Chapter Text
Petey! What d’you look so damn down for? We have people to torment!
You and me both know you’d be lost without me, little Petey.
You’re really gonna eat that slop? When did you get so brave, Petey? Now, scoot your girly ass over so I can sit down.
It felt like something was missing.
Pete scrawled on his desk next to some very detailed (and very crude) carvings. He drew a sun, like one out of a children's book.
Galloway was enthusiastically introducing the curriculum for the school year. Enthusiasm probably wouldn’t last long.
Nobody was kicking his feet under the table. Nobody was poking him in his side with too sharp nails. There wasn’t even someone there to muse about the absurdity of these school assigned books, I swear Petey!
He was like a force of nature in action. Impossible to miss, even if you had your eyes taped shut. Even before he started to “build his empire” he caught your eye and demanded your attention. The best part was he didn’t need a clique to be at his heels and every beck and call.
“Okay students, make sure you review the curriculum and visit the library for your books needed this year, have a pleasant day.”
Students flooded out of the room. Pete needed to stop musing over the past.
It didn’t mean he stopped thinking (and feeling, the lack of presence, that was) about Gary Smith.
It was like some juvenile form of Stockholm Syndrome, except he didn’t even need to be kidnapped. Gary wasn’t even here.
To make it worse it was only day one, which did not bode well for the rest of the (eventually) dreadful year. His only form of distraction rested in Jimmy and Zoe, the king and proclaimed queen of the school. They were so much better than the endless teasing he was met with in freshman year.
Despite the flaws and downsides, Gary had his perks. Unfortunately, Pete had grown…fond, due to lack of a better word, of Gary. Witty remarks and an uncanny ability to make trouble at any opportunity made him a magnet for fun.
“What’s up, Petey?” Zoe wrapped her arms around Pete’s shoulders from behind. He was still swapping his notebook for his binder.
“Oh, hey Zoe! Where’s Jimmy?” He turned to look up at Zoe’s disdainful expression.
“Ugh, it’s awful! All these fans are after him, asking for help and bugging him! It’s tragic, Pete.” She leaned on the locker adjacent Pete’s, looking to the ceiling with crossed arms.
Pete would never admit it, but Zoe sometimes reminded Pete of Gary. Not in the dictator-wanna-be way but more like the enjoys-trouble-at-any-point-and-some-good-fun. He would expect something like “Are you out of your damn mind!? Pete!” if he ever did speak up about it.
“That sucks…Do you have your next class with him, at least?” These days, Zoe and Jimmy were connected at the hip. Peas in a pod, and all that.
“Worse! He’s not in it and I’m stuck with Wiggins in History.” Zoe looked ready to tear the school down. Well, most people did everyday, but that's besides the point.
“Yikes, but at least you can see him at lunch!” Pete liked talking to Zoe, it was always something simple, and she was easy to bounce conversation off of.
She lit up like a lightbulb. “O-M-G! And I have Math right before that with him! Thanks Pete!” The vice grip-like hug she wrapped him was warm.
Pete chuckled and patted her back. “No problem, I guess!”
She ran off, clearly eager for time with Jimmy. Pete turned the opposite direction, heading towards Slawter’s room and dissection.
He’s halfway there, right after seeing someone booking it down the hall being chased by a prefect, when he hears, “Will Peter Kowalski please head to Dr. Crabblesnitch’s office immediately.”
That doesn't bode well, but he is head boy. He reroutes and passes someone being shoved into a locker before stepping in front of Miss Danvers.
“He’s inside waiting for you, boy.” She doesn’t look his way. She’s busy shuffling various files and positioning them away.
Pete shifts his feet to Crabblesnitch’s closed door. He waits for a single beat before turning the doorknob.
He definitely doesn’t expect to see Gary Smith lounged on one of Crabblesnitch’s chairs. The picture of relaxation.
Pete can’t relate.
“Ah, Mr. Kowalski, please join us. I have much to explain.”
He breaks the stare he had on Gary and trades it out to look at Crabblesnitch, then to look at Gary, then to look at Crabblesnitch, and so on.
He stops when he sees that familiar sly grin on a familiar set of brown eyes.
He can hear his heart beating out of his chest. Pete doesn’t know if he’s going to survive this.
“Miss me, Petey?”
Dear Fucking Diary,
To my utter dismay, I’m being required to “understand my feelings” and “deal with my emotions in an appropriate manner” in this brightly colored eye-sore. I guess that’s what dictatorship gets you.
On the bright side! I’m being treated like a lab rat for my “overzealous” dreams! New drugs! New brain scans every week! I even got to spend three months in Happy Volts, my favorite psych ward!
At least I don’t have to deal with that neurotic asshole Bambillo. He might have been even worse than me.
I hope Jimmy Boy misses me, and all those other losers who were my puppets. I know my favorite puppet Petey misses me, of course he does! Probably thinking about me right now, that little pervert. Oh the torment I could be causing right now.
I’ll be fucking ecstatic when I see their dumbfounded faces tomorrow. Mark my words, Jimmy Boy, you’ll realize how badly you fucked up.
My dearest regards and kindest gestures, Gary Fucking Smith