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It’s Friday afternoon. You know what most people do on a Friday afternoon? Party! Relax! What am I doing? I’m at school, voluntarily. Because a group of 7th graders are somehow dictating my free time and one of them goes to school 45 minutes away. Jesus Christ my life sucks ass .
“Where the hell is Ethan?” Damiano sneers and the other two sigh, rolling their eyes at him.
“Relax, he’s probably just a little late.” Thomas calls out from the couch.
“Ethan usually loses his shit if he’s five minutes late. We’re twenty minutes and he hasn’t said anything.”
“Maybe he had to go home sick.” Thomas suggests but something is off. They know Ethan has an unusual attachment to routine and schedule. At first it annoyed Damiano but over the past year he grew to respect it, and at least it always meant you could depend on Ethan. If there’s even a slither of possibility he’ll be late, he’ll warn people. They all keep scrolling through their phones when Thomas seems to find something. “Huh.”
“What?” Damiano and Vic say in unison. Thomas looks confused and looks towards the eldest.
“Since when did you get Instagram?” The guitarist asks Damiano and he looks up from his phone.
“I didn’t.” He shrugs and tries to brush it off but the creepy feeling is growing.
“Then who’s?” Thomas’ face suddenly goes pale as he gasps. “Holy shit!”
“What?” Damiano and Victoria ask again and Thomas just hands the phone. Victoria’s eyes start to water though it takes Damiano a second longer to realize why. The first thing he notices is it’s a livestream of some guys from the basketball team beating up some poor kid. Jesus Christ, that’s pathetic. The next thing he noticed was that the kid had really long black hair and a very familiar hoodie. “Those bastards.” Damiano hisses and sprints with the footage in his hand.
When they finally arrive in the alleyway behind the big generator, Damiano doesn’t wait a second before ripping the boy off of Ethan. “What the fuck!” He roars and they scoff at him? What about this shit is fucking funny! You sick psychotic motherfucker.
“Oh come on, do not tell me you’re actually going to protect this r” Damiano’s fists are flying as soon as he hears the start of the word. All he sees is pure red rage. I’ll kill you! I’ll actually fucking kill you! How the fuck do to think this shit is okay?
It isn’t until Vic screams out Damiano’s name that he stops and the fuckwits scurry off with their bloody noses. He thinks he might puke when he forces himself to look over at their friend frozen on the ground. Ethan is curled up like one of those weird animals that has a shell all over its body, armadillo or something like that. His favorite jumper is now covered in blood and dirt. His eyes are clenched tight, an attempt to block out everything. Damiano carefully kneels down next to Ethan and tries to calm himself before speaking.
“Ethan, it's Damiano. Can you talk?” Ethan shakes his head, which is unsurprising. He had explained that sometimes he feels too overheated to speak and this is definitely overwhelming. “Thomas, grab the headphones out of his bag.” Thomas reaches down to get the headphones but pulls out a pair of headphones that have been snapped in half. Of course, they kicked the shit out of his stuff as well. “Let me guess, no glasses either?” Thomas nods and Damiano sighs. “Okay Ethan, here's what we’re going to do. Vic will go get the nurse, Thomas is going to text your brother and that way if you need to go to a doctor, your family can go with you.”
Everything sort of happens at once. The nurse comes rushing out, Ethan’s family come storming in to try and get answers as to what happened. An ambulance pulls up to the school gates whilst Damiano is stuck inside explaining everything to the principal and by the time they’re done, Vic and Thomas have already gone home. His parents drive him home in dead silence. They’re not mad, not after the principal explained the situation, but you can’t really congratulate your kid for breaking someone’s nose, even if he is a dickhead.
He just sits in his room. What else is he meant to do after that? The worst part is people thought he’d actually be okay with that. He had been an asshole to Ethan at the start, don’t think I’m that stuck up my own ass to realise , but never would he have been okay with this fucked up idea. It’s actually criminal! He decides to go on his phone because what else is there to do? It’s not like I have the energy to do anything that requires brain cells. Messages from Vic and Thomas in their group chat have piled up
🎤🎸👸🏼
Maso: Yo Dami, are you in trouble or something?
Principessa: Does anyone know how Ethan is?
Maso: No but there was an ambulance
Principessa: An ambulance?
Maso: That’s good right? They got him to a room full of doctors
Principessa: Do we know if those assholes got caught?
Principessa: I only recognised one of them
Maso: They’re in your year, right @Dami?
Principessa: Dami you better have given their names!
Maso: Vic, calm down.
Principessa: No! Our friend got beat to a pulp, I want them to rot in hell!
Damiano takes a deep breath before replying.
Me: Yes, I explained everything I know to the principal.
Principessa: Good.
Principessa: Have you heard anything about Ethan?
Maso: One of his brothers is on the basketball team right?
OH YEAH! He remembers and checks his personal messages. Instantly he spots his name and opens a lengthy text.
Hey, I know we don’t really talk but I need to say thank you. Thanks for letting me know about everything. I don’t know how bad the hospital would be if my mum hadn’t been allowed in the ambulance with him. He’s with doctors now and they haven’t told me more than that, they’re talking with our parents atm. Seriously, thank you. I know those other guys used to be your mates so I was a little worried for Ethan at first, but you’re the first person to stand up for him other than his family. I owe you for today dude. Thank you.
It felt wrong that so many people were grateful for him. Ethan’s brother, the principal, even his parents seemed grateful that Damiano chose to stand up for someone. Had he seriously been that absorbed in his own circle until these new friends realized how much of an asshole he’s regarded as. Fuck, that changes from now. He decides. Under no fucking way am i ever going to be associated with those dumbasses ever again.
He opens up his laptop and starts trying to find some stuff online.
Autism 101, you know, how not to be a complete dick to Ethan…
I love Ethan and I definitely was an ass at first so I get why he hasn’t said anything. But come on, the sensory stuff, the eye contact issues and the weird interests… He’s autistic, i can piece that together from one stupid 8th grade pysch class.
He searches through web page after web page. Sorting past the whackass ‘autism mama’ pages, landed on some sickening ‘we can fix them’ pages and finally found some instagram accounts that looked like they could have some information. He lands on some recommended gifts page and finds exactly what he’s been looking for.
“Dinner!” His mum calls out from down the hall and he makes his way to the table. He sits down excitedly at the smell of lasagna and begins to eat before asking his request in between bites.
“Mum, can I have 30 Euros?”
“No!” “You just broke a kid’s nose” “Bro!” His family call out from the dinner table and Damiano slumps into his seat before defending his honor.
“Ok I would like to remind everyone here that I broke his nose because he impersonated me online and beat the shit out of my friend.” His mum makes a remark about better language but he brushes it off, staying focused on the goal. “And it’s not for me. They broke some of Ethan’s stuff. I want to replace one of the items, he had just saved up enough money last week.” The table goes silent and his mum grabs her wallet, handing him a surprisingly amount more than what he’d asked for. His dad surprises him again when he hands him another 20. “Only for the present okay?” Damiano nods and resumes finishing off his lasagna.
Breaking a bully’s nose is tiring work .
They didn't hear anything for the whole week and by the next Friday afternoon, even Damiano’s stressed out about it. If Ethan hadn’t needed immediate help, he probably would have murdered those bastards. Damiano is sitting with Thomas and Vic during lunch time and spots Ethan’s older sibling who starts to approach them. “Is Ethan okay?” Victoria immediately asks the question they’re all wanting to answer. Damiano’s pretty sure she’s cried at least three times about everything, he knows how empathetic she can get.
“Some bruises and some cracked ribs but nothing serious.” Oh no that doesn’t sound SeRiOuS at all! Clearly he’s not the only one thinking that because Thomas nearly chokes on water.
“I’m sorry, did you say cracked RIBS?” Thomas’ jaw is left wide open when Ethan’s brother gives them a nod.
“They can heal on their own. He just needs some rest.” Vic lets out a sigh of relief when they hear an explanation but still fiddles with the end of her sleeves.
“Is it too early to visit him?” Victoria asks. “We wouldn’t be loud or anything, we just want Ethan to know we’re all here for him.”
“I’ve got to ask but I think that might be what he needs. But Sunday would probably be better, then he can be prepared.”
They all arrive at Ethan’s house at the same time and they all realize they’ve never actually been to Ethan’s house. It’s just always been easier to go to Damiano’s or Thomas’ because they live the closest to their school. The house is a very ‘Ethan’ house in a way. There’s pets running around and kids playing in the backyard, Ethan’s mum is cooking in the kitchen.
Ethan’s room is at the end of the hallway. The door has one of those wooden letters for his initials which ironically spell out “E.T.” Victoria carefully pokes her head through the doorway to see if Ethan’s awake. “Hey, can I come in with Thomas and Dami?” He must nod because Victoria opens the door and they all enter. Again, nothing about the room is surprising. Posters of various bands cover his wall, his desk is a mess with homework sheets and books sprawled across every inch and got all his little sensory things he carries around by his bedside table. They take a seat on the rug beside Ethan’s bed and Damiano decides to break the awkward silence
“Hey.” Honestly, he starts off with one word to make sure talking is okay. Sometimes they’d just text each other in the same room because Ethan would get really bad headaches. He doesn’t seem to be irritated by the noise but he pulls out his phone, too exhausted to talk.
Ethan writes on his phone:
Is your hand okay
It takes Damiano a second to actually register what he’s asking. Am I? How do you get beaten to a pulp and immediately ask if I'm okay? Ethan’s eyes seem to widen with worry when he doesn’t answer so Damiano quickly stops his mind from wandering and responds calmly.
“Yes, my hand is fine. I’m okay.” Damiano watches the moment of relief being mixed more and more with a look of embarrassment. He shouldn’t be but Damiano could understand why he’d be a little awkward with everything that had gone down. Even if it wasn’t me, Ethan was tricked into thinking it was his friends who would want to hurt him. That would mess with anybody’s head. “Look, if it’s okay, we are just going to stay here with you. And if you want to talk or need anything, we’ll be right here. What they did, that was fucked up and I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Ethan writes again:
I thought it was you.
A sharp pain stabs Damiano right in the chest. He understands why Ethan thought it was him but it still hurts. “It was a fake account. I’m sorry I didn’t notice anything.”
I thought they were your friends
There’s a moment of deadly silence before Damiano finds the right way to answer, with the honest truth, like he deserves. “I haven’t been friends with them for a while. And I’ll never be friends with them again after what they did to you. You guys are my friends, all of you guys are good friends.”
It’s the truth, even if he hadn’t realized it until all this happened. He hadn’t played basketball this year and he had spent more and more time with the band, his friends changed without any second thought or major complaint. And he’s honestly relieved because he doesn't know how he’d live with himself if he was one of the dumbasses who planned this.
“Hey you look exhausted, why don’t we all get some rest and talk after.” Vic suggests and Damiano agrees with her. Ethan doesn’t really react but Damiano notices he keeps his eyes on a little whale statue by his bed. He looks at it in detail and notes the small holes on the top. Ohh.
“Nightlight right?” Ethan’s face flushes red and Damiano whispers something to try and cheer him up. “Hey, don't be embarrassed. I was so scared of heights that I wouldn’t sleep without some sort of pillow wall or barrier to stop me from falling out of bed until I was 11.” It rallies a slight flicker of a smile on the corners of his mouth. I’ll take whatever I can get. “Let’s turn it on.” When it starts up, I won’t lie, I'm impressed. It’s proper constellation projections with some white noise and the names appearing underneath each major cluster.
“Bro this is actually pretty fucking cool.” He admires the attention to detail and he looks over to see a small smile on Ethan’s face. They all lay down, using their jumpers and bags as headrest. Ethan’s quickly fallen to sleep with a peaceful look splashed across his face.
About an hour later, Damiano can feel his phone buzzing in his pocket and rubs his eyes back to life. His dad is waiting outside to drive the three of them home and he sighs before Vic reminds him that Ethan finally looks like he’s getting some proper rest. “Shit. we’ve got to go.”
“Leave a note, he needs the rest.” Victoria suggests and they quietly search for some paper and locate some sticky notes on his desk. They each steal a pen and write a note. Damiano pulls the gift out of his backpack.
Had to go home but I'm free to talk or just hang out whenever you want. And I found these, hope they’re the right ones.
He sticks the note on top of the new pair of noise canceling headphones and leaves him be.
The next Friday, the three of them race straight down from their classes at lightning speed. He won’t admit it to the others but he lets out a sigh of relief when Ethan is already setting up the drum kit with his new earmuffs. The drummer looks up and smiles, “Ciao.”
You know what, I’m okay with a group of 7th graders dictating my Friday afternoons.