Work Text:
Cameron stood, staring down Cindy. How dare she give her sympathies regarding his dad. She had never cared before, so why did she now? She was up to something.
That’s when he remembered something. He recalled seeing Artemis and Isaac around town in the past few days. Since when were those two friends? Something wasn’t adding up.
Then, there was Yolanda’s reaction in the hallway. She all but dragged Courtney into the classroom. He had interacted with Yolanda a lot over the years, and she had never shied away from him then. So, what had changed?
Seeing Cindy stare at him with such anger and hatred for even standing up to her should’ve made his skin crawl, made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. However, it didn’t. He stood by what he had said. She had stood in the front of their fourth-grade class and told everyone she had hated the woman who had given birth to her. Who did that?
If he could go back in time and spend more time with his own mother, he would definitely take it. Perhaps she could’ve helped him deal with his feelings for Courtney. His father had done his best, but his mom had always had a way with words in ways his dad hadn’t.
There was no way he could go to his grandparents. He got the sneaking suspicion that they didn’t like Courtney though he couldn’t put his finger on why. They had adored Courtney’s mother at the dinner party.
Though, since his dad’s death, they’d acted as if nothing was wrong like his father was still away on a business trip.
Cameron could feel the tension with Cindy continuing to build like one of them was going to attack the other. He had always wanted to tell her to her face that she was a horrible person, and he’d finally gotten the chance. He was almost sure there was going to be a fight if Paul hadn’t walked in when he had.
Oh, yes. Paul. One of the few people who understood his love of art. He saw potential when no other teacher had.
What Cameron had always admired about him was he had a way with words and could see inner conflict for what it was. Paul had seen him struggling to form words around Courtney and had encouraged him to use his art to express to her how he felt. While part of him was grateful for the advice, part of him dreaded it. What if she rejected the gesture? No. He couldn’t think that way.
There was something between them that he couldn’t shake. He could feel it and she could too. He just hoped Paul’s advice was going to work. It would work, and hopefully, something would come from it.
As he headed back to the mural, Cameron kept replaying his confrontation with Cindy in his mind. She had never shown any form of interest in him, Artemis or Isaac before. She considered them all to be “losers”. So, why the sudden interest? Also, when did she even get back into town? From what he’d heard, her parents had gone MIA a while ago, and so had she.
All his life Cameron had been observant. He had seen Cindy bully the other kids, and for what gain? He found keeping to himself had worked wonders for him. However, when it came to Cindy, he had grown tired of having to deal with her crap. When she had been at school, she had ruled it like some tyrannical leader from the middle ages who had gone mad with power.
When he thought it wouldn’t be able to get any worse, he had heard about someone pulling Cindy down to size for slut-shaming Yolanda. He hadn’t been able to believe it at first. Then, it happened again, and it seemed like a pattern. From his knowledge, there had been a new enrollment in years. Blue Valley was a sleepy little town where nothing new ever happened. It hadn’t been until he saw a blonde-haired girl lie to Joey Zarick about his card trick did he realise things were slowly changing.
Then, the same girl put two-and-two together that he was the one who had painted Yolanda’s locker. As time had gone on, the girl, Courtney, had stood up to Cindy again and again, and it was becoming apparent that Blue Valley’s High’s Queen Bee wasn’t enjoying it.
Courtney was unlike anyone else he’d ever met. She didn’t sit back and do nothing. He’d seen how she was always standing up for her friends. While Yolanda and Beth were no brainers, however, Rick Harris was something else. Cameron didn’t understand why someone like Courtney would be friends with the town delinquent.
However, what Cameron had observed was how respectful Rick was towards the girls. That surprised him. The guy had never respected anyone before this. From what he was aware, Rick snuck out of school and drunk. Sounded like his deadbeat dad. Though, Matt Harris was a misogynistic narcissist who thought everyone was against him. That wasn’t the type of person Rick was.
Cameron had seen how Rick had fallen back behind the girls just before Homecoming. In all honestly, it surprised him at just how chivalrous the whole thing had been. Courtney had gone from having no friends to three she could heavily rely on in quick succession. What had always struck him as odd was that the bullies often saw Rick as a bully. Or at least, this is how Cameron chose to see it. Though, seeing Harris around Courtney made him think twice in the way he saw the guy. Though he still didn’t like him and the feeling apparently was mutual.
As for Beth, well, Cameron had nothing horrible to say about her. He didn’t have anything negative to say about Yolanda either, but it appeared that Beth seemed to be the one who kept Rick in check. Yolanda was the one Courtney went to for advice. It also appeared that Yolanda was the one trying to keep Courtney away from him. Again, why would she do this? What had he done that was so bad?
While he continued working, Cameron couldn’t help but ponder why Yolanda was so hellbent on keeping Courtney away from him. It could’ve been anything, but he hoped it had nothing to do with him specifically.
With a sigh, he stopped painting. He took a step back to admire his work. He hoped that he had done his dad some justice in his mural. He knew that whatever he did, his father would’ve been proud of him regardless. Part of him wanted to hug his dad one last time, but that wasn’t possible.