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“Hey, Vicky.”
“Yeah, Brian?”
“Why is Damien glaring at you like uncooked chicken?”
Vicky turned from her monster mashed potatoes to stare into Damien’s piercing glare. His glare turned to shock and when Vicky continued to lock onto his eyes he scowled and went back to scarfing down his food like a wild boar.
“I don’t know.” Vicky turned back to Brian with a new puzzled expression.
“Did you do anything to make him angry?” Oz asked, picking at the peas fort his little void blobs constructed. He can’t eat due to his mouth not existing but his creativity sure gets a boost from all the scaled food models he’s made.
“I don't think so, maybe…” Vicky felt the literal cogs in her brain clink with vigor trying to bring up a memory that involved Damien, herself, anger, and any sort of implication of vengeance. A lot of things popped up but not all together and not in these past few weeks.
“No need to think so hard Vick, anything can set that matchstick off.” Amira clicked her tongue.
“And I doubt you had anything to do with it unless he finally sees how angelic you are and comes at you for unholy retribution.”
Amira let out a laugh and spat some of her chips out which would have been fine if not for her saliva being flammable, Gasoline Chips having the perfect spark, and Oz’s peas fort to also be flammable. The bloblings ran to action with drops of 666-up as their extinguisher.
“I don't know Amira, something in my skin crawls when he starts glaring like that.” Brian shivered as if a cold wind climbed up his spine.
“Take a bath Brian, you have roaches again.” Amira plucked a large roach from the collar of Brian's jacket and torched it without a thought.
“Hey, Mr. Walter was raising a family in my pelvis.” Brian watched Amira drop the roasted cockroach onto the floor and casually leaned her foot on it. “Who’s gonna feed them now?”
Amira blew a fiery razzberry at Brian while he decided to flip two of his favorite fingers at her. Those were the only body parts he seemed to keep intact and pest-free.
Vicky continued to ponder about Damien’s glare. She’d rather stay on his better side - - and considering Damien only had his reckless and violent side Vicky actively chose recklessness - - especially when Damien was always a breath away from burning down the whole school.
As a Frankenstein-esque creation herself, Vicky was well versed in the dangers of fire. And the importance of not touching it.
But what could she have done to offend Damien? He’s never been bothered by her before.
Vicky knows she passes notes to him in biology and literature with like shitty puns, and some simplified lessons about the work but she does that for Scott, Polly, and Miranda too. She thought that he liked them too. Maybe she was being too assuming, dumb cog brain always making quick decisions without much thought.
Or maybe at play rehearsal when Vicky asked Damien if he could help her tie up her hair for the knights helmet. Her static was causing way too much frizz that day stiffening up the strands.
Vicky thought hot hands could melt the stiffness. She had found out that he had made the most beautiful bun a monster could make. After rehearsal Vicky kept that style up for a week. It was probably dumb see it for five days straight. He probably thought Vicky was lame for wearing it so long.
Feeling disheartened, Vicky rose out of her chair.
“You okay, Vicky?” Brian asked.
“Yeah,” It’s not convincing but Vicky did not like bringing people down, with a slow breath she answered “I just wanted to go up to the Library, Mr. Taur said he got new books on historical cannibalism.”
“Okay, have fun, nerd.”
Vicky giggled. Brian may not have the most inflected voice but he knew how to make Vicky smile since spooky middle school.
Vicky made it halfway to the Library when she smelled burning pork and laundry. She felt unfamiliar heat and mostly by instinct, she started patting out the fire that engulfed the left cuff of her jeans.
“Amira c’mon! You bought me these jeans.” Vicky turned her head back only to see Damien being pulled by the buttons on his jacket by Liam who was in a locker trying to pull Damien into the locker with him. And Vera almost about to kick Damien into the locker with Liam. All of them make eye contact with Vicky.
“Do you guys… need any… help?” A default phrase in her vernacular but it has proved to provide the most direct answers.
Vera lit up. “Absolutely!”
She walked up to Vicky and blocked her view of Liam and Damien. “Can you pretend not to have seen all that and continue going to the Library like we weren't here.” her fangs were threatening but one of her snakes wink at Vicky so mixed signals begin to clutter her mind.
“Wait, how did you know I was going to the Library?” A coherent thought launched from her mouth before Vicky has any thought to filter herself.
“Becaussssssss…” Vera started to nervously hiss, her tongue flitting out of her mouth like a noise maker. Her eyes glanced to Damien as he tried to harder to shove Liam into the locker.
“You... are a... nerd.”
“I…” Vicky began but thought against it. “Yes. I am a nerd. I will go to the Library.” her bolts sparked at her nervousness as she power walked past Vera.
“SCHVICKY WAIT!”
Liam’s muffled cry caused Vicky to turn on her heel. She never ignored a cry for help, even when it was from douchebags or mood killers. Liam happened to be both, but only on bad days, mediocre days, and days he described as a melancholy reminder of the mundane woes society has succumb to - - which is everyday.
“Uhm…” Vicky watched as Damien locked his glare onto her. Vera had already begun to bail the scene, her heels clicking quieter as she moved away.
“Is Liam there for a reason?”
“Yes.” Damien said with assured vigor. His glare was still piercing even as Liam flailed his lanky arms out of the locker yelling NO through his nose.
“Liam is a geek.”
Vicky opened her mouth to reply but all that came out were variations of “what” “oh” and “okay”.
“Can you, explain that to me in better detail?” Vicky finally asked.
“I’m the school bad boy, I stuff losers into lockers.” Damien shrugged as if the answer was obvious.
Vicky blinked, her cogs clinked in the silent hallway.
She understood the logic coming from Damien’s statement but it didn't really justify shoving Liam into the locker. Then an audible switch clicked behind Vicky's eyes and her fluorescent light bulb gleamed through her pupils.
“I’m a nerd.” She stated.
“Wh-what?” Damien seemed to panic for a second.
“According to bad boy rules,” Vicky began with a brighter attitude “The bad boyee, which is you, will stuff geeks, losers, lamoids, dorks, and nerds into lockers. I am like four of those things so I think I outrank Liam on who gets to be stuffed into that locker.”
Vicky watched Damien process her words and hoped spending all that time in class helped smarten her up, at least a +2 boost.
“You're… right.” Damien said loosening his arms so Liam would fall out of the locker.
“Vicky your martyrdom will not go unnoticed, I will reblog all your selfies with hearts and shade emojis. I promise.” Liam ran off, his phone in hand and searching for @blueberryscary on Mumblr .
Vicky watched Liam turn a corner before switching her attention back to Damien. He stared at her sort of the same way he stared during lunch. Vicky gave him a small smile and shrug and then lifted her arms, ready to be lifted into the locker.
Damien's hands felt like they were gonna singe Vicky’s waist as he gripped onto her. Vicky’s flats no longer touched the ground and she watched as Damien dragged his feet to the vacant locker.
Vicky knew she wasn't too heavy, her internal components weren't always human-like and some were replaced with funny gears or plastic toys. She'd like to say her weight rested between 90 to 95 lbs depending if she forgot to pack her digestive system the night before.
Amira liked to throw her into the air when she was happy and Vicky was the only one who didn't break Brian's arms off when he gave her piggyback rides. So watching Damien lift her up over his head like he was examining some glass ornament in the sun didn't particularly surprise her.
“Why are you so light?” His face contorted from awe to confusion. “Miranda’s smaller than you and she still weighs like net full of tuna.”
Instead of boring him with the details Vicky decided to joke around.
“Why are you so strong?” She giggled ignoring how his fingers were searing past the threads of her sweater.
“Violence.” Damien was absolutely sure.
“Oh. Right.” Vicky closed her mouth and glanced at the direction of the locker hoping he'd much rather stuff her into the compact space instead of having this weird conversation.
Damien got the hint and squeezed Vicky into the locker. It wasn't comfortable, although Vicky didn't have Liam’s lanky features, her shoulders were a little too wide to rest comfortably in the space and her neck craned against the top shelf. Her knees jutted out of the locker so it couldn't be closed properly.
“Dammit, you can't fit either!” Damien grumbled as he tried to bend her arms back into the space behind Vicky.
Damien’s frustration was half cute, incredibly scary but cute. It was like this was his version of solving a rubix cube, a violent, r-rated rubix cube.
“Fuck!” Damien screamed, pulling back his arm to scratch his hair in frustration. However, in doing so his hand was now carrying Vicky’s, now incredibly detached arm. Forearm, bicep, deltoid, even the shoulder joint.
“Oh shit.” Damien held her arm in his hand. The stitches connecting the forearm and tricep were still connected but her shoulder had been completely ripped off.
“I guess I better get some new patches and thread.” Vicky sighed, her cheek leaning on the locker wall.
“Wait!” Vicky realized without her arm her body can fit better into the locker. “Quick, Damien! Rip off my other arm!”
He gripped Vicky's exposed elbow and pulled with no second thought. Both her arms were now in both of Damien’s arms and as confused as Damien looked Vicky cheered in success.
“Look! I fit!” Vicky's back could now touch the wall of the locker, her shoulders no longer holding her back.
Damien’s face lit up at the sight and he dropped her arms behind her torso. They flopped a little before holding themselves straight up to align with the locker.
“What about you're head and knees?” Damien pointed out.
“Oh uhm…” Vicky thought for a bit. “Rip off my head.”
Like her arm Damien responded to her command without a single question. With her head off her body could stand its full height in the locker and her knees fit inside.
“Now just put me on the top shelf, I guess.”
Damien looked down at her face for a second more than she was comfortable with but then placed her on the top shelf.
Vicky smiled at her victory, although it was helping someone stuff her into a locker it felt like a great puzzle was solved.
“Look, I’m a nerd in a locker!” she giggled.
“A prick.”
“What?” Vicky stopped giggling to herself and looked at Damien.
“I was stuffing Liam into a locker ‘cause he was being a prick.” Damien rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with her.
Well that changes things. If Damien told her Liam was being mean she might have not offered herself off as a substitute. Maybe, probably, actually it wouldn’t but it sure would be a hell of a lot harder to give Damien a reason to stuff her into a locker instead.
“Why didn’t you say so?”
“Because…” Damien looked like he was heating up but not in his normal way, this was different.
Then the bell rang.
In a single flash Vicky watched Damien jolt in shock, slam the locker door, and stomp quickly away.Then Vicky heard chatter, footsteps, some conversation about Natalie trying some new diet that’ll keep her skin reptile smooth not amphibian smooth -- there’s a difference. And the day went on.
Vicky thought about calling out to someone but she didn’t really know how to explain why she was in a locker like this without feeling stupid. Then when Vicky thought she might stay there for the night she heard familiar voices.
“Alright, Scott. Are we getting close, do you need another sniff of the bag?”
“Woof Woof! I mean here! It’s here!” Vicky heard Scott and Amira close to the locker.
“Hey guys!” Vicky called out, hearing her friends rush up to her.
“I got this.” Oz said and Vicky heard some clicking before the door opened. She watched Oz’s little void blobs hop back onto him from the lock on the door.
Amira, Oz, Brian, and Scott stared bewildered at her, well not too much Scott, he was chewing on a bacon sandwich that he got as a treat.
Brian was the first to reach out, he lead Vicky’s body out of the locker by the back, her arms crawling on their fingers to follow. He got his emergency stapler gun out and grabbed Vicky’s head to reattach the neck to her torso.
“Will your spine be okay?” He asked.
“I can piece it back, what’s important is that I can still feel everything like it’s mine.”
“Gotcha.” Brian turned Vicky around methodically stapling the tear.
“So what ‘appened?” Amira lifted Vicky’s left arm examining the tear near the base of her shoulder.
“Damien was trying to stuff Liam into a locker and-”
“Stop.” Amira used her hand to make a stop sign pointing to Vicky’s face.
“You subbed in for Liam and Damien stuffed you in the locker instead.” Amira shifted her hips and quirked her lips knowing full well she was right.
“You’re moral standing is gonna get you killed.” Amira said and then looked at the detached arm in her hand. “Or you know, more mutilated than usual.”
“Haha, yeah. Sorry about that.”
“This is confusing.” Scott said as he finished his sandwich.
“Would you like me to explain it to you again, Scott?” Oz inquired.
“No no, I already know Vicky was missing. But now Vicky is here so she is not missing. I understand that. ” Scott explained. “But I don’t understand why Damien would do something mean to Vicky.”
“He’s...Damien LaVey?” Amira tried.
“Yeah! And Damien LaVey likes Vicky!”
A chorus of “what?” vibrated the empty hallway.
“Yeah, you make nice jokes in Reading Class, teach us hard lessons in Body Class, and you wore the nice hairstyle he made for a week.” Vicky had a small urge to correct Scott that those classes were called Ancient Literature and Interspecies Biology. But that was greatly outweighed with the acknowledgement that Damien likes her.
“Seriously?” Amira asked. “Stuffing someone you like in a locker and then leaving them there all day is how he shows he likes someone.”
“Oh well that’s because...because he…” Scott started scratching behind his ear mumbling as to why acts of violence was equal to amiability.
Brian was just about done stapling her last arm to her shoulder and Vicky said a grateful thank you.
Amira continued to watch Scott try to process his idea until Oz talked him out of it.
“At least you know Damien doesn’t hate you.” She winked at Vicky and Vicky had to agree.
After stitching herself up properly Vicky decided to check Mumblr and lo and behold Liam had reblogged all her selfies and some undead cat videos with hearts and shade emojis.
As Vicky scrolled through her selfie tag looking at each note she saw a comment by a user called @hellfirestarter say:
“nice hair”
Nonchalant as it was, the selfie was the one with Damien’s bun.
Vicky screenshot it.