Irene looks at the board to make sure she has all the notes, then back at Lloyd who was hyperventilating. She pauses for a moment then gets out of her seat and goes over to the teacher. The teacher turns over to Irene. "How may I help you, Ms. Semyonov?" Irene points to herself and Lloyd. "Mrs. Bryce, Lloyd and I are supposed to go help the librarian with some stuff. We both finished our work, may we go now?" Mrs. Bryce looks over at Lloyd then back at Irene. "Go ahead, just be back before class ends." Irene smiles, lightly bowing her head to the teacher. "Thank you, we will." Irene walks back over to Lloyd. She goes close to his ear. "Lloyd, let's go, we have to 'help the librarian'." She backs up, winks, and starts heading to the door.
Lloyd nodded and followed her out of the classroom, hyperventilating more now that they weren't in the classroom. They found a secluded corner, where Lloyd sat down and drew his knees up to his chest. He crossed his arms atop them and hid his face, shaking. "I-I can't do this… I can't do this… I can't…" He whispered, more to himself than anyone else. Of all the times his mind could choose to crack, why now? He didn't have time for this… he had more work he could be doing while he was out here panicking. "I'm sorry…"
Irene sat down next to him. She lightly set her hand on his back and rubbed it. This was a normal routine for her. All the teachers thought Irene and Lloyd were such helpful students, but in reality, Irene used 'helping other teachers' as an excuse to help Lloyd calm down. Usually, no one was in the halls during class time, it was hard for people to leave the class for small reasons such as leaving a pencil in their locker or to get a drink of water. The occasional student would pass them, and Irene would just smile and wave. "There is no reason to be sorry. I'm here to help you, not be annoyed or mad. I'm your best friend after all." She sends him a comforting smile. "Also, I know how much you worry about getting your work done and we are definitely not going back to class anytime soon, so I finished the work if you need it."
"T-Thank you…" Lloyd leaned against Irene, trying to force himself to calm down. These attacks at school usually happened once or twice a month, but not too often that them constantly 'helping teachers' wasn't suspicious. Lloyd was stressed for a lot of reasons right now. There was always the worrying about getting work done. He'd skipped a grade and was younger than the others, so it could be hard. Some of the other students bullied him simply because he was such a huge nerd, and his father had gotten worse this morning. Usually it was just verbal abuse, but it had gotten physical. He thought his father was drunk and gave him the benefit of the doubt, but that didn't stop the bruises from hurting. Irene wasn't aware of this yet.
(Oh! I forgot to add that Irene has a very heavy Russian accent)
"No problem." Irene looks around the hall and keeps her eyes on it. If it wasn't for Irene's father, both she and Lloyd would probably be regular detention students. He taught her the key to lying to get what she needed and how to think on the spot if she did get caught. She looks over to Lloyd. "Do you need anything? I didn't have much of a breakfast so I'm going to get something from the vending machine."
(Cool cool)
Lloyd shook his head. "I… I ate this morning." He lied, of course. He hadn't eaten anything this morning, last night, or anything yesterday for that matter. He generally just couldn't be bothered to make food, but there wasn't much of it at his house anyways. That was why he was so underweight, in addition to a couple other reasons. Anything he ate got metabolized since he had good metabolism, and he sometimes withheld food from himself because he was afraid of getting fat and being bullied even more. Even his stomach had given up on growling a lot of the time.
Irene raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure? I know how bad your eating habits are…" No matter how many times she asks and he declines food, she knows it's best for him to eat even if he doesn't want to. Irene slowly stands up facing Lloyd. "I'm getting you something anyway. Would you rather a granola bar or chips?" She grabs money out of her pocket and starts counting it.
"…A granola bar is fine I guess." Lloyd kept tapping his foot anxiously and fidgeted with his hands. He made sure the sleeves of his hoodie were firmly down for a very specific and probably obvious reason, although this was another thing he'd neglected to mention to Irene. He knew she'd worry and try to get him help, but he couldn't afford a therapist and didn't want her to be stressed as well. This was something he wanted to deal with alone, although he was clearly doing a pretty poor job.
"Ok, I'll be back." She turns on her heel and walks toward the vending machine. It was approaching the day her mother escaped the FSB, but everyone else knows it as the day her mother disappeared. Irene knew people would start talking about it again. She would have told Lloyd, but her parents are insistent about not telling anyone what so ever. As Irene entered the commons, another student joins her. "Aren't you supposed to be in class… or helping another teacher?" The other student looked a little anxious, but like they were trying to hide it. Irene raised her eyebrows. "Aren't you supposed to be in detention right now?" The student let out a breath. "Y-yes… please don't tell the teachers though. I'm already in enough trouble as it is." Irene nodded her head in response and left the student. She approached the vending machine and got what she was there for. Irene looked at the clock in the commons and her eyes widened. She quickly turns around and half runs half walks back to the corner where Lloyd was.
Lloyd was still sitting quietly on the ground, holding his breath again. He wasn't watching the hallway, but he hadn't heard footsteps, so he figured that no one had seen him. Good… No one should have to see me like this. He rubbed his forearms absently and glanced up as Irene returned, quickly removing his hands from his arms to avoid arousing suspicion, although that was probably more suspicious than just leaving his hands where they were. He quietly thanked Irene for the granola bar and winced a bit when he reached up to take it because of the bruises on his chest.
"How many times do I have to tell you to breathe. Even if you are hyperventilating, you are still getting oxygen." Irene sits down next to him again. The 10-minute bell rings, surprising Irene. She jumps a little. "Lloyd, we'd better get our stuff from the classroom. Mrs. Bryce told me to be back before class ends. If we go in there and get our stuff, I can tell her that it's just taking a bit longer." She was hoping the teacher would believe her. It was taking a little longer than normal to calm Lloyd down and it was worrying Irene a little bit.
(I have to go, but I'll be back in a bit, I think)
"Okay…" Lloyd stood up unsteadily and followed Irene back to the classroom. He grabbed his things and started gathering Irene's while she told the teacher that it would be taking longer. He was still quietly hyperventilating through all of this, and his normally neat blond hair was disheveled. Once Irene had gotten her things, they returned to their spot and Lloyd sat back down. "I-I'm sorry it's taking longer today… it's… t-today hasn't been a good day…"
Irene sat down next to him again. She leans over and hugs Lloyd. "It's okay. I don't mind, I get to spend more time with my best friend, even if you aren't feeling very well. Talk to me, why hasn't today been very good?" She looks out into the hall, just to make sure no one is there still.
"M-My dad, he…" Lloyd blinked away tears, unable to form very coherent sentences. "…and school, a-and the others… our… our classmates, and j-just… everything hurts, and I'm scared…." A couple of tears rolled down his cheeks. He was aware that he hadn't really been able to get a clear point across, but talking was getting increasingly difficult. He leaned against Irene, his breathing shaky and uneven.
Irene welcomed Lloyd leaning on her, she put her arms around him to comfort him. She was curious and worried about what happened with his dad, but she didn't want to pry too much. "Don't mind our classmates, most of them probably don't care, and if they do either they want to help, or they have problems of their own." The bell rings, but Irene doesn't budge. They were out of the way enough that students don't normally come that way. "You are safe right now, that's all that matters, no need to be scared. I'm here, no one is going to hurt you. If they try, they will have to go through me first. Cliche, I know, but that is the truth."
"You… y-you can't stop him… he'll hurt you too…" Lloyd whispered, closing his eyes and shuddering. Although the physical abuse had only just started this morning, he had a feeling it was going to continue. His father had gotten a taste and liked the results, so he didn't see it stopping any time soon. Lloyd tried to brush away his tears with one hand. "I-I can't do this, Irene… I can't handle all of this…"
"I… I didn't know it was that bad, I mean I knew your father was bad, but this? This is more than bad." She tightened her hug, feeling like this was the only thing she could do. Irene had no idea how to help him, but she will try anything she can. "Do you want to ditch school today? Maybe you could stay at my house tonight. I just don't want you to suffer more than you already are, you don't deserve it."
(Sorry, I have to go again and I'll be gone a lot longer this time)
(Oof okay)
"…K-Kinda. How would we get out without being seen, though? S-Shouldn't you like, check with your parents to see if it's okay?" Lloyd looked up at Irene, his green eyes shining with tears. "I'm not sure how they'd react to you having a boy stay the night… w-well, you know I'd never even consider trying to make a move on you or anything, but obviously, I'm still closeted and all…"
"I have a plan. So during lunch, which is in about 15 minutes, we will wait until a whole bunch of people are outside. Then we will sneak through that hole in the fence kinda behind the cafeteria. And that's it. About my parents…" For anyone else, she would have specified that it's just her father, but she really wants to tell Lloyd about her mom. That is her subtle way of telling him. "No one will know that we ditched and about staying the night, I have told my father that I have a gay friend, I just haven't told him who because I wasn't sure if it was ok with you. Would it be ok if I told him? He knows that I'm Bi, so he wouldn't mind at all."
"I-I… um… if it would make him feel better about me staying with you, then I think it'd be okay… I just wasn't sure because my parents are super strict and stuff and they… t-they wouldn't be okay with it if I told them…" Lloyd got up shakily. "Lunch is starting soon, so we should probably get moving… I didn't bring any food or money, of course, so you don't have to wait for me to eat or anything."
"I'll only tell my parents if they ask, okay? I'm so so sorry about your parents, I wish I could do something about it." Irene stood up helping Lloyd. "Yes, lunch. Let's go, I'm good with what I got at the vending machine. If either of us gets hungry I still have some money." She helps make sure Lloyd doesn't fall over or anything, while looking as casual and normal at the same time. Once they get to the cafeteria, there are already a lot of people outside. "Okay, now's our chance. Let's go."
Lloyd nodded and made sure no one was watching before quickly walking off with Irene. He slipped through the gap in the fence easily since he was so thin and once Irene had come through, he ran with her all the way to her house. Breaking rules like this really wasn't helping his anxiety, but he could deal with that later. That's why they were leaving in the first place anyways.
She stops in front of her house. "Okay, um my parents did say that if I ever need to leave school and I can't really ask a teacher then I can do this. I've never had a need for it in the past, but here we are. I am going to call me mothe– father just to make sure it's ok. Just give me a minute." Irene pulls out her phone and she calls her father. No one answers so she tries again, no answer. She pauses for a moment. "My father didn't answer, I'm going to call one more time…" Instead of calling her father, she calls her mother. She picks up. Irene has her volume a little high for calls so if someone is close, they can hear the call. "Hello dear, why are you calling at this time, aren't you in school right now?"
"Hi…father? I had to come home early today. Why didn't 'you' pick up earlier?" Irene side glances at Lloyd, then at the house.
"The uh FSB asked him to come to their office… he looked worried when he told me."
"Are you in the house, or can I come in?" Irene fumbled with a key that was previously in her pocket.
"Go ahead and go in. Love you dear, see you later!"
"Wait!"
"Rea, what is it?"
Irene lowers her voice. "I have a friend with me, he is coming inside, is it still ok to come in?"
"Yes it is, love you!" Irene hung up the phone. She looks over to Lloyd. "Ok let's go inside." She unlocks the front door and holds it open for Lloyd.
Lloyd went inside with Irene. "So they're… they're okay with it?" He asked quietly, slowly sitting down on the floor once they got into the living room. Dammit… my anxiety is really bad today. "I-I really wouldn't want to intrude or cause any trouble or anything…" The sleeve of his hoodie shifted as he moved and briefly exposed the scars underneath before he pulled them back down, his heart only pounding faster. "I know you said your dad would be okay with me… you know… but what about your mom?"
"Of course they are… you don't want to sit on the couch or that chair? They are a lot more comfortable than the floor." Irene looks over to Lloyd messing with his sleeves, but she doesn't pay much attention to it. "What do you mean my mom? You know, best of everyone that she disappeared, actually 8 years ago tomorrow. I honestly don't know how she would feel, I mean a lot has happened since then…" She absolutely hated lying to Lloyd, but she had to, for her parent's.
(Oh shoot I forgot that lol)
"Here's fine… and sorry, I-I'm really disoriented right now…" Lloyd rubbed his temple with one hand, his sleeve slipping again. He didn't notice it this time though since his eyes were closed. "I honestly might pass out if I try to stand up again…" Lloyd sighed softly, his eyes still closed. "I'm sorry you have to deal with my shit all the time, Irene…"
(Lol I was actually hoping you did that on purpose… but it's ok lol)
Irene lets out an audible breath of relief. "Okay, as long as you are comfortable." Irene looks over to Lloyd just in time to see his sleeve slip. "L-Lloyd… what happened to your wrists?!" She jumps up from the couch and sits down next to him.
