Gloom (complete)

I had this story on  another account I had but decided to move it here, so some of you may actually recognize it, I'm not sure. Its not really much different from the stories I usually write in the sense that the characters are some times not very likeable and as always I've tried to make them as realistic as possible. 

The air was hot and heavy with dust; living mold burned at her sinuses, causing Jacey to sneeze multiple times. Her head began a painful pounding, right at her right temple, her arms wrapped around her as her back slid down the wall behind her. It was dark inside the basement, but honestly she didn't mind. It was her stomach (which had began to grumble unhappily) and the quickly approaching headache which caused her suffering. Boxes, broken desks, musty stacks of text books, and ancient instruments surrounded her on all sides inside the bowls of Lester Miller Academy High School, all covered in prehistoric dust mites. Huffing quietly in frustration and a spark of self-centered frustration, Jacey looked at the iron doors that blocked her from freedom and from a pop-tart at home that was calling her name. A sigh left her again. Andy - her foster brother was probably eating the last one at that very moment. The girl wouldn't be getting out of there anytime soon, not until someone realized she was missing. Jacey's mood blackened - no one would notice for at least five hours, not until her foster mother got home from work.

Wiping her sweaty palms over her now dirt and dust covered, blue plaid skirt, she raised them and brushed dark brown curls from her face. He could always come back and release her from the hell he had put her in. She wished for a cell phone. Though never had she ever owned a phone before, not even when she had a family of her own. Her mom had always said she was to young and she would have to wait until she was sixteen. Well, now she was seventeen and still, she had no cell phone. Though she was sure if she asked Heather, her foster mother, the woman would get her one, but Jacey always felt weird asking the family that had taken her in when she was eleven years old for anything, especially with the woman already was paying the high tuition for Jacey can go to an overly ritzy school like Lester-Miller.

Glancing down at her old-golden wrist-watch, she winced. She had already been in there for two hours. She tugged at the black and red tie around her neck, loosening it, making breathing easier in the fiery room. Why was he even doing this? Why had from the moment Heather enrolled her into Lester-Miller had ass-hole Blain Tuner made it his duty in life to make her life a living hell? Her friend, May, had said it was because he was a bigoted, racist ass-hole with a small penis and a low IQ. May was funny like that.

Jacey was the only minority in all of Lester-Miller beside Mr. Odd, her science teacher, well, she was half a minority anyway, and Blain did have a habit of saying pretty racist things when he would bump into her in the halls. So, the racist thing could possibly check out. Now, she had no idea if he had a small penis, but May swore he was not in anyway 'packing' according to Tessa Conway, one of his many ex-girlfriends, but everyone at Lest-Miller knew for a fact that Tessa was a liar and a kleptomaniac... As for him having a low IQ, he was second at the top of their class; behind her, so she honestly doubted he was dumb. Instead, Jacey, being who she was, always forgiving, and always understanding - her mother had said it would be her downfall if she wasn't careful - decided he was simply jealous of her academic track record and was upset about always coming up second fiddle to someone he viewed as an outsider. Plus, she was pretty sure he had a stressful home life, if the rumors of his mother sleeping the Principle Tompkins were true. Also rumors about his dad...

Jacey shook her head, ridding herself of the thoughts, she hated gossiping about others, even if she was the only one around to take part in said gossiping. Besides, his home life and petty jealously weren't excuses for being a bully. She understood him in a way, but that hardly meant she would put up with it anymore. Her dark brows furrowed. Isn't that exactly what's been going on for six years? She had been putting up with his snide remarks and stupid pranks for six years and now she was fed up with it.

The teen straightened her back, pushing herself off the wall behind her and stood ridged with fixed dash, only for her nose to twitch a second later and her head being forced downwards as a powerful sneeze nearly flipped her forward. Loudly sniffling, she ran a dusty hand underneath her nose and quietly groaned as she felt the evil little dust mites claw down her throat. She coughed.

The flimsy sureness in herself escaped her, fleeting, slipping through her fingers and disappearing into the air like water vapor and the particles from her sneeze. She hit the wall behind her with a tired moan. Who was she even kidding? She had never been able to stand up for herself, which was likely another reason Blain enjoyed bullying her.

A low, grating noise, iron against concrete, brought her out of her musing violently. Jacey leaped up straight and her stomach lurched, only calming upon realizing it was only the basement's door being opened. A smile began to tug at her lips. Finally, she was saved. She wondered how no one had heard her when she had been screaming the whole first hour, school had just been let out when she had been locked in the basement. Though she was sure it had something to do with Blain and people being afraid of him. He had probably been standing outside the basement's door glowering at anyone who wondered down the abandoned hall of Lester-Miller Academy, which the basement's door was located.

Her happiness about being rescued vaporized much like her flimsy sureness upon seeing him. He's quite tall a few inches shy of six feet. His dark brown hair was long enough to curl around both ears, but neat. His blue eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue then a cloudless sky. Blain Turner's handsome, undeniably so, but his smug smirk made him seem like the ugliest thing Jacey had ever seen. And his face annoyed her, although she usually hid it well.

She wasn't afraid of Blain Turner, he never hurt her physically, but instead took pleasure in cutting deep with words. His smirk was sinister, but the girl had a hard time taking it too seriously when mostly he would do childish pranks. So she matched his smirk with a glare.

"Did you enjoy locking me down here? Was it fun and pleasing to your disgusting ego?" She asked. "I hope this wasn't a glimpse into your future and I'm not the first of many girls you lock in a basement." Her hunger made her cranky, as it always did, and she was fed up. She was only months away from graduation and Blain had stepped his game up because of it. This wasn't her first time being locked in someplace by Blain, but it was usually a classroom and only for only about thirty minutes. She had also seen the fake Faceweb page he had set up on her this morning. She was not happy. "Seriously, Turner, when are you going to grow up and stop with the immature bullying crap?" Her uniform was dirty, her hair smelled like mold, and she would probably be sneezing for a week straight.

Blain only crossed his arms, his smug smile never faltering. He had already abandoned his white button-up uniform shirt and red blazer for a black sleeveless shirt.

"Oh, you're angry," he commented, "so it is possible. You even insulted me."

Her anger instantly intensified upon realizing she was responding the way he wanted. She would not give Blain the satisfaction. Jacey forced her features to relax into a mask of smooth indifference, green eyes dulling as she buried her emotions. She was good at doing what May called her 'dead-faced' stare. Instead of responding to the bully's words, she bent over and picked up her plain black book bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"I assume you came back because you were going to let me out?" The girl questioned as if she couldn't have cared less, a weak shrug accompanied her words. "I thought you were going to leave me in here all night."

Blain shoved his hands into his pockets as he frowned. "Who said I was letting you out tonight?"

His words had life once again entering Jacey's face as a slither of panic hit her. A drip of sweat worked its way down her face and she quickly wiped at it with the back of her hand. Her dust covered skin brushed against her left eye, causing it to sting. She blinked rapidly as both eyes began to water. "Wh - What?"

Blain's frown deepened as he leaned forward a little, blue eyes working quickly over her face. "Are you going to cry?" A self-satisfied grin nearly spilt his face in half.

Jacey couldn't help her scoff, "you wish. I've never, not once, cried because of you and I never will." She was proud of herself, it was a difficult feat not to allow Blain to get to her. Jacey crossed her arms and looked away from him and studied a pile of broken desks, quietly sighing. "Why are you doing this anyway?" She asked voice quieter with acceptance. Blain's mean, a nasty bully; she couldn't and wouldn't ever be able to do anything about it. He was a monster inside of a pretty package.

She hadn't been expecting an answer, so when he actually had responded instead of turning around and leaving her alone in the basement, the girl flinched. "I want you to flunk a test," he told her, "just one. You can agree to that, can't you? I'll let you go if you do."

She quickly brought her attention fully to Blain once again, finding his grin gone and his face oddly serious. "Why... Why would I do that?"

"Because..." He began with a roll of his eyes, "it's the only way you are going get out of here."

" What I meant to ask was, why do you want me to do that..." His reason came clear as soon as the words left her mouth. "You want to graduate at the top of the class? If I fail a test you get that title?" The idea that this was why he was doing this was so outrages she actually laughed. "You locked me up in this dusty hot box because you want to be at the top of the class?" She couldn't contain her mirth. She was being tormented for being smart? Blain obviously didn't appreciate being laughed at, if the crimson creeping up his neck was any indication.

"Yeah, whatever... Are you going to do it?" He asked, impatient now.

Jacey stared at him for a couple of seconds, her green eyes settling on the open door behind Blain before once again settling on the boy himself. He wasn't looking at her anymore, but instead glared at the moldy pyramid of old books on his left.

"Why is it even so important?" The words left her mouth before the more logical part of her could lie and agree with his demand. Her grades were important to her. Lester-Miller wasn't cheap and Heather was so proud of her when she would get her grading cards. The woman was already planning a party for her, invitations being sent out already calling her valedictorian of her class and smartest kid in the world. She couldn't let her down, especially if there wasn't a good reason for it, even then she couldn't. "What's wrong with being second?"

Jacey winced a second later. Yeah, that wasn't exactly the best thing to say especially not to Blain Turner. Blain scoffed and gave her a look as if she was the dumbest thing to ever breath air.

"Because," he began, his voice thick with disgust, "I cannot be second to someone like you."

Jacey's insides lurched and she took a step back, away from the utter disgust and hatred in his voice. The girl was well aware that Blain didn't like her, but to have someone hate her, for no fault of her own was a little astonishing and... saddening. "Someone like me," she quietly repeated. What exactly did he mean by that? Was it her race? Was it because the only reason she was even at Lester-Miller was because of a partial scholarship? Both reasons left a horrible taste in her mouth and an odd feeling churning her stomach. Swallowing the feeling, the girl crossed her arms and once again schooled her face into perfected indifference. "Well... If you want to be at the top of the class you're going to have to do it yourself. Study a little harder, a lot harder actually, if you want to catch up with me." The was no way she couldn't add her snub.

His face twisted as his lip pressed into one another and his blue eyes narrowed into near slits. His hands balled into fists at his side and a shiver racked his body. He was so angry, at first, the girl was sure he was going to hit her. But his ice blue eyes only snapped shut after a couple haggard deep breaths, he opened both of them, his face empty of any and all anger. He hid it well, but it obviously still swam underneath his skin and behind his blue eyes, along with something else which she couldn't name. At first the word desperation*** entered her mind, but was quickly dismissed it because, in her mind, it hardly fit what was going on at that moment.

"I'll give you one last chance to change your mind, Jacey." He crossed his arms again and rolled his shoulders as if he was working out tension. "All you have to do is agree to flunk a test and I'll let you out."

"No," she quickly said. "I'll wait until my foster mother gets off work and searches for me. Heather over reacts about nearly everything and will probably call the cops, FBI, and a few news networks, anyone honestly she can get in contact with about her pretty, talented, and smart foster daughter with no history of getting into trouble not making him home from school. I'll make certain I tell them all about this whole experience when I'm rescued."

"Pretty," he echoed with a scoff, causing Jacey to frown. "I had no idea you were this modest. How about this, I'm going to leave for a couple of more hours, go get a lasagna plate from Henry's," Jacey's stomach growled, " do a little homework and I'll come back and see if you've changed your mind?" He tugged a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and put one to his lips before returning the pack. "You will change your mind," he told her as he began to turn.

She could have tried running around him, she was quick and she was sure if she tried hard enough she could outrun him long enough to reach someone who could help her. She wasn't in track for no reason. Running, pushing by him had actually been her plan as soon as he made it clear he wasn't going to let her out anytime soon, but her plan was soured when the basement began to shake.

Blain was shaken off his feet, his body landing on a stack of band drums. She couldn't actually see what happened after because her own feet being swept off in under her and her shoulder smashing painfully into boxes on her side. She could hear Blain's startled yelp barely over the noise of the world crumbling all around her. She felt the hot ache of pain in her skull seconds after being hit by something heavy and hard. Her vision blurred and darkened a moment later.