Absolutely Critical
Setting: Worm/nothing
Per Wildbow's preference: Worm can be found at Parahumans.wordpress.com. Worm belongs to Wildbow. This fanfiction is unaffiliated with Wildbow.
Out of Love 1.1
It was hard to pay attention in class, especially five minutes before class ended. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to relieve some of the fatigue they were experiencing. Like any other day, I’d spent most of it so far trying not to look directly at anyone.
I turned my eyes back up and cautiously opened them, but the student in front of me had stood up while I wasn’t looking, so I caught him in the center of my field of vision for an instant.
Kick desk, slides, collides with seat. He is surprised, falls into seat, momentarily pinned. Stand. Slap both ears, stun, twist. Injuries: Bruised legs, broken eardrums, broken neck.
I slammed my head down on my desk before the vision was complete. I heard a snort of repressed laughter from behind me, Madison, and Mr. Gladly’s excited voice concluding a lecture that I couldn’t quite bring myself to comprehend.
Before, I would have been sitting in the front row. It would have even been better, less chance of seeing someone, less chance of seeing something horrible, but it was impossible to get through the halls without tripping myself up somehow, or getting tripped up. I always arrived too late to any class to get the seat that I wanted.
Mr. Gladly started to explain the homework, and I looked up at the blackboard, hoping he’d wrote it down. I only caught the tail end of his explanation: “… Monday we’ll break into groups and see who has the best list. I’ll buy the winning team snacks from the vending machine.â€
Wonderful. Group work. Everyone else cheered happily. I let my head sink back down to my desk. Any moment now, everyone would be standing and milling about, making it impossible for me to look up.
I heard the sounds of books being snapped shut, bags zipping and unzipped, and the general clatter that a room full of teenagers tended to generate, and shortly after, the bell rang. What I would give to be the first one out the door… instead, I waited until the sound of feet had collected outside the door before I even stood up.
Mr. Gladly was waiting by the door, and my eyes swept by him accidentally as I-
Knee to side of leg, leg collapses, he begins to fall. Palm strike to nose, head hits pencil sharpener on wall. Fall continues, body collapses to floor. Injuries: Broken nose, twisted ankle, concussion, bruised kneecap, scalp laceration.
-head towards the door. He starts to say something, and I steel myself to look at him again and pretend to pay attention.
Light punch to testicles, grab belt, pull. He doubles over, assist his motion with both hands. Move hand from shoulder to head in time to slam head into first row desk. Injuries: Broken nose, concussion.
I managed to keep eye contact as the vision washes over me. I restrained my hand, already in a fist.
“Taylor, are you feeling alright?†he asked. “It looked like you had a headache or something.â€
“I think I’m alright.†I said through clenched teeth. I adjusted my backpack without looking. Maybe I could get away with this amount of eye contact, and the conversation would be over before it happened again.
“Listen, why don’t you see the nurse anyway? I’ll let your next teacher know.â€
I felt it building again and looked out the door. “I need to hand something in. It’s the midterm.â€
I heard him hum quietly at that.
“Listen, I…†He trailed off, then started over. “Maybe you’ll feel better after lunch.†I heard him start to step back to his desk and I went out the door.
He thought that he was everyone’s favorite teacher. He was the kind who had been popular when he was in school himself and probably couldn’t even conceive of the notion that someone didn’t like him. He spent enough time with the popular kids in school that to me, he felt just like one of them.
And just like every one of them, if he wasn’t actively making my life miserable, he was at the very least looking the other way.
That thought almost made me mad enough to turn, to see him in pain again in my mind, but I had already seen enough to stress me all day, and it was only lunch.
EDIT: Minor tense issues fixed
Setting: Worm/nothing
Per Wildbow's preference: Worm can be found at Parahumans.wordpress.com. Worm belongs to Wildbow. This fanfiction is unaffiliated with Wildbow.
Out of Love 1.1
It was hard to pay attention in class, especially five minutes before class ended. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to relieve some of the fatigue they were experiencing. Like any other day, I’d spent most of it so far trying not to look directly at anyone.
I turned my eyes back up and cautiously opened them, but the student in front of me had stood up while I wasn’t looking, so I caught him in the center of my field of vision for an instant.
Kick desk, slides, collides with seat. He is surprised, falls into seat, momentarily pinned. Stand. Slap both ears, stun, twist. Injuries: Bruised legs, broken eardrums, broken neck.
I slammed my head down on my desk before the vision was complete. I heard a snort of repressed laughter from behind me, Madison, and Mr. Gladly’s excited voice concluding a lecture that I couldn’t quite bring myself to comprehend.
Before, I would have been sitting in the front row. It would have even been better, less chance of seeing someone, less chance of seeing something horrible, but it was impossible to get through the halls without tripping myself up somehow, or getting tripped up. I always arrived too late to any class to get the seat that I wanted.
Mr. Gladly started to explain the homework, and I looked up at the blackboard, hoping he’d wrote it down. I only caught the tail end of his explanation: “… Monday we’ll break into groups and see who has the best list. I’ll buy the winning team snacks from the vending machine.â€
Wonderful. Group work. Everyone else cheered happily. I let my head sink back down to my desk. Any moment now, everyone would be standing and milling about, making it impossible for me to look up.
I heard the sounds of books being snapped shut, bags zipping and unzipped, and the general clatter that a room full of teenagers tended to generate, and shortly after, the bell rang. What I would give to be the first one out the door… instead, I waited until the sound of feet had collected outside the door before I even stood up.
Mr. Gladly was waiting by the door, and my eyes swept by him accidentally as I-
Knee to side of leg, leg collapses, he begins to fall. Palm strike to nose, head hits pencil sharpener on wall. Fall continues, body collapses to floor. Injuries: Broken nose, twisted ankle, concussion, bruised kneecap, scalp laceration.
-head towards the door. He starts to say something, and I steel myself to look at him again and pretend to pay attention.
Light punch to testicles, grab belt, pull. He doubles over, assist his motion with both hands. Move hand from shoulder to head in time to slam head into first row desk. Injuries: Broken nose, concussion.
I managed to keep eye contact as the vision washes over me. I restrained my hand, already in a fist.
“Taylor, are you feeling alright?†he asked. “It looked like you had a headache or something.â€
“I think I’m alright.†I said through clenched teeth. I adjusted my backpack without looking. Maybe I could get away with this amount of eye contact, and the conversation would be over before it happened again.
“Listen, why don’t you see the nurse anyway? I’ll let your next teacher know.â€
I felt it building again and looked out the door. “I need to hand something in. It’s the midterm.â€
I heard him hum quietly at that.
“Listen, I…†He trailed off, then started over. “Maybe you’ll feel better after lunch.†I heard him start to step back to his desk and I went out the door.
He thought that he was everyone’s favorite teacher. He was the kind who had been popular when he was in school himself and probably couldn’t even conceive of the notion that someone didn’t like him. He spent enough time with the popular kids in school that to me, he felt just like one of them.
And just like every one of them, if he wasn’t actively making my life miserable, he was at the very least looking the other way.
That thought almost made me mad enough to turn, to see him in pain again in my mind, but I had already seen enough to stress me all day, and it was only lunch.
EDIT: Minor tense issues fixed