Fan Fiction ❯ From Loneliness, With Love ❯ No Solace ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

No solace

Lunch, the favoured of all periods... yet the most deadly. Manoeuvring down the halls is like walking through a mine filed... and don't even bother trying to enter the cafeteria if you value your life. But, there are still those that try. And today was one of those days that I would try... one of the days that I would be beaten horribly by the mindless herds of students. Welcome to my hell.

I'm Shady. Well, that's not my real name. I don't really like my name all that much. Shawn Raven. That's not a name that one is exactly enthralled to be given at birth. I'm a 16 year old male, trapped in a small city, on the express train to nowhere. But I'm not unhappy nooooooo…. not at all. Well, I never said I was good at lying.

My train of thought (not the express train) was interrupted as I was shoved out of the way by a gigantic guy with curly green hair and fell into a garbage can… Eww… my hand was in something squishy… that reminded me all too much of bananas. I tired to hoist myself up, but was stuck. Very stuck.

"Um, a little help here?" I asked the mindless masses. Some freshmen girls were giggling like hyenas off to one side, pointing at my predicament. And some nerdy guy was staring at me with a look of sympathy. His green and blue striped suspenders were contrasting with his red bowling shirt and yellow and green striped pants. He had the overall appearance of a clown. A nerdy clown at that.

Oh no… don't let him come closer… if he tries to help me, I'd much rather STAY in this can… NO! He's coming closer! STAY BACK! STAY BACK! Don't come any closer… I don't need your help. Don't touch me… you could have… have… nerd germs! Wow… that was lame Shady… eck he's moving closer, and closer and closer and-

"Do you need some help?" the clown guy asked.

"GYAH!" I yelled and with a last burst of panic gripped the sides of the plastic bin with a death grip, and hoisted myself out. I was halfway down that hallway before the clown guy realized I was gone.

That was close… and one of the most terrifying moments of my life… eww, there's something gross stuck to my leg. I think it's… I glance down. "Eww… rice pudding [1]… I am never eating that again. EVER." I headed towards the bathroom. Upon entering it I found it completely empty. I looked at myself in the mirror. My baggy jeans had various articles of garbage stuck to them… the most disgusting being the rice pudding… and the banana on my arm. I grabbed some paper towel and began removing items. Gum, rice pudding, hair, rice pudding, jello, rice pudding, candy wrapper stuck to gum, and yet MORE rice pudding. Oh man is this gross.

I was so preoccupied with removing the pudding from my ass that I didn't notice anyone enter the bathroom until I heard their silky deep voice.

"Wow, did you get in a food fight?" I spun around to look that the other guy standing at the mirror. He was inspecting his teeth and dabbing at a split lip with a piece of paper towel. But despite that, he was rather quite handsome. His lovely short blond hair was almost shimmering in the pale fluorescent lights, and his eyes seemed to change colour every time he moved. He was tall, even taller than I. Heck, I'm pretty tall. Maybe he's around 6'3, but I wasn't quite sure.

"Pushed into a garbage can." I responded glumly as I grabbed another piece of paper towel and picked a piece of gum off my left thigh. I seemed to be rid of all garbage.

"Ouch that's brutal." He commented and prodded his lip, but winced in pain.

"Did you get in a fight? No wait, that's probably a stupid question… there aren't many ways you can get a split lip."

"Actually, I tripped over a freshman and landed on a table."

"Really?" I asked automatically.

"No. I did get in a fight." He smiled and rolled his eyes. "Some idiot thought I was flirting with his girlfriend… I mean some people… have a damn good right hook."

I went over to the sink next to the guy to wash the remains of the banana of my arm… and to check him out. What? I like males… prefer them over females… some females are just… annoying. Oh so very annoying. With their high pitched voices and bouncy personality, and the belief that the more stick-like and gaunt they are, the more attractive they are. Don't get me wrong, girls are wonderful and we need them to keep the species alive. But exactly HOW many of them don't fit into the category I described above? The goths, the nerds and some of the lesbians. Wow… such a great selection.

"You going to be alright?" I asked as I sat down on the counter, realizing just how bad of an idea that was after my jeans absorbed the half a cup of water that had previously been on the counter. Having a sopping wet ass was not the most pleasant feeling in the world.

"Yah, I've had worse. But listen man, you smell like rice pudding… and you have something…" He trailed off and leaned within a foot of my face, "On your face."

My eyes widened in surprise. Is he going to kiss me? Man this is stressful, and I never thought my first kiss with a guy would be in the school restroom after I'd fallen in a garbage can. He reached a hand out and touched my check.

"It's banana." He said leaning back and holding out his hand to show that there was some smushed banana on it.

I had the most immense urge to crash to the ground like anime characters do. How could I have been so falsely hopeful. Of course this gorgeous creature wasn't gay. The good ones never are. "Oh… oh yah" I said distractedly, looking at the grimy wall behind him. "There was a banana in the garbage can."

"That is really disgusting… If you have some gym clothes maybe you should change."

"I'll take that into consideration." I mutter, still too embarrassed to look at him.

"See you around then." And with that he walked out of the bathroom and out of my life. Well… maybe not out of my life. But it just seemed to fit my mood at the moment. Oi Shady, you're a dork.

I watched him leave, thinking of how I had been so drawn to him. I stood up after he was gone, my pants making a disturbing squishing/slurping noise as they unsanctioned themselves from the counter. I turned so that I could look at my ass in the mirror… it looked wet, and felt very damp, and cold… so very cold. Why do they have the air conditioning on in the school when it's freezing outside?

Sighing, I left the bathroom and headed towards my locker. It was right by the cafeteria door. Having a locker there was a pain in the ass to say the least. I spun my lock, opening the locker on the first try and glanced inside. Nothing really interesting, just some text books, extra pens, my backpack, my jacket and a muffin from x number of days ago. I grabbed my black backpack and slammed my locker shut, making sure that it locked then headed into the cafeteria. I immediately spotted my friend Skye. Her shocking pink and blonde hair was hard to miss. She was casually sitting on a table, tormenting a freshman boy who was holding onto his binder like it was the only thing keeping him alive. I walked towards her.

"Really Skye, you shouldn't be tormenting the little ones." I said mockingly. The freshman's eyes widened in fear and he sank down another inch in his chair.

"Ooo but Shad' it's so fun." She said excitedly, glancing between me and the freshman. "This one thinks I'm a witch, and that I'm evil and will plague his family."

"Don't mot people?" I asked, casually leaning on the table beside her.

She glared at me, and swatted at my arm. "Be nice, or your family's next." I just rolled my eyes. "Hey, I have to go to chem. early, I got to finish a lab. I'll see ya later." And with that she left the cafeteria, leaving behind a forever scarred freshman with a renewed belief in witchcraft.

Having no one else to sit with, I plopped down on the nearest chair that wasn't too close to any of the groups of friends. All throughout school I had never been the popular guy. I was the one that sat at the back of the class, and was picked last for teams when playing kickball. Being a loner and outcast for most of my life had never done much for my confidence. I'm just a shy person. If you get to know me, I'm a whole different person. I guess that's why I get along better with people online.

I glanced around the cafeteria, looking at all the people that I knew, and didn't know. Over by the windows sat a group of people that I had gone to elementary school with, they hardly even acknowledged my existence. I looked down the table I was sitting at and saw Cassie, my lab partner in chemistry; she didn't even know my name yet. I was surrounded by strangers. And a thought crossed my mind, what if I was gone tomorrow? Would any of them even notice? Would anybody even care? But I could never kill myself. Because, despite my dismal moods, I didn't hate myself or my existence.

My stomach growled loudly. Sighing I reached into my bag and pulled out my lunch. It was in a brown paper bag. How dull. I reached inside and pulled out a banana. Eww… a tuna sandwich (yum!), a cranberry juice drinking box (kinda odd with tuna… oh well) and some rice pudding (major eww).

It was a sign. I was definitely cursed or something. A banana and rice pudding in my lunch. Someone was definitely mocking me. Not that I really believed in higher beings… but I was most definitely being mocked. I put the rice pudding and banana back in the bag, and returned it to my backpack. I ate my sandwich and drank my juice in silence, listening to and watching the people around me.

A group of grade 12 guys had a small water gun and were squirting girls in the ass with water and were laughing at the girls. I just rolled my eyes at them. There were some freshmen girls sitting by me that had the highest voices ever, my eardrums were ringing after listening to them squeal about some "new hottie" named Ramsey. I figured he was probably some arrogant jerk that thought he was king of the world.

A short girl with longish brown hair ran up to me giggleing. "See that girl over there wearing the purple sweater? She thinks you're HOT!" and then ran back to her friends.

I glanced behind me to see the girl in the purple sweater. She was blushing madly and trying to hid her face . For one brief moment I considered flirting with her, but not feeling like tormenting her, I simply collected my things and headed out of the lunchroom at a leisurely pace.

"Only two and a half more hours to go Shady, you can make it." I said to myself as I headed to my locker… and stepped in some spilled yogurt. Damn.

[1] This was Starkiss's suggestion. Couldn't think of something mushy and gross.