Burning Paper Houses

Chapter One: Alive and Definitely Not Well

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“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to mess with angry faggots?”

That was the first thing I heard when I entered school Friday morning. Well, not exactly. It was said with a French accent, not the bland American one I heard when I repeated it in my head. Still, it was the same words. Cheery, right?

It wasn’t exactly difficult to figure out who said it, because there was only one kid (person) in the whole school who had a French accent, and that kid was Javier Kinsley.

I turned a corner and found a rather large crowd of people surrounding what I assumed was Javier and whatever unlucky soul that dared to bother him that day. I pitied them for a second, but only a second, because I knew they brought it upon themselves.

Pity for me, though, because I couldn’t get to my locker.

I hovered around the outside of the crowd, silently waiting for it to end while I tried not to be obvious about listening.

“My mother did tell me not to mess with faggots,” the unknown student, who sounded a lot like my friend Adam, said, “because you never know when they might try to rape you.”

There was an audible gasp from the group, who all seemed to be holding their breaths, waiting for the response.

The one we got wasn’t the one I imagined we would get.

Javier burst out laughing.

“Really?” he asked between chuckles, “If that’s what you’ve been told, why did you seek me out this morning? Why do any of you seek me out? Perhaps that is what you’re hoping for. You want me to fuck you. True, no?”

The student growled loudly, “You fuckin-”

A fist was thrown. Whose, I couldn’t say, because I was too far back to be able to see them, but I clearly heard the sound of someone’s knuckles coming in contact with the other’s body. The metal of the lockers coming in contact with (Skulls? Elbows? Fists that missed their intended targets?) rang out through the hallways.

Students yelled and cheered like they always did when someone got into a fight with Javier, which was at least once a week.

It didn’t take more than thirty seconds for the staff to come out and break it up.

“Get your books and get to class!” the vice principal hollered, as another staff member took a hold of Javier.

The students scattered, and I saw the student was in fact my friend Adam. His split, bloody lips curved into a smile once he caught sight of me.

“You should see what I did to him, man,” he said cheerfully as he followed a teacher to the principal’s office.

I was torn between smiling and laughing or frowning at him. Smiling because only he could be so happy with a split lip, or frowning because beating someone up isn’t that great of an accomplishment. I settled for a half-grin before going to my locker.

I got my locker open, after three unsuccessful tries, and pulled out my math book, a mechanical pencil, and one of my many notebooks. Another pencil fell on the ground, and I leaned down to pick it up before it rolled away. When I stood back up, I was almost hit with my now closed locker door.

I glared at the girl I knew I’d find there.

“Liz, I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t almost bash my head in every time you come around.”

She grinned sheepishly, “It doesn’t happen every time. Just when it’s around your locker.” Liz ran her hand through her boyish locks.

“Close enough.”

She punched me lightly in the arm, before sighing loudly to get my full attention and leaning against the lockers.

“Thank fucking god it’s Friday. I can’t stand another day at this school. I think I’m going crazy.”

“What’s the main problem this week?” I asked, leaning across from her.

“Elise Holiday,” she spat out the two words, “First she got a better grade than me on the history test, and then she beat me when we ran the mile in P.E. How horrible is that?”

I stifled a laugh, “I think you like her.”

Her mouth fell open, then closed. This process repeated a few times before she smacked me upside my head.

“You’re crazy. Seriously. You need to go to a fucking mental institution. Crazy house. Whatever, you just need to go.”

“Ha!” I cracked up, “But you didn’t deny it.”

“Fine. I’m denying it now,” she looked annoyed, “I. Do. Not. Like. Elise. Fucking. Holiday.”

“That’s what your mind says,” I patted my chest, “but what about your heart? Listen to it and I bet it’ll tell you something quite different.”

“River,” she said, dangerously quiet.

“Yea?”

“I hope you’re mind AND heart are telling you to run right now. REALLY fast.”

“Wait,” I put on my serious face, and tilted my head like I was waiting for a sound, “Liz, I can’t hear them over your growling,” I titled my head more, “Wait, wait…I think I’m getting something.”

“You’re not adjusting a fucking antenna.”

“Be patient,” I scolded. She growled louder. “Alright. No need to get all angry about it. Just wait a second.” I placed my hand over my heart. “I hear them now and…would you listen to that? They are telling me to run. How did you guess? You’re so smart. I wonder if Elise like smart girls…”

“Two seconds, River.”

“Right. Running now!”

I took of down the almost empty hallway, making sure not to run in to any of the other students. Liz was right behind me, her hands reaching out to grab the extra fabric of my shirt. I stopped suddenly, and she ran into me.

“Son of a bitch,” I heard from the ground behind me. I put on an innocent smile and turned to look down at Liz.

“I just remembered we weren’t supposed to run in the hallway. Sorry. Need help getting up?” I held out my hand to her and she grabbed him with an almost finger breaking grip. I winced, but kept holding on until she was back on her feet.

“I hope that hurt,” she told me.

I nodded furiously, “It did.”

“Good.”

She wiped some invisible dirt off her jeans before walking again. I got in place next to her.

“Did you hear what Adam did this morning?” I asked.

“Don’t we all hear who fought with Javier, whether we want to or not?” She shook her head, “I pity the poor kid. I mean, he’s what? A sophomore?” I nodded, “Yea, and most of the guys in school have at least fought once with him. Practically all except the freshman because the majority are scared of him, and the scrawny nerds who can barely break a pencil.”

I nodded and glanced around, “Speaking of him…” I left it unsaid, instead choosing to nod my head in the direction of the office. Liz turned to look.

Javier was sitting in one of the chair, which we could see through the huge windows. His dark red hair was pure chaos around his face. A huge chunk of it was in front of his left eye, blocking it from anyone who was looking at him. His hair was always like that, in front of his eye. Nobody knew why he did it.

“He looks like he came out of it pretty unscratched,” Liz mumbled.

I made a thoughtful noise, “Adam was talking like he got him pretty good. Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Of course, we’re talking about Adam, and he isn’t the most reliable person.”

I shrugged, “Maybe we just can’t see his injuries.”

“Or maybe he has none. The fight didn’t last that long.”

“Just because it didn’t last long doesn’t mean neither of them could’ve gotten hurt. Adam’s lip was split.”

“Really? I didn’t get to see him before they took him away. His back was to me.”

“Didn’t look pretty.”

“Oh well. No one made him fight,” she turned away from Javier, “Have you seen Annie today? She told me I could copy her homework.”

“Why don’t you just do your own homework?”

She smiled, “What’s the fun in that?”

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Lunch was never that interesting of a thing to do. It was only a half an hour long, so we had just enough time to eat and talk for a bit before we went to another class. There was never a second of silence inside, because most of the students talked louder than they needed to.

I sat down at the table that Liz and Annie had already occupied.

“Where’s Adam?” Annie asked, looking around the large room for her boyfriend.

“Most likely suspended,” I told her. Liz nodded, and Annie frowned.

“I know he was fighting, but it doesn’t make any sense. Javier’s still here.”

I reached over the two seats away Annie was from me and patted the top of her head, “That’s because the principal has a soft spot for him. They started giving him in-school suspension like two months ago. You never noticed?”

“I never had any reason to,” she replied.

“I guess so,” I said, focusing my attention on my lunch. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Liz shoot a deadly glare at someone. I didn’t have time to ask why she was before someone tapped on my shoulder. Liz glared harder. I titled my head around see who it was, and to my surprise, it was Elise Holiday.

She was pretty, if you like liked girls, which I didn’t. (Not that anybody besides Liz knew.) She was also popular, which made me question more why she was trying to talk to me.

“River, right?”

“Right,” I said with a nod.

“Yea, well, hi.”

“Hi,” I replied with an eyebrow raised at my two friends. Annie shrugged and Liz just glared some more.

“Are you doing anything this weekend?” Elise asked me with what I thought was a hopeful tone.

I blinked and prayed that the conversation was not heading in the direction I thought it was.

“No,” I said slowly.

Wrong answer.

“Well, I was wondering if you’d like to come over to my house tomorrow, maybe? My mom is really overprotective and doesn’t want me going out with guys she doesn’t know, so maybe you and I could just watch a movie there or something?”

My dark brown eyes widened and I looked to Liz for help. She looked sympathetic but didn’t say anything. I then looked to Annie, who was smirking with an expression I was sure I didn’t like.

“I-”

“He’d love to,” Annie said, with a smile in my direction.

“I what?”

“Really,” Elise brushed her long strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder, “that’s great. So,” she handed me a small piece of paper, “here’s my phone number and address. Call me tonight, k?”

“Sure,” I ended up replying lamely.

She flashed me a bright smile before wiggling her hips back to her normal table. I glanced at the two people at my own table, one who looking at me like I was supposed to thank her, and the other looking quite sad.

I banged my head against the tabletop a few times.

“I wish I had a gun so I could shoot you right now, Annie,” I told her.

She scoffed, “I did you a favor. You obviously weren’t going to say yes.”

“Of course he wasn’t,” Liz said, moving over to sit in the chair next to me, “Poor River,” she whispered, “A date with a girl. How ever will you survive?”

“I won’t,” I gave an over exaggerated sigh and proceeded to bang my head again.

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A/N: Hello, people. Another story. Because I suck. A lot. Heh.

I know it doesn't really seem like it's slash, but it is people. I PROMISE. I mean, this is me, obviously.

I hope you guys liked the characters so far. Next chapter, unless I change it, will feature River, of course, Elise, and more of Javier. Non-fighting Javier.

So, what'd you think?

REVIEW...and I'll love you. And if I already love you, I'll love you more.

Also, this might seem really not needed, but Rainbowskye and I now have an account together. Pen name is PartnersInMurder. There's nothing under it now, but were planning out and will soon be writing an about five chapter story. Seems short, but the chapters are most likely going to be massive. Look forward to it sometime eh...not really soon. A month or so perhaps.:p

Thanks to Arigazi for being my beta.

'Til next time.