Bad Seed - 1. Chapter 1

Young man, if you keep this up you will be expelled from the school before the end of this semester; do you understand me, Mr. Wellmen?” The Principal was blowing smoke once again. He always threatened to expel Kyle, as a Principal expulsion is the biggest gun in his arsenal. What can you say to a troubled boy who seemingly doesn’t care what happens to himself or his future. And in truth, it wasn’t always Kyle’s fault. The others kids certainly don’t take it easy on him. Before Mr. Longwell finished his statement, Kyle was already storming off down the hall, most likely not in the direction of his next class.

He slammed his fist into a locker before he disappeared around a corner. Several of the other students had taken notice of the initial incident but all of them heard the bang of Kyle’s fist and the rattling of the row of lockers. “Alright everyone, 2 minutes until final bell, lets move along now.” At that everyone in the hallway began to disperse, it seemed even a few teachers had stepped out of their rooms to witness the incident. “Not the four of you! You come with me to my office now.”

“Come on! The freak started the whole thing!’

“It’s not up for discussion, let’s go” Mr. Longwell was in no mood to deal with attitude at the moment. He had more important things on his mind. Like a particular student who seemed to be on a very self-destructive path.

Kyle was in a rage as he headed for the school’s exit. Why couldn’t everyone just leave him alone? Half of them didn’t know anything about him, only what they’ve heard and the rest hadn’t even heard anything; they were just following Martin’s lead. Kyle was no pushover to be sure, standing at 5’11 and weighing around 160lbs, he could handle himself, and he had too. On the way out he got stares and awkward glances from several people on their way to class. They’d all heard about him, whispers, rumors, and flat-out accusations.

When the final bell for 3rd period sounded, it found Kyle outside walking along the fence near the football field. Going to class just wasn’t an option right now, he needed to cool down. No one would be expecting to see him there anyway and even fewer would care. He was still steaming over what happened. Those assholes! They’d taken everything out of his locker and filled it with torn out pages from a bunch of teen magazines. When he opened it just before 3rd period, pages and foldouts of Jesse McCartney, Ricky Ullman, and Zac Efron came falling out of his locker. And as fate would have it, a particularly raunchy image from gay porn mag had been thrown in with the bunch and ended up towards the top of the pile. Where they got that he didn’t know and at the time he didn’t care. The moment the pages spilled from his locker he knew who was behind it, Martin Jefferson.

You could ask just about any kid in school, even some of the 8th graders. The biggest rivalry in the area wasn’t on the football field or between the baskets; it was in the 10th grade class. Kyle and Martin had been in five fights all ready and the new school year had just started two weeks ago. And to make matters worse when school had let out the summer before, they left as best friends of three years. They were both on the track team and had been since the 6th grade. Kyle was the fastest kid in his grade and Martin was a close second, it didn’t take long for them to become good friends and for a long time they were inseparable. The jury was still out on what exactly caused the dynamic duo to fallout, but of course people had their opinions and rumors started to spread.

Kyle knew. He tried not to think about it too often. It never lead him anywhere he wanted to be. He avoided things, always had, that was his solution and it’d worked so far. Besides, there wasn’t much thinking about it was going to do. His best friend hated him, the whole school did. Kyle wasn’t always like this, so defensive and combative. At 16 years old, Kyle was a good looking kid, his light brown hair, blue eyes and a face that belonged in teen magazines on top of the fact that he had kept in very good shape over the years playing sports, kept more than a few eyes on him. And if not for recent events several girls would be after him. In one summer he went from being one of the most popular kids in school to the most hated. And the last 3 and a half month’s had been hell, with no signs of salvation.

He didn’t have to go far to find Martin and his buddies celebrating their handy work. And the second he laid eyes on them he charged Martin and the fists went flying. Not too many people would take on four guys at once but Kyle never did a whole lot of thinking when he got like this. And he seemed to get like this a lot lately. In his mind when he charged forward, he was only taking on Martin, no one else mattered. Martin was a good 6 inches smaller than Kyle and was out weighed by about 40lbs; none of which mattered with his three friends punching and kicking Kyle while he wailed away on top of Martin. It didn’t take long for the other three to get Kyle up and slam him head first into the nearby lockers. By then a nice group of students had gathered to watch the fight and soon a few teachers were at their doors. And not one of them made a move to do anything.

It was four on one and no amount of anger was going to even those odds. At least fifteen people looked on as Kyle took his 2nd beating of the week, it was only Wednesday. By the time the principal showed up Kyle was already to his feet and squaring off for more. He was no victim, no matter what they did to him as long as he gave as good as he got he’d be ok. And looking at Martin he knew he had. As the principal looked them over Martin and his friends tried their best to look innocent. He stood there in a torn shirt, with a busted lip, and what was clearly the beginning of a black eye. Kyle was a fighter, he had to be nowadays. It seemed as though it was acceptable to pick a fight with him, even the teachers wouldn’t make a move to doing anything about it. And Mr. Longwell was always giving him the same speech.

He couldn’t blame them though after what happened towards the end of the school year, last year during that assembly. He really didn’t mean to hit Mr. Peters, but he had grabbed Kyle from behind to pull him off those other boys. It was his own fault really, it was Kyle against nearly eight guys from the basketball team and Mr. Peters grabs a hold of Kyle as though he’s the problem. He didn’t have enough time to think before he swung. Someone had grabbed him and as far as he knew it was just another person jumping in for their turn to take a shot at him. The shit really hit the fan that day.

Kyle continued to walk along the fence, kicking dirt up every now and then. It had been a rough summer and the new school year wasn’t looking any more promising. Having spent most of the summer working he had had little time to enjoy himself. Which was fine with Kyle, it seemed whenever he was having a good time someone went out of their way to mess things up for him. In truth, he liked keeping busy. When he was busy everything else could wait, no need to worry or feel down, just push it aside. It was only a few years ago when he was always busy. Track, football and the swim team, he was always into something back then. In a way he managed to stay just as busy these days, only he usually ended up in some sort of trouble.

Kyle made his way onto the football field and up into the stands, it seemed he spent more time up in these stands then he did in any of his classes. Another call from the school and his strict father would put him on “lockdown,” again. “Damn boy, you ditching again already?” Kyle raised his head slightly to see Brian and a few others making their way up into the stands.

“You’re one to talk” Kyle mumbled as he stretched out and leaned on the bench behind him.

“Ha, maybe but I don’t skip class every damn day” Brian said as he plopped down just below Kyle.

“Whatever, I was planning to go to class…just never made it.” Kyle finished with a yawn.

“Yeah we heard about that, figured you’d be out here” Brian said as one of the others passed him a cigarette. Kyle gave no reply, he normally came here to be alone. Why Brian and the others often decided to join him was beyond him. They were the loners of the school and he guessed they’d sort of adopted him into their group. He didn’t care, they’d hate him soon enough, just like everyone else. “Want one?”

“No thanks, I’m heading back in before gym to try and cleanout my locker.” Kyle said as he stood and made his way down out of the stands. He wasn’t in the mood for company.

“That’s cool, catch you later”

“Whatever” Kyle replied as he continued down from bleachers.

“Hey guys, look at that spaz, dude is always late, what’s up with that?” Brian said to the others.

Kyle glanced out over the field to see a boy running towards the school with a backpack slung over his shoulder. Brian was right, that guy was always coming to school really late. It was nearly 4th period now and he’s just getting here. Heading back into the school Kyle ignored the glances from the few other kids he encountered. As he made his way to his locker he was glad at least that the posters and magazine pages were gone. He started gathering up the rest of his belongings and putting them back into his locker. He was placing his math book back into his locker when a body came crashing into him.

Immediately assuming the worst, Kyle shoved the person to the ground and lunged at him. With a fist raised ready to strike he looked down on his would be attacker. “Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry I was just in a hurry to get to class” It was the boy from earlier, obviously still rushing around trying to make up for being late. It was the first time Kyle had ever gotten a good look at the boy. He had long, wavy, blonde hair and deep brown eyes. And even though the kid seemed pretty worried at the moment Kyle could tell he had a killer smile. He relaxed a bit and picked up his fallen math book.

“Watch where you’re going man, and chill out, 4th period doesn’t start for another 10 minutes.” He said as he placed the last book into his locker and slammed it shut.

“Yeah, uh sorry about that”

“Whatever.”

“Really, I didn’t mean to run into you like that”

“Whatever, no biggie.” Kyle started to walk down the hall towards the next class. Gym was next, a class he shared with Martin and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“I’m Nathan by the way, I’m new here” replied the new kid. Kyle kept moving down the hall as he replied.

“Welcome to hell.”

When Kyle arrived in the Gym, most of the guys were already moving into the back towards the locker room. Several of them were joking around as they headed into the back, not Kyle. He was dreading this, changing for gym had become torture. It was always the same, as embarrassing and nerve racking as changing in front of a group of people can be for anyone. It’s even worse when no one wants to stand anywhere near you. Making it even worse was the fact that it was a small room unlike most traditional locker rooms with rows of lockers and benches. This room was just large enough for all the boys to pile into without being all over each other. And just small enough to mean you were never more than a few feet away from anyone else. As far as Kyle was concerned it might as well be a torture chamber. It was now something of a routine, Kyle would grab whatever he needed from his gym locker, go outside the room and drop his things on the bench or wherever and begin to dress. In the meantime, every other guy in his gym class is standing on the other side of the room while they changed. There was nothing more humiliating than being singled out like that, nothing more demeaning than knowing that in a room full up people not one person will even risk standing near you, for risk of being associated with you in some way. Kyle felt like he was on display at the freak show.

But, despite it all, today was a relatively good day. As far as he could guess the principal actually got it right for once and he still had Martin and the other guys down in his office. That was the only thing saving him from the usual barrage of insults, names, and jokes. Typical, in a sure showing of pack mentality there was an obvious change in the normal events of the change room. At their worst they were like a pack of animals picking at any weak point they could find. On several days things would get so out of hand with the relentless harassment that it soon would become physical and more than a few times the gym teacher had to come running in to break up the swarming pile of partially dressed teenagers, Kyle Wellmen almost always at the bottom of said pile.

And today without their ringleader to push them forward not one of them was so bold. After the earlier display in the hall, they all new Kyle was in a bad mood…again. But even without the actual words being spoken and without a single shove or anyone spitting on him, standing there all by himself in the very loud silence was just as harsh.

Kyle was almost always the first one dressed and out of change room. Every second he could spare himself of being in that room was a few seconds more without all of them looking at him as though he had three heads and treating him like a murderer and a thief. Today leaving the change room was almost as bad as entering it. Just as he disappeared through the doors of the changing room and was stepping back onto the gym floor someone yelled out “FAG!!!” There were several students on their free period that were hanging around in the gym. And when the rest of the students in the gymnasium heard what had been yelled out just as Kyle left the locker room, they all burst out laughing. Many of the girls in his class had just started to make their way out into the gym as well. Kyle was already spinning on his heels ready to charge back into the locker room. Just then, the gym teacher who was more than aware of things at this point, blew his whistle.

“All right everyone let’s settle down and file in so I can take attendance.”

Kyle took a deep breath and with a heavy sigh he headed over to join the teacher and begin the class. Not long after that the rest of the guys emerged from the changing room and with one look towards Kyle they were all caught up in a fit of laughter once again. Kyle dropped his head to his chest as he took a deep breath. He didn’t know if he wanted to hide away in a corner somewhere or run over and start removing their heads from between their shoulder blades.

“Gentlemen, the whistle has been blown. Everyone knows the rules, no talking until I get attendance. Give me laps, let’s go everyone.” Mr. Martinez always ran his gym classes like they were boot camps and though he was a nice guy, he was bit strict and everyone knew it. His words were followed by moans and other expressions of discontent. Mr. Martinez wasn’t too harsh, in fact he only had a few rules, but he was very adamant about those rules. If one person broke one of his rules the entire class did laps.

As the 30 or so students began their five laps around the gymnasium, several of the boys made sure to give Kyle a harsh nudge as they made their way past them. He shook this off and as he began to run with the rest of the class his only thoughts were: Somehow they always find a way to blame me for everything.

Gym was just as boring and difficult to stomach as every other class for Kyle. It was only the second week of school so Mr. Martinez just had them run a few laps and then everyone was allowed 15 minutes of free time provided they were active during that time. Most of the guys were involved in a half court game of basketball but not Kyle, he spent most of the period sitting in the bleachers. Of course while he was sitting over there minding his own business a few stray balls happen to get loose by accident and make it in his direction. By the end of the day, Kyle was once again in the unique position that, as always, he was glad to be leaving school and still, as always, he was in no hurry to get home, for other reasons.

There were plenty of times throughout the day when Kyle was reminded of how different his life was from everyone else’s. Most people were hooking up with their friends and making plans for later in the day. Kyle…he was just hoping to make it out of the building without incident.

Kyle was just passing by the corner store about a block away from school. He was once again lost in thought, something that seemed to be happening more and more these days Now that he had no friends he supposed his mind was just trying to fill the silence somehow. And sadly enough he never managed to become transfixed on the good stuff. It was all the crap he took at school that usually got stuck in his head.

While he was dealing with those things, they never seemed to get to him, not really, he simply lashed out in reaction, out of principle. He refused to be looked at like some weak fag, he didn’t want to be a victim.

“See…I told you, me and Kyle here used to walk home together, dumb fag walks home the same way everyday.” Kyle had barely recognized Martin’s voice before a fist connected viscously with the side of his face. He was thrown off balance and totally surprised as he went to the ground. All he could think of was the loud click his jaw had made seconds ago. He was grabbed quickly by two others as Martin continued to kick at him. The three easily maneuvered him behind the small store despite the fight he put up.

Kyle was trying to gather himself but was pushed and kicked every time he tried to get up. He found himself crouching on the ground with his back against the cold brick of the store’s back wall. It didn’t take long for Martin to step forward, he looked more pissed than Kyle had seen him in a while, he wasn’t all that surprised when he rushed forward. “Three fucking weeks!!!” yelled Martin, each word followed by a kick. “Three weeks of detention you faggot and you get to walk off and skip class without so much as a fucking word! I’m going to be grounded for even longer after the call my dad got at work. So guess what, if I’m going to be out of commission for three weeks…so are you, one way or another.” With a rough shove directed towards Martin waist, Kyle was able to gain some standing room and clenched his fists as Martin and the others attacked him.