Dry Luck [Chapter 04]
04
Putain.
Marlo hurriedly shoved himself into his black gym shorts and took a walk of shame out into the gym making sure to hide any trace of what he was wearing beneath them. The three guys kept sniggering whenever they got near Marlo in class and he could see a malicious glint of triumph in Aaron's eyes. He tried looking away, but he would get occasional nudges from them with comments like, "Feel better?" or "Know your place, bitch." By the time gym had ended Marlo lost full eye contact with anyone at all and this didn't go unnoticed by Mitch. When they came back to change again, Marlo slammed his locker open and suddenly stopped before he slid off his shorts in a rush to get away.
"Something wrong?" asked Mitch beside him, but Marlo remained staring at the floor.
If he showed what he was wearing what sort of other taunting would be in store?
"Come on, Marlo, show 'em off," called Spencer from the other side of the room.
Marlo bit his lip. He took his pair of beige pants and trudged over to the toilet where he shut the door to get changed in private. He could hear laughing on his way there.
"What was that about?" inquired Mitch. He sat behind him second period in Biology.
Marlo said nothing in response.
"Are they bullying you?" he lowered his voice to a concerned whisper leaning over his desk. Marlo shook his head.
"I can't come to the library tonight... I've got stuff at home to do," Marlo lied.
Mitch sat up and stared.
Throughout each period Marlo kept as quiet as possible. He ignored people who had innocently been inquiring about the rumors going around. Mitch had often stood up for him and answered threateningly for them to mind their own business. The classes in which he had with the three individuals who had taunted him that morning was met with more snickering and each class with Mitch had the squirrel growing even more concerned.
The last bell had rung and Marlo grabbed his backpack to rush into the hallway and make his way out the doors of the school. He passed through the parking lot where the ones who could drive parked and almost reached the sidewalk leading home before Mitch caught up with him in a jog.
"Dude, what's going on?"
"What."
"Seriously, is there something happening?"
"Leave me alone," Marlo said. He was fighting back tears dreading school the next day. He just wanted to go home and be alone.
"No, I won't leave you alone," replied Mitch frustratedly and grabbing Marlo by the shoulders to turn him around and walk the other way. Those hands...
"We're going to hang out at the library today," Marlo was sternly informed. There's no way he could pull himself out of Mitch's grasp; he felt weak everytime he did touch him.
Despite countless efforts of Mitch, who knew something was bothering him, Marlo insisted that he simply wasn't feeling good. Mitch'd tried to change the subject to lighten the atmosphere and Marlo struggled to feign his enthusiastic interest for Mitch's stories of his family's nonsense.
They had sat in the library for about ten minutes with their textbooks out and numbering their pages mumbling quietly about how much their Algebra teacher's scores were unfair when Mitch pulled out his phone and unlocked it to read a message.
"What the fuck?" he said suddenly. Marlo was startled; Mitch never said that word.
"Wh-what is it?"
Mitch looked up at Marlo and then back to his phone.
"You have to tell the office," he turned the phone so that Marlo could see his received the picture Aaron had snapped. It was a bit blurry, but you could see Marlo pinned against the wall with the sock in his mouth unwillingly sporting the pair of pink panties he had on. A grinning Lucas sat at his feet. Below the picture it showed the text What a pretty girlfriend you have, Mitch.
Marlo gasped.
"Are they sending them out!?" Marlo asked frantically in a panic. He hadn't thought about the pictures.
"I doubt that unless they wanted more evidence against them," Mitch said, "Why didn't you tell me about this? Are you still wearing th--" he looked down and saw a frill in the back of Marlo's pants. Marlo pulled his shirt down.
"Dammit, why didn't you say something, Marlo?"
"It would only make it worse," he answered, his face blushing with all confidence in himself lost now. I can't believe this, "Delete it," he reached over for the phone.
"No," Mitch said, "I'm going to tell for you."
"It'll make them angrier!"
"Letting them bully you won't help either!"
"Please," he begged continuing to reach for the phone now being shoved in Mitch's pocket. A few seconds passed in silence. Their voices had been escalating.
"Fine, I'll let you handle this..." Mitch said grudgingly.
Now he's mad at me, Marlo thought. Great.
MONDAY [AFTERNOON]
Their time spent at the library didn't last as long as it should have. Mitch only finished his assignment half-way before saying it was time for him to leave. They hardly talked after their dispute.
Once Marlo got home he ran upstairs to his bedroom where he stripped naked and threw the pair of panties across the room. They got stuck in his window blinds. He rounded to his bathroom and pounded a fist on the counter observing his body in the mirror.
You're so stupid.
What do I do?
Look at yourself. Are you sure you're not just an ugly girl?
It's not like you have a chance anyway.
Marlo fell to the floor and began crying into his knees.
He spent the rest of his evening finishing his homework and helping his mother cook dinner in his pajamas. He couldn't keep his mind of facing Mitch tomorrow... or the others. When it was time for bed he decided to send Mitch a message.
Marlo: Can you send me that picture?
A few minutes later the picture had arrived and Mitch had given him some advice underneath.
Mitch: Only so that you can tell someone. Good night
Fine. Be mad. I've got nothing to lose anymore. He typed in the words, stared at them for a second and pushed reply before he could allow himself to rethink what he just did.
Marlo: Yes you are the one that I like