Our Only Bug Boy

Part 3 - Consequences

Well, this one didn't use too much POV-switching, I'm afraid. Mostly stayed in Amber's point of view. But, the next one will be different. In any case, bring on Amber's monologue.

[intro]

By now, you're probably ticked at me for not finally telling you what it is that made Weevil how he is.

You may also be thinking, as we've progressed, "What the heck? This guy's life isn't so hard! So he's got bullies. Everyone does. So he's the perfect target. Plenty of friendly people are perfect targets. He's still a-" I won't let you finish that thought.

In any case, if this is what you're thinking, then I don't blame you. After all, with how much I've been beating around the bush, I'm surprised you haven't all left.

So, this is where I get serious.

This is where I explain…

[end intro]

Nine years previously…

Sunlight falls upon a first grade playground. Cheerful. So cheerful is the sky and the birds that crow and sing.

A small, gentle, boy stands alone in a school yard. He could only be about six years of age.

Tied to a tether-ball pole.

He's not screaming. He's not struggling. He gave up on those ideas, long ago.

Instead, he is crying, tears sliding beneath his butterfly-wing glasses, and landing on a big, red, floppy, bow, crookedly tied underneath his white shirt collar.

"Why…?" he sniffed. "Why won't they just leave them alone…?"

His gaze could be traced to a large ant hill inconveniently placed in the grass on the outskirts of the playground cement. The hopes and dreams of the inhabitants had been crushed, with the only a trace of the cause being that of a large foot print smack in the middle of the sandy structure. Too precise to be an accident.

It was far too large to be the crying boy's.

Then, a girl with dark blue hair stepped out from behind a medium-sized oak tree.

"Hey, Weevs…" she untied him from the tether ball pole. "It's time to go home…"

"Okay…" the boy sighed, blinking at his sister as he wiped his own tears away and adjusted his glasses. "Let's go, Am…"

The two siblings stood silently for a moment, both staring at the ant hill. Then, as if by a silent signal, walked off to hop the fence and avoid the crowds of kids that were hovering around the bus stop at the front of the school.

The two kids shuffled along the sidewalk, eyes down as the sun continued to mock the boy with its cheer.

"I hate humans."

"Huh?" the girl frowned. "Whaddayou mean? We're human."

"I mean, I hate them as a species. So cruel…They kill for no reason…"

"…Can't say I can disagree with that." She sighed. "But…you know…not all humans are bad…"

"I am well aware of that. I'm just saying that they are, as a species, cruel and heartless."

"But…"

"It's true!" he stopped walking, and turned to her. "They'll kill without even thinking. And for their own amusement…"

"You…you mean that ant hill back there…?"

"Yes. That and every fly that's been heartlessly swatted. Every beetle that's been stepped on and every ant that's been fried. Every wasp nest gassed and every spider that's been so harshly ripped from it's web. If there is truly any evil in this world, it never existed until humans went from cavemen, to thinking beings!" He stated, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. It was amazing that an average six year-old could be so eloquent. But, then again, this wasn't really much of an average six year-old.

"Weevil…" she bit her lip and looked down, trying not to believe this was true. "They're just bugs."

He stared at her for a good two minutes.

"Amber…"

The girl looked up as her brother spoke.

"A life is a life."

--

"Uh…Amber…? …Aaaaammmbeeerr…?"

"Whuh-…huh? Weevs, that yooouuu…?" I tried to jar my eyes open from my nap as my voice slurred in a sleepy swathe from my throat.

"Not even close, Genius." I heard a familiar laugh. "It's me."

I blinked my eyes all the way open, and saw Rex standing in front of my desk. He was shaking his head and smiling at me.

"Come on, Am. We don't wanna be late for lunch. They're serving something edible! And Weevil can't hold our spots in line forever!"

He took me by the wrist and practically dragged me out of my desk, on to my feet, and out of the classroom…

--

Rex and I stepped into the cafeteria, and saw something that didn't surprise us in the least.

"What did you call me?!"

"I called you a meat-head, Meat-Head!" came my brother's shrill voice.

Weevil, as it happened, was butting heads with one of the school bullies. And, as if that weren't enough, they were having this schism in the cafeteria line. The bully had him by the shirt collar, but Weevil was still glaring up at him with a strong determination that just couldn't be beaten out of him...despite the fact that his feet were now four feet from the tile floor below.

Rex and I ran over, practically tripping over each other's feat.

The bully, nearly twice my brother's height, dropped the buggy boy. He landed on his knees.

"I'll see you after school. I don't have time for this, now. I've gotta get me some grub…" He shoved Weevil out of the line and pushed a couple of other kids out of the way as well.

Rex helped him up while I stood and glared at the dunderhead who had treated my brother in such a way.

"That guy's gonna be a dead meat-head once I'm done with him." I muttered, fists clenched.

Rex sighed.

"Come on, Am, let's get a table. We can get our lunch once the line's cleared…" he said, shaking his head at me. I was sure he could tell what I was planning on doing to that ass of a bully.

At that moment, I sighed.

"Aw'right. Let's go."

The three of us brushed ourselves off, taking some trays with us before sitting down at one of the back tables.

Away from everyone else, as usual.

Once we had all settled down, the three of us had practically forgotten about the bully after talking about boring class issues, like tests and homework. Weevil yawned suddenly.

"Jeez, I barely remember that guy, now that we're sitting here. I must be really tired because I'd usually be fuming and plotting revenge, right now."

"I know. I'm surprised." Rex laughed. I shook my head.

"Yeah. Guess lack of sleep causes the opposite effect on ya'. Instead of becoming irritable, you become pretty dang passive. Compared to how you usually are, at least…" I muttered. "So, did the teacher give you detention, too?" I asked my brother, getting bored of the previous topic.

He shook his head.

"Nah, I just waited outside the door until that class was over. Then, I blended in with the crowd until we made it to the next class. No one even noticed I was late." He smirked slyly.

"But…what'd you do about the hall monitor?" Rex asked him.

"Oh…a little something called…" he whipped out a picture of the current hall monitor. In pink footy pajamas. "Black-Mail! Eeheehee!" He sounded triumphant. Rex laughed at the picture.

"Sweet! …Can I get copies of these?"

"I have plenty of copies on my computer at home. I'll be sure to print some out for you."

"Thanks pal." They high-fived each other, grinning. I suddenly snapped to attention.

"Oh, crap! I just remembered – Rex, you and I have a test, this afternoon!"

"Wh-What?!" Rex sounded devastated. "How b-big is it?"

"HUGE!"

"NO!"

The test we were about to take would represent eighty-percent of our grades. To put it simply, for Rex, this was the exact definition of Apocalypse.

Needless to say, neither of us had thought to study. We had both been too busy clashing with each other in videogames. Which…might explain why my brother was so tired. When Rex and I played video games at the mansion, we tended to turn the volume all the way up and shout so loud, it kept the whole family awake for at least a few hours.

Weevil seemed to be thinking back.

"Your teacher's Mrs. Harground, right?"

We nodded.

"And what percentage did she say it would represent for your grades…?"

"Eighty…" We both muttered grimly.

"Then, this must be the test I took last year. It was easy…"

Our faces lit up with hope.

"…For me, at least."

We smacked our foreheads against the table simultaneously.

"You're not helping us!" we shouted, twitching slightly. Weevil smiled.

"Let me finish. It was easy for me. And, though I could have answered each question without too much trouble…" He whipped out two pieces of paper. "I took a short-cut the day before, to cut my test time in half and lower the stress level. I hacked into the teacher's curriculum plan, and printed out the answer key. Copies, in case I was searched…" Weevil was well-known by the staff at school as 'that little sh*t with the guts to pull anything if it makes things easier for him'. Thus, he was always under great suspicion whenever something winded up as being 'too perfect' for him or 'too harsh' for his known enemies. He was accustomed to pulling strings, bribing, and black-mailing to get what he wanted.

But that didn't mean he couldn't throw a boon to those who were close to him every now and then.

Rex and I grinned as we each clawed at the cheat-sheets and hugged our respective papers like they were brand new pets.

"Thaaaank you, Weeeevyyyy!!!~" We both said, sounding sugar-sweet, though we really just wanted our only bug boy to do stuff for us like this more often. Clearly, Weevil sensed this.

"Aw, shutup, you lame-brains!" he laughed, shaking his head but sounding proud.

Then, as if he remembered something, Rex snapped his fingers.

"Hey, Am, didn't you get that fossil for me?"

"Yeah, I got your damn fossil, you Dino-Dork." I laughed, reaching into my backpack pocket and taking out the accursed fossil. However, instead of handing it to him, I pulled open his shirt collar and dropped it straight down into his yellow shirt. And – you have to remember – I found the damn rock in the fridge.

"Eh-hey! Oh, cr-r-r-ruuuuddd! That's c-cold…LITERALLY!!!" Rex started shivering before jumping up and hopping from one foot to the other. Weevil was cackling.

"Guess today was the wrong day to wear a belt, huh, Rex? Now, that thing's never coming out." he shot before resuming his cackle.

Rex spun around in circles, patting his shirt in hopes that the rock would somehow magically jump through the material and into his hand. It wasn't working. So, to his extreme embarrassment, the guy had to reach into the neck of his shirt and take the infernal fossil out. He slowly turned to me.

"What…the hell was that for?!"

I smirked.

"It was for making me and my brother late for school, this morning with your damn fossil troubles!" I said, whacking him, for good measure, on the back of the head. He pouted.

"Hey! That's not my fault. You should've gone looking for it faster..."

"YOU TRYING FINDING ANYTHING IN THAT FLIPPIN' TOWER OF BABYLON, DINO-DORK!" My brother and I exploded, close to jumping out of our seats. Rex smiled weakly. Weevs and I had a point.

Then, we noticed that it had become strangely quiet in the cafeteria. After looking around, we realized that – surprise, surprise! – everyone had left the room. We had been so engaged in our own little conversation, lunch had ended without us even hearing the bell go off.

"Oh, crap!"

In seconds, the three of us were out of the room and heading off to our respective classes. Neither of us had even remembered to get back in line for lunch, so we were all running on empty stomachs.

We were each collapsed on the floor just 4.26 seconds after leaving the cafeteria.

"Huuuuungwwwyyyy." In case you couldn't understand that, we all groaned, "Hungry…" while clutching our stomachs and licking the floor. Yes, you read me right. That wasn't a typo.

Licking the floor.

That's how hungry we were.

You ever feel that hungry before, buddy? Well, let me tell you…

You cannot live on protein bars and two bites of pancake in the morning! You just…CAN'T!

--

Detention.

Great.

Well, I guess it wasn't so bad. Rex was in the desk next to me. He had gotten to class fifteen minutes late since he could barely lift himself off the floor. So did I, but the nice thing about getting into detention early in the morning is that you can't be in detention a second time. Weevil was lucky. He had managed to pull the same trick as he did this morning, and blended into the crowd after the class was out.

I checked to make sure the teacher unlucky enough to oversee detention wasn't looking, and then wrote something down on a piece of paper from my doodle-filled notebook.

Hey, Rex, does that teacher's hair look real to you?

God, I'm so immature. But, it's sure fun as heck! I folded up the piece of paper and threw it on to his desk.

While I watched, Rex unfolded the note, and his shoulders shook and his cheeks puffed out as he tried to stifle his laughter. He wrote something down, folded it, and passed it over to me.

I eagerly read it.

Sure, it does! Real, genuine, dollar store-bought hair!

I couldn't stifle my laugh, and the previously silent room was filled with my cackles.

"Miss Underwood! Would you like to share what is amusing you so much?" came the irritated voice of the teacher at the desk.

"Pffft-AHAHA-heee…!" I grinned and pointed. Guess where? "You're wearin' a HAIR-PIECE!!!"

Now, it was Rex's turn to laugh himself to death. Along with half of the room. That half, coincidentally, did not include the teacher.

The toupee-wearer went red. Half with anger and half with an embarrassment. Or his blood sugar could have been acting up.

"Miss Underwood, let's see how much you're laughing in detention. TOMORROW."

My face was the new thing to laugh at in class. I turned to Rex.

"Can he do that?"

He shrugged.

"I dunno."

"Frick." I let my head fall upon my desk.

--

Rex and I couldn't believe what had happened when we came to the bus stop and saw Weevil sitting there and staring out into space with the tandem bike resting on his back.

His glasses were cracked. He had a nose bleed and a nasty-looking bruise on his forehead. One of his sleeves was ripped slightly. His shirt collar seemed stretched out. Otherwise, he looked banged up all over.

Then, I remembered that bully back in the lunch line…

--

Sorry for the cliff-hanger. Well, there you have it! Now, thanks to a suggestion from a good friend of mine, I'm going to describe one OC of mine at the end of each story from now on. That way, you guys will be able to picture the story a little more easily.

This time, I'll describe Amber:

Her hair is a deep, dark, blue. Almost black. It increases in length towards her face, and ends at chin length. Her eyes are deep blue, similar to Weevil's, only wider and more feminine. Her skin is a light tan and she is muscularly built. Amber wears a plain, dark green, tank-top, along with baggy jeans. She also wears black skate shoes (or converses, depending on which ones are clean). Overall, she really doesn't look anything like Weevil, her eyes and bowl-cut bangs being the exceptions.

A/N :D Hope you liked it. Please review if you have any critiques, questions, comments, or compliments.