deelaundry: person holding a cane and blue folder in the same hand (folder)
[personal profile] deelaundry
Title: I Hated Being Thirteen
Author: Dee Laundry
Rating: PG
Summary: Surprisingly serious ficlet, from a meme: "Name something you think I will never, ever, ever write."
Prompt: The PPTH gang are all at high school and are all thirteen years old. (This is a serious fic). ([livejournal.com profile] daisylily)
Note: [livejournal.com profile] karaokegalwon't like this.

Eric was just about to take a leak when he heard the two boys – the freak and his nerd friend – talking to each other. He looked around and realized they were hiding in the handicapped stall together. Were they gay or something, he wondered for the twentieth time. Eric and his best friend Robert hung out together a lot, sure, but they weren’t as pathetically one-on-one as the freak and his friend were.

“You gotta tell someone, Greg,” the nerd was saying, in his pleading, nagging tone, the one that made Eric’s teeth clench.

“It’s no big deal,” the freak replied, trying to sound tough but not making it one hundred percent. “You worry too much, James.”

Feet shuffled and the stall door wobbled a bit, like maybe they were about to come out. Eric willed his pee to hurry up, because he sure didn’t want to talk to them.

Then there was a clunk that might’ve been a hand against the door, and the nerd said louder, “It is a big deal; he’s not supposed to do that to you. You’re just a kid.”

“You didn’t listen to the rabbi at that lame-butt bar mitzvah you made me go to? We’re men now.”

“In the eyes of God, and you don’t even get to say that because you haven’t been bar mitzvahed. But in the eyes of the law, we’re kids, and he can’t do that to you. It’s abuse.”

Eric didn’t want to hear this, not one bit of it. It was none of his business what the freak was up to, or what anybody did to him. It was none of Eric’s business, and he didn’t care. Really.

There was a loud scuffle and a bang, and somebody gasped. Probably the nerd.

“Don’t say that word,” the freak snarled. “Abuse is bruises and punches and burns and scars. What happens to me is discipline, that’s all, and I’m a man and I can take it.”
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

Profile

deelaundry: man reading in an airport with his face hidden by the book (Default)
Dee Laundry

October 2025

S M T W T F S
    1234
567891011
121314151617 18
19202122232425
262728293031 

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags