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Ben sulked in the hard plastic chair. His green beanie held his blond hair out of his eyes, and, of course, perfectly complemented his outfit of a green tee, black vest, and black jeans. He couldn't believe this. Suspension! And now he was surrounded by these... peasants.
Jeffery Woods was sprawled in his chair, a comfortable look on his face. His greasy black hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail. He wore torn black skinny jeans and a white hoodie with mysterious stains on it. His ridiculously dark eyelashes perfectly framed his gorgeous blue eyes... wait, what?
Toby Rogers looked awkward and confused, shifting, zoning out, and constantly checking his phone. His brown hair seemed to stick straight out and his forrest green eyes flitted anxiously around the room, never stopping in one place for long. He was clearly not used to the other boys, which made sense, as Ben and Jeff were seniors and Helen was a junior, but he was still a freshman.
Speaking of Helen, he was sitting in his seat, drawing on a sketchpad, electric blue eyes flitting up occasionally, but too quickly for Ben to pinpoint the target. His soft black hair fell in his face, held back by the blue headphones he wore. He wore a simple white tee under a bright blue suit jacket, along with skinny jeans and black converse high-tops.
The four boys were sitting in the small room off of the office. They were supposed to be working, but honestly, no one cared what they did. About a half-hour in, Jeff heaved a sigh and completely flipped upside down, so that his long, skinny legs hooked over the back of the chair, and his ponytail brushed the ground. His arms reached up and out, fingers wiggling in Ben's direction.
"Hey, Your Highness, what'd you do to get in? Whatcha payin time fo'?" His voice got rougher at the end, clearly mocking some movie. He raised a dark eyebrow and smirked slightly.
Ben sighed loudly. "I don't have to tell you. Besides, I shouldn't be in here anyway." He looked down at the other boy. "And you?"
Jeff smirked again. "I may or may not've punched a kid three or four times." He turned to the other two. "Howza 'bout you?"
Toby jerked a shoulder up to his ear. "Cussed at a t-teacher." He must've mistaken Jeff's impressed face for one a good deal less flattering because he quickly explained. "Sh-she, uh, called me stupid. And retarded. So I called her a b-bitchy, shitty, fuck up. And instead of just giving me detention, she gave me suspension?"
Helen nodded, speaking up for the first time. "Yeah, I was there... it was pretty cool." He kept his eyes on the page as he continued speaking. "Before you ask, I allegedly stole a watch from a classmate."
Jeff nodded, a broad grin on his face. "Well aren't we a buncha delinquents? Rebels, deviants-"
"-kids?" Ben sat back. "Wow. So dangerous." He flicked some blond hair from his leaf-green eyes.
Jeff shrugged and flipped upright again, standing up and stretching. He walked around the room, and it was perfectly silent for the next thirty minutes besides the pale boy's chuckles as he took in the motivational posters around the room.
Finally, he returned to the group and flopped dramatically in his seat, throwing his legs up and onto Ben's lap. Ben scowled, pushing the grubby hiking boots onto the floor.
Jeff sighed and threw his head back, his thick black hair following the motion. "Okay, let's talk. Hi, I'm Jeff, and my favorite video game is... probably Amnesia: The Dark Decent."
Toby sat up slightly. "Um, I'm Toby, and I like Until Dawn. Th-the one in the woods? Yeah."
Helen cracked his neck. "I'm Helen. I like Undertale. Fight me." He finally set down the drawing pad, but face down, so no one could see.
Toby raised a hand slightly. "If you're a guy, why's your name Helen?" His eyes widened. "Oh no, was that rude? Oh shit, I'm sorry!"
Helen shrugged, a tiny smile on his face. "My parents really wanted a girl. When I was born, they already had a huge list of baby girl names. They kinda just went with it."
Jeff laughed. "And thought my parents were shit. I mean who the fuck names their sons Jeffery and Liu?" He looked at Ben. "And you, princess? What's your name, what's your game?"
"…I'm Ben and... I've never actually played video games..." Ben said, suddenly self-conscience. His parents thought video games were for poor people. He was never allowed to play those.
Jeff blinked at him. "Then what the fuck do you do on family nights? Eat pizza with your pinkies up and watch Hallmark movies?"
"Actually, we sit at the table like civilised people and eat real food. I've never had pizza in my life." Ben said, sniffing slightly.
Toby made a squeaking noise. "N-never had pizza?! I… wait, have you ever had a Pop-tart!? Homemade cookies!? What about," His pupils dilated in horror. "What about toaster waffles?"
Ben shook his head slowly. "Homemade cookies? We get those at the bakery uptown. Why would you actually want to make them yourself?"
Helen leaned forward. "Because it reminds you of home. Of being four and watching your mom pull out a tray of cookies and telling you to let them cool first. Of the smell of burnt cookies when your dad tries to surprise your mom for their anniversary. Of a cool glass of milk and dumb dad jokes and knowing that everything will be okay." He sighed. "Homemade cookies are probably the best thing in the world."
Ben shrugged, attempting to be nonchalant. "Well, any ways. Jeff, I hardly think you can judge my eating habits. When's the last time you ate three meals in one day?"
Jeff rolled his eyes. "Fine. You got me, my family lives off of Chinese takout and pizza."
Toby was staring down at the floor. "You guys're both p-pretty lucky. I don't usually get pizza. Or dinner. Or breakfast. I-I mean, I used to, but then..." He couphed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Then... what? What happened?" Jeff asked into the silence. His eyes were wide, peircing.
Toby shrugged again, jerking his shoulder up to his ear. "M-my, uh, dad moved b-back in. He, uh, he says that me and my sister, uh, Lyra, we d-don't deserve food, so w-we don't eat much… he'd probably hit us if we tried to sneak food, and I w-wouldn't feel it, 'cause, uh, I've got nervous damage or something, but Lyra would, so... yeah. And she gets food from her friends at school, but my friends, uh, Tim and Brian, have different lunch shifts and Lyra is a senior and usually eats off-grounds, so I don't get lunch, usually, unless I manage to sneak some toaster waffles. I like those."
He glanced up, seemingly realizing that the others were silent. His eyes blew wide and he seemed to realize what he had said. "I'm not complaining, my dad's great, really, he just, uh… please don't tell him I said that? He'd kill me. Literally..."
Helen flew out of his seat, causing Toby to slam himself back in his chair. The tall black haired boy kept moving, until he was kneeling by the brunette's chair. He flung his arms around Toby, who froze, then broke down, sobbing in Helen's arms.
Ben didn't know what to do. His parents had always cared for him, in their own cold, distant way. He couldn't imagine what the younger was going through.
Jeff quietly spoke. "My parents don't care about me and my brother. Nothing too bad, and Liu and don't really talk about it, but they're usually high, and they... they don't even have jobs. Liu couldn't go to college, and he has to stay home to keep them from getting hurt, so I have to juggle three jobs. I punched that kid cause he was trash talking my bro, who I fucking hate most of the time, but he's really the only family I have."
Ben watched as he slumped dejectedly in his seat. Not knowing why, he scooted over to put an arm around him. Helen started speaking, his calm, deep voice cutting through the sadness.
"When I was four, I was diagnosed with a rare mental disease that cuts down my ability to socialise with people. I can understand emotion, and I can tell when other people are emotional, but beyond that, I can't feel much emotion myself." He shrugged. "I'm also depressed and suicidal too, I guess."
Toby, still crying, flung his arms around the taller boy. The four of them sat like that for a bit, tangled in each others' arms, in complete and total silence.
Suddenly, Toby spoke. "Hey, guys? It's lunchtime."
He leaned away from Helen, missing the disappointed look on the older boy's face. Ben let go of Jeff and stood, getting his packed luch. It was in a nice little metal box, on a tiny glass plate and silverware made of real silver.
He looked down at the pasta on his desk, then up at Toby, then back down at his food. Then he stood up and carried his food over to the skinny boy. He set the noodles and garlic bread down, along with the fork, then returned to his own seat with the soup.
Toby was staring down at the food, fresh tears on his face. Jeff smirked and nodded in Ben's direction, causing a strange butterfly feeling to erupt in his chest. Jeff stood up and walked over to Toby, putting down an apple and some milk, which were soon joined by Helen's breadsticks and carrots. Toby looked up, eyes and cheek shining and smiled at them. They smiled back.
"Hey, Benny," Jeff said, cutting through the silence. "You've never had pizza?"
"No?"
"Here. It's school food so, it's not that great, but... well, it's pizza."
"Fine...oh... oh my God, that's good."
"Now you know what you were missing out on?"
"S-step two, video games."
…"Fuck yeah."