Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

***No-ones POV***

Oliver wakes up to the same sound he hears every day

“BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP” his alarm shrieks as he rolls over to stare at it “6:02” is labeled on it in bright chunky letters.
“BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP” it taunts, as he stares at it, questioning if he has enough energy to turn it off. “BEEP BEEP BEE-” Finally he slams his hand ruggedly onto the top of it, all of the energy leaving his body as the beeping stops. “I wish I could stop waking up like this, don’t you think so?” Oliver groans. rolling onto his back, staring at the ceiling for an answer,
but unsurprisingly, the ceiling stays silent. He stares up at the ceiling for a while longer, his body aching to go back to sleep.

Oliver looks over at the clock, startled to see the numbers read 6:07
Realizing that 5 entire minutes have passed, he drags himself out of bed. He starts walking to his closet to find something to wear.
As he lazily walks to his closet he suddenly stubs his toe, feeling a sharp jab of pain run up his leg, making him trip and fall to the floor. He looks back at what he stubbed his toe on, and sees the edge of a table leg.

Oliver sucks in a sharp gasp of air as he clutches his foot, grimacing as he looks at his broken pinky-toe nail. ‘This day can’t get any worse.’ he thinks, standing up with his shaky legs. He finally gets to the closet, opening it and picking out a random black shirt with a diamond on it and basic sweat-pants, putting them on and then going through the motions of brushing his teeth.

His foot throbs as he walks down-stairs to his kitchen, as usual his mom isn't there, she's never there, ‘always at work..’ he thinks to himself, opening the fridge to find a half-eaten, undercooked chicken breast. “Eh what's the worst that could happen?”
he says outloud stuffing it in a plastic bag and into his backpack. Shortly after, he slips his shoes onto his feet, his right foot throbbing from the pain of him stubbing his toe, but he still gets them on and rushes outside, as not to be late.
He speed walks down the sidewalk, as he nears the end of the street he slows his pace, noticing a dog behind someone's chain-link fence starting to aggressively bark at him. He slows his pace for a second, looking at the dog he thinks of the undercooked chicken breast in his bag but he quickly dismisses the idea, ignoring the dog and turning his head to look Infront of him. As he turns the corner to see his bus stop, watching as the bus peels out of the small bench with a bright red sign that says “BUS STOP”

“Shit.” He yells out loud as the bus goes out of view. He's definitely going to be late now, he notes as he quickens his pace. He finally gets the the end of the street, turning the corner, only left alone with his thoughts ‘why does this always happen, I mean If my mom wasn't so busy all the time she might be able to drive me to school’ he thinks, his mood saddening as he thinks of his mom

‘She never has time for me anyways.’

‘I mean, when she does have time for me she always ether yells at me or hits me, constantly angry about something’

‘Why is it always: “I got a call from the school that you were late.” Or “I got a call from the school that you threw a handful of mash potatoes at Abbie again” and never “Wow I heard you got another A+ on your test, I’m so proud of you..” Why can’t it be that’
Oliver thinks, as he feels a tear fall down his face. He quickly wipes it away looking around to see if anyone saw him, but no one else is in sight.

His mom is always horrible to him

Him..

Why him..

Why him….

He gloomily turns the corner as the school comes into sight, his mood quickly brightening as he sees Abbie far in the distance, with his back turned.
He can't help but feel a malicious grin spread across his face as he sees Abbie distracted far in front of him,
As he speeds up his pace to run up to the raven haired boy. he notices a wet tennis ball on the floor in a puddle beside the curb.
Oliver hastily picks up the ball, and looks over at Abbie in the distance, half running to get to Abbie, he completely forgets about his mom and homelife,

tormenting Abbie seems to make him forget about most of his problems

as he stops running, now walking a mear 10 feet away from Abbie before winding back his arm holding the soggy tennis ball

“OI BLACKBIRD NEST”

Oliver shouts with unabashed glee,
his voice making Abbie flinch, but before he can turn around-
he feels the tennis ball smack against his skull, making Abbie stumble forwards.

Abbies ears ring as he rubs the back of his head, feeling a tuft of his fluffy black hair, wet with whatever the nasty looking tennis ball was soaked in. His ears violently ring as his vision blurs, the only sounds he can hear being the obnoxious laughing of Oliver and the ringing in his ears that's growing louder by the second. And before he knows it,

Abbie’s vision fades to black as he falls to the ground,

hitting his head on one of the school picnic benches as he falls, making a meaty thud as he lays motionless on the ground.
Oliver’s dumb grin fades as he watches Abbies motionless body stumble forwards and fall. His jaw drops slightly as Abbie hits the floor, gathering some people's attention as a small crowd grows around the two,

gasps audible as Oliver stands there,

frozen in place, like something is holding all of his muscles and tendons still.

Miss Grace shouts, pushing through the crowd..

“Oliver, to my office, NOW!”

Chapter Text

***No Ones Pov***

Oliver sits in one of the two empty chairs opposite of the principles 

Oliver looks to the left of him, only seeing an empty chair as he tries to avoid Miss Graces glare.

“Oliver,”

Miss Grace says sighing

“Do you know why you are here?”

Miss Grace speaks once again, drawing Oliver’s eyes towards her.

“..Uh, no?”

Oliver says, grimacing at her dark expression

“What do you mean you don’t know, OLIVER THIS IS THE 4TH TIME THIS WEEK THAT YOU HAVE ASSAULTED ABBIE.”

Miss Grace screams, slamming her hands down on the table, the loud noise making Oliver jump.

“W-well, to be fair he was kind of asking for it by not paying attention to his surroundings-”

“DO YOU THINK HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOOKING AROUND, LOOKING OUT FOR SOMEONE TO THROW A TENNIS BALL AT HIS HEAD?” Miss Grace snaps back

“I mean…”

Oliver responds grinning slightly and looking away before getting cut off

“OLIVER.” Miss Grace sighs and sits down in her brown leather office chair

“Oliver, yesterday you threw his bag in the school pool and ruined his science project!”

Oliver snickers, remembering the horrified look on Abbie’s face as he pulled his soaking wet science project out of his soaking wet bag.

“Oliver, I'm calling your mother, and stay after school till 5, you have in-school suspension for a week, this behavior has to stop.” Miss grace says sternly

Olivers features turn serious

His mouth opening to say something but it snaps shut as Miss Grace starts to dial a number into the landline on her desk

“..w-wa-” 

“Hello this is Miss Grace, principle of Fundamental PE. Is this Cara Madaline, Oliver’s mom?”

Oliver only hears inaudible noises from the telephone in response

“Mhm, why am I calling you? Well i'm calling you to talk about Oliver's recent behavior”

“Inaudible”

“Yeah, well recently he knocked out a student by throwing a tennis ball at their head. The student is in the nurse's office now..”

“Inaudible”

“yeah, he has In-school suspension for a week and uh, Have A Talk With Him When He Gets Home From School.. ”

“Inaudible”  

“Ok, well goodbye, Cara Madaline.”

Oliver’s heart sinks as Miss Grace hangs up the phone

“Oliver, you are dismissed, after school come to room 27, you will have in-school suspension there.”

Not wanting to stay in the principal's office any longer Oliver quickly picks up his bag and rushes out of the office, Zip waiting there, leaning against the wall beside the office.

“Well, how did it go?”

Zip questions, raising her eyebrows at Olivers pale face

“Well uh, not great.”

Oliver says chuckling and turning to face Zip

“Jeez, what went on in there anyway, I heard Miss Grace yelling”

Zip says lowering her voice slightly as they start to walk through the halls

“Yeah. she called my mom and I have in-school suspension for a week.”

Oliver groans

“Aw man, she called your mom? I bet she won’t be happy.”

Zip says with a taunting smile

“Well, I’ve got second period now, I’ll see you at lunch Oli”

“Hey! You know I hate that nickname”

Oliver protests as Zip laughs and walks into a classroom.

Oliver checks his phone for what class he has

‘Ugh, two period history’

He thinks, pushing through the crowded halls 

Oliver finally gets to History class, pushing open the door to find Miss Emily already teaching.

“Oliver, you're late.”

Miss Emily says as Oliver quickly enters the classroom, not making eye contact with anyone as he gets to his desk, taking a seat beside the desk beside him.

‘Edward usually sits here, I guess he’s late or absent.’

Oliver thinks as he rests his backpack down beside his chair

“Alright class, today we will learn about the Great War and its effect on not just the U.S’s economy, but the effect the Great War had on the economy on a global scale. When the war began, the U.S. economy was in recession. But a 44-month economic boom ensued from 1914 to 1918-”

Oliver feels his eyelids start to slowly close as he leans back in his chair. His vision fading as he doesn't try to resist his body threatening to fall asleep.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Olivers eye’s slowly drift open, his eyes widened as he sees the chalkboard full of random timelines, numbers and names of important people.

“ Rockoff estimates the total cost of World War I to the United States at approximately $32 billion, or 52 percent of gross national product at the time. He breaks down the financing of the U.S. war effort as follows: 22 percent in taxes, 58 percent through borrowings from the public, and 20 percent in money creation. The War Revenue Act of 1917 taxed "excess profits"

Miss Emily says, all of the words coming out of her mouth seeming to just be words as he blankly stares and her scribbling things on the chalkboard.

Oliver stares at the blank notebook in front of him, flipping to the previous page to see the notes he stole from Kevin the day before.

‘Eh these will do.’ He thinks, pulling out his phone to check the time, his phone reads 11:02, meaning there is still a good 30 minutes left in the period.

Oliver’s train of thought is suddenly interrupted by the sound of Kevin's annoying voice, a desk or two beside his.

“MISS EMILY, MISS EMILY! OLIVER IS ON HIS PHONE!” Kevin snorts making the entire class turn to look at the two of them

Miss Emily stops writing on the chalkboard and turns to face the class

“Kevin, I don’t give a damn what Olivers doing. Maybe I would if he didn't have a higher grade than you Kevin.” Miss Emily states, audible “Ooooo’s” can be heard as Kevin hangs his head. “Maybe you should start focusing on taking notes instead of what Oliver’s doing.” Miss Emily says once again making the class roar with laughter as Miss Emily waits for the laughter to stop before starting to write on the chalkboard once again.

…

Oliver finishes taking some notes of his own before hearing the loud beep of the bell

“Alright class, I have you all tomorrow on friday we will go over most of the same stuff.

Remember class, the test is on Monday!” Miss Emily adds as the students walk out of the classroom for lunch.

Chapter Text

Oliver walks down the crowded halls, ignoring the people saying ‘hi’ and waving to him as he walks. He has his backpack slung over his shoulder as he approaches the cafeteria. The two doors come closer as he approaches, his feet quick as his pace makes his calves burn, finally getting through the long hallway filled with people, he joins the herd of students cramping their way through the doors. As he enters, he scans the room for Zip and Edward. ‘Oh yeah Edward isn't at school today’ he thinks, his eyes narrowing as he sees Zip in line for the cafeteria food, Oliver quickly begins speed walking over to Zip, standing beside her as she greets him.

“Oh Hey Oli, what's the haps?”

Ignoring her use of the nickname he despises so much he grins back at her

“Not much, what about you?”
Oliver responds as they grab a tray and look at what is for lunch

“Not much. Ugh its mashed potatoes and breadsticks again”
Zip groans, begrudgingly filling her tray with the pale slop. Oliver does the same, as they pour dry breadsticks on their white plastic trays, walking over to an almost empty table and sitting down.

“How has Edward been? Heard he’s sick.”
Oliver starts, his plastic fork unenthusiastically plunging its way into the pile of mashed potatoes

“Yeah, from what he's messaged me he seems alright, just a bit under-the-weather ya know”
Zip responds, grabbing one of dry breadsticks and dipping it in the pale sludge.

“Mhm, yeah,”
Oliver says, his voice just above a whisper, lifting his fork and grimacing at the starchy mixture

“What's wrong Oli, you don't seem as cheerful as usual.”
Zip says, taunting Oliver with the nickname she knows he hates

“Zip.”
Oliver says sternly, glaring at Zip with hatred in his eyes

“Looks like someones in a bad mo-”
Zip is cut off by Oliver swiftly flicking the mashed potatoes at Zip. The stale goo clinging to Zips face as Oliver feels a smile tug at the edge of his lips

“What was that for!”
Zip says, wiping the mush of her face, clearly knowing what that was for.

Oliver's attention is grabbed when he feels a pair of eyes on him, looking around to see Abbie with a bandage wrapped around his head, a couple tables down. Abbie quickly looks away when he makes eye contact with Oliver.

Oliver can't help but feel a grin spread across his face, as he looks back at Zip, her face contorting into a small smirk as well.

Zip laughs a bit, eating the potato covered bread stick in her hand.

They talk for a while longer, Oliver only finishing half of his slop as they hear the bell ring

“That sounds like the bell”
Zip says looking up near the ceiling of the cafeteria

“Aww you didn't have enough time to finish your mush”
Zip taunts, motioning to Olivers half empty tray of mashed potatoes

“Thank god”
Oliver chuckles, walking over to the bin as Oliver throws out his mashed potatoes and they put back their trays and walk out.

“Well, I got class, I'll see ya after school?”
Zip questions, looking over at Oliver

“Actually I can't, I got in-school suspension, remember?”
Oliver groans, suddenly remembering he will have to stay after school for another 2 hours for a week.

“Aw man, sucks to suck I guess.”
Zip says smiling, before walking away to her class.

Oliver rolls his eyes at Zip's comment. He gets to the end of the halls and walks down the stairs, walking again through a few halls, finally making it to maths with Miss Circle.

‘Math for 3 periods..’
He thinks to himself before entering the room, he always liked math, and something about the way Miss Circle explained it to him made him comprehend the subject more than he has at any other grade.

“Hello Oliver.”
Miss Circle greets, as he enters the classroom, her expression turning into a slight smile as he enters the almost empty class, but not a mean looking one like her normal smile, more of a comforting smile. For some reason, Oliver feels relaxed as Miss Circle greets him. He smiles back entering the mostly empty classroom and taking a seat at his desk. Oliver takes out his heavy paper math textbook and notebook as sits them on his desk as the other people from class flood into the room, he looks for Abbie in the crowd because, fortunately for him, unfortunately for Abbie- Abbie shares this class with Oliver and sits a desk or two away from the white haired mischief maker, so Oliver constantly laughs at his struggles in math.

Oliver frowns as he sees Abbie absent, everyone else taking their seat.

Miss Circle starts to yap about, Ironically, how to calculate circles.

Unlike in history, Oliver surprisingly doesn't feel bored or tired as Miss Circle speaks, her words sounding like words. Miss Circle was always everyone's least favorite teacher, but not Oliver. Oliver loved her class, it was the only class he actually felt he looked forward to.

The class is mostly a blur of taking notes and following along in the thick textbook.

After a while Oliver starts to regret drinking all the water he drunk in history as he walks up to Miss Circles desk
“Miss Circle, can I go to the bathroom”
Oliver says nearing Miss Circles desk

“Of course”
Miss Circle replies, not looking up from the work she's grading

Oliver walks out of the door, walking through the empty halls, he turns the corner and stares at the “mens bathroom” sign as he walks closer.
The door inching slightly closer with each step until finally after what felt like eternity, he pushes open the door, his eyes immediately locking onto the figure of the raven haired boy leaning against the wall with his phone in one of his hands

“Abbie, what are you doing here?”
Oliver coos, drawing Abbies attention immediately

“Oh I was just- uh-”
Abbie stutters, slipping his phone in his pocket

“Abbie skipping school might be the final nail in the coffin for your already failing grades”
Oliver says with a wide grin, tilting his head as he taunts the boy

Abbie doesn't respond, looking at his feet as he walks to the sinks and starts to wash his hands.

Oliver walks past Abbie, purposely bumping into his shoulder on the way past, making the black haired boy stumble back a bit.

Oliver walks up to the urinals and starts to relieve himself, hearing the footsteps of Abbie, walking to the door before hearing the door creek open and close. Oliver walks over to the sinks and starts to wash his hands, the cold liquid covering his hands as his rubs them together. After washing his hand he walks out shortly afterwards. Making the trek back to class, now noticing Abbie slumped over at his desk when he walks in, the sight making Oliver grin as he walks over and sits down at his desk, only few from Abbie.

****time skip****

Before he knows it, Oliver hears the ringing of the bell, as he stuffs his thing in his bag

“Everyone dismissed. Except for you Oliver, stay after class.” Miss Circle says in her usual loud teaching voice.

Oliver stays in his seat as everyone else exits the room.
Miss Circle waits until everyone has left before starting to speak.

“Hey, Oliver,”
Miss Circle says in her usual, unusual accent, her unique accent being recognizable to almost everyone in the school.

Oliver looks up, meeting Miss Circles eyes

“You have in-school suspension with me, stay till 5.”
Miss Circle states in a softer tone.

Oliver nods, his shoulders relaxing at the notion of having his in-school suspension with Miss Circle compared to any other teacher.
Oliver puts his pencil arm under the handle of his bag, moving it and setting it down under his desk, his posture relaxing noticeably.

“You won’t be doing nothing though. Here, I've got some math work for you.”
Miss Circle states, walking to the side and picking up 5 or so papers from her desk and walking over to Oliver's desk.

‘Out of everything, math isn't the worst thing to do right now’
Oliver thinks as Miss Circle walks over to him, setting the papers on his desk.
Oliver nods, leaning forwards and using his arm to spread the papers out, now noticing that it's 10 pieces of paper instead of 5.
While he didn't hate math, it was his favorite subject actually, but he knew this was going to be a long day.

Miss Circle sits at her desk, watching Oliver diligently work.
She loved how Oliver could do math for hours without getting sick of it, she sort of saw herself in Oliver in that way. Now that she thinks of it, she sees herself in Oliver in a lot of ways. His arm, his face, his hair, his-
Suddenly Miss Circle snaps herself out of her train of thought, pulling her chair forward and leaning over her desk.
‘I’ve just got to grade these assignments, then i'll see if Oliver is close to finishing’
Miss Circle thinks, resting her compass arm on her desk.

****time skip****

Miss Circle looks up from the papers she's grading, noticing Oliver on the last page, a small stack of finished work beside the singular paper, Oliver stares at the unfinished page with focus in his eyes.
Miss Circle’s gaze darts to the small digital clock on her desk, the time reading 4:47.
She sighs, standing up from her desk and walking over to Oliver.
“What problem are you working on Oliver?”

Miss Circle asks, her voice making Oliver flinch slightly, being taken out of deep thought

“Oh, uh, I'm just on the last question, I know the answer but I can’t think of what it's called.”
Oliver says, motioning his pencil arm towards a curved line on the paper.

“We learned this last class, you should know this if you were paying attention.” Miss Circle comments with a grin "That would be a reverse bell curve.”
Miss Circle states. Oliver quickly writes it on his paper and adds it to the now-full pile of finished papers.

Oliver smiles, looking up to meet Miss Circle's eyes.
Miss Circle feels a grin spread across her face as she speaks
“Well, I guess I’ll have to let you go. It's about five O’clock now.”
Miss Circle states, walking back over to her desk.

“Alright, I'll see you!” Oliver shouts, swinging his bag around his shoulder and exiting the class, leaving the pile of finished work on his desk.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Oliver repeats, waving at Miss Circle before going out of view.

…

Oliver walks down the sidewalk to the bus stop, his mood quickly darkening as he remembers about his talk with Miss Grace, one phrase repeating in his head

“Have A Talk With Him When He Gets Home From School..”

“Have A Talk With Him When He Gets Home From School..”

“Have A Talk With Him When He Gets Home From School..”

“Have A Talk With Him When He Gets Home From School..”

He arrives at the bus stop, sitting down at the bench and resting his bag beside him.

Sooner than he expected he notices a bus pull up at the stop, the white haired boy quickly rushing into the empty bus, taking a seat at the nearest seat.
Time flys and before Oliver knows it, the bus calls his stop and he gets off.

…

He walks down the sidewalk. The knowledge that he is almost home making his hair stand up. Everything in him is telling him to turn around and run but he ignores himself, trying not to think about it. Suddenly he is broken out of his thoughts by the rapid sound of barking right beside him. He almost jumps, turning around to see what the noise is, seeing a medium sized brown dog behind a chain-link fence.

“OUHRGH! OURGH! OURGH! OOOOORGH! ORGH! ARRGHH!”

Oliver's eyes narrow looking at the dog behind a chain link fence. He starts to walk away before quickly stopping as he remembers the almost raw chicken breast in his bag he fortunately forgot to eat at lunch. He turns his body to face the dog, taking off his backpack and pulling out the chicken in the ziplock bag he put it in.
“Here, you want this boy?!” Oliver says in an overly soft voice. Taking the chicken out of the clear plastic bag and, in a swift motion, flinging the chicken over the fence, the dog jumps up to catch the chicken and immediately stops barking and lays down with the piece of chicken in its mouth.
Oliver smiles, and zips up his bag, looking at the content dog one more time before continuing his trek home.
Oliver can't help but feel a warm smile grow across his face as he leaves, a sinking feeling once again growing as he turns the corner, his house now in sight across the street. Oliver figures the more time he spends getting home, the more time he will have to think about being home. And with that thought, he rushes across the road, walking up and opening the gate, stepping onto his walkway and closing the gate door behind him. Oliver cautiously walks up to the dark-brown door. He can hear his heart beating in his chest.

But inevitably he wraps his hand around the metal knob..

Oliver takes a deep breath and twists the doorknob, slowly pushing the door open with a loud creek…