Chapter Text
The final school bell rings, and tomorrow is, unfortunately, the start of the weekend. The sound of the loud bell ringing makes Kody flinch as he snaps out of his thoughts, his head spinning for a little until he realizes that he can finally escape his teacher’s mindless blabbering about math. While it is nice that he can get out of this hellhole, an overwhelming sense of dread fills his mind at the thought of going home to a place that is even worse.
“Kody. Hey, dude?” A familiar voice called, but Kody does not even budge or react until his shoulder gets tapped from behind. He flinches yet again, turning around only to see one of his friends.
“Zoning out again?” Kody’s friend asked, taking note of his eyebags, his seemingly forced smile, and the way he flinched. Though, Kody still tried to crack a joke anyway.
“Yeah, dude. Math class was that boring.” Kody responded, his smug tone faltering a bit as he tried to make jokes in a state of fear and nervousness.
“Pfft, of course it was! You always found math boring.” His friend laughed. Kody let out a fake laugh when he heard this, trying to set up the mood so that he would not get caught putting on a mask. Kody and his friend walk out together, and upon doing so, they are both immediately met by their friend group.
“Kody! Bro, you look like you haven’t seen the light of day!” Another friend commented on his appearance. No shit.
“You sure? Because that’s all he ever sees after marrying his skateboard.” Another replied, leading to a chain reaction of laughs for the entire group. Except for Kody, who chuckles nervously. He just can’t shake off the feeling that something bad is gonna happen once he gets home, but why? Kody zones out yet again, looking straight at the void in front of him. In said void created by his head, he hears shouting, screaming, and yelling. Angrily from parents, and terrified screams of the boy who wanted to live a normal life.
“Hey, Kodes, yo?” One of his friends noticed that he was zoning out again.
“What’s got you acting so weird, man?” The loudest friend in the group asked, startling Kody a bit.
“Pfft- Me? Weird? Yeah, you’re delusional.” Kody instantly snapped back to reality and went on the defensive side, smiling with an off putting grin as he got in his persona again. He wonders why he did not even try to hide his fear this time, and he’s a bit mad at himself.
“You sure?” The friend said, their tone changing completely to a more concerned one, “You look like you just–” Before the friend could finish his sentence, Kody cut him off, refusing to show any vulnerability.
“J- Just… shut up! Piss off, or something.” Kody’s tone also changed to become more defensive, one of a more angry tone, desperate not to let anyone, not anyone slip through the cracks and see what he has been hiding this entire time.
“Me? Don’t act like you’ve been acting weird today, like you didn’t just flinch like those people who get scared way too easily in movies!” The friend suddenly replied as they stopped moving, along with the group, and Kody, who was a bit delayed in his tracks.
“I-… you don’t even know me! I never act weird like that. I’m not like those idiots who stutter all the time and flinch at everything!” Kody said, in a desperate attempt to hide himself in broad daylight.
“I know you, dumbass! That’s why I’m worrying in the first place! Why are you so scared?”
Kody’s expression formed into one of both shock and anger, before the friend’s uber finally showed up in the middle of their talk.
“We’ll talk about this next week, you and I.” The friend told him. Kody stood in shock, while his friends quietly talked about that argument and that friend he was arguing with walked away.
A few minutes of the others chatting with each other and Kody staying silent for the rest of the time after that whole thing, and finally, he experiences the inevitable: Having to go home and see his family.
The thought makes his brain spiral about everything they might do to him, like he is scared that they might just get onto punishing him for nothing again. Kody’s expression just now shows how much fear and nervousness he feels today while his friends split paths to walk home. He hesitates a bit, before his body moves on autopilot to walk towards what he calls “home,” or, more preferably, the weekends’ torture. As he walks, he can’t help but give himself a self-hug to prepare himself for the worst. He doesn’t want to go home. Not after that whole ordeal with his friend earlier. Not with the sickening feeling which makes him want to throw up that his family will only make him suffer. He doesn't want to go now, not ever.