I Hated Being Thirteen (PG)

[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). (daisylily)
Note: 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.”

Comments

[hry2007.livejournal.com]

Very Foreman. I like.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*shakes head*

I don't like it, but I like it. It's sad and horrifying and saturated with abuse, just like high school is for a lot of people.

It's good, Dee. Don't ever stop writing this kind of stuff.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Erm ... although now that I think about it, wouldn't it be unusual for a bunch of thirteen-year-olds to be in high school?

I would think they'd still be in junior high, or middle school, or whatever.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. The title is very personal for me. Heh.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

They are freshmen, at the beginning of the school year, and are all very smart and skipped a grade, although they skipped different ones.

Or something like that. Ask daisylily; it was her prompt.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

The title is very personal for me.

*smiles*

Me too, hon. It never goes away.

[earlwyn.livejournal.com]

Wow. Cool. Um. Yeah. I kind of don't know what to say. Totally feels like junior high/high school to me.

Would you hate me if I said I actually wanted you to continue this?

[dangomango.livejournal.com]

I don't like it, but I like it. It's sad and horrifying and saturated with abuse, just like high school is for a lot of people. Oh. Oh, so much word. To all of that.

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

lame-butt
This attempt at swearing makes it sound very real. Lovely little detail that helps the whole piece.

[rivers-bend.livejournal.com]

You captured the intensity of that time/age just perfectly. That feeling of having no control but thinking you're grown up and just the awfulness of things. Looking at James and Greg from Eric's POV adds something extra to it as well. I wanted to cry for all of them. This is wonderful.

[r0s3l992.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was so beautifully written. It rang so true for an AU version of House's childhood. And I loved that it was from Foreman's POV.

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

It's called "daisy lives in the UK and didn't realise that thirteen-year-olds aren't usually in high school" XD

What are the usual ages for schools in the US? In the UK, we tend not to have middle schools, and our junior schools end at eleven or twelve years old.

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

Oh, House. That makes so much sense for him.
All of them are great. It works both with the setting and with the characters themselves.


Maybe they're at an English or Australian high school. I was eleven when I started high school.

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

I hated being thirteen, too (the lolly is for you, not for the thirteen-ness of the fic...)

I do like this, in an 'ow' sort of way - I think it's because it's such a huge contrast from the usual 'everyone is at high school' fics. I love the unexpectedness of the conversation that Eric overhears.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not crazy about the premise and you know how I feel about ODOR, but the execution is brilliant. :)

[nonconformity93.livejournal.com]

uhh...beginning of Freshman year kids are 14 or 15. Thirteen is usually the beginning of 8th grade. I know of only a few people who will be 13 in Freshman year...

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't hate you a bit. daisylily asked me to continue as well, so some day you may see more. : ) Thanks.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I did specifically want to use a "PG" curse, and it made me smile when that one popped into my head. Thanks!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. Thirteen is such a difficult age, with so many contradictions. It was sadly easy to recall those emotions (even though this situation never happened to me, fortunately).

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Foreman's desire (in canon) to distance himself from being like House made him a great candidate for POV here.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. This was definitely interesting to write.

I kind of forgot about the age issue, because I started high school at 13. But as I said to nightdog, they're all intelligent people - maybe they all skipped a grade. : )

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

There were parts of high school I liked, but the early days - no way. (Except for the time I spent alone with my best friend: a cute, baby-faced, boy with a great, slightly wicked sense of humor who later turned out to be gay. Not that that's a parallel or anything.)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I don't 100% buy ODOR either, but it was an interesting idea for this. What if that happened, and Wilson had been there at the time?

[thinlysliced.livejournal.com]

I really like this. It's good to read something so IC for Foreman, especially since we hear so little from him in the fandom.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I hated the idea of the premise, but curiosity got the better of me. And lo! It was indeed a serious fic. Ouch. Way to bring the angst into a scenario which I would usually find ridiculous.

And I'm never going to understand the US school system ;)

[nonconformity93.livejournal.com]

Lovin' it.

P.S. I wrote a poem based off the first bit of My Fathers' Son would you mind terribly if I posted it around in a poetry community and house_wilson? Thanks so much, dear!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Ooh, poetry, cool. Sure you can post. Can I see it?

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. I find it hard to write Foreman (the perennial complaint, I think) but he was definitely the perspective I wanted here.

I'm very much looking forward to the results of the Foreman fest.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Hee, hee! One of my proudest achievements is getting you to believe these silly, crazy premises.

I'm not sure I understand the US school system, and I live here.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Question for you/your font of knowledge:

"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 had the mitzvah. But in the eyes of the law, we're kids ..."

In the passage above, would Wilson say "haven't had the mitzvah" or "haven't taken the mitzvah"? Or something else?

Thank you!

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking Wilson would say:

"In the eyes of God, and you don't even get to say that because you haven't been bar mitzvahed."

Because a mitzvah is something you do, it's not something you take or have done to you.

I can't double-check with Mr. Nightdog right now -- I would shoot a note over to bironic and ask her, just to cover all bases.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*grins*

And husband says I'm right -- Wilson would say "because you haven't been bar mitzvahed."

Ha!

[immovinout.livejournal.com]

He looked around and realized they were hiding in the handicapped stall together.

~~~

That sounds like something me and my best friend would do. Not that we actually can, seeing as his boy bits aren't welcome in the girls bathroom, and my girl bits aren't welcome in the boy's. :D

Anyway, I really, really liked this. That freak and his nerdy friend... ha!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. High school was a while ago for me, but certain feelings from it are still fresh.

[primarycolors92.livejournal.com]

This is, for no particular reason, one of my favorite fics of all time :)

I love AU's, and I love outsider POV on H/W, and I, too, hated being 13.

Just thought I'd let you know. Will this ever be continued? Because that would be AWESOME.