Fic: Mad World, Chapter 4
In this part, a day in the life of a bully, and the formation of a plan . . . that unfortunately centres on Kurt.
Warning: This chapter contains quite a lot of homophobic words and content, due to the point of view it is written in.
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Chapter 4: Daily Races (Previous: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3)
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Azimio was about as psyched to head back to school as any student would be; in other words, he was seriously thinking about pretending that he had a wicked case of food poisoning. Considering all the crap that they had served at his cousin's wedding, he figured it wouldn't take much to convince his parents.
But it was pretty cool to see his friends again - especially Dave, since there was no one else who would play Halo with him until three in the morning on a school night. The guy had been his best friend pretty much since they started high school together; Azimio had confessed to being a hockey fan and Dave had informed him that he was a hockey player who would totally teach him how to skate. The skating thing had not ended well, but they bonded over a broken arm. Dave was one of the best guys Azimio knew.
"My man!" He exchanged a quick guy-hug: slapping of hands, patting of backs and done within two seconds. "Tell me you've been bored out of your skull without me around!"
Dave grinned. "Totally. I've been covering for you, doing twice the work. My arm's sore from all the slushies, and my shoulder too - locker slamming geeks is some work-out."
Azimio shook his head. "Man, we totally need to cook up something big, soon. I think the dorks are gettin' a little too used to our methods."
Dave shrugged as he dug around his locker for his books. "Might be fun. But we can't get caught - if I got suspended, I'm pretty sure my dad would make me sleep in the back yard for a week." Azimio made sympathetic noises - he knew Dave's father well, and the man was nice, but also tougher than most marines. He was cool and funny most of the time, but Azimio was always careful to be on his best behaviour when at the Karofsky home.
He leaned against the row of lockers, surveying the hallway. "Yeah, my mom would probably send me to live with my aunt in Columbus. That woman is all kinds of crazy, and my cousins are like, all nerds and Harry Potter freaks - they go to midnight releases and shit. It would be hell."
Dave raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you read those books. I know you have 'cause I saw them in your room, and they did not look brand-new."
"Shut up, they were a Christmas gift from my Aunt Jean, and it's not like I read 'em more than once." Azimio shoved him hard and Dave pushed him back, rolling his eyes and smirking.
"Fine, whatever you say, man." Dave finally fished out his math book. "Let's head out - I so don't need another tardy on my record."
Azimio felt the need to keep on defending his coolness because no way he wanted his best buddy thinking he was a closet nerd. "Those books are totally bogus now - I mean, Dumbledore's a fag, which completely destroys any cool factor, if they had any to begin with."
Dave blinked. "Huh? Since when is Dumbledore gay?"
"Dude, it was like, all over the news a while back - how'd you miss it?"
His friend cast him a look out of the corner of his eye. "I don't know, maybe 'cause since I'm not into nerdy crap, I wasn't paying attention?"
"That's it, now you go down, Karofsky!" He feinted a couple of one-two punches that Dave ducked, laughing and giving back a few of his own.
The other students in the hall darted around them quickly, keeping their heads down and hunching in on themselves as they passed. It was awesome, being that powerful - though not the most powerful; Azimio was man enough to admit that Sue Sylvester was still the scariest motherfucking thing in this school (she got Olivia Newton-John to help her overcome the embarrassment of that work-out video and that was power he could both respect and be terrified of - he immediately stopped mocking her in the hallways and kept his own head down around her). There was no shame in running the hell away from her if you saw her coming - that was just self-preservation - but after Coach Sylvester, he and Dave had the next spot on the fear charts. That was just the way things were and the way things should be.
"Oh, yes, here comes my favourite little freak." Azimio spotted Hummel coming down the hall; he was distracted, playing with the iPhone that his daddy had probably bought him. It was just aggravating to see the kid still being his usual gay-ass self, with no regard to how freakish and out of place he was.
That was all right, Azimio was more than happy to remind him. He nudged Dave, who gave him a nod. Hummel was just putting his phone away when Azimio came and swept his foot right in gay-boy's path. Dave gave him an extra hard shove, sending him tripping and hitting the ground. He didn't have to look to see the frustrated and pained look on the homo's face. He just grinned to himself, proud of a job well done, a pride that Dave shared with him by exchanging a high-five.
"Now I feel like I'm back," Azimio said with satisfaction.
"Yeah, but he never seems to get the message, you know?" Dave complained, and Azimio totally got that. Hummel never really seemed too scared of them. Mostly he just got pissed or annoyed. A few times he seemed almost . . . like he just accepted it or something. Which, good, nice to know he understood his place in the grand order of things, but the little prick didn't even try to dress down or call less attention to himself.
"Maybe we should make our big project 'bout Hummel - I mean, his Glee club freaks can't be around all the time."
"Yeah." Dave was staring back over his shoulder now, shaking his head to himself a bit. "But you know what? He's kinda been a loner lately. Like, even that Jones girl hasn't been around him that much."
"Maybe they've all finally wised up and dropped the loser," Azimio pointed out. "Huh, I may have to reconsider the slushie I was gonna throw at her."
They had reached their math class five minutes early and were taking their seats when Lucy Kindle (a sweet Cheerio with a great ass, though her rack was less impressive than most), turned around to greet them, chattering away about the latest gossip. Azimio was only half listening, until she cocked her head at his friend and asked, "Oh, and hey, Dave, what was up with Kurt a few days ago?"
Dave stared at her, frozen in the middle of opening his binder. "What the hell are you talking about, I don't know anything -"
"I mean, I heard Gracie talking about how you pushed him and he just like totally took off on you - chased you into the locker room."
Azimio felt his eyebrows shoot up. "Damn, Hummel can be a mouthy little asshole, but that's something ballsy for a kid who's got nothin' goin' on in the testosterone department. Did you lay him out for that?"
"Nah, he just said his usual crap - couldn't understand half of what was coming' out of those girly lips anyways," Dave dismissed - and then suddenly his binder was on the floor, papers sliding everywhere across the tiles.
"Shit," his friend swore loudly.
"Nicely done." He rolled his eyes, bending over to help, but Dave was on his knees already, waving him off.
"No thanks, Azimio, I got it."
"By the way," Lucy was staring at her nails, not looking at either of them, "why do you pick on Kurt so much? He's not all that much of a dork, you know. He kicked some serious ass on Cheerios and he's a pretty good singer. And he gives a great manicure."
"Well, you would like him, since he's more girl than guy." Azimio snorted. "Y'all could've put him in one of those little skirts and I bet you no one would've been able to tell the difference."
Lucy shrugged and turned back to chatter with another girl. Dave was taking his sweet time getting up from the floor, and he stumbled a bit as he got back into his chair.
"Dave, man, what's up with you?" he asked, staring at the hockey player. He looked a little red in the face, and there was sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"It's that stupid cold I got a couple of weeks ago - still can't shake it, sometimes it sneaks up on me." He sniffed, wiping at his face.
"You wanna head over to the nurse? I'm fine with skipping class and hanging out there. I have my PSP, we can -"
"Nah, it's cool." Dave smiled, though Azimio could see that he was clearly not feeling well. He frowned, figuring that if Dave got any worse through out the day, he'd make him go to the nurse - especially if it was during last period, because he seriously needed an excuse to get out of history class. He was so not ready for that test today.
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During lunch, they were sitting at a table with their buddies, telling jokes and comparing scores for their online Halo war - Azimio was still on top, even though he hadn't been playing for nearly a week. Dave was joking and tossing food along with the rest of them, but he didn't look too good.
"So, did you hear? Our resident fag might be transferring schools." Kramer looked stoked just saying it, like it was the best news since the arrival of the new, sluttier Cheerios' skirts a couple years back.
"Seriously? No way!" Azimio could not believe that the arrogant boy would do that - it would be too much like letting them win - but it would be awesome if he did just that, if he left and let them have a gay-free school. Well, less gay, since the Glee club would still be around.
"Where'd you hear this?" Dave asked, pushing his food around his plate with a plastic fork.
"Oh, around, and uh, Jewfro's Glee blog thing -"
"Man, you actually read that! Lame!" Dave flung some of his half-eaten mashed potatoes at Kramer. A few of the guys at the table laughed and jeered and threw a bit of their own lunches at the stocky football player.
The guy wiped the crap off his face, scowling at them all. "Yeah, man, no shit. Jewfro's slime, but he knows everything that goes on around here. I've seen you reading it during Tech, Karofsky, so don't pretend like you don't know what I'm saying."
Dave gave the guy the finger and shot a death glare at a couple of football players gearing up to toss some mashed potatoes his way - they decided to eat them instead. Azimio clapped Dave across the shoulder, showing some solidarity because reading Jewfro's blog was something everyone did, even if they didn't want to admit it. Even he coasted on it from time to time, during that joke of a class that was supposed to be Computer Tech. Everyone just went on Facebook or Messenger for the whole period while Mr. Slevin napped at his desk, waking up every once in a while to make sure they weren't surfing for porn or downloading viruses.
"Go back to the part where Hummel abandons ship," he said, grinning. "Where's he headin'?"
"Get this - you know that all boy private school, Dalton?"
Azimio burst out laughing. "Holy crap, that's like, the gay holy land or something. Figures he'd end up there."
"He may not end up going you know," Tristan, another hockey player, pointed out while sipping his Coke. "And I don't want the cocksucker here any more than you guys do, but it is what it is."
"Maybe we should phone up Dalton, let 'em know exactly what they're lettin' in," Kramer suggested.
"Nah." Azimio crunched his grape soda can. "Place is probably one huge Fag Pride parade. Good riddance though, let Hummel go be with his own kind, messed up as that is."
"I really think he's going," Kramer said with relish. "Did you guys see that random guy at school yesterday? The one with the suit-type thing on? Total private school uniform. Maybe he came by to recruit Hummel?"
"Or maybe he's Hummel's little fuck-toy and that's why he's transferring," Dave said, crossing his arms. "If that dude ever shows up again, we should definitely let him know he is not welcome - one fag is more than enough."
Azimio nodded. "Agreed."
"Now can we please stop talking about gay dudes? It's makin' me sick." Dave groaned, pushing his tray away. They started dissing their upcoming competition for the football and hockey teams, taking one time-out to send Jewfro flying into another table with a well placed foot and a quick push.
The bell rang, and they did their usual slow motion rise from the table, still talking, because there really was no hurry to get to class. Azimio waited until most of the others were gone before grabbing Dave's shoulder.
"You're looking real shitty, dude - I'm taking you to the nurse."
"Quit being such a girl, I'm fine," Dave said stubbornly.
"Look, man, there's a test in last period I totally did not even try to study for, and my C is hangin' by a thread. Ms. Deans totally loves you, and if I tell her I had to take you to the nurse, she will let me make it up later - and her make-up tests are always cake."
"Aw, so nice to know you care," Dave said sarcastically. "But fine - I'm not in the mood to deal with either history or tech today . . . Do I really look that bad?"
Azimio was picking up both their bags. "Yeah you do, trust me. Now hustle, I wanna show you how awesome Call of Duty looks on my PSP."
They walked to the nurses office quickly, though he had to stop on the way at one point, bent at the waist, laughing his ass off as Dave told him a crazy funny homo joke that his uncle had told him the night before. Azimio promised himself to tell it to Hummel at the first locker-slamming opportunity.
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It turned out that Dave really was sick - the nurse said it looked like he might've picked up the flu or something - which was crappy for Dave, but awesome too, since they now had a great excuse to miss their afternoon classes. Dave made himself look real pathetic, and Azimio volunteered to stay with him so the nurse could deal with that little Physics club kid who'd come in with a bleeding nose.
There was a small room with no door, just off the main nurse office, with an extra cot, and so they both sat there, or in Dave's case, lay down. They played with their respective PSPs until school was out, and Dave tried to fake a recovery - he had practice right after last period, and he didn't want to miss it.
Azimio would've told him to skip it, but he figured the hockey player could decide for himself if he was well enough to stick it out. Plus, he knew how much his friend loved to play hockey; he'd played with a sprained ankle once, and he remembered how proud Dave was for ignoring the pain and helping to keep the other team's offense completely shut out. There wasn't much that would keep the guy off the ice if he really wanted to be there.
"Did you wanna hang around and come by to mine after I'm done?" Dave asked as he pulled his letterman jacket back on. "My dad's grilling some steaks and he said to ask if you wanted to come over."
"Oh hell yes - no one cooks meat like your old man." Azimio's mouth was already watering just thinking about it.
"Cool." Dave picked up his bag. As they made their way out of the school, they both immediately spotted Goth-chick sitting in front on a bench, listening to some music with her eyes closed.
Dave nudged Azimio once, and in perfect unison they split up, sneaking up on her, Azimio reaching for her earbuds and Dave for her bag.
She jerked back on the bench, almost falling off. "Hey!"
Dave overturned her bag, sending books, papers and makeup cases crashing to the sidewalk. "What you gonna do, Twilight? Suck my blood? Turn into a fuzzy bat?"
Azimio glanced at the iPod he was now holding. "What no, emo-death black eyeliner music?" He was honestly surprised - she had been listening to some Rolling Stones.
"Shut up, Azimio, I'm not explaining my taste in music to you." She glared, but he could clearly see that she was afraid.
That was fine. Regardless of what that little punk Hummel had said, he wasn't into hitting girls - shoving them around and throwing slushies was about as far as he was willing to go. But Goth-chick didn't need to know that.
"Whatcha doin' out here all by yourself, freak?" he asked casually, putting one foot on the bench next to her, leaning in, tossing her iPod carelessly onto the ground. "Ain't you supposed to be singing your little black heart out right now?"
"I had to leave early - my parents should be here any second to pick me up, so get the hell away from me," she said, keeping her eyes off him.
Dave was kicking her stuff out of his way as he came to mirror Azimio's stance on her other side. "Why? They need you back at the crypt?"
"Hey, you two!"
Azimio whipped around, watching as Schuester and Hudson came out of the school. He considered running, but he wasn't a pussy like that, so he stood his ground - just made sure to back off a bit from the girl.
"I don't think you realize it, but you just did me a favour - I get to prove a point now." Schuester turned to Finn. "Get Tina back inside, and you guys stay in the classroom, I'll be there in a minute."
"Right." Hudson was glaring at them both, and he helped gather up Goth-chick's stuff before disappearing back into the school.
Within seconds, most of the Glee club was at the front doors, hiding just behind them and watching. Dave was staring at Schuester, his expression blank and indifferent. "We didn't do anything."
"Sure." Schuester snorted, hands on his hips. "You've never done anything. Never slushied anyone, never pushed anyone into a locker or threatened to beat up one of my students. Well, guess what? I've reached the end of my patience with this crap."
Azimio felt his eyes widen slightly to hear Schuester talk this way. The guy was usually such a pushover - he headed up the Glee club and was so nice all the time, Azimio didn't think he could get this angry.
"You both have detention with me, all of next week after school. No hockey practice, no football practice - you are mine for five days. And we're going to Figgins first thing tomorrow morning."
"You, you can't do that!" Azimio stuttered.
"Oh yes, I can. Tina is going to tell her parents exactly what happened today, and I am going to start calling your parents every time you pull these kinds of stunts. And I'm going to take you to Figgins every time too. Spread the word - this applies to any and all of you who think this type of stuff constitutes fun times. No more."
Azimio felt himself cringing beneath the weight of Schuester's stare - the man's voice was low and scary, and Jesus, it was actually kind of freaky. "No way Figgins goes along with this," he said, confident in that at least. "He'll tell you to back off."
"Maybe, but then again, maybe if I keep pushing, and enough parents become aware of what exactly goes on in this school - particularly the parents of the students that you've decided to torment - then maybe I can do more than just be a minor nuisance in your life. Maybe, if you push hard enough, I can get you suspended . . . or expelled. Or arrested. I leave that completely up to you. I know you aren't bad kids, but people have been letting you get away with stuff for too long and someone needs to be strict with you, if not for yourselves, then for the ones that you bully. Now, get home - I expect to see you waiting for me in Figgins' office in the morning, twenty minutes before first bell."
Azimio wanted to have the last word, because fuck no, this asshole could not talk to him like he was some sort of idiot or five year old or . . . Dave grabbed him, holding him back and he hadn't even realized that he had been taking steps toward the teacher. The glee dorks had apparently seen it too because they had poured out of the school, standing right behind Schuester, forming ranks like a sad little misfit army. He'd stirred up the freak hive again and Queen Bitch Schuester was going try to do something about it. He swore under his breath, but Schue heard it and he pointed out at the parking lot. "I said leave."
He let his best friend pull him away, and he knew that he was shaking, he was so damn angry. Not scared, because no way Schuester could back any of that up. Not to mention that his mom would raise hell if Schue even tried to get him suspended, and forget expelled.
"Dude, you okay?"
Azimio shrugged off the boy's hand from his shoulder. "Back off, Dave, I'm pissed off enough to not care who I hit."
"All right." Dave held his hands up. "Okay, okay, but maybe Schue's right. I told you, if I get into any shit -"
"Yeah, yeah," Azimio ground out. "But no way I'm letting those dorks think they've won - no way, man, this school is ours. We are the top dogs. I'm not letting this lie, and you can do whatever you want, but I am going to send them a message. Push me around like some punk, no fucking way -"
Dave let him rant, because his bro was cool that way. He then said, as they walked, that he'd decided to skip out on hockey practice since his stomach was bugging him now too, and they could just head straight to his house. He made Azimio promise to back him up about what the school nurse said so his father didn't send him back out to practice anyway - the man was all about keeping commitments even if you were on your death bed, and Azimio instantly agreed to cover for Dave since it had to be bad to be keeping his friend off the ice.
He felt himself calming down as Dave started bitching about how this girl he was interested in wouldn't put out unless he took her out to an expensive dinner at Breadstix first, and his friend's imitation of her whiny voice had Azimio laughing again in no time.
But he was still dead-set on teaching those Glee freaks a lesson, one gleek in particular, since his freakiness was just an offense to everything in Azimio; he couldn't stand the idea of Hummel and his superiority complex, now more than ever. He'd seen the way the boy had been looking at him just now from amongst his gleek crowd - like Azimio was beneath him or some shit. That the little cocksucker dared to even consider himself better than him had his hands clenched into fists, but he kept on laughing along with his friend.
They reached his street and stopped to help Mrs. Sanford wrangle up her constantly escaping pair of cats - she was a sweet old lady who made crazy delicious cookies and kind of reminded Azimio of the stereotypical grandma who called you 'dearie' and pinched your cheek. And she always gave them the biggest, gooiest chocolate chip cookies if they helped her out, which made it worth their while. Dave turned her down though, rubbing at his stomach and wiping at his lips a couple of times.
"You good now, man?" Dave asked as he sniffed a bit again, rubbing at bleary eyes. The boy had clearly not been sleeping well these past few days, so no wonder this cold was coming back to kick his ass.
Azimio shrugged. "I will be. I'll be better when we're partaking of your dad's steaks - move it dude, I'm hungry!"
Dave marched up the steps with a grin, calling out for his dad. Azimio turned to wave at Mrs. Sanford one more time, and she waved back as she sprayed her bushes with her hose.
He watched her watering her flower bushes, and an idea crept up into his mind. His plan to 'Get the Gay Gleek' was pretty straightforward, but this bit of inspiration was a nice little addition to it. Yeah, I'm good now.
"Azimio, c'mon, my dad wants us to get the grill going!"
He marched up the steps, grinning and feeling confident in himself again.
He was a man with a plan, and it was awesome.
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Author's Note: Okay, so that was one of the more difficult chapters to write - I had to revise it several times, because it was tough to keep Azimio out of cartoon-villian territory, and I went kinda slang-crazy at first. I hope you guys, I don't know, like it? I feel odd saying that, considering who the central character is in this chapter . . .
Either way, you continue to be awesome - thank you!
Next: Chapter 5: Going Nowhere
Warning: This chapter contains quite a lot of homophobic words and content, due to the point of view it is written in.
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Chapter 4: Daily Races (Previous: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3)
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Azimio was about as psyched to head back to school as any student would be; in other words, he was seriously thinking about pretending that he had a wicked case of food poisoning. Considering all the crap that they had served at his cousin's wedding, he figured it wouldn't take much to convince his parents.
But it was pretty cool to see his friends again - especially Dave, since there was no one else who would play Halo with him until three in the morning on a school night. The guy had been his best friend pretty much since they started high school together; Azimio had confessed to being a hockey fan and Dave had informed him that he was a hockey player who would totally teach him how to skate. The skating thing had not ended well, but they bonded over a broken arm. Dave was one of the best guys Azimio knew.
"My man!" He exchanged a quick guy-hug: slapping of hands, patting of backs and done within two seconds. "Tell me you've been bored out of your skull without me around!"
Dave grinned. "Totally. I've been covering for you, doing twice the work. My arm's sore from all the slushies, and my shoulder too - locker slamming geeks is some work-out."
Azimio shook his head. "Man, we totally need to cook up something big, soon. I think the dorks are gettin' a little too used to our methods."
Dave shrugged as he dug around his locker for his books. "Might be fun. But we can't get caught - if I got suspended, I'm pretty sure my dad would make me sleep in the back yard for a week." Azimio made sympathetic noises - he knew Dave's father well, and the man was nice, but also tougher than most marines. He was cool and funny most of the time, but Azimio was always careful to be on his best behaviour when at the Karofsky home.
He leaned against the row of lockers, surveying the hallway. "Yeah, my mom would probably send me to live with my aunt in Columbus. That woman is all kinds of crazy, and my cousins are like, all nerds and Harry Potter freaks - they go to midnight releases and shit. It would be hell."
Dave raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you read those books. I know you have 'cause I saw them in your room, and they did not look brand-new."
"Shut up, they were a Christmas gift from my Aunt Jean, and it's not like I read 'em more than once." Azimio shoved him hard and Dave pushed him back, rolling his eyes and smirking.
"Fine, whatever you say, man." Dave finally fished out his math book. "Let's head out - I so don't need another tardy on my record."
Azimio felt the need to keep on defending his coolness because no way he wanted his best buddy thinking he was a closet nerd. "Those books are totally bogus now - I mean, Dumbledore's a fag, which completely destroys any cool factor, if they had any to begin with."
Dave blinked. "Huh? Since when is Dumbledore gay?"
"Dude, it was like, all over the news a while back - how'd you miss it?"
His friend cast him a look out of the corner of his eye. "I don't know, maybe 'cause since I'm not into nerdy crap, I wasn't paying attention?"
"That's it, now you go down, Karofsky!" He feinted a couple of one-two punches that Dave ducked, laughing and giving back a few of his own.
The other students in the hall darted around them quickly, keeping their heads down and hunching in on themselves as they passed. It was awesome, being that powerful - though not the most powerful; Azimio was man enough to admit that Sue Sylvester was still the scariest motherfucking thing in this school (she got Olivia Newton-John to help her overcome the embarrassment of that work-out video and that was power he could both respect and be terrified of - he immediately stopped mocking her in the hallways and kept his own head down around her). There was no shame in running the hell away from her if you saw her coming - that was just self-preservation - but after Coach Sylvester, he and Dave had the next spot on the fear charts. That was just the way things were and the way things should be.
"Oh, yes, here comes my favourite little freak." Azimio spotted Hummel coming down the hall; he was distracted, playing with the iPhone that his daddy had probably bought him. It was just aggravating to see the kid still being his usual gay-ass self, with no regard to how freakish and out of place he was.
That was all right, Azimio was more than happy to remind him. He nudged Dave, who gave him a nod. Hummel was just putting his phone away when Azimio came and swept his foot right in gay-boy's path. Dave gave him an extra hard shove, sending him tripping and hitting the ground. He didn't have to look to see the frustrated and pained look on the homo's face. He just grinned to himself, proud of a job well done, a pride that Dave shared with him by exchanging a high-five.
"Now I feel like I'm back," Azimio said with satisfaction.
"Yeah, but he never seems to get the message, you know?" Dave complained, and Azimio totally got that. Hummel never really seemed too scared of them. Mostly he just got pissed or annoyed. A few times he seemed almost . . . like he just accepted it or something. Which, good, nice to know he understood his place in the grand order of things, but the little prick didn't even try to dress down or call less attention to himself.
"Maybe we should make our big project 'bout Hummel - I mean, his Glee club freaks can't be around all the time."
"Yeah." Dave was staring back over his shoulder now, shaking his head to himself a bit. "But you know what? He's kinda been a loner lately. Like, even that Jones girl hasn't been around him that much."
"Maybe they've all finally wised up and dropped the loser," Azimio pointed out. "Huh, I may have to reconsider the slushie I was gonna throw at her."
They had reached their math class five minutes early and were taking their seats when Lucy Kindle (a sweet Cheerio with a great ass, though her rack was less impressive than most), turned around to greet them, chattering away about the latest gossip. Azimio was only half listening, until she cocked her head at his friend and asked, "Oh, and hey, Dave, what was up with Kurt a few days ago?"
Dave stared at her, frozen in the middle of opening his binder. "What the hell are you talking about, I don't know anything -"
"I mean, I heard Gracie talking about how you pushed him and he just like totally took off on you - chased you into the locker room."
Azimio felt his eyebrows shoot up. "Damn, Hummel can be a mouthy little asshole, but that's something ballsy for a kid who's got nothin' goin' on in the testosterone department. Did you lay him out for that?"
"Nah, he just said his usual crap - couldn't understand half of what was coming' out of those girly lips anyways," Dave dismissed - and then suddenly his binder was on the floor, papers sliding everywhere across the tiles.
"Shit," his friend swore loudly.
"Nicely done." He rolled his eyes, bending over to help, but Dave was on his knees already, waving him off.
"No thanks, Azimio, I got it."
"By the way," Lucy was staring at her nails, not looking at either of them, "why do you pick on Kurt so much? He's not all that much of a dork, you know. He kicked some serious ass on Cheerios and he's a pretty good singer. And he gives a great manicure."
"Well, you would like him, since he's more girl than guy." Azimio snorted. "Y'all could've put him in one of those little skirts and I bet you no one would've been able to tell the difference."
Lucy shrugged and turned back to chatter with another girl. Dave was taking his sweet time getting up from the floor, and he stumbled a bit as he got back into his chair.
"Dave, man, what's up with you?" he asked, staring at the hockey player. He looked a little red in the face, and there was sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"It's that stupid cold I got a couple of weeks ago - still can't shake it, sometimes it sneaks up on me." He sniffed, wiping at his face.
"You wanna head over to the nurse? I'm fine with skipping class and hanging out there. I have my PSP, we can -"
"Nah, it's cool." Dave smiled, though Azimio could see that he was clearly not feeling well. He frowned, figuring that if Dave got any worse through out the day, he'd make him go to the nurse - especially if it was during last period, because he seriously needed an excuse to get out of history class. He was so not ready for that test today.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
During lunch, they were sitting at a table with their buddies, telling jokes and comparing scores for their online Halo war - Azimio was still on top, even though he hadn't been playing for nearly a week. Dave was joking and tossing food along with the rest of them, but he didn't look too good.
"So, did you hear? Our resident fag might be transferring schools." Kramer looked stoked just saying it, like it was the best news since the arrival of the new, sluttier Cheerios' skirts a couple years back.
"Seriously? No way!" Azimio could not believe that the arrogant boy would do that - it would be too much like letting them win - but it would be awesome if he did just that, if he left and let them have a gay-free school. Well, less gay, since the Glee club would still be around.
"Where'd you hear this?" Dave asked, pushing his food around his plate with a plastic fork.
"Oh, around, and uh, Jewfro's Glee blog thing -"
"Man, you actually read that! Lame!" Dave flung some of his half-eaten mashed potatoes at Kramer. A few of the guys at the table laughed and jeered and threw a bit of their own lunches at the stocky football player.
The guy wiped the crap off his face, scowling at them all. "Yeah, man, no shit. Jewfro's slime, but he knows everything that goes on around here. I've seen you reading it during Tech, Karofsky, so don't pretend like you don't know what I'm saying."
Dave gave the guy the finger and shot a death glare at a couple of football players gearing up to toss some mashed potatoes his way - they decided to eat them instead. Azimio clapped Dave across the shoulder, showing some solidarity because reading Jewfro's blog was something everyone did, even if they didn't want to admit it. Even he coasted on it from time to time, during that joke of a class that was supposed to be Computer Tech. Everyone just went on Facebook or Messenger for the whole period while Mr. Slevin napped at his desk, waking up every once in a while to make sure they weren't surfing for porn or downloading viruses.
"Go back to the part where Hummel abandons ship," he said, grinning. "Where's he headin'?"
"Get this - you know that all boy private school, Dalton?"
Azimio burst out laughing. "Holy crap, that's like, the gay holy land or something. Figures he'd end up there."
"He may not end up going you know," Tristan, another hockey player, pointed out while sipping his Coke. "And I don't want the cocksucker here any more than you guys do, but it is what it is."
"Maybe we should phone up Dalton, let 'em know exactly what they're lettin' in," Kramer suggested.
"Nah." Azimio crunched his grape soda can. "Place is probably one huge Fag Pride parade. Good riddance though, let Hummel go be with his own kind, messed up as that is."
"I really think he's going," Kramer said with relish. "Did you guys see that random guy at school yesterday? The one with the suit-type thing on? Total private school uniform. Maybe he came by to recruit Hummel?"
"Or maybe he's Hummel's little fuck-toy and that's why he's transferring," Dave said, crossing his arms. "If that dude ever shows up again, we should definitely let him know he is not welcome - one fag is more than enough."
Azimio nodded. "Agreed."
"Now can we please stop talking about gay dudes? It's makin' me sick." Dave groaned, pushing his tray away. They started dissing their upcoming competition for the football and hockey teams, taking one time-out to send Jewfro flying into another table with a well placed foot and a quick push.
The bell rang, and they did their usual slow motion rise from the table, still talking, because there really was no hurry to get to class. Azimio waited until most of the others were gone before grabbing Dave's shoulder.
"You're looking real shitty, dude - I'm taking you to the nurse."
"Quit being such a girl, I'm fine," Dave said stubbornly.
"Look, man, there's a test in last period I totally did not even try to study for, and my C is hangin' by a thread. Ms. Deans totally loves you, and if I tell her I had to take you to the nurse, she will let me make it up later - and her make-up tests are always cake."
"Aw, so nice to know you care," Dave said sarcastically. "But fine - I'm not in the mood to deal with either history or tech today . . . Do I really look that bad?"
Azimio was picking up both their bags. "Yeah you do, trust me. Now hustle, I wanna show you how awesome Call of Duty looks on my PSP."
They walked to the nurses office quickly, though he had to stop on the way at one point, bent at the waist, laughing his ass off as Dave told him a crazy funny homo joke that his uncle had told him the night before. Azimio promised himself to tell it to Hummel at the first locker-slamming opportunity.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
It turned out that Dave really was sick - the nurse said it looked like he might've picked up the flu or something - which was crappy for Dave, but awesome too, since they now had a great excuse to miss their afternoon classes. Dave made himself look real pathetic, and Azimio volunteered to stay with him so the nurse could deal with that little Physics club kid who'd come in with a bleeding nose.
There was a small room with no door, just off the main nurse office, with an extra cot, and so they both sat there, or in Dave's case, lay down. They played with their respective PSPs until school was out, and Dave tried to fake a recovery - he had practice right after last period, and he didn't want to miss it.
Azimio would've told him to skip it, but he figured the hockey player could decide for himself if he was well enough to stick it out. Plus, he knew how much his friend loved to play hockey; he'd played with a sprained ankle once, and he remembered how proud Dave was for ignoring the pain and helping to keep the other team's offense completely shut out. There wasn't much that would keep the guy off the ice if he really wanted to be there.
"Did you wanna hang around and come by to mine after I'm done?" Dave asked as he pulled his letterman jacket back on. "My dad's grilling some steaks and he said to ask if you wanted to come over."
"Oh hell yes - no one cooks meat like your old man." Azimio's mouth was already watering just thinking about it.
"Cool." Dave picked up his bag. As they made their way out of the school, they both immediately spotted Goth-chick sitting in front on a bench, listening to some music with her eyes closed.
Dave nudged Azimio once, and in perfect unison they split up, sneaking up on her, Azimio reaching for her earbuds and Dave for her bag.
She jerked back on the bench, almost falling off. "Hey!"
Dave overturned her bag, sending books, papers and makeup cases crashing to the sidewalk. "What you gonna do, Twilight? Suck my blood? Turn into a fuzzy bat?"
Azimio glanced at the iPod he was now holding. "What no, emo-death black eyeliner music?" He was honestly surprised - she had been listening to some Rolling Stones.
"Shut up, Azimio, I'm not explaining my taste in music to you." She glared, but he could clearly see that she was afraid.
That was fine. Regardless of what that little punk Hummel had said, he wasn't into hitting girls - shoving them around and throwing slushies was about as far as he was willing to go. But Goth-chick didn't need to know that.
"Whatcha doin' out here all by yourself, freak?" he asked casually, putting one foot on the bench next to her, leaning in, tossing her iPod carelessly onto the ground. "Ain't you supposed to be singing your little black heart out right now?"
"I had to leave early - my parents should be here any second to pick me up, so get the hell away from me," she said, keeping her eyes off him.
Dave was kicking her stuff out of his way as he came to mirror Azimio's stance on her other side. "Why? They need you back at the crypt?"
"Hey, you two!"
Azimio whipped around, watching as Schuester and Hudson came out of the school. He considered running, but he wasn't a pussy like that, so he stood his ground - just made sure to back off a bit from the girl.
"I don't think you realize it, but you just did me a favour - I get to prove a point now." Schuester turned to Finn. "Get Tina back inside, and you guys stay in the classroom, I'll be there in a minute."
"Right." Hudson was glaring at them both, and he helped gather up Goth-chick's stuff before disappearing back into the school.
Within seconds, most of the Glee club was at the front doors, hiding just behind them and watching. Dave was staring at Schuester, his expression blank and indifferent. "We didn't do anything."
"Sure." Schuester snorted, hands on his hips. "You've never done anything. Never slushied anyone, never pushed anyone into a locker or threatened to beat up one of my students. Well, guess what? I've reached the end of my patience with this crap."
Azimio felt his eyes widen slightly to hear Schuester talk this way. The guy was usually such a pushover - he headed up the Glee club and was so nice all the time, Azimio didn't think he could get this angry.
"You both have detention with me, all of next week after school. No hockey practice, no football practice - you are mine for five days. And we're going to Figgins first thing tomorrow morning."
"You, you can't do that!" Azimio stuttered.
"Oh yes, I can. Tina is going to tell her parents exactly what happened today, and I am going to start calling your parents every time you pull these kinds of stunts. And I'm going to take you to Figgins every time too. Spread the word - this applies to any and all of you who think this type of stuff constitutes fun times. No more."
Azimio felt himself cringing beneath the weight of Schuester's stare - the man's voice was low and scary, and Jesus, it was actually kind of freaky. "No way Figgins goes along with this," he said, confident in that at least. "He'll tell you to back off."
"Maybe, but then again, maybe if I keep pushing, and enough parents become aware of what exactly goes on in this school - particularly the parents of the students that you've decided to torment - then maybe I can do more than just be a minor nuisance in your life. Maybe, if you push hard enough, I can get you suspended . . . or expelled. Or arrested. I leave that completely up to you. I know you aren't bad kids, but people have been letting you get away with stuff for too long and someone needs to be strict with you, if not for yourselves, then for the ones that you bully. Now, get home - I expect to see you waiting for me in Figgins' office in the morning, twenty minutes before first bell."
Azimio wanted to have the last word, because fuck no, this asshole could not talk to him like he was some sort of idiot or five year old or . . . Dave grabbed him, holding him back and he hadn't even realized that he had been taking steps toward the teacher. The glee dorks had apparently seen it too because they had poured out of the school, standing right behind Schuester, forming ranks like a sad little misfit army. He'd stirred up the freak hive again and Queen Bitch Schuester was going try to do something about it. He swore under his breath, but Schue heard it and he pointed out at the parking lot. "I said leave."
He let his best friend pull him away, and he knew that he was shaking, he was so damn angry. Not scared, because no way Schuester could back any of that up. Not to mention that his mom would raise hell if Schue even tried to get him suspended, and forget expelled.
"Dude, you okay?"
Azimio shrugged off the boy's hand from his shoulder. "Back off, Dave, I'm pissed off enough to not care who I hit."
"All right." Dave held his hands up. "Okay, okay, but maybe Schue's right. I told you, if I get into any shit -"
"Yeah, yeah," Azimio ground out. "But no way I'm letting those dorks think they've won - no way, man, this school is ours. We are the top dogs. I'm not letting this lie, and you can do whatever you want, but I am going to send them a message. Push me around like some punk, no fucking way -"
Dave let him rant, because his bro was cool that way. He then said, as they walked, that he'd decided to skip out on hockey practice since his stomach was bugging him now too, and they could just head straight to his house. He made Azimio promise to back him up about what the school nurse said so his father didn't send him back out to practice anyway - the man was all about keeping commitments even if you were on your death bed, and Azimio instantly agreed to cover for Dave since it had to be bad to be keeping his friend off the ice.
He felt himself calming down as Dave started bitching about how this girl he was interested in wouldn't put out unless he took her out to an expensive dinner at Breadstix first, and his friend's imitation of her whiny voice had Azimio laughing again in no time.
But he was still dead-set on teaching those Glee freaks a lesson, one gleek in particular, since his freakiness was just an offense to everything in Azimio; he couldn't stand the idea of Hummel and his superiority complex, now more than ever. He'd seen the way the boy had been looking at him just now from amongst his gleek crowd - like Azimio was beneath him or some shit. That the little cocksucker dared to even consider himself better than him had his hands clenched into fists, but he kept on laughing along with his friend.
They reached his street and stopped to help Mrs. Sanford wrangle up her constantly escaping pair of cats - she was a sweet old lady who made crazy delicious cookies and kind of reminded Azimio of the stereotypical grandma who called you 'dearie' and pinched your cheek. And she always gave them the biggest, gooiest chocolate chip cookies if they helped her out, which made it worth their while. Dave turned her down though, rubbing at his stomach and wiping at his lips a couple of times.
"You good now, man?" Dave asked as he sniffed a bit again, rubbing at bleary eyes. The boy had clearly not been sleeping well these past few days, so no wonder this cold was coming back to kick his ass.
Azimio shrugged. "I will be. I'll be better when we're partaking of your dad's steaks - move it dude, I'm hungry!"
Dave marched up the steps with a grin, calling out for his dad. Azimio turned to wave at Mrs. Sanford one more time, and she waved back as she sprayed her bushes with her hose.
He watched her watering her flower bushes, and an idea crept up into his mind. His plan to 'Get the Gay Gleek' was pretty straightforward, but this bit of inspiration was a nice little addition to it. Yeah, I'm good now.
"Azimio, c'mon, my dad wants us to get the grill going!"
He marched up the steps, grinning and feeling confident in himself again.
He was a man with a plan, and it was awesome.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Author's Note: Okay, so that was one of the more difficult chapters to write - I had to revise it several times, because it was tough to keep Azimio out of cartoon-villian territory, and I went kinda slang-crazy at first. I hope you guys, I don't know, like it? I feel odd saying that, considering who the central character is in this chapter . . .
Either way, you continue to be awesome - thank you!
Next: Chapter 5: Going Nowhere