m leaving. I might never see him again… It’s fine. It’s better staying quiet about it than risking heart break. I’ll see him in physics. Then I’ll put this all behind me. A new start could be good.”
George rolled his eyes at the mention of Dream’s repressed feelings. He hadn’t realized Fundy shared the physics class he had with the blonde, though he supposed he’d never noticed the boy before Dream had. He began closing it before the pages opened to one that had clearly been turned to several times since it wasn’t what Dream had bookmarked.
He immediately recognized the song lyrics he’d caught Dream working on a couple months ago. He could see all the eraser marks and new edits and the entire thought process the blonde must’ve gone through. His eyes strayed toward a little note that had been done in pen.
“His favorite color is blue.”
I didn’t think Fundy’s favorite color was blue. George skimmed the rest of the page before his heart lurched in his chest at the final note Dream had made when he’d determined the piece finished.
“Meteor Shower by Dream WasTaken. Dedicated to George NotFound.”
