Chapter 2:

And Now, My Beautiful Assistant Shall be Sawed in Half.

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Go get your ribbon box

Go get your wounded heart

Seeing spiders, I'm told they never lie.

Go get your brother love

Go get your losing head

Seeing fire, I'm told it never burns.

I want it all, I pull you back. I want it all.

Cry baby, cry baby, cry.

Soaking down your face.

Cry baby, cry baby, and you can't understand how I could just kill a man.-- How I Could Kill a Man, Charlotte Sometimes.

--

"Nngh..." I woke up, completely disoriented. My eyes to the sight of a vague, fuzzy shape directly above my face. So, I proceeded to sit up, grab the nearest object, and hit the offensive shape that was too close to me until it went away. Unfortunately, the nearest object to me happened to be Fernando, my teddy bear. Needless to say, the beating was somewhat ineffective. I stopped beating the thing and squinted, trying desperately to bring it into focus.

"Are you done?" The now somewhat humanoid-shaped thing asked. I simply groaned in response and flopped back onto the bed.

"Why is it you?" I whined pathetically, scrunching my nose up.

"Because the giant hamsters couldn't get here soon enough. Now that Fernando has finished attack your harmless doctor, I have some pills for you." The thing, better known to the human race as Aden, informed me.

I merely whined petulantly and stuck a hand up at him. "Gimme!"

"Someone's not a being a very good patient," he chirped at me in a lilting singsong.

"If I don't get those pills, someone's not gonna have one of their te--"

"Hey, hey, hey, innocent ears, innocent ears," he interrupted, covering the stuffed bear on my chests' ears.

I merely snorted and then winced at the pain caused by moving.

"I feel like hell" I moaned, flinging a thin arm over my forehead.

"You don't look that good either," Aden supplied, a slightly sour expression on his face.

I leveled him with an intense glare, slightly disgruntled at his comment. "You're too sweet. I can see why people are drawn to you so much. It's like they're moths going to a light. A big, stupid, ugly as sin light."

"And your followers are obviously with you for your winning personality." He returned, smiling softly.

I then let out a massive diva sigh. "You know, I would feel better if you would give me some pills..."

In response, me pulled me back up into a sitting position, my back against the headboard, and handed me the pills and a glass of water. He took the water back when I was done.

I looked around and recognized his room immediately; it hadn't changed at all since I'd last been here. I smiled softly as I looked around the room and reminisced about it, looking at the Star Wars posters and his bookshelf filled with Sci-fi and manga, the wire-rim glasses on his nightstand, and the various DVDs of things like Star Trek movies and Planet of the Apes.

"I was a real geek wasn't I?" He asked, definitively ending any and all warmth I'd felt for the boy. My smile died out quickly, replaced by something far more bitter.

"You sure fixed that though, didn't you?" I sneered, leveling hazel eyes at him.

"Let's not talk about that now, you need to rest," he placated. Sapphire orbs shifted downward at the carpet, and the change in his mood was nearly palpable. I almost felt bad for ruining the first content moment between the two of us in a very long time.

Almost.

"Be warned, when I'm out of this bed, we will discuss what happened." I declared frostily, redirecting my glare at Fernando before remembering that the bear had done nothing to me to deserve such treatment.

"That's the plan, so just rest for now, and let the anger build up."

"Do my mother and K know where I am?" I frowned, "I was supposed to meet K after work, but your morons decided to play hacky-sack with my ribcage."

"Don't worry, my mom called your mom, and your mom called K. Now you need to go to sleep, because as soon as you wake up, mom, dad, and Tarik all want to talk to you. Tarik especially, he's really pissed at you for getting beaten up like that. Says it's a blow to his pride, he's taught you better than that."

I smiled at the mention of Tarik. Aden is one of seven children. He has three older sisters: Leah and Karma, who are twins and 21, and Madeline who is 18 and a senior at our school. Aden also has three younger brothers: Benjamin, who is 16, Tarik, who is now 15, and Rajeev, the baby of the bunch at only seven.

I only get to see Leah and Karma on the holidays, they still made it a point to be around me after the incident, and they're the only ones other than Tarik, K, and my other best friend Madeline who know about it. The two older girls also send me emails from them from time to time to keep me updated on their lives. They're totally inseparable, and they're a lot alike, the only difference being Leah enjoys fun-ducational games while Karma enjoys drinking games.

Not that you heard that from me, naturally.

Madeline, affectionately called Maddy, is one of my absolute best friends. She's in several of my classes at school, and we've bonded to a near inseparable degree. Maddy has a very demure sensibility, always quiet and somewhat shy, but she has the best sense of humor of anyone I know, and can brighten nearly all situations.

Benjamin, not-so affectionately referred to as Ben, is perhaps my least favorite person in existence, with the possible exception of his older brother. Ben is my age, and a total and complete asshole. In the aftermath of the incident, he was accidentally informed of what went down, and hasn't left my sexual orientation alone since. At first it bothered me, but now I just get K or Maddy to shut the little freak up.

Tarik is probably my favorite person ever; he's totally incredible, and he spends much of his time at my house. After the incident, he basically set an iron curtain between himself and his brother, and didn't talk to him for nearly three months. Tarik and I went out on one date when he came out as bisexual, but we quickly decided we were doomed to friendship, as when he tried to kiss me, both of us looked like we were in pain. The decision to keep it at friend level was kinda unanimous. We did, however, make a deal that if we were still alone at the age of 35, he'd take pity on me and make me his wife. He, Maddy, and K are honestly my only true friends.

I snapped back to reality to flop back down onto the bed. "Alright, now get out of here so I can sleep."

"Night," was his simple reply as he padded out of the room.

--

I slept fitfully for a little bit before waking again. I looked at the clock on his nightstand and saw that it was only a little bit after nine. I got out of Aden's ever-so-comfy bed and walked into the bathroom to inspect my wounds. I looked at myself and was surprised at how little I was injured. The only visible wound on my face was a slight cut. I began to unbutton the white button-down Aden had put me in, in order to look at my chest. My torso was quite obviously the source of my discomfort, as my nearly concave chest, and most of the left side of my abdomen was covered in a nasty purple bruise.

"Ouchies," I heard from behind me. I whirled around to find Madeline and K standing in the doorway, both wide eyed at my injury..

"Oh, it's just you two." I sighed, breathing deeper to get rid of the leftover jittery-ness.

K's platinum eyebrow arched, "Just?"

K is my other best friend. She moved here our eighth grade year and no one wanted to be friends with her because of her punk clothes and accent, so Aden and I quickly befriended her. A Russian immigrant, she's a little bit shorter than me with hair currently dyed almost white its so blonde. Said hair is short and spiked, and generally speaking she adorns herself with as many pieces of spiky or leathery accessories as possible. Yeah, I know, she's a bit of a stereotype, but her motto is If you've gotta be something, don't do it half-assed.

"You know what he meant." Maddy chastised. She is easily the most subdued of us, usually sporting a long skirt and simple blouse. Comparatively, she appears as a regular bookworm, which is why no one suspects her as the evil mastermind that she truly is.

"You alright?" K asked, her lips pressed into a thin line.

"I hurt a little." I answered, not wanting to worry the two. "I'll be okay though. So what's our revenge plan on the goons, O Evil Genius?" I asked, swaying the focus of the discussion from myself as I peered at Madeline.

"No revenge, Aden found them beating on you, and he beat them to a pulp. One is in the hospital with a broken leg and the other has a concussion and bruised ribs. Both are being charged with hate crimes." Maddy informed me.

"He beat them up? For me? After the thing?" I asked, bewildered at his actions.

Maddy spoke softly, "He's changed since then."

"That's true. As we say in Russia, 'There is more than one side to a Rubik's Cube." K said, nodding sagely. All that did was earn her a disgruntled stare from myself and a fond smile from Maddy.

"I believe what she means is that there are two sides to every story." Madeline translated, still smiling.

"Whatever," I said, shaking my head dismissively. Maddy was the next to speak as I exited the bathroom.

"Now come on, let's go down stairs. Tarik, Lillian, and Aden are waiting to talk to you."

I followed the two girls downstairs, re-buttoning my…er r, Aden's shirt, and saw the three inquisitors waiting in the kitchen.

Aden immediately swooped into action, mothering me like he did when we were five and I got pushed into the sandbox by Jeremiah Tillspan.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything? Are you hungry? Tired? Need a chair?" He asked in rapid succession, hovering over me in a most annoying fashion.

I turned on the big, innocent eyes, "Aden?"

"Yes?" He asked, sounding to all the world like an eager puppy.

"Come closer," I commanded. Naturally, he moved in a little bit.

"'Kay?"

"Closer,"

"Alright?"

"Closer still,"

"Mm-hmm?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!" I shouted into his ear, causing the poor boy to jump at least three feet into the air. His golden-haired mother aimed a withering glare at me in retribution.

"What's this about?" She asked, eyes narrowed to slits. "You two boys were so cute together, and I always hoped you'd wind up together. Actually, Mi-Yae and were planning it, but you two suddenly wouldn't even stay in the same room as each other. Now I want you boys to settle this little spat right here and right now, or no brownies for either one of you!"

I shot an acidic glare at Aden, "Alright, why don't we just get this over with?"

"Not here," he replied uneasily.

"No! Right here, right now! I want to know why!" I cried, "Or, are you afraid for your mother to find out what happened?"

"Fine! You want to know why that all happened!?" He shouted back, drawing up to his full height to loom over me.

"I already know why! You used me! You knew how I felt and you used the sad little faggot as a stepping stone to popularity, and guess what, it worked. You never gave a damn about me!" I hissed, feeling a familiar stinging building in my eyes.

"That's not true, at all." He maintained, a rather pained light in his blue eyes.

"Then tell me what happened," I demanded. "I deserve an explanation."

"First of all, tell me what you remember." He requested. His posture relaxed, and while still towering over me, he wasn't going for intimidation any longer.

I figured there was no harm in me going first, so I retracted the metaphoric claws, took a deep breath, and started to tell my side of the story.

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A/n: Here's chapter two of the revision.

Enjoy!

(review, as always)