Chapter Text
The only sorta-okay thing about school is the damn bus, Nathan thought. He could just listen to his music on his Walkman, stare out the window in a distant haze, and not have to deal with anyone. It was still lame as shit he didn’t have his own truck yet, though. His dad was waiting for his birthday this summer, no doubt. That would be even better than the bus, because then Nathan wouldn’t have to rely on absolutely anyone for absolutely anything. No bus driver ending the ride, no whiny assholes buzzing and babbling beyond his weak-ass excuse of a pair of headphones. The only good thing about school, he thought. And then that privilege was stripped away from him and thrown in the garbage like his parents didn’t even know that it fucking mattered to him.
“Listen honey, your dad and I have given you a lot of chances now, but at the moment we just can’t take the chance of you taking the school bus and then leaving school right after! I need to make sure you get to your classes right now.” Rose said behind the wheel, and behind the overbearing sounds of Nathan’s Iron Maiden; Powerslave cassette.
Unfortunately for Nathan, he could still hear her despite the music. He merely responded to his mother with a dissatisfied grunt, still staring out of the passenger side car window. Acknowledging Rose wasn’t the coolest thing for him to do, anyway.
“We really care about you, sweetie. It really is in your best interest to attend school! I know your band’s doing pretty well right now, and your father and I are both so, so proud of you for that! But-” she cuts herself off with a sigh, “When you’re an adult, well, you need a safety net, and getting your high school diploma is the best way for you to do that.”
Silence. No Response. Not even a glance.
Rose and Nathan pull up to the front of the school in her 1980 Honda Civic. Nathan grabs his bag and exits the car. Just before he can slam the door, Rose exclaims one last goodbye:
“Have a great day at school today, Nathan! Love you-!”
Bam. Nathan gives her a nod through the window before he turns to walk to the schoolyard. Rose watches him do so before carefully driving off.
Nathan furrows his brow further than usual and sighs. How Embarrassing. Getting dropped off by your mom at this age. He keeps his head down and tries to focus on the heavy metal in his ears. However, this proved a bit more difficult than usual today. Flashes of light yellows keep zipping past him, and past his headphones he hears a lot more incoherent gibberish from his fellow students than normal. His head jolts up and Nathan finds himself in a pit of strangers. Strangers that are his age. Strangers that are weird and blond. Nathan’s immediately on edge. He turns his back on the scene and heads into the building.
The first half of classes were grueling. The best thing he could do was to try to tune it all out. The forced engagement and patronization he received from his Special Ed teachers made Nathan want to rip his skin off. Just when he thought he was about to burst, the banal worksheets he was handed would numb his mind over once again. The world went away, and there was only him, these stupid word problems, and the voice in his head telling him to leave for the ocean. What voice? No, tune that shit out too. All of it. All of it is sickening. No wonder he would skip so much, Nathan thought.
Lunch time finally came. It was about the only hour of the day Nathan would willingly take off his headphones and talk to people. He is always the first at the table to finish his tray. His scrawny friend and guitarist Hunter Gamelenknen sat with him today. The rest of his band was skipping today, presumably. You could hardly ever get Paz to come to school at this point anyhow since he can’t bring his drum kit to campus. Nathan glanced around, noticing once again the light-haired stranger-kids looming around the two.
“Hunter…”
“Yeah?”
“So, uh… What the fuck is up with all the fresh meat?”
“Oh, the newbies? They’re all like– exchange students that came in a few days ago.”
“Seriously? From where?”
“I don’t know, Nate. Germany? You think I care?”
Nathan smirks, “No, Hunt. I don’t think you do.”
Hunter smiles back at Nathan in earnest. He goes back to eating. Nathan stares beyond his reach at the exchange students. They come off like a warped mirroring of the american dream– white picket fence and all that other shit. Bright hair, blue eyes, white tees and overalls, it all makes Nathan get a heavy pit in his gut. A deep abyss in his stomach weighing him down and telling him that he should leave. He doesn’t like new people. He doesn’t like normal jackoffs. He needs to get away from here.
Nathan scrambles to get a new cassette from his backpack to listen to. Fuck– OK– Carcass– that’s perfect. He switches out his tapes and puts his headphones on. Hunter seems to be watching him, but for once Nathan doesn’t seem to care. He just needs to get out of this place. His tense body relinquishes control as the waves of abrasive guitars and snare wash over him. Nathan slouches and rests his head in his hand. Despite him beginning his descent into the music, an unfamiliar voice followed by laughter pulled him back. Turning his head to their direction, he sees an exchange student surrounded by the regular group of kitschy popular girls. Blonde and blue eyes like most of the lot– but she wasn’t wearing the trendy shlock brought over to them from the states like the rest of them.
Her hair is long and unkempt, yet still it looked like everything was somehow in place. The ends of her locks fell in front of her torn up wool sweater that had some depressed-looking cartoon cat on it. The sleeves had been obviously ripped off at some point, which followed suit with her baggy black jorts. Nathan was back to staring, but this time he looks the girl up and down. Despite her blocky shoes, which appear to be some sort of euro-barge abomination your babushka would force you to wear to church, she looks just like some metalhead groupie with her own unique style. The American girls had practically swarmed around her like flies to honey.
Nathan focuses in on her face. It’s slender and soft with a beak of a nose, but some small part of him liked that. Her piercing eyes slant downwards at the ends, giving her a knowing and caring look as she talks to her new girlfriends. Her lips are soft and full and she’s a bit sweaty from the heat and– fuck. That pit in his gut came back. His mind races as Déjà vu crawled through his veins. She looks just like a girl he’s dreamed about in the recent past. His blurry memories of the band of his dreams clear a bit as he stares at this mystery girl’s face- because she was a part of that band. Nathan tenses up all over again. Well that’s fucking freaky. The thick taste of copper bubbles up in the back of his throat. He feels like he’s gonna be sick–
“Earth to Explosion!” Hunter snaps his fingers at him.
Nathan jumps, “Huh–! What?!”
“You look like you’re ‘bout to upchuck all over yourself.”
“Ew– gross, Hunt. I’m not.”
“Whatever you say, Nate. But don’t go thinkin’ you’re gonna run out on Wraith Worm for some tail.” Hunter nudges towards the group of girls from afar.
“No!” he groans.
Hunter laughs, “I’m just messin’ with you, man! Relax.”
“Oh.”
The bell rings. Maybe this new girl will make coming to school a little bit worthwhile.