William remained in the gym for as long as he could after Coach Marin had finally informed them that the class was over, hoping most of his classmates would’ve already left by the time he entered the locker room. He hated gym class more than anything, mostly because once it had started; there was just nowhere to hide. In most of the regular classes, his teachers used to pretty much leave him alone; ignoring the fact that he hardly ever said anything out loud. He always got his homework done on time and usually did very well on the written tests, and for most of the teachers, that seemed to be enough. But the gym class was different. Here, he would actually have to be a part of things.
For as long as he could remember, he had never been able to fit in with the other students. He didn’t have any friends, and he had long since accepted it. It was okay most of the time, though, since most of the other kids used to simply ignore him, which suited him just fine. But in here, he was completely exposed, never able to just slip into the room and hide somewhere in the back. In here, he was left at their mercy. And it was always the same thing. He always got picked last; no one ever wanted him to be a part of their team. Yet, the actual class wasn’t even the worst part.
Slowly, he opened the door leading into the boy’s locker room, letting out a sigh of relief when he found it seemingly empty. He quickly showered and pulled on his clothes, eager to get away. It was the last class of the day; finally he would be able to go home. Just about to leave, he heard a noise behind him, and spun around. His heart started beating faster when he realized that he hadn’t been alone after all.
“Willie!” Liam Angelus grinned, widely. “Just the guy I was looking for.” Two other guys – Parker Abrams and Charles Gunn – were standing next to him, grinning madly as well. William swallowed. Liam had been the thorn in his side for years. Luckily, they didn’t have that many classes together. Now the much taller, dark-haired boy crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side. “What’s the matter, Willie? Afraid we’re gonna beat you up? We wouldn’t do that, right, guys?” He looked at his friends and laughed.
William took a deep breath, trying not to let his fear show. “What do you want?” Over the years, Liam and his friends had beaten him up more times than he could remember, for no other reason than the fact that they seemed to enjoy it. Needless to say; he usually tried to stay as far away from them as possible, knowing that they would never give him a chance to fight back. Lucky for him, he was used to pain by now.
“What do I want? Well, let’s see…” Liam seemed to think about it for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Oh, right! How ‘bout this? I seem to remember seeing you talking to Dru the other day. What do you have to say about that?”
Eyes widening, William recalled the beautiful, yet peculiar girl who had approached him after class a couple of days ago. She hadn’t made much sense; talking about stars and sunshine, and he had felt more than a little uncomfortable around her. Then she had left, and he hadn’t really given it much thought since. Now he gave Liam a confused look, not understanding where he was going with this. “She’s the one who came up to me, I just…” He stopped, gasping as Liam’s fist hit him hard in the face.
Liam’s eyes were cold. “See now, I know that’s a lie. Because my Dru would never bother speaking to a loser like you.” He paused. “Ah, I get it! Having a little crush on my girlfriend, Willie? Is that it?”
William just stared at him, mouth open. “What?”
Leaning over to whisper something to his friends, Liam then turned back to William, a cruel smile on his face. “Here I thought you were gay, and now it turns out you’ve been after my girl all along! Think she’s hot, do you? Tell me, does she make you hard? Make you want to rip off her wet little panties and suck her cunt?”
“No!” William was appalled that Liam would talk about his girlfriend that way. Even though he found Drusilla to be a little eccentric, to say the very least, he was still horrified by Liam’s choice of words. As far as he was concerned, talking about any woman like that was highly inappropriate.
But Liam just laughed. “Really? You don’t wanna fuck her, then?” His friends laughed as well, until Liam gestured for them to be quiet. Then he looked at William again, an expectant expression on his face. “Well? Do you?”
“No.” Shaking his head, William took a step back. “I’ve got to go.”
“Not so fast.” Liam grabbed his arm to prevent him from leaving. Then he glanced at Gunn. “Go guard the door. Make sure no one comes in.”
Gunn had stopped laughing. Hesitating a little, he looked from Liam to William, then back to Liam again. “Come on, dude… Just hit him a couple of times, so we can get out of here. No one’s gonna come in, anyway.”
Letting go of William for the moment, Liam gave his friend a threatening look. “What was that? I told you to go guard the fucking door, didn’t I? Do as I say!”
“I’ll do it.” Parker gave Gunn a smug look and headed towards the door.
Liam looked annoyed for a moment, still glaring at Gunn. Then he suddenly grinned again, nodding in acceptance. “Fine. You’ll get to watch.” Before Gunn could ask him what he meant by that, Liam had turned his attention back to William. “Guess you are gay after all. Prefer cock before pussy, do you?”
William shook his head again. “Please… Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“Why?” Liam chuckled. “What can I say? I just really don’t like you.” Swallowing again, William realized that Liam had him trapped in the corner. Even though he was used to the pain, he would never get used to the fear he always felt before his tormentor actually started with the punching. For some reason, Liam seemed to enjoy his fear more than the pain he caused him.
“Guess what?” Liam went on, pleased to see William practically tremble in front of him. “Today’s your lucky day.” He started to unbuckle his belt.
Gunn’s eyes went wide. “Dude, what the hell are you doing?!”
Liam kept his eyes on William as he slowly started to pull down his jeans. “I’m just gonna show Willie here how it feels to have a cock in his mouth. And I bet he’ll really enjoy it, too.” He raised a brow at William. “Won’t you?”
Before William could say anything, Gunn grabbed Liam by the arm and pulled him a few steps away. “You’re crazy, man; I don’t wanna be a part of this! Hitting him is one thing, I guess, but this…” He glanced at William, who was still huddling in the corner, then turned back to his friend, his face a mixture of wariness and disgust. “If you think I’m gonna stay here and watch, then you better think again. I’m out of here!”
Liam glared at Gunn, furiously, before grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. “You pathetic little piece of shit! I was just going to scare him, think I’d actually go through with it?!” Gunn wouldn’t meet his eyes, obviously not sure of what to think. Realizing that his pants were still hanging by his knees, Liam quickly let go of his friend and pulled them back up. Then he gave William one last, hard look. “If you so much as look at Dru again, I’ll fucking kill you.” Ignoring Gunn completely, he walked past him and headed for the door. “Abrams! Let’s get the fuck out of here!”
Hesitating for a moment, Gunn remained in the locker room as the other two left. He glanced at William again, who had yet to move an inch. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, then closed it again. With an apologetic shrug, he quickly slipped out of the room as well. William let out a shaky breath, relieved that it was over, at least for this time. He waited a couple of minutes to get his emotions under control and for his heart to stop beating like a sledgehammer inside his chest. It didn’t take long before the fear and humiliation had submitted for a much stronger feeling – hate. Hate towards Liam. He made a silent promise to himself that one day, he would get his revenge.
TBC