Chapter Text
Tuesday, June 4th, 2018.
Talking. All the teacher was doing was talking. Chalky registered none of it. After testing and college applications, he couldn't bring himself to pay attention to much else for the rest of the year. Every class was coming in, sitting idly for an hour and a half, leaving, and rinse and repeat.
His class was about to end soon. He could tell as soon as the class began to disperse, moving to talk to their friends. He wasn't really friends with anyone in his last class. He knew about everyone, but he couldn't really strike up a conversation without it dropping dead a few sentences in.
He set his head on the desk, the talking, the yelling, the laughing .. was all white noise. Though, it all served the opposite effect. He couldn't help but flinch when anyone screamed a bit too loud, and then got yelled at by the teacher to quiet down.
He wanted to leave, so so bad. However, he knew what was waiting for him back at home.
Class ended. Chalky threw on his bookbag and left the classroom as fast as possible. He only looked forward to the end of the day because he got to see the guy he had a crush on.
Broomer. Oh, Broomer. Chalky has had a crush on him since at least sophmore year. They had talked a little more than once in a while, but he never seemed like he reciprocated.
Broomer was walking around the hallway with his eyes glued to his phone. Upon seeing him, he walked over to him speedily.
"Broomer?" Broomer raised his head, and he smiled upon seeing Chalky. "Hey, what's up?" Broomer stopped walking and put his full attention on Chalky. "Oh, not much ... It's just, school has just gotten really boring and slow. It's hard to even stay awake during a lesson."
Broomer chuckled, "Heh, yeah. It's always been that way for me though. I barely do anything in school, I do most of my work at home and hope for the best." Chalky nodded in acknowledment, he twiddled his thumbs.
"Uhm ... By the way, which college are you planning to go to?" Chalky's voice grew quieter as he went on. He wanted anything to just continue this conversation, he liked talking to Broomer a lot.
"University of Pragma. That's the closest one near us, and ... I'm not really in the situation to be moving anywhere else for college." Chalky silently cheered before sharing his happiness verbally.
"Me too! Nice to know we're going to the same place. It'll be nice to see you." Broomer nodded, He gave him one last smile and began to walk away.
Chalky's smile slowly faded away as he walked farther. What made him the most upset was that they had to go to different exits, due to their varying ways of getting home.
Chalky walked to the front of the school and exited through the door. Chalky's house was near the school, but sometimes he wished it wasn't as short of a walk.
Chalky was standing at his front door. He did not want to go in. It was always a gamble going in his house. He took his keys out from his pocket, and slowly unlocked the door.
He walked in, and was surprised by the pleasant aroma. The house smelled better than usual, like his dad actually bothered to spray air freshener this time.
"How was your day?" Chalky froze as he heard his father's deep, gruff voice. ".. Good." Chalky rushed to his room, and hurriedly, but gently, closed his door.
Chalky dropped his backpack and sighed. He was lucky he even got a response when he came in today. His dad wasn't necessarily abusive, but he had bad mood swings, and the outcome of most of his lows never turned out well.
Chalky sat on his bed, he hated how sterile his room looked. He desperately wished to go back to his mom's house. He checked the date and sighed, it's like the days were getting slower.
He stood up to go to his bathroom, there was a dent in the wall near the doorframe where his dad had punched once. He started noticing the many other things around his room that his dad had influenced.
The blood on his bathroom rug that he never knew how to clean, scratch and slash marks on different parts of his furniture, and how part of his bathroom mirror was cracked.
Despite all this, Chalky had never tried to escape nor sneak out. He was too worried about what would happen if he was caught anyways.
He brushed his teeth, brushed his hair, and changed into pajamas. He didn't eat at lunch that day, so he snuck out of his room to get a snack from the kitchen. Luckily, his dad wasn't out there anymore. He got a bag of chips and made it back to his room.
He didn't know what to do. There was no school work he could do, there was nothing to look at in his room, there wasn't much to distract him on his phone, and he wouldn't dare to even try to talk to his dad. He finished his chips, crawled under his blanket, and went to sleep.
Wednesday, June 5th, 2018.
Broomer stretched as he woke up. His mom knocked on the door. "Come in." His mom came in and set down a basket of laundry. "Glad to see you're up early." Broomer rolled his eyes playfully. "Thanks mom."
Broomer got up and headed into the bathroom. He took off his bonnet and brushed his hair into a ponytail. He picked up his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth.
There was a small crack in his mirror from when one of his brushes slipped out of his hand and slammed into the corner too hard. He usually forgot it was there though.
He thought about Chalky; he always seemed quite timid at school. But somehow, he could swear he saw a twinkle in his eyes and he could hear his voice get a bit more energetic whenever they had a conversation. He thought it was kinda cute.
He spat out the toothpaste. He went back into his room and put on a fresh pair of clothes. He wandered out into the living room. Toys were scattered all around and were currently being picked up by his mom.
"Your sister made quite the mess in here last night. Dad already took her to school." His mom was practically breathless with how much bending she was doing. "You need help?" His mom shook her head. "I got it honey."
Broomer picked up his backpack and waited by the door. His mom heavily sighed. "Coming." She picked up her car keys, put on her shoes, and headed out the door with her son. Both of them got in, and Broomers mom revved up the car.
On the way to school, his mom striked up some conversation. "Broomer, it's about time you get yourself a job soon, maybe get your own license."
Broomer stayed silent, he never really liked these conversations, too much to think about. "You could have one over the summer, part-time." Broomer clenched his backpack strap, he was glad their house wasn't far away from school.
"Bye honey." Broomer waved as he got out the car. He walked into school and made his way into the cafeteria. He sat at a table near the entrance. There was always almost no one in there when he got to school since he was always there so early.
People started to pile in as time went by. Among the crowd, he saw Chalky. He waved him over, and he saw that twinkle in Chalkys eyes again when he excitedly walked to his table.
"Hey, the rest of my friend group hasn't come yet, but they're always pretty late ..." Broomer scratched the back of his head, he took glances to the doorway every so often.
"Oh... I don't mind. It's better if I try to talk to more people anyways. I know about everyone here, but I'm not really friends with any of them." Chalky took a seat near Broomer.
"Makes sense, this town isn't too big." Feather ran over and hit Broomer on his back. "OW! What the hell?? Oh." Feather giggled and took her seat. "Heyy, sorry for being so late." Feather glanced at the less familiar face.
"Hey Chalky, don't usually see you over here. Didya invite him over, Broomer?" Broomer chuckled awkwardly, "Well, I saw him walking in and wanted him to sit here." Feather groaned, "I get itt, you like him or whatever." Feather peaked to see the expression on Broomers face. He looked confused, but also ready to punch her face in.
".. I'm just playing, jeez, calm down." Broomer sighed, then pasted a smile back on his face. "Are the two lovebirds coming?" Feather giggled then checked her phone. "They should be, texted them not too long ago."
Chalky sat awkwardly as they talked, he had no way to work himself into the conversation. He never really sat with Broomer in the mornings. The last time he did, he did not remember all of this happening.
Broomer noticed how nervous he was and leaned in to whisper to him. "Sorry for getting so heated, we kind of get in the zone." Chalky looked down to prevent him from seeing the blush forming on his face. "It's fine." Broomer pat him on the back.
Poison and Gumball Machine (GM) came in holding hands and sat at the table. Feather smiled at them when they came in, but promptly started her teasing. "Finally! I was wondering when you two would come in. Were you too busy cuddling outside?" Poison rolled her eyes while GM giggled nervously.
GM noticed Chalky at the table and gave him a wide smile. "Hi Chalky! it's nice seeing you here! I always see you in the hallways but I've never gotten to talk to you!" He was pleasantly surprised, it felt a bit difficult to talk after keeping silent.
"Oh, uh, hi! I've seen you too..." GM was so optimistic. She was like a ray of sunshine that warmed your skin, and by extension, your mood. "We don't see you often! Do you want to sit here for the rest of the year? There's not much left."
Chalky thought. If he got to sit next to Broomer in the morning for the rest of the year, he wouldn't have a problem with it. "Sure ... as you said, there's not much of the year left."
"Yayy! That's so exciting!" GM reached out and enthusiastically shook Chalkys hand. He reciprocated, yet he was in a little bit of shock from the sudden energy. Poison gently put her hand on GM’s arm. "You're scaring him, babe." GM pulled away with wide eyes. "Sorry..." Chalky smiled, "No its okay, just... not used to it."
The rest of the group talked a bit more before the bell rang. Everyone went their separate directions on the way to classes. Broomer was on his way to history, he hated history.
The final bell of the day rang, and Broomer hurriedly left his classroom. He tried to scope Chalky out, and quickly saw him among the bunches of other students ready to go home. "Chalky, hey. You want to come over to my house? My dad is driving me home today. You don't gotta stay long, It'd be nice to get to know you a bit more."
Chalkys face was overcome with a conflicted expression, "Uhm... I’m not exactly sure how my dad would feel about that. I don't even know what'll happen if I come home late. I appreciate the gesture though."
Broomer let out an "Aww..." But tried to not make his disappointment too obvious. "Maybe another time? Here, let me give you my phone number. Give me your phone."
He handed his phone over. Broomer punched some numbers in, gave himself a contact name, and gave it back. "You can text me that way."
Chalky looked at him with admiration. "Yeah. Thanks..." He smiled and headed towards the other exit. Chalky held his phone to his chest. He was almost scared to see what Broomers contact name was.
He went through the front doors of the school, and started his walk back home. When he was at about the halfway point on the walk back to his house, he unlocked his phone to see what his crush had left in his contacts.
He looked at his phone to see "broomer💪" on the screen.