Chapter Text
“Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.” Gary shook his head. “Don’t you think I’ve worked out the hard parts?”
“No, what I think is that you’ve finally lost what’s left of your mind.”
The sun peeked through the gaps of the blinds in Gary’s dorm room. It was an average morning at Bullworth Academy, about one year after Gary’s attempt to “own” the school. Surprisingly enough, they didn’t lock him up, or send him away. What they did do, however, or what they had to do, was put him in a lot of detention, make him undergo a lot of “behavioral training”, do a lot of community service, and put him on a LOT of medication. Any student you asked could tell you that it surely helped, and they’d be right.
It helped, but it couldn’t take away the fact that at the end of the day, he was always going to be Gary Smith, eagerly chatting up the next bullshit idea to Jimmy Hopkins. Especially a Jimmy Hopkins who reluctantly forgave him—and would even call him his “friend”, behind closed doors.
Jimmy groaned as Gary flipped through scribbled pages of his notebook, and opened it up to a map of the USA. When you’re the only person who will talk to him, Gary will put you through hell with a dopey grin on his face the whole time. He excitedly tugged on the strings of his Bullworth jacket, sitting back down on his bed. His book closed in his lap, and he waved his hand over in response to Jimmy’s loud sigh.
“Nonono, think about it. Hey, what’s the worst that could go wrong?” Jimmy scoffed. He looked up and down at Gary, hiding an amused smirk. Hopkins shrugged as he leaned against Gary’s dorm wall.
“You could die. I could die. We could end up with a bunch of freaky strangers. You could forget your pills while we’re five hours deep. Better yet, you could forget your pills, get bored, and turn this into a lord of the flies situation. Then, you’d try to convince me to eat Pete.”
“He could convince you to do what?”
Almost as if he was summoned, Pete Kowalski, now Treasurer of the student council, opened the door. Gary jumped at the noise, clutching onto his notebook. His grin never faltered. Jimmy turned to the door, straightening his back at the sight of Pete.
“Said he’d try to, not that he could.” He clears his throat. “Anyways, Gary, it’s a bad idea.” Gary places his book to the side and shoots up from his bed, opening his arms.
“Pete! Petey! Peter~”
“Oh god.”
Gary let out a slight chuckle. He knew he was fighting a 2v1, and he’d only get what he wanted by whatever guardian angel was inexperienced enough to let it happen now.
“I was just telling Jimmy about…. a concept that’s come into my mind.”
Pete swallowed. Gary stopped saying he had “ideas” around him; those were often associated with harassing homeless men, manipulating cliques and stealing from children.’Concepts’ were hardly ever better, but they allowed Pete to understand that Gary was trying to turn over a new leaf. He closed the door behind him, placing his books on Gary’s stand.
“Well, Gary, what is it?” Gary paced around the room.
“Oh, nothing much. Just you, me, the brawn over there. A car. A couple of bucks, and an empty road….. on its way to Florida.” Gary murmured. Pete’s eyes nearly shot out of his head.
“FLORIDA? Gary, that’s a whole day trip away.” Jimmy shakes his head.
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
“Well, I’m worried about other things too. How would we get there? What would we eat?–Gary, where did this come from? I’m so lost.”
“That’ll work itself out. Listen boys, spring break is in three weeks. What are we going to do, respectfully? Run errands for the nerds? Go to endless brawls that mean nothing? Sit in here and twiddle our thumbs?” Gary continued. “It’s like Jimmy said a week ago. Life is getting mundane. Admit it, Pete. You and I were thinking the same thing when he said it.” Jimmy’s brows furrowed. The most dangerous thing about a medicated Gary Smith wasn’t the possibility that he’d ever get off it, but that while he was on it, he even made sense sometimes. A half-logical, more convincing Gary might even be a scarier Gary, and that was Jimmy’s truth.
He was kinda right, he thought. It was mainly harmless. Mainly. Of course, the elephant in the room was practically screaming that a 20 hour trip with Pete and Gary could go south in so many ways.
Pete, however, still sat on the fence. It was in the way his arms folded, and even more in his eyes. Ever since Jimmy became Bullworth’s appointed “head” and student council picked up, he’s hardly had days to see his friend. He doesn’t even get to hang out with Gary often, since he spends most of his time “working on himself” alone and only responding fully to Jimmy. Sure, things were awful the way they were, but sometimes he’d be in the cafeteria with the student council, and silently look across to watch Gary get his lunch and go back to his room. In those moments, he couldn't help but to remember when things were simple; he couldn’t begin to admit what he’d give to go back to the boy’s living room and be dragged along by these two for one more day. The thought of being together had taken up more space in his journal than notes, and now he was being offered a weekend? He didn’t want to admit that he liked the idea, but what else would he do? Where else would he go for spring break?
Pete looked away from a still-smiling Gary, and slowly brought his eyes over to Jimmy.
Who else would he rather be with?
Jimmy took one good look at Pete’s face and sucked his teeth. This was ridiculous. A road trip. With Peter Kowalski and GARY SMITH. It was bullshit in a bottle, hell on earth, a waste of gas, money and resources, and an overall death wish.
And yet, Jimmy was already budgeting in his mind.