Work Text
From just about halfway down Wallflower ln. the sound of a whining guitar filled the unfortunate ears of those who lived in the neighborhood. The source of the sound was a teenage boy no more than 17 named Vesper Whitlock. Vesper slides his flimsy pick down the fretboard of his guitar, causing it to wail. He throws his head back, lifting his foot onto a nearby stool, holding his guitar steady on his knee. His long, blond layered hair swayed behind him as he shook his head along with the rhythm of the solo he was playing; 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath. He finished it by kicking the worn, brown stool to the ground with a loud clatter against the concrete floor of his basement. "Awesome performance, my little rockstar." A voice behind him hums, it was satisfied, but also a little sarcastic. Vesper turns on the heels of his tattered combat boots to find his mom, Percy, at the bottom of the stairs looking at him with a small, tight lipped smile. Vesper notices her and smiles back. "Mom! I.. I didn't notice you were listening." Vesper says with a laugh, his mom crosses her arms. "How could we not notice, I've been getting calls from all the way down Cherry Avenue that people are hearing 'an awful wailing noise'. I suggest you maybe put it to rest for the night, it's almost 10 and that's when they can call the township on us." His mother warns, it's not like Vesper cared, in his mind all that mattered right now is that people were hearing him. Not caring was one of the best things about Vesper. He looks at his mom and Just shrugs, she looks at him past her glasses in something that could only be described as a 'mom glare'. That got the idea through to Vesper and he nods quickly. "Right, I got you." Vesper declares quickly with his chest puffed out. "Good, and don't forget to clean up those picks... last time you left them the dog chewed some of them up." His mother motions to the pile of flimsy, plastic, white guitar picks on the ground. "Mom! Why didn't you tell me that he was chewing them? I was wondering where they were disappearing to!" Vespers eyes fall to the large, extremely fluffy white dog standing neatly beside his mother. "I thought you knew, now Chop chop. You've got school in the morning!" Percy crosses her arms and gives her son another glare before turning to walk back up the stares, Vesper rolls his eyes. As his mom makes her way up the stairs she looks over her shoulders, "I mean it, Vesper!" She calls to him before closing the basement door behind her. "Yeah, mom, I got it!" He shakes his head and lifts his guitar up over his shoulders and leans it against the amplifier. He unplugs the wires and turns off the amps. His eyes scan the basement, posters littered the unfinished walls, the floor was a mess of cords and wires from his guitars and sound equipment. Vesper just shrugs, falling onto the couch behind him, taking off his combat boots and tossing them to the side before regaining his balance on his feet and running upstairs.
-
The next morning Vesper wakes up to the sound of his phone alarm blasting 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden right in his ears. Despite it being one of the best songs known to man... at least to Vesper, it ticked him off that he had to be up so early. His hair was a knotted tangly mess and his shirt was bunched at the sleeves. His mom described his look like a 'tornado had ripped right through him' when he woke up in the morning. Vesper rubs his eyes lazily as he sets up in bed and makes his way into the bathroom, jumping into the shower, the hot water pelted his back. He brushes out his tangly hair and washes it thoroughly twice before getting back out. He quickly gets dressed, he had sliced off the sleeves of his Slayer shirt long ago. His mother had obviously given him grief for it, but he did it anyways. He threw on some black cuffed skinny jeans and some dangly shiny earrings. A black spiked cuff accompanied his left arm and a plain black one on his right. He clipped a chain to his belt loops and looked himself in the mirror, nodding he made his way out of his room and down the hall. "Vesper!? Vesper I've been calling you for the past ten minutes you're going to be late!" His mother was always on his tail in the morning, he was 'going to be late' about 300 other times, too, but he still arrived on time nonetheless. "Right, mom let's just go. Yeah?" He rolls his eyes and his mom looks at him. "Was that Attitude? Because I can take that guitar right back to the guitar center if I need to." His mother always used that threat, she knew it got to him. "Fine, yeah okay it wasn't attitude, I'm sorry. Let's go." Vesper sighs, looking up at his mother with a forced smile and she nods, grabbing his arm and pulling him along with her as if he were a child. "Mom, you know I'm capable of walking, right?" Vesper eyes his mother with slight resentment. "Attitude." His mother reminded him and he just sighed again.
-
Upon arriving to school, Vesper pushes open the doors to the lobby of Wallflower district high school. "Back in hell, I suppose." A voice calls from beside him, he looks over and locks eyes with his best friend, Adrian. Adrian had short brown hair that had just begun to snake down his neck, icy blue eyes and a septum piercing. Vesper has been Adrian's friend since he chased away some boys who were picking on Vesper with a lighter and a can of air freshener. Vesper extends his hand to Adrian, Adrian shakes it, they hold their hands above their heads before making the "bull horns" symbol with their pointer and pinky fingers and pounding it to their chests.
As Vesper and Adrian make their way down the hallway, they couldn't help but notice the amount of people carrying bright pink flyers in their hands. "What is..." Vesper looks over to Adrian. "Hell if I know, man." He replies, quickly noticing that a short blond haired boy appears in front of them. "Birthday boy said everyone's invited." The blond haired boy rolls his eyes, takes a pink flyer and shoves it into Vesper's chest, causing him to cough. "Thanks a lot dipshit!" Vesper calls, his eyebrows furrowing as the blond haired boy walks away. Vesper looks down at the pink flyer. "Paul R.'s birthday, huh?" Adrian looks over to Vesper. Vesper shrugs and reads on, "558 Vulture Burrow Lane." Vesper finishes. "Isn't that totally fucked church over there?" Adrian asks. "Huh... yeah I think it is." Vesper nods quickly, his eyebrow raised as someone shoves Adrian to the side, clearly trying to get through. "Watch where you're going Dickweed!" Adrian hisses, the person turning around to catch Adrian's eyes. "What did you say to me you little punk." Davie. A hotheaded football player, and one of the most intimidating 10th graders you've ever seen, grabbed Adrian's shirt and lifted him up by it, just like you'd see in the movies. "Hey! Dude! Put him down!" Vesper yells as he walks up to Davie. Davie just hits Adrian off the locker and drops him to the floor like he was some sort of flesh rag doll. Vesper felt his chest begin to rise and fall irregularly as he stared up at the boy in front of him. "Whatcha' gonna do now, Whitlock, cry? Did I hurt the Satan worshippers feelings by beating up his companion? Hmm?" Davie mocks him, all the while a wild, maniacal expression spreads across his face. Vesper approaches him quickly, bringing his knee up and planting it right in Davie's groin. He falls to the ground, his hands between his legs. "You- you stupid little satanist! You're evil." Davie hisses angrily as he tries to get to his feet, but he feels a tense pressure on his chest, its Vesper's combat boots. "You're pathetic, Davie. Nothing but pathetic, where do you think a football spot is going to get you? Huh? Nowhere! Me and Adrian on the other hand, however, have something going for us. I think if you build that confidence and realize you're one of the worst football players on the team, maybe you'll be able to tell that Adrian and I are above you." Vesper takes his foot off of Davie and turns on his heels, making his way over to Adrian, Vesper extends his arm out to Adrian, who grabs it and hoists himself upwards again. "Everything good? You aren't hurt or nothing, yeah?" Vesper asks and Adrian just rubs his head. "No I'm.. I'm good, just hurts a bit." Adrian claims with his eyes squinted shut. Vesper rubs the back of Adrian's head. Adrian regains control of his body and stands upright again. "I'm good, man I'm good." Adrian makes the bullhorns symbol with his fingers again, and so does Vesper. They both slam their fists against their chests and part ways for first period.
-
Vesper sits in his first period class with his legs extended out under his desk. His pen tapping to a certain rhythm he made up in his head. Then suddenly, the classroom phone rings, his teacher picks it up and nods. Her eyes flash to Vesper and then back as she hangs up the phone. "Vesper, you're wanted in the deans office." She mutters. Vesper just nods and gets up from his seat, hearing people around him mutter about what he may be leaving for.
As Vesper makes his way to the deans, he looks to the side to see if anybody was called down with him, it didn't seem that way until he got to the front office. Vesper knocks on the door, flipping his long blonde hair out from around his shoulders, he combs it back with his fingers as the door swings open. "Vesper Whitlock, nice to have you, go ahead and take a seat." Dean of students, Mrs. Yoko answered with her hair tied in a neat bun like it always was. As soon as Vesper walked into the office, he spotted Davie and he nods to himself. "So he really is a pussy." Vesper says to himself with a sly grin plastered on his face. He sits down on a chair in front of him, beside Davie.
"So I'm being told that you brutally tormented Davie into..." Mrs. Yoko trails off and Davie continues for her. "Possessive submission, ma'm." He finishes. "Yeah, okay, so... I just wanted to hear your side of the story before I make any needed or unneeded punishments." Mrs. Yoko continues where she left off. "I didn't brutally torment anybody, he picked up my friend by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against a locker." Vesper says, shaking his head as his hair falls back in place where it was before. "You won't believe him, will you Mrs. Yoko! He's a Satan worshipper!" Davie whines, he sounds like a dying troll when he does whine around. "I don't warship Satan." Vesper declares shaking his head again. "Oh Mrs. Yoko, dont give in!" Davie begs. "Okay, I think that's enough. You both shouldn't have allowed it to get as out of hand as it did. Yes or no?" Mrs. Yoko shakes her head hearing Davie's pleas. "No, we shouldn't have let it get that out of hand and we promise not to let that happen ever again." Vesper says with a sarcastic, almost mocking smile. "Is that what she wanted?" He asks himself. "Perfect, you both are free to go now. I expect we won't have any more issues. Yes?" Mrs. Yoko raises her eyebrows in await of an answer. "Right, Mrs. Yoko." Vesper was quick to suck up to authority, even though he didn't seem to care too much about it. Mrs. Yoko shoos them away with a nod. "I expect that to be true."
On their way out, Vesper looks over to Davie, he flips his hair off of his shoulders again. Davie glares. "I know what you are, Whitlock. Just you wait." Davie huffs a loud sigh as his chest puffs out. Vesper looks up at him and scoffs, turning around and flipping him the middle finger over his shoulder.
-
When the lunch bell rings, Vesper stands outside the men's restroom in await of his best friend. Sure enough, Adrian comes around the corner with his arms crossed behind his neck. "Adrian! Dude we have got to sue the school system." Vesper says with an angry huff out his nostrils. Adrian tilts his head. "What?" He questions. "Well first, they don't give us any classes together, and next Davie got me called down to Mrs. Yoko's office for 'tormenting him into possessive submission'" Vesper rolls his eyes, looking at his feet and then back up at Adrian who has his eyebrows bunched together. "But he tried to beat my ass?" Adrian turns and begins walking towards the cafeteria. "That's what I told her! She left us both off with a 'warning'" Vesper makes a high, mocking voice to make fun of Mrs. Yoko. "A warning? What did you do!?" Adrian begins to sound a little irritated. "I let it get too out of hand, I guess" Vesper and Adrian claim an empty table, black backpacks slamming down on the table causing some people to look up at them. Adrian flips them off and makes his way to the line to get his lunch.
"She told you that?" Adrian says when they're both sat back down at their lunch table. "Uh huh." Vesper hums, his mouth stuffed full of food. "But he beat me up for no reason." Adrian states with his eyes blazing with anger. "Yeah, I know, but Mrs. Yoko would rather die than punish a football player. Davie kept saying that I was a Satan worshiper?" Vesper shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "I'm going to put that simpleminded kid in the ground if he isn't careful." Adrian hisses. "Metal." Vesper mumbles under his breath.
Standing up, tray in hand Vesper and Adrian walk to return their trays. Out of the corner of his eye, vesper noticed a blue letterman jacket. He didn't think anything of it until he heard Adrian call out to him. "Dude! Watch!" Vesper spins around only to be met with a face full of pizza sauce and ranch. Davie. He heard voices around him gasping and laughing. "Ohh... gosh, I'm sorry! Why don't you pick up those boots of yours and maybe that won't happen!" Davie holds his head up and walks past Vesper. Vesper just stares, his chest heaving angrily as he wipes his eyes of the pizza sauce. "Dude, he's not worth it. Cmon, you can just wear my gym shirt." Adrian says, looking over vespers shoulder to see Davie high fiving a bunch of boys around him. All football players, all about the same height. Like copy and pastes of each other. Adrian just wraps his arms around vesper and walks him to the bathroom. The rest of the cafeteria was silent, watching them walk out. As soon as they left, the room behind them exploded into a roar of laughter.
"I just don't understand the point." Vesper states, pacing back and forth in front of Adrian. Adrian's gym shirt was plain black which Vesper didn't seem to mind wearing all that much. "The point of.. me giving you the shirt?" Adrian asks with a tilt in his head. "No, dimwit. The point of Davie picking on us all the time. Not like we did anything to him until this morning." Vesper shrugs with his eyebrows raised. "Well you know how Davie is, right? He'll do anything to get back at someone who humiliated him. Even if that means purposefully spilling pizza sauce and ranch all over you." Adrian states patting Vesper on the shoulder. "We’ll show him, though. One day we're going to be on a huge stage. 'Is that Vesper Whitlock and Adrian Reed? Those losers from 10th grade? Gee golly gosh! I wish I'd been nicer to them!' And you know what, Adrian?" Vesper starts, but doesn't let Adrian answer. "We won't need to worry about him, because we won't even remember of his painful existence." Vesper puts his hands on his hips with his head held high.
-"You know this party is about to be totally awesome, right?" Adrian asks as he and Vesper walk to attend their last class of the day. "Yeah, I mean full of a bunch of conforming losers, but nonetheless anything to get my reputation shiny." Vesper says. Tugging on a strand of his pure blond hair. "That's going to be... difficult given you just beat up the lord of all conforming douchebags right in the middle of the hallway a couple of hours ago, and also had pizza sauce and ranch splattered all over you in front of the whole cafeteria. I love your confidence though." Adrian gives Vesper a firm pat on the back, Vesper winced, it stung a little but he never said anything. "Davie is convinced I'm a spawn of Satan." Vesper rolls his eyes and hoists his book bag over to his more dominant arm, his hair getting caught in the process. "That right? I always knew he was a religious nut." Adrian states "matter of factly". "There's no way you can miss it. He sports around like he hasn't sinned in his life." "I'm sure beating up an outcasted metalhead isn't exactly a desirable action in the eyes of god." Vesper sighs before pushing the door open to his last class of the day, the party tonight was going to be crucial to Vespers reputation. He was planning on showing up, and he was going to do whatever he could to get all eyes on him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
As Vesper jumped out of his rickety van, he eyes the church up and down. "Looks normal to me, I don't know what Adrian was talking about." He thinks before slamming the door shut and getting out. From across the dark, parking lot, under a streetlight, he spotted Adrian. He was waving like an idiot. Vesper raised his hand to wave back, but Adrian didn't see. Vesper walked over to him slowly and raised his hand in the air, slamming it down onto his chest like they always had. "Let's blow this shit up! ... well ..." Adrian stops and thinks for a minute. "Just..." Adrian stumbles over his words, Vesper stares at him. "Let's do this." Vesper snickers, blowing air out of his nose, looking up and away with a small smile on his face. "Yes.. let's do this!" Adrian puts his hands on his hips and practically launches himself off of the light pole he is leaning against. Vesper puts his hands in the pockets of his black zip-up hoodie and looks the church up and down, getting a sudden pang of anxiety. He shakes his head and looks at Adrian as they begin to walk to the church's doors. They were glass, but they could see the flashing of some blue-purple lights on the inside. Vesper pushes the doors open and almost puts a hole in the wall beneath the door. "Ehh... oops." Vesper looks at the small dent in the wall and laughs anxiously. "Great job, Vesper." Snapped Adrian jokingly, Vesper shoves him. "Shut up." Vesper grumbles, trying not to laugh as they hear the music bumping inside. "Looks like they have a live act?" Adrian shrugs and looks over at Vesper again. He notices that Vesper's eyes are narrowed, angry even. "Hey, dude cmon' what's up?" Adrian's hand hovers above Vesper's shoulder, but Vesper steps forward. "That 'live act' you're talking about is fucking Davie." Vesper spins around and looks at Adrian, whose eyes are wide. "I didn't know he was into music." Adrian shakes his head. "Listen we don't have to—" Adrian feels his arm being grabbed and pulled along, and he stumbles forward. "Let's go." Vesper pulls the next door open and music begins to drift into the open spaces around them. It wasn't loud, it was calm, poppy music. "What is this? Indie? God, they do it awfully." Before Vesper can turn, Adrian is gone, in the crowd somewhere. "Some best friend you are," Vesper mumbles to himself as he nudges through the thick crowd of people, ending up at the front of the stage. Up on the stage, in front of everyone was Davie... and he was... "singing?! Really?" Vesper blurts out. Davie looks down, hearing that comment, his eyes burn into Vesper, a smile growing on his lips. "Oh, dear lord." Vesper mumbles, turning on his heels and bumping back through the crowd before smacking head-first into a girl. "Hey! Watch it... Vesper?" Her face twisted up, it was obvious she was a little drunk. She was slurring her words around and, after a moment, she leaned up next to Him. "Hey uh, remind me who you are again?" Vesper tilts his head. "Georgina! You know, from... science. Uhm... calculus?" The girl waves her hands around before spinning onto him, her hand trailing down the back of his neck. "Heey yeah, Georgina... nice to... see you but can you not touch me." It came out as more of a demand than a question, but she wasn't budging, she just took his arm led him to the front of the crowd, and took his other hand in hers. "what in the hell are you doing?" Vesper looks down at her, his eyes wide with embarrassment bordering on mortification. "Cmon' losen up, Vesper. Dance!" She spins him off of her and he stops and looks at her. "Georgina.. come on, I-I can't do that." Vesper shakes his head, he backs away, and runs off, not wanting to notice the beyond-infuriated look in Davie's eyes when he does run away. Wait. The look in Davies's eyes?
Georgina... Georgie... Georgina is Davie's girlfriend.
-
"Awe.. where's Vesper." Adrian looks around stumbling back into the kitchen. He confidently taps someone on the shoulder, they spin around and look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Have you s.. uh.. have you seen Vesper Whitlock?" Adrian didn't notice how much he slurred his words, but the person just looked at him and laughed. "Gonna have to speak up bro.." Adrian notices it's a boy and the boy punches his shoulder playfully. "Have you seen Vesper Whitlock... bro!?" Adrian yells back. "Ahh.. that weird emo kid? Nah, but you can hang with me, yeah? Sounds like a good idea right?" The boy looked weird to Adrian right now, but Adrian just nodded and followed him along.
"I wonder where in God's name Vesper is." Adrian's thoughts were overtaken by the strong alcohol pumping in his system and the booming laughter around him. He looks around at everyone and smiles. "Were they laughing at.. me?" Adrian thinks again. "What about another story huh Adrian?" Someone had addressed the question to him, but everyone sounded the same to him recently. "What? Oh.. yeah yeah okay, another story." Adrian notices he seems to be getting a little out of it. "This one's about my best friend, Vesper!" Adrian smiles looking around, noticing that not many people seemed to know who he was talking about. "You know, blond-haired, kinda skinny, tall? Wears a big cross on his neck?" Adrian lists off the characteristics of his friend. "Ahh yeah! The loser! Haha." Someone nods, but Adrian still isn't able to make out his face, or who he was. "He's not a—" Adrian was cut off by someone sitting down next to him. "You know..." the person wraps their arms around him, Adrian turns to him with a cocked head. "Huh?" Adrian bobbed around a little before noticing it was the boy that had invited him over. "you should just get rid of that 'Vesper' loser. we're way cooler than that kid anyways. he's just a total dick, his only redeeming quality is that he's kinda funny. me on the other hand, you've heard of me. star quarterback on the football team, I'm funny I'm popular... what else could you want?" The boy in front of him seemed to just be talking gibberish at Adrian. He could think of about a million other things he wanted in a friendship. Vesper wasn't a dick, he was just harsh. Adrian could see why, too. All people seemed to want to do was tease him. that just brought Adrian's thoughts back to the present where he found that he still didn't know where Vesper was. "Listen..." Adrian starts out, the boy pulls back and looks at Adrian. "What's up?" The boy says with a smile on his face. "Just-just give me your number. I'll get to you later." Adrian knows that's a lie, but he didn't show it fully. The blond-haired boy just nods, writes his phone number down on a piece of paper and hands it to Adrian. "Here, see you around?" The boy says with a small smile plastered on his face. "Yeah, see you." Adrian was still tipsy, but he stands up and walks off. "Where are you, Vesper." he thinks to himself, until he sees something.-Vesper disappears in the crowd like a fish in a school of its own species. he didn't stick out if he didnt want to. he makes his way to the kitchen where he spots his friend. "Adrian!" he calls, but a tall, strong looking boy steps in front of him. "Who're you?" He grumbles, his arms crossed in front of him. "Hey, yeah, dude im Vesper and thats my best friend, Adrian. I need in there." Vesper looks up at the boy with a cheesy smile. "You're telling me that you're friends with that brunette boy sitting in there?" Vesper looks back behind the tall boy in front of him to see Adrian uncomfortably push a boy off of him and stand up. The boy seemed like he wasnt taking any BS from Vesper. only, it wasn't BS at all, that was Vesper's best friend. "Look, dude, im not looking for any trouble or anything from you. I am literally just trying to get to my friend." Vesper was angry, but his demand came out as a worthless beg. "Beat it." The boy looks down at Vesper, arms still crossed over his chest as his eyes burned holes in Vesper. "Cmon' can't you just let me in for two seconds?" Vesper asks, but instead of replying, the boy takes a fist full of Vesper's coat and tosses him backwards like it was nothing to him. Vesper slides across the polished hardwood floor. He looks up at the boy, but hes turned his back to Vesper, Vesper gets to his feet, and brushes himself off. He curses the boy under his breath. "Whatever." He shakes his fist in the boys direction with another roll of his eyes. Vesper turns around, eyes closed and slams into something it didn't seem hard, however. He opens his eyes and looks up. All this time he hadn't noticed that the music had stopped.
Vespers eyes grow wide looking up at what he'd run into. "Vesper, what a coincidence!" The voice was familiar, deep. It was Davie. "Uhm... hi, Davie. Would you mind if I slip past you?" Vesper asks, looking up at Davie with a sheepish smile. "Ahh... of course you can!" Vesper creeps past, but he feels a pinching pressure on his side as his feet are lifted up off the ground. He looks back to see that Davie has now lifted him up off the ground and tucked him under his arm. "Dude! Let me go!" Vesper screams. "No can do, sorry." Davie looks down at Vesper, a sly smirk itched at the corners of his mouth. "Davie I swear. Let me down!" Vespers eyes, wide with terror looked ahead as they approach a door with a sign on it that read 'men's'. "I said no can do. Now stop whining and maybe I won't kill you right here." Davie grumbles his eyes now narrowed with fury lining his pupils. That's it? I'm just gonna die, huh? Vesper mumbles. He just decides to stop fighting, maybe his 'knight in shining armor' will show up in no time and save him like in some stupid cheesy kids fairytale.
Right now, though Davie shoves the door open as if it had gotten in his way on purpose. Vesper opens his eyes, he hadn't noticed the four other guys from Davies band that had followed him. One stood in front of the door and the other two in the handicapped stall in front of him. Davie puts Vesper down on his feet, but shoved him forward. "Go on! You think you can show up to this show and try and take my girlfriend from me? You're pathetic, Vesper. Is this some sort of attempt to get back at me?" Davie hisses, his voice sounded as if it was laced with the finest, most poisonous venom. "What? No, Davie listen. She— she came onto me. Dragged me out in front of you. Listen I didn't mean to—" he was cut off by a heavy slam into his chest that made him stumble back and cough. He landed in the hands of another strong guy he recognized from the football team. "So you're telling me my girlfriend would just go out and scour the crowd for the dorkiest loser she could find and just invite him out? You make me laugh, Vesper, you really do." He puts his hand on his chest as if to force out a laugh, he did, but it came out like a villain in a Disney movie. "You've got another thing coming if you think that I'd believe someone like you, Vesper. First you make a fool out of me in the middle of the hallway, and now you come onto my girlfriend out of nowhere at a party where all eyes are meant to be on me? I aught to just leave you bleeding now, but I won't." Vesper was still restrained by the strong boy behind him, he tries to punch out of his grip but his hands caged at his forearms. "Do get off to this? Huh? Do you get some sort of high picking on kids like me? Are you seriously that ill in the head?" Vesper hisses back, though his voice was shaking. "Get off to is probably the wrong way to phrase it. And it's not kids like you. It's you, Vesper." Davie gives him some sort of weird smile that looked like he may have just suffered a stroke. "Oh so you have some sort of thing for me, huh? Is that it?" Vesper hisses. "No. I'm not gay, Vesper. You just piss me off so bad. You're some sort of satanist... or at least a witch of some sort. You play in your stupid metal band and then you show up here, thinking you're hot shit and you come onto my girlfriend." Davie turns to his friends, nods to them and they turn, Vesper in hand. "I already told you! She came up to me, this isn't about me! It's a talk you should have with your girlfriend. And you know what? I don't blame her for wanting to get away from you!" Vesper feels a sharp pain in his chin and knees, but mostly in his chin as they slam him onto the ground in front of the toilet. He slammed his chin down onto the bowl itself. It hurt, he tries to lift his hands up, but they were restrained behind him. Eyes wide with fear, he calls out. "No, cmon'! Just let me go!" He turns his wide eyes up to Davie, he grabs a hand full of Vesper's hair and pulls. Vesper yelps and calls out again for help. "Shut up, Satanist. You're making it worse for yourself." Before Vesper knew it his head was underwater, Toilet water. He thanked god silently that it was clean, but just as he thought that, he heard it flush. Vesper heard distinct laughter around him, his hair was yanked and his head pulled upwards and out. His eyes burned and his lungs filled with air. "The power of Christ repels you!" He heard Davie and his friends chant as they pushed his head back downwards. Vesper then realized how hard it was to hold your breath underwater. His lung capacity was not good and he felt the voices of Davie and his friends fade into the background when his head was pulled up again. He gasped hungrily for air, his head plunged back under the water. They kept him under for longer, their voices faded away
And away
...and away
And the darkness crept into his mind and encased his brain, he was unable to think anything other than I'm dying. I'm going to die. He wondered how his friends would find him, how Adrian would find him. He wondered how his family would react. Soon, his thoughts went as blank as his mind was and he felt his body go limp. You know, they don't ever prepare you to die by swirly do they? Well.. I guess they don't prepare you to die at all, at least not at 17.
-
"Where is he?" Adrian thought as he pushed through the crowd of people. He hadn't noticed that the crowd parted when he walked. He also hadn't noticed that the music had stopped until he reached the front of the crowd. He looked up at the stage planning on seeing Davie. Instead, he was met with an empty stage. Turning to the crowd, in a drunk-ish voice he spots someone. "Hey, you, listen have you seen a tall pale boy. He's got real blond hair and he's wearing an Iron Maiden shirt." He anxiously fidgets with his sleeve and the person turns to him and shakes their head. He sighs. "Thanks anyways." Pushing back through the crowd he asks a couple more people who shake their heads as well. One person eventually speaks up, Georgina. "Hey! Adrian! Have you seen—" she looks at him with a tilted head, noticing that tears prickled his eyes. "Adrian?" Adrian turns around to her. "Yes, Georgina?" He meets her eyes, though it was painful. "Who were you looking for?" He asks, trying to ignore the tears that fell down his cheeks, he was silently hoping that they were looking for the same person. "Davie." She says with a sheepish smile. "I haven't seen him, sorry. I'm also... uh looking for someone." Adrian swallows hard, trying to keep any more tears from escaping his eyes. "Who's that?" Georgina's eyes were bright, full of life and willingness to help, she seemed to recover from the peculiar punch she had ingested before. "Vesper." Adrian utters his name and Georgina's eyes went blank. "He's missing?" She looks at him, her once blank eyes now full of worry. "And...Davie's missing." Adrian completes her thought. "Oh.. no no that's not good. That's not good at all, Adrian." Georgina's eyes never diverted from his. "No, it's not, Georgie." He sighs. "Cmon' I think I know where they went." Georgina grabs Adrian's wrist and pulls him through the crowd. The door to the men's restroom slams open, leaving a hole behind in the drywall. Amidst the fog from the fog machine, as if in a movie, stands Davie and his friends holding a lock of pale blond hair like Perseus who's just killed Medusa. "The bathroom, Adrian. Get to the bathroom!" Georgina pushed Adrian forward. "I drowned that sinner!" Davie announces. People look around and begin to clap slowly, unsure what he means. "Georgie, get to him, and make him move. Distract him." Adrian looks over his shoulder to catch Georgina nodding. She steps in front of Adrian and stumbles out to Davie, pretending to be a drunk 'Damsel in destress'. "Oh! My big strong boyfriend!" She closes one eye but cracks the other open as if to urge Adrian forward. Adrian nods and runs to the door. He slams the door open, the lights were out. He feels across the wall until he finds some switches. He flicks one on and it takes about two seconds for it to actually turn on. The light above-head flickers and buzzes. It was an off putting yellow color. There were three stalls. Two normal sized stalls and a handicapped stall. From the handicapped stall he saw the figure of a human curled in the fetal position. "Please don't be dead please don't be dead." Adrian chants to himself as he cracks the door open there sat his friend, twitching—or shivering he couldn't tell. "Vesper!" Adrian calls as he runs to his friend, Vesper's hair was drenched. He couldn't see the bald spot from the hair Davie yanked out, but he saw his bloody scalp which dyed Vesper's pale blond hair red. Adrian slams the door shut and locks it. He watches Vesper as his body twitches, his eyes fluttered open and he sits up, only to cough out plenty of water before passing back out. Adrian rushes to cup his hands under Vesper's head just so it didn't hit the hard tile floor. Adrian sighs, hoisting his friend up bridal style in his arms. Adrian carefully unlocks the stall door and walks out of the stall. He looks down at his friend, he was soaked and his head lolled over Adrian's arms Vesper's damp hair stuck to his arms. "Jesus, Vesper." Adrian grumbles, grasping the doorknob of the bathroom door, Cracking it open, slipping out around the crowd and out the glass doors. Adrian loads Vesper into the back seat of Vesper's van, convincing himself he'd be back in the morning to collect his own car.
-
Adrian pulled into his driveway, slamming the van door shut and collecting his friend back out of the back seat of his van. "How can a skinny dude be so damn heavy?" Adrian rolls his eyes and closes the van door with his foot trying to keep Vesper's head propped up on Adrian's shoulder. Adrian pulls his keys out of his pocket, holding them with his teeth as he approaches the door to his house, taking a deep breath, he unlocks the door and steps inside. Noticing that his parents were nowhere to be seen, he bolts up his stairs and runs back the hallway into his room at the end. Adrian slams the door shut to his room with his foot, just as he did with Vesper's van door. He lies Vesper down on his bed and covers him. Adrian carefully opens the door to his room again and hooks a quick right into the bathroom, he pulls a colorful polka dotted towel off of his metal towel rack and makes his way back into his room.
He lifts up Vesper's still-damp head and lies the towel he collected down under his head and allows it to fall back and hit the pillow beneath him. Adrian then fishes out a sleeping bag from his closet and lays it down on the hard wooded floors of his room, he sighs.
"The things I do for you, Vesper."
He mumbles and lays down on the sleeping bag, quickly drifting off and letting sleep incase him in darkness.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Vesper feels his heavy eyes fluttering open, he feels an unworldly cough brew in his throat before unleashing it. He tasted some water at the back of his throat, leaning over the bed where he was sitting he spit up pure water. With a groan, he lays back, staring upwards. He had no idea where he was, he holds his head as he squints against the light of the sun shining through the window directly across from him.
"Vesper?"
The familiar voice hit him like a truck. Adrian. "Adrian?" He looks around and notices that this was Adrian's room and he had absolutely no idea. "You're awake. Yeah we probably just won't show up to school today. You had a gnarly run in with Davie last night." If the sound of Adrian's voice was a truck, this was a train. Everything hit him all at once. Being held under the water, Davie and his friends chants, his lungs fighting for air. The last thing he remembers is being discarded on the ground like a rag doll. Above all else, he remembers what lead him into all of that. Georgie.
"Vesper? Are you alright, dude?"
"I'm fine."
Vesper replies, he finds himself staring off, thinking. He can't hate Georgina, but he felt like he should. She led him to be nearly drowned. "It was Georgina. Wasn't it?" He asks, looking up at Adrian. His gaze wasn't harsh, but it wasn't happy it was painfully neutral. "Georgina? What about her?" Adrian looks at Vesper. His head flopped to one side as he cocked an eyebrow. "It was her plan. To get me humiliated and killed. She thinks I'm evil." Adrian noticed a twinge of devastation somewhere deep in Vesper's eyes. "No, Vesper. That wasn't her intent at all. She cares about you, Vesper." Adrian says, putting a hand over his heart as if to farther prove that he is being genuine. "Cares about me? Yeah right. Prissy pop superstar cares about me nice joke, Adrian." Vesper was being sarcastic, but Adrian speaks up. "It's not a joke, Vesper. She knew something bad happened to you. She distracted Davie for me, so I could get to you." Adrian drops his hand from his heart and puts it on the floor next to him. "Something else had to have been going on, but, I'll believe you Adrian." Vesper shrugs and looks over to his friend who looked quite unamused.
"You'll just believe me. You don't trust that I'm telling you the truth?" Adrian mutters, his voice getting lower.
"Listen, Adrian. You don't understand what I heard, she had to have done it on purpose."
Adrian gave Vesper the benefit of the doubt, being that he had just woken up from a near death experience. He just shrugs in response.Vesper climbs into his van from the parking lot of Adrian's house that afternoon. It shook as he got in and turned the keys in the ignition. His hands grasped the steering wheel, but his head fell back against the headrest.
"Why would she have done that without any reason."
He thinks before his hand moves to put the car into reverse. His head raced with millions of thoughts as he sped down the road, clear until he pulled into his driveway. With a long, hard sigh he opens the door of his van and hopped out.
"Vesper!" His mother calls as he walks through the door. "Yeah, mom, hi. I spent the night at Adrian's."
"You should have told me! I thought you were dead!" His mother scolds Him. "Yeah, sorry. I'll tell you next time yea?" Vesper leans down and kisses his mom on the cheek before quickening his pace to the basement, he barrels down the stairs. There, his guitar waited for him, lying against his amp as if it were begging him to pick it up. Vesper grabs it by the neck and hoists the strap over his shoulder. Vesper's guitar was heavy, but he normally forgot about that as he played. He grabs a flimsy, white pick from the stool wooden stool next to him kicking his amp on with the tip of his foot and bending over to crank each knob to ten. Vesper closes his eyes, taking another long sigh in through his nose and out through his mouth before sliding the pick down the fretboard. The guitar made a horrible wailing noise, but it was music to Vesper. He starts to play something similar to an Iron Maiden Track, but with little twinges to certain notes. He holds his head high, as if on stage he liked to imagine a large crowd below him, being able to control their very movements with just the strum of his hand. He allows his body to fall backwards onto his bed behind him, continuing to pluck around after he finished his writings. He didn't write anything down, which he cursed himself for, but he remembered how it sort of went. Plucking and strumming at his guitar, he stares at his ceiling before looking up.
"Vesper. Is there any way you could... keep it down. I'm trying to sleep."
His mother appears around the stairway, standing with her hands on her hips.
"Ah, yeah sorry ma." Vesper nods, practically tossing his guitar up over his shoulders and then pulling himself to his feet, walking over and setting it down against the Amplifier. While he was over there, he turns the amp off. "Thank you, Honey." His mother comes over and wraps him in a hug. "Night." Vesper utters before his mother walks back upstairs. Vesper allows his body to slam into the mattress below him, feeling conflicted. He knew he would come face to face with Davie at school tomorrow, he knew he'd see Georgie. He felt bad about what he said about her, he didn't know why, but it seemed that he should be giving her the benefit of the doubt rather than blaming her for the run in with Davie. Vesper rolls over with a grunt allowing sleep to overcome him.Vesper squeezes his eyes shut as "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden Blasts into his ears, he grabs his phone and clicks the "stop" button groaning again. Soon after, he hops up and scours his room for a pair of jeans, he picks up the nearest black skinny jeans and his sliced up Ozzy Osbourne shirt. A lot of his shirts were cut at the sleeves it was helpful in the summer. He pulled on his converse and grabs his bookbag, running upstairs to grab something to eat.
"Vesper. G'morning."
His mother gives him a wave, she was nose deep in a magazine. She was the only person he knew that still enjoyed looking at magazines.
"Morning, mom." Vesper grins, turning quickly on his heels to get to the bathroom. His long, platinum blond hair stuck out in just about every direction imaginable. "God, I'm a mess." He mutters, grabbing the nearest brush and his leave-in conditioner. He smooths his staticky hair down to his head with the conditioner and his brush. He looks to his right, finding the stick of his mom's eyeliner that he had "borrowed" and never gave back. He snatches it up and pulls his eyelid down to scribble on it before blending it into his skin. It made him look more tired than he already was. He pulls his lower lid down to expose his waterline gently dragging the pencil on it until it was dark, almost black. He messes with his hair a little, allowing his bangs to fall down like curtains around his face.
"Vesper!"
His mother calls.
"Coming! Coming! Just a sec!"
"Now Vesper!"
Vesper rolls his eyes and hoists his bookbag over his shoulder and bolted out the door the doorknob bouncing against the doorstop. "Here I am, happy?" Vesper holds his arms out. "Very. Now cmon' you have a home room to be attending."
-
Vesper hops out of his mom's car, waving to her as he backs away from it. The wind whipped his hair around.
"So much for looking clean today." He thinks to himself rolling his eyes as he gets to the front glass doors of his high school. Taking a palm to the door handle the door flings open and he sighs.
"Here we go.." Vesper thinks just as a hand plants on his shoulder.
"Vesper!" The voice boomed behind him. Vesper's eyes dart around before turning.
"Adrian. God, don't scare me like that." Vesper puts a hand across his chest as if he were about to suffer a heart attack. "Sorry! Sorry... how have you been? Any better?" Adrian was always talkative, but never this talkative. He must just be excited to return to school. "Yeah, not coughing up any more water... so I think I'm good." Vesper nods turning with Adrian to walk down the hallways to their homeroom class. "I totally thought you were dead, Vesper." Adrian explains, his hand outward. "Yeah, I thought I was too." He replies with a forced chuckle. "Listen, I'm not looking to see Davie at all today. Maybe we can just eat our lunch in the bathrooms today." Adrian proposes the idea with a small sympathetic smile on his face. "You don't have to do that, Adrian." Vesper replies putting an arm around his friend. "Trust me, I don't want to see him any more than you do." Vesper raises a brow, looking over to him. "How do you know I don't want to see him?" Vesper asks his eyebrows bunched at the middle of his forehead. "Well if the look on your face as you walked in today wasn't enough, you were nearly killed by him. I wouldn't want to meet face to face with anybody after that. You're seriously a soldier showing up today." Adrian brings his hand up to pat Vesper's. "Right. My face really gave that all away?"
"No, but I know you, Vesper. You only have that look when you don't want to show up somewhere. 7th grade, after I chased those dickweeds with the lighter. You had that look on your face the day after." Adrian smiles as they arrive to their homeroom class. "Right." Vesper replies, walking in. As he did, everyone goes silent, what nobody told him was that Davie had announced to everyone that he was dead. A few people turned to their friends to whisper something, others just stared. You'd think being nearly drowned would raise your social status. Turns out, it actually drops it. Vesper sinks into his seat with a sigh. He sinks down, keeping his knees close to the top of the desk.The bell rings for third period, all day Vesper had been the talk of the school, and I'm not talking in the popular, cool bad boy way. In the 'dude look at that freak, shouldn't he be dead?' Way. In a way, however, Vesper was lucky—Davie hadn't shown himself at all today. Vesper just figured this was gods way of telling him he was lucky. Everything has a negative impact, but also a positive one.
Negative; people think you're a walking corpse
Positive; Davie is nowhere to be seen.
He steps foot in AP US History, all eyes turn to him you know the drill, and so does Vesper. He sighs. "Yeah, I'm alive, what about it?" He spits to the people in front of him, who turn their attention back to the desks in front of them. Vesper slowly walks to his desk, sitting down. Next to him sat a boy with a small pointy nose and a painfully square head. He wore glasses and his eyes were definitely too close together.
"Is it true that you almost died at that party!?" He snorts, pushing his glasses back up onto his head.
"I don't know, Four eyes, do you take your Chromebook to the bathroom with a picture of Gorgina Campbell on it?" Vesper glares at him, the kid snorts, pushing his glasses up again. He noticed that this kids glasses needed serious adjustments.
"Well— no! I—" 'Four eyes' stammered. "Right, so I suggest you keep your eyes straight before I tell Davie then it'll be you and not me." That shut the kid up, and painted his face a satisfying shade of red. Just as that happened, the Teacher's phone trills causing all eyes to turn to the front of the room. Oddly, that made Vesper relax a little, until his teacher's voice boomed across the room.
"Vesper. The counselor wants to see you."
A groan almost erupted from Vespers lips as all eyes turn to him, he heard a couple of people "oooooh" before his teacher corrected them "are we in elementary school anymore!?" He grumbled. Vesper just gets to his feet, hoisting his bookbag over his shoulder and pretty much bolting out of the room."Vesper!" Adrian's voice calls down the hallway.
"Thank god." Vesper lets out a low sigh of relief as Adrian paces up beside him.
"Any idea on what this is about or..." Adrian continues, looking over at Vesper, who shakes his head. "It can't be about the party, right?" He asks again. "No, can't be. Sure, the whole school was there, but telling on us would be like telling on themselves anyways." Vesper actually verbally replies this time as they turn the doorknob to a room with a sign that reads 'Guidance'. Inside sat the guidance counselor, nobody else accompanied her, which made Adrian and Vesper both relax a little.
"Boys! I heard you two are in a little band, hm?" Their guidance counselor looks between both of them, a plastic-like grin on her face. Vesper and Adrian nod, no smiles accompanied their faces.
"Well.. for senior high dance this year, I was thinking of getting a few musical acts. It will be at the Skyline night club out in Fieldview."
Music to Vesper's ears. Fieldview was a small city on the outside of town, a place for them to get the audience they needed.
"Well do it."That afternoon, after school, Adrian stayed behind to use the band room to practice on his bass. In a separate room, he heard the banging of drums. He didn't seem to think anything of it as he plugged his Amplifier in and cranked the settings and began to pluck and strum, looking over a few of the songs he and Vesper agreed on. As he plucked he began to hear a familiar beat: Paranoid by Black Sabbath. He wondered what dude could be making such a ruckus. Whoever it was he sounded really good, and they were in desperate need of a drummer, especially with prom being in a week. Adrian sets his bass down and follows the sound out of the door of the room he was practicing in. He peers through each room until he finds one with someone occupying it. There sat.. a girl. Her brunette hair pulled back into a tight bun a few pieces left awry to frame her face. He didn't recognize her, so he knocked, walked in and she looked up. Adrian's eyes widened. "Georgina?" He looks at her and her drum kit. "Ah, Adrian hey! Didn't know you played." She used her drum stick to point at her kit. "Oh, no not drums, Bass. My parents aren't big fans of noise in the house, so I come here to practice instead."
"Bass! That's badass!"
Adrian looked at her strangely. "You didnt strike me as the type of person to... listen to this kind of music." Adrian looks at her with a small smirk forming on his lips.
"Oh, yeah! All the time. Davies damn band.. god, it's exhausting hearing him sing the same poppy, Ed Sheeran bullshit all the time. If only they picked up some Megadeth.. hell I wouldn't even mind some Def Leppard. But if I hear shape of you one more time I'm smashing that shitty acoustic guitar with a hammer." That made Adrian's eyes widen more. He also didn't strike her as the violent type. But who is he kidding, everyone has their secrets. "Well... me and Vesper were asked to play a gig at Skyline."
"The nightclub!?"
"Yup. For senior high prom."
"God, that's awesome! How'd you manage that?" Georgina asks with a laugh. Her mouth curved into a happy grin. "Well in third period Vesper and I were called down to the counselor's office and she just dropped it on us. We... uhm don't have a drummer though." Adrian puts a hand on the back of his neck, playing with the hair that snaked down it.
"I'm not busy." Georgina says with a shrug. Adrian drops his hand and thinks for a moment. "Well, I can talk to Vesper, I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to hear you.""What's this about, Adrian?" Vespers voice echos in his basement especially when all of his equipment was moved. "Listen, while I was practicing I heard someone, and... they were pretty good!" Adrian's forehead prickled with sweat as he dragged the back of his palm across it. "They were on drums, and I was wondering.. if maybe you would want to meet them?" Adrian gives a nervous smile. "Sure, Adrian. But don't waste my time." Vesper sighs, he didn't like to be given false hope, even if it was from his best friend. "Good, because she's right here." Adrian steps aside and from behind the stares walks Georgina.
"Absolutely not."
"What? But you haven't even heard her play."
"A girl, on drums? Won't that just ruin your pretty little acrylics?"
"I actually don't wear acrylics—"
"She's really good, Vesper!"
"I said no, Adrian! Do you know how pathetic that'll look?"
"Oh and a two person band doesn't look pathetic? We'll look like the damn white stripes on stage!"
Georgina just stands with her hands crossed, she wasn't buying whatever boy drama was happening in front of her.
"You guys are no better than some of the girls I hang out with." Georgina rolls her eyes and walks up Vesper's stairs.
"Listen, I'll give you time to think about it, and I best believe that you should think about it." Adrian soon follows Georgina up the stairs and out the door.
"Hey, Georgina wait." Adrian follows.
"I thought you said he'd want to meet me." She mumbled, Adrian was always seemed like an emotion reader, and this wasn't just disappointment. He didn't know what exactly he was reading in Georgina, but it wasn't just sadness or disappointment that she wasn't immediately involved in the band. This was deeper, way deeper than that.
"Listen, I think he's just shaken up about the whole thing that happened with Davie. He doesn't want anything to do with him or anything surrounding him right now. Give him time." Adrian puts his hand on Georgie's shoulder and she smiles, but behind her eyes Adrian still saw something that wasn't appreciative or comforted. It looked almost like guilt. "I'll see you tomorrow, Adrian."
Georgina turns and walks to her car, a small yellow punch buggy, causing Adrian's hand to fall from her shoulder. "Yeah, see you Georgie." Adrian mumbles, the look on Georgina's face still puzzled him as he got into his car to leave, pulling out of Vespers driveway and onto the road.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Vesper "woke up" the next morning before his alarm, he didn't sleep at all the night before. He shut it off before jumping up out of bed and running up the basement stairs. All night was spent up thinking about what they would do to get a drummer for their band. The idea of allowing Georgie to join haunted the back of his mind like it would the thoughts of monsters under your bed when you were little. It wasn't so much that she was a girl and more to do with the fact that she was the reason Vesper was almost murdered.Vesper reaches the top of the stairs and hooks a quick left to the hallway and into the bathroom. He turned on the shower, then he puts his hands on the edges of the sink and looks at himself. His hair tangled and staticky, his shirt hooked upwards, one side up over his belly button and the other end down around his hip. He huffed a loud sigh and stepped out of his clothes, allowing the steam and hot water of the shower to encase him as he began to wash himself free of the thoughts he had been having that morning.When he stepped out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist. He dried his hair with the discarded hairdryer that laid next to the sink and brushed it out again. He slipped into some light blue ripped jeans and a Black Sabbath T-shirt. One of the only shirts he hadn't cut up yet. He smeared eyeliner over his face until he looked even more tired than before (if that's even possible).Today, he walked himself to school despite his mom blowing up his phone on the way there. He texted her once that he was walking but, in classic mom fashion, she flooded his phone with warnings:"Don't let anybody talk to you!""Be careful!""Don't take any shortcuts!""Don't smoke or snort anything!"He ignored all of her messages. Nobody would talk to him anyways, so there wasn't much of a point to warn.He arrived to school just as he had left, opening the door with his forearm and walking inside. He walks down the hallways slowly and surely until a hand pats him on the back."Vesper!""Ah, Adrian, what did I tell you about randomly smacking me on the back."Vesper sighs, turning to meet his friends gaze. Adrian smiles, and vesper smiles back. It was sort of a half smile which Adrian picks up on."Something up, dude?" Adrian asks with an eyebrow cocked."Nah, it's nothing, Adrian trust me." Vesper just nods, dismissing Adrian."Whatever you say, Vesper!" Adrian wraps his arm around Vesper, smiling a toothy grin.Vesper drifted through his classes slowly, the whole day went slowly. Just about as slowly as the last, just with less staring and whispering which Vesper silently thanked god about. He was pretty silent throughout the day, that included lunch."So, what are we thinking for a drummer?" Adrian asked, it was clear he was looking for a certain answer, which Vesper didn't give him."Not sure. Maybe we'll put out flyers for tryouts!"Adrian rolls his eyes slightly, which vesper pretended to ignore."Yeah, that's a good idea." He says instead of what he was really thinking. He holds the bull horns symbol up in the air and Vesper follows, ramming their fists into their chests as the bell rings to call for their departure.-"You know, Georgie.""What's up?""I'm really worried for Vesper, dude— uhh dudette."Georgina curls herself upwards and onto her bed sitting upwards instead of upside down like she was."Oh yeah? Why's that?" She brushed a hand through her wavy brown hair before locking her eyes back in Adrian. She had invited him over by phone earlier."It's just, not to talk ill of your fella or anything, but Davie kinda terrorizes him. I think he's really getting fed up over it.""I see that. I feel so bad." Her eyebrows upturned making her expression change from confusion to heavy sympathy. "I want to leave him...""But?""I can't. I just can't. I'm scared of what he'll do to me. Of what he'll do to himself, Adrian you don't understand what kind of person Davie is.""A... bad one?"She huffs a scoff out of her nose causing a smile to tug at the corners of her lips."Well, yes, but he's also quite the manipulator. A con artist of sorts. He'll use his popularity as power against me. He can start rumors with the snap of his fingers, and with the help of all of his little minions that just crowd around him and follow at his command, It'll be even easier for him." She shakes her head, the inch of a smile that played on her face was drooped into a mix of worry and sadness."Oh... I'm sorry. It's just—I think—well, after the whole... drowning thing, he's been real weary of just about anything that's tall and moves, And uh... and you" Adrian puts a hand on the back of his neck and scratched it."Me?""Yeah, you. He just, I think whatever happened at that party, he's convinced it happened because of you." Adrian drops his hand down to the mattress below him and met Georgie's eyes after avoiding them for so long."Oh. Yeah.. I guess he's right." She looks away, hiding her eyes from Adrian's gaze, which told him the one thing he sought out; Georgie was guilty.-As Vesper left his last class of the day, he stopped by his locker, a note flying out and down to his feet. He sighs, picking it up and shoving it into his pocket as he grabbed his bookbag and slung it over his shoulder.He walked home that day as well, his eyes fell upon the guitar center as he left rapid ideas running through his brain as he hurried past it. His brain raced as he approached his home, turning the key into the front door's keyhole and walking leisurely inside. "Where in gods name have you been!?" His mom scolds as he gets through the door."I walked home, like I told you I would.""So you took your sweet time?! I thought you were lying in a ditch somewhere, dead!""Metal." "No, mom, I just walked home, plus, you said no shortcuts. So I took no shortcuts, and if you don't mind, I've got a Jackson V with my name on it I'd like to be playing." Vesper flips his hair over his shoulder and opens the door to the basement and grips the railing tightly as he shuts the door behind him, hearing"Vesper! Who do you think you're talking to!? All you do is sit down there and play that silly instrument you didn't even pay for!"Vesper rolls his eyes and reaches for his guitar, strapping it over his shoulders grabbing a pick from the wooden stool next to him, he practiced the song he was writing the night before. This time, writing down what he was playing instead of aimlessly playing. When he finished he held the paper out in front of him and smiled, going to slip the pick into his pocket as he normally did, he felt the crinkle of the envelope that fell out of his locker which brought him back to reality. He puts the pick down on the stool and slips down onto the couch beneath him.Ripping the note open, he sighs looking down at the overly neat writing, his eyes scanning over it. He scrunches his nose in a scoff as he read it:"Dear, Vesper.You're one of the bravest boys I've ever met. It's a wonder you didn't die at that party! Maybe some day, we can meet for coffee, when Davie isn't being such a dick.Love, GC""Yeah right." Vesper rolls his eyes as he looked down at the note, crumbling it up and tossing it behind him onto the ground below him. "So Georgie's the love letter type." He shakes his head, snickering under his breath. "Lame, as if something like that'll ever work on me." He gets to his feet and walks upstairs for dinner.His mom gave him a look."Yes?" He says, curiosity perked up in his voice as he asked the question."Have fun playing that... instrument of yours?" She asks, it was slow, full of venom."I did, yes, I wrote a song. For our band.""Band huh? That's funny. I didn't know you had one." His mom grumbled, it was clear this was all building up into something else."Look, if you got something to say, say it.""I just don't think it's right for you, Vesper. You have so much musical talent and you waste it on some... Metal band." She made a mocking voice surrounding the word Metal, which made Vesper recoil a little bit, his face twisting up."So what's with always supporting me no matter what I do? What, do you think I warship Satan too? Sure. Through my guitar, right? If I play the right riff I might summon him!" He slams his fists against the table, his eyes wide, even wild looking."Vesper. What in the world are you talking about." She stares at him her face was nothing but utter shock."Nothing. Catch you later."He sighs, excusing himself, pushing his chair backwards slowly as he glided almost lifelessly down the stairs.Darkness fell just as fast as he expected, meaning he could sleep comfortably knowing that no more arguments with his mother would occur. She hadn't bothered coming downstairs for anything at all after what Vesper had said to her, and frankly, Vesper would rather have it that way. She wasn't normally so pushy with what Vesper wanted to do with his hobbies. He didn't understand why now everyone was so against him.He was glad he still had Adrian, at least.Vesper switched from his jeans to a pair of black sweatpants and completely discarded his shirt as he climbed into bed, curled up and allowed himself to slip deeply into sleep. His mind still rolling with thoughts as he did so.-"So you're guilty?""Not entirely, but yes I'm at fault."Fill me in."Georgie shrugs, but continues on as she keeps her eyes diverted away from Adrian's. It seemed like he was always looking way too far into Georgie's eyes when they spoke. Whatever she felt, she did NOT want him seeing."Well that night at the party, I was just scouring the crowd. See, I don't have very many close friends, and I was mistakenly drunk. I wanted to dance. Sure, I knew Vesper and Davie weren't on the best terms. Vesper was and is cool to me. He fascinates me, he's fun but super reserved in a way. I'm getting off topic. I didn't know that Davie and Vesper were on If-you're-seen-with-my-girlfriend-I'll-drown-you terms. So I sort of got up in Vesper's face and pulled him out in front of everyone and danced with him a bit, granted I did most of the dancing. He disappeared after a while, but so did Davie. That made me want to look for Davie, because like I said, they weren't on the best of terms. I wanted to make sure he wasn't picking on Vesper, but he was nowhere to be found. That's when I found you and you found...""Yeah..." Adrian looked like he wanted to say something more but he just continued on"Listen, Georgie. He's a very opinionated guy, you know, hard to get an idea out of his head once it's already in there. It's gonna take a bit for him to understand why that happened. I promise I'll do anything in my power to make 1000% sure that he comes back around."Georgie got up onto her knees and wrapped her arms around Adrian's neck. She smelled like a ripe apple."Thanks, Adrian. You'll get to him better than I ever could."Adrian puts an arm around Georgie's back and pats it."No need to thank me, man! I know how Vesper thinks. It'll be easy for me to get to him."-Vesper tossed and turned that night, faint images of religious figures flashed through his mind until he eventually stirred awake."What in the hell."He put a palm to his head and sighed, it was Friday and SpineCrusher still had no drummer, and next week was their big break, the day he and Adrian looked forward to since Mrs. Yoko told them."We gotta do something." Vesper explains to Adrian that day at lunch. "Yeah? Like what? We don't have any friends outside of each other..." and Georgina. Adrian thought to say it, but assumed that now wasn't the time to bring up Vespers one-sided sworn enemy. "Flyers may work, yeah?" Vesper tilts his head, putting his palm out. Adrian slaps it and nods. "Yeah. Why don't we try that? See how it works.""Vesper, can I ask you something?""Sure, what's up?""Are you sure you don't want to see Georgie play? She's really good.""Listen, maybe If you like her so much, you should go n' marry her!"Vesper avoided the question, showing Adrian that Vesper had put some thought into it. He wasn't considering, per se, but he was thinking about it."Vesper, you know you don't have to shut her out.""She got me nearly killed!""You don't understand.""Understand what? That she dragged me purposely out in front of her boyfriend just to see me get hurt?""She's not like that, Vesper."Vesper looked down at Adrian, sighed and shook his head."You see the good in everyone, Adrian, I don't.""Yeah I know. Well maybe you better start because it's bringing us all down." Adrian rose his voice a bit, avoiding Vespers eyes in hopes that guilt wouldn't follow him."I'm protecting you, Adrian.""You're hiding us away from people who could push us forward.""She tried to get me killed!"Vesper raised his hands to his sides his eyes scattering around the cafeteria, it was silent, but nobody paid attention to them, except for one person. A blond jockey looking kid, Vesper paid it no mind as it wasn't the one present when he was being drowned."Open your eyes, Vesper. This'll never work until you come to terms with the fact that the world doesn't revolve around you. She wasn't trying to get you hurt. She was drunk, dude."Vesper just stood up, the bell rung and they went their separate ways. Adrian's words echoing in the back of Vespers mind as he scoured the hallways.-"Gnarly breakup!" Adrian looks up to the "frat boy" voice that boomed beside him. "We didn't break up, could you move." He recognized the boy from the party in an instant. The one that he never got back to, he wasn't wanting to get back to him, but here he was right in front of him. "Listen, now that you and that Satan kid are done for, why don't you join the FB team." God, do football players just love to come up with random sayings to make themselves sound cooler. "Like I told you before, me and Vesper are fine. He's my friend. So why don't you piss off and let me live, yeah?" Adrian shoves the boy out of the way with a quick blow to his shoulder. Adrian heard him call after him "dude! Wait, you're perfect for the football team!" Adrian rolled his eyes. He would never indulge in any sort of sport, let alone one that Vesper despised.-He and Vesper were two birds of the same feather, there was never any replacing or any way to get Adrian out of Vespers mind and Vesper out of Adrian's. If Vesper didn't want to do something, Adrian didn't, and vise versa. They didn't go anywhere alone, they were inseparable.-at the end of the day, Vesper stood at his locker once again. He fiddled with his lock until it came undone, flinging open his locker as another painfully white envelope falls from his locker."Ah, great! Another one." Vesper thinks, sarcasm in his thoughts as well as in his voice as he grunts, squatting down to pick up the letter, today, he opened it on the spot. Taking out the small letter that was tinted a beige color. His eyes scanned over the writing, the same writing as before.The note readDear, Vesper.I hope the last letter found you well! (I know it did, hehe) and as long as you've got this one, maybe you should meet me behind the downtown mall later tonight and we can hang out for a bit? Sound good? Awesome.Love, GCAnother disgustingly positive letter, how sickening. It was from Georgina, but this didn't seem like something Georgina would want him to do, but curiosity killed the cat and he decided to go anyways. He clutches the letter in his fist and shoves it into his pockets, deciding to text his mom to let her know that he'd be home soon, she'd appreciate it.When Vesper arrived home he quickly jumped into the shower and did his hair as he always did. Smeared his mom's eyeliner under his eyes and put his hands on his hips."Missing something?" His mom chimes in and tosses him some black wrist cuffs with spikes all over them. "You're a queen, Ma." He smiles and straps them on and she smiles, waves and then walks back to her room and flicks on the tv. He heard the faint intro toYoung and the Restless, which made him close the door to the bathroom as he continued to get ready for his meeting with Georgie. He assumed maybe she wanted to talk to him about the party, so why not show up.-He arrived at the mall about an hour after he left the house, he looked around for Georgie's car. He didn't see it, so he just made his way around the mall through an alleyway. He found it odd that she wanted to meet him behind the mall, but he didn't question it at the time. He peers around the corner of the mall until he hears footsteps of shale crunching underfoot. He turns, and in one quick movement he was pinned against the wall behind him."I knew you'd show. You punk."Vesper stares up, Davie. He shoves which knocked the air out of him. He stayed silent but between coughs he puts his arm out."No dude this isn't what you."Davie takes a fistful of Vesper's shirt in his hands."First you humiliate me, then you try to take my girlfriend from me, you think you'd learn your lesson, but no. Now you're competing with me at the winter dance? That was supposed to be a one band thing! Now you and your 'SpineCrusher' are ruining our chances!" Vesper was so close to Davies face he felt the spray from his lips, pure malice as he spits the name of Vesper's band out of his mouth as if it tasted absolutely foul between his teeth."Wait you're playing in that too?""You didn't know? We're the biggest small town band in Wisconsin, Vesper."After being suspended in the air for a while, he feels Davie ram forward, slamming vesper into the wall behind him. His hair getting caught in the bricks behind him. He coughed again, the force made him dizzy. Vesper felt blood trickle down his face and his temple."Here we go.""You may have gotten out last time, but I promise you there will be no saving you.""Why don't you just get it over with, Davie. Your silent threats are putting me to sleep."Davie slammed Vesper back up against the wall and he took a blow to the side of his face. Vesper winced."You'll listen to me, and do what you're told.""Yeah yeah."Another punch, that one made Vesper dizzy, but he hung onto consciousness."You don't exchange another word with Georgie again, yeah? If I hear you're around her ever again, you'll really be dead. You hear me?""Why should I Davie!? She hates you, she doesn't like you and you know it."He punched Vesper again, in the same spot. He felt like his skull was cracking, but it didn't hurt as much as it should. He assumed Maybe it was because he was half conscious and half not."Because your life is the cost, Vesper.""You think you're so tough, don't you? You just beat up someone just as helpless physically as you are mentally."One more blow to the head, he swallowed his eyes blinking quickly, going limp. He didn't feel anything after that, but he heard his body hit the ground before being kicked a couple more times.-"Where is he?" Adrian has his phone held up to his ear as he sighs it was getting dark and he had no answer from Vesper. The last resort was that he call Georgie. Adrian's curfew was 2 hours ago, it was 10pm. He heard as his phone rung out and the voicemail rung.Guitar rung through the other line "you reached the... something something mailbox of me! Vesper Whitlock. If you got my number, why don't you text? Callin' someone is so outdated." Adrian grunts, calls one more time, and as the call rings out again. He switches his contacts over to Georgie, she picks up on the second ring."Adrian? What's up? Something wrong?""Kinda. I guess I should start off with uh. Do you have a curfew?" Adrian massaged his nose bridge, sighing."No, my parents don't care how late I'm out, why? What's wrong?""Good uhm. Do you know where Vesper is?""Vesper hates me, remember?" Adrian heard her voice rase a bit, it sounded like worry to him but he wasn't going to jump to conclusions."Yeah, but... do you have any idea where he is. I'm starting to worry.""Let me see..." the line goes blank, Adrian didn't do so much as breath as she thought."I'll call Davie.""Call Davie!? In what world would that—" the line beeps, she hung up.-Georgina stared down at her phone and typed her explanation to Adrian."Listen, I'll call Davie, if he replies I'll know if he's lying. He does this weird thing when he lies. Get to you later."Georgie types in Davies number and holds it to her ear until she hears it click."Georgie! Baby, heyyy... how are you? Good? I'm glad. How am I? Fantastic!"Liar.Davie liked to talk over her to stop her from asking any questions that might give him away."Oh shoot, Davie? I must have dialed the wrong number. Sorry. Love ya bye!"She hung up on him and called Adrian back, playing with her hair nervously as he picks up the phone again."So?""He's a liar. Something happened.""Oh god, how? What?" Georgie heard the panic isn't Adrian's voice as he frantically asked questions."He mentioned going to the mall earlier. I'll get there. Keep in touch.""Keep me posted, Georgina, please.""Will do."The line clicks and she hops up off her bed, pulling on a hoodie and grabbing her keys."Be back! Going on a run!""At 10pm?" Her mom echos"The night dew is supposed to be super good for your skin. See ya!""Okaaay..." her mom shrugs and turns back to the tv, shaking her head."Teenagers." She mutters.-Upon arriving to the mall, only a few cars remained in the parking lot, it was about 11pm by the time she arrived, she prayed that nothing more had happened to Vesper, IF Anything had happened to Vesper. She scouted the area, trying not to look suspicious before being stopped by a worker."Do you... work here? Because if you don't there's a super strict loitering policy and—""Yeah I work here, nail place upstairs! Just taking some trash out then I'll be out of your hair!""Oh, no big deal."The worker pats Georgina on the back and she rolls her eyes, she reached the back of the mall instantly, beginning to lose hope in finding Vesper at all until she saw the silhouette of a body near the dumpster."Is this some sort of joke?"She mutters, getting closer, Vesper's body was all sprawled out, his hands up around his ears but his knees tucked to his chest. His head was bleeding. A large gash in his temple and a bruise below it."Not a joke."She mumbles, lifting him up, his head rested in her lap."Davie you sick son of a—"Vesper shudders, but goes limp once again. She tried to shake him, but to no avail. "I gotta call someone.." she pulls her phone out of her pocket, thumbing nine one one on the keypad."911 what's your emergency?""Hi, yeah I'm Georgina Campbell. Uhm, I found my friend abandoned and unconscious behind the downtown mall.""Oh no.. Georgina, do you feel a pulse?""Yeah, yeah he's breathing. Slowly, but he's breathing. Could you just send an ambulance?" She couldn't stop her voice from shaking, she worried for Vesper."We've got an ambulance coming, Georgina, can you stay on the line?""Yeah, yeah I guess I can do that. He keeps shivering.""Well, it is chilly out. Do you have anything you can warm him up with?""Yeah I got a coat."She wrestles with the sleeves of her coat and wraps it around Vesper the best she could.-When the ambulance arrives, Vesper was taken out of the hands of Georgina."Wait. Can I come with him?""I'm sorry, but you shouldn't. You're a minor without adult supervision. You're going to have to head home.""But he's my friend.""You can't be here. Go home, kid."The paramedic ruffles Georgina's hair and she scoffs, turning around to see Vesper being loaded up onto a stretcher, her coat scrunched around his body. She sighs, turning around and walking away, kicking rocks on her way back to her car.-"Georgie, what happened?""He was beat up pretty bad, I uh.. I called an ambulance for him. They wouldn't let me go with. Said I couldn't without adult approval. I think it's a load, but what can I do.""You've done enough Georgina. I'll have to call Vespers mom and let her know." She heard him sigh, it was a tired sigh, an exhausted sigh. She felt how he felt just moments ago, letting Vesper be taken from her sight. She worried for him no matter how much he hated her. How couldn't you feel guilty? It was her boyfriend's actions."Georgina?" The voice coaxed her out of her thoughts."Hey, sorry. I gotta get home, see you later.""Bye—"Click.