Chapter Text
Griffin prov:
Today is a really ordinary, busy Wednesday, with children in the middle of the week complaining about how far away the weekend is, scolding their teachers and talking about their current, non-existent love lives. We are at the most ear-splitting time of the already noisy day, the lunch break, when you can't even hear your own voice amid the clatter of trays and cutlery, accompanied by loud giggles and chatter. Moving towards the centre of the dining room I sit down at a table that usually joins the din but is now unusually quiet, our group of friends, usually six but now five, are in a foul mood as one is missing, not that he is the voice of the group, on the contrary he is quiet and kind, smiling to himself at the antics of the others and when he speaks he makes sense, he is Finney Blake but he is now.....
-Finney has completely disappeared,‖ said a desperate Mexican boy, Robin Arellano, the second toughest guy in school after Vance Hopper, also a member of our little group of friends, and Billy Showalter, aka Paper Boy, and the brightest baseball star of all time, Bruce Yamada, and me, the little shit in the background, Griffin Stagg.
When Robin freaked out, well, let's not take this so deadly seriously Finney didn't disappear off the map and never missed a day of school, and today's busy Wednesday was no exception. However, three days ago he disappeared from our society Billy thinks he was abducted by aliens and his body is the only one left. Well, you could say that the paper boy is a complete idiot, but if you listen to this you might not think he's a complete idiot.
Well, it all started exactly a week ago Wednesday, if someone had told me that day that I was going to stalk a friend like a hawk and peep like a pervert I would have laughed, so let's get on with what happened.
We waited at the school gate for each other after the last class of the day, me and Bruce were the first ones out, I snuck out of math, the baseball star was sent to the teachers office to turn in papers in the last ten minutes, then he didn't have to go back in, so we waited for the new arrivals, Vance and Robin came out the door pushing each other.
We were just waiting for Billy and Finney from history class. I have to say, I wasn't surprised that only the dumbass came out the door.
-Hey Billy, what's up with Finn?- the brunette asked, although the answer was obvious.
-"It's the usual Mr. Shawal," he replied, bored.
'It's worth knowing that about two months ago Mr Albert Shaw became the new history teacher at the school.He's crazy and cool and almost always gives you A's, for example if you write a paper on a historical person or event but not exactly according to the textbook he says "well, it's possible we weren't there to see who built the pyramids and most of the stuff in the textbook is just conjecture".
His attitude quickly made him a favourite with the students. The first time he invited Finney to talk to him after class was when they were discussing Greek mythology, and the space enthusiast was excited to talk to him, saying that Mr Shaw knew a lot about the history of space exploration and liked to talk about it because he had learned a lot of new things about who built the first rockets and what books to read on the subject. In any case, I was glad that he was no longer spouting his newfound facts at us, with all due respect to NASA, and I love Finney, but my ears were watering when he started talking about it, God only knows how he can talk about it so much.
On this day it was almost an eternal reality that the maniacal boy would come out when he finally appeared out of breath and confused, with Liam in hot pursuit, suddenly grabbing his wrist and turning him towards himself.
I just watched the action, which is always me, however Robin and Vance immediately jumped up to "rush to his defense" and headed towards the arguing guys. However, there was no need to intervene as Finney yanked his hand out of his stalker's grip and punched him in the face. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that our chins hit the floor as Robin and Vance literally stood there like in that statue play, frozen mid-step, Bruce's eyes widened to the largest they'd ever seen, and Billy literally fell to his knees, mouth agape. I was glad I didn't have a mirror near me, because I must have looked fucking stupid.
It was the first time Finn had ever hit back, and it was like jumping off a crazy high cliff into a lake, but I didn't jump or splash or anything, I just fell like a corpse. When your naked body hits the water so very painfully.
Our upset son didn't even give us time to recover. Neither we nor the now red-faced boy when he stormed off. Bruce was the first to have the presence of mind to go after him, and then we ran after him. We were excited, and too enthralled to ask what the idiot was doing, so we showered him with praise for the slap and for standing up for himself. Maybe we didn't pay too much attention to him at the time, because that idiot Liam and his three idiots always find something to harass Finney and others with.
Then the space boy spent all day Thursday looking for someone with his eyes and kept squirming restlessly as Robin made his voice and asked him the usual "Hey Finn what's happening?" but the dirty blonde just shook him off with the usual "you know, just carry on...I guess" which was so reassuring when you hear that, you think everything is fine, but it wasn't.
Finney was talking to Liam in the hallway at the end of fourth period that day, head down, and Vance pointed him out as we were hanging out in the hallway.
The Mexican's eyes were rolling bloodshot from the interaction, wondering what the asshole was doing with his lover again, Oh yeah, I should mention that these two idiots love each other, and apparently they're the only ones who don't want to admit it to each other, so we can stare at the longing stares and hopeless sighs all day, which is getting a little nerve-wracking if you ask me.
-I think Finney is apologising- Bruce replied to the question hanging in the air.
-We keep forgetting that Liam is the son of the Headmaster's new girlfriend, you can't just kick his arse any more- said Billy absentmindedly.
-He might as well be the son of God the Father," Robin growled angrily.
-Yeah, but we all are, when you think about it, and...
-Shut up Billy- Vance silenced him with a sentence before launching into a lengthy explanation that made us all want to bang our heads against the wall.
Finney, again a little upset, headed towards us.
-What happened to Finn- the brunette asked, putting her hand on her best friend's shoulder.
-We talked about this... I'm helping him with his math tomorrow... so... no problem...
-What? This asshole dares to ask me that after all this? What about my tutoring?
-I understand, but... I slapped him-Robin just grinned.
-And how well you did it,‖ Vance interjected, and Bruce tapped him on the shoulder.
"That's right," the Mexican shook his head, "I beat those hijo de puta's every day and I don't go to help them with their math.
-"Well, you'd better, you need help with that too," I interjected.
-Okay, then in any other subject Griff- she shot back, then stuck her tongue out at me like a child.
We left it at that on Friday, Robin was still whining a bit and suddenly desperate for help with her math homework, but the dirty blonde was unimpressed, she had a few more overt attempts, like trying to study with them in the library because what if it was a trap, which it wasn't, stupid idea but it was futile.
He also thought of beating up Liam before they even started studying, sabotaging the program, as the idiot in the headscarf would go far in the name of love.
Later that afternoon, we saw Finney and Liam walking safely out of the library, deep in conversation, as I waited with Robin and Billy until they came out in case the asshole was up to something.
I was stuck here for the best part as I had nothing else to do, Bruce had baseball practice and Vance had... well he had better things to do than stalk someone in some crazy way, we all know he went to Grab and Go to break pinball records. It seemed odd that we waited for him after the two hour tutoring session and then, so he wouldn't know we were there, stayed in our sneaky hiding place behind the trash can and closet until Finn left for home, well, we were literally lurking.
Usually on the weekends we meet up at the park to hang out at Grab and Go or maybe each other's house, which is usually Bruce's house, but Finney passed this time citing his drunk dad and chores, no big deal, this sort of thing has happened before, but on Monday things started to go downhill, a 180° turn of events...or just Finney Blake.
Nothing was right from start to finish that day, first of all Finney didn't come to the school gate in the morning where our group usually meets in the morning, and he didn't even come to school with his sister as he usually does.
Gwen said her brother came to school early today. Much earlier. Second, the space boy didn't sit next to Billy in the first two classes we shared, he sat next to Donna, shrugged at the paper boy's incomprehension, and in the third class he was completely lost in the foam and didn't share a physics class with any of us because he was in an advanced class and we were happy to get a passing grade. Then came the third thing, and if we didn't back down here, we didn't back down from anything.
We waited for each other as usual, during the lunch break, to deal with the crowd and the difficulties of queuing together, as it was much easier with Vance and Robin present, but Finn... well he didn't come, and as our blonde giant was hungry we didn't wait for him, but we still had the hope that he would stay longer in the room to talk to the physics teacher or something. When we arrived at the canteen, we were greeted by an unusual silence, all eyes on us, something that only happened in the early days of our friendship, because we looked strange together, and that was a fact.
- 'What the fuck are you looking at,' the hungry, irritated Vance shouted at them, prompting the onlookers to turn back to their plates and mind their own business.
We sat down at our table, wondering what on earth it was all about, and ate what was here called potatoes and meat, while Robin took Finney's place beside him, not wanting anyone else to sit down, and turned towards the entrance to the dining-room, in case the love of his life should appear.
Well, he didn't seem to be coming, so we began to wonder anxiously why he was skipping lunch. But the truth was that he wasn't and we found out because of Billy, who suddenly swallowed his fries and tried to force the juice down his right gullet while waving his wide eyes and free hand in the direction of another table, a scene that was a funny sight and one we would have laughed at if we hadn't been looking in the direction he was pointing. I couldn't believe my eyes, I mean, I don't think any of us were Liam and his minions Matt, Buzz and Matty sitting at a table where fucking Finney Blake was eating, but when they saw that everyone had gone silent because we were halfway across the table and Robin and Vance were staring daggers at them, the space boy lowered his head as if he wanted to sink on the spot.
What happened next was too fast, too unstoppable, like a storm, and Robin was the lightning and we were the thunder that followed.
The Mexican was at their table in moments, , grabbed Liama by the collar and threw her to the ground while screaming at Finney...
-What the hell's wrong with you Finn, you don't talk to us all day, you avoid us, and now you're messing with this bunch of puta, what the hell's wrong with you?
-I'll eat with who I want, where I want, get off my back -Robin almost froze.
-What the hell Blake?" asked Vance, pale as death.
- Finn because of this asshole? He's doing something?" the guy in the bandana asked, almost hoping this would turn out to be some kind of idiotic joke and give him a reason to beat up the still terrified Liam.
-"Not at all, I just didn't want to sit with you, that's all," the dirty blonde replied, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.
-Why Finney? He's bullying you," Bruce interjected.
-Well, he's not doing it anymore, so don't make a big deal out of it.
-Is this some kind of fucking sick joke or what?" asked Billy, confused, perhaps hoping that his version was the truth.
-no it's not... - the dirty blonde tried to say, but Robin suddenly threw himself at Liam and punched him in the nose, almost certainly hearing the crack before the fight broke out. Finney was trying to pull the Mexican off the injured man, and the students were chanting and cheering loudly before a loud shout from the dining hall door for everyone to stop what they were doing, not that it mattered anything to Robin, who was now being pulled away from the boy with the cracked mouth and bleeding nose by Vance.
Maths teacher Mr Johnson and Mr Shaw got closer and closer before finally managing to drag the bloodthirsty Robin off the hapless boy. Finney then stood between them and shouted.
- "I'm sitting with him because he's my boy friend" - he reached over and kissed him on the lips, which made his own bloody, and he looked defiantly around the dining room as if to make it clear that he meant it - and then Mr Johnson stepped up and grabbed the almost dead Robin's shoulder and said.
-You again? How about you concentrate on your studies instead of fighting, God forbid you get good grades -then he turned to Finney
-and you take your boy friend to the nurse.
Finn did just that Matt pulled Liam off the ground and rushed to the school nurse.
And we?
We spent the rest of the day stunned, bewildered, worried about what Robin would get for this from the Headmaster, it was the new stepson after all, we thought at least a two week suspension, but strangely he got off with detention.
On Tuesday, the space boy went everywhere with the broken-faced Liam and Matty, Matt and Buzz. It was strange to see the people he used to run away from with his tail between his legs now going everywhere together like kissy-buddies, but when we saw each other in the corridor, Finn just put his head down and quickly disappeared from sight,
He came to Wednesday, that's the present. I was at the quiet dining room table trying not to stalk Finney conspicuously, why, because I, Griffin Stagg, can't believe that overnight someone can change like that, and I'm going to find out what's behind it.