Chapter Text
The bell rang, and Gary Barkovitch was convinced that it had some personal vendetta against him. He groaned as he got up, feeling his knees crack.
“Motherfucker. Old age is finally getting to me” he muttered to himself. As he looked around looking for the teacher, he saw a group of people approach the classroom, with Ray Garraty in front. As soon as Barkovitch saw Peter McVries next to him, he turned so that he would be facing the door. The teacher came seconds later and smiled at him as he said good morning. She was nice.
The classroom itself was cold, despite the heat outside. Barkovitch sat in his usual spot and took the books out of his backpack, setting them on his desk.
“Don’t take out your books, we’re doing an experiment, so instead go grab the lab coats” the teacher called out and Barkovitch groaned as the class started talking. Great. Just what he needed. Still, purely out of the respect he had for the teacher, he got up and got a coat.
“Okay, we’re going to do it in groups of three, but as to not repeat what happened last time” the class laughed, and the teacher smiled. “I’m going to pick the groups” the laughs were quickly replaced with gasps of terror and loud “oh no”s. Barkovitch put his head in his hands. This was getting worse by the minute.
“...and Ray with Gary. Okay, grab the kit and sit down with your partners. And no, Agatha, you can’t switch” Barkovitch looked up only when he felt someone sit down next to him.
“Hi” he said, sitting up straight and fixing his hair.
“Hi” Garraty responded and looked at the arrangement of various chemicals and lab equipment on their desk. “Okay, do you know how to do this? I suck at chemistry, Billy usually helps me but you know”
“Yeah, I get chemistry, but if you expect me to do all the work you’re about to be very disappointed” Barkovitch scoffed.
“Oh God no, that’d be an asshole move” Garraty laughed and Barkovitch felt something inside him shift.
“Okay, when you’re all set up, put a few drops of the tea from the pipette onto the paper, and make sure that it’s touching water. Yes, Agatha? No, you can’t drink the tea. No, not even just a few drops” the teacher sighed, clearly tired.
“Why?” Agatha’s voice rang clear against the backdrop of murmurs and snickers.
“Oh my God, I fucking hate her” Barkovitch rubbed his face with his hands and froze. Shit, he didn’t mean to say that. It was true, but he wasn’t used to someone sitting so close that they could hear him, especially if that someone was Garraty. But instead of the argument he was expecting, all he heard was laughter.
“Right? She’s so annoying!” Garraty laughed as he put the drops in. “Yesterday she got mad that Richard ‘stole her spot’ in history class”
“She told me the same except in physics” Barkovitch smiled and watched the blue liquid travel down the paper. He glanced over at Garraty, who was also smiling and decided to be brave. “What do you think about them both, Kathy and Agatha?”
“Don’t even get me started dude” Garraty rolled his eyes, and Barkovitch smiled even wider. “I don’t think they realize that basically no one likes them, they’re so fucking- shit, what’s the word?”
“Entitled?” Barkovitch offered.
“Yes!”
“Boys, save the talking for later, okay?” the teacher called. They nodded and went straight back to staring at the paper.
“Wow, how fascinating” Garraty muttered and yawned.
“Fuck off, okay, chemistry is great” shit. Barkovitch didn’t mean for it to come out so sharp.
“Damn, sorry. Billy likes chemistry too, but I’ll never get the hype” thankfully, Garraty didn’t seem to take it personally and Barkovitch let out a sigh of relief.
“Okay, the bell is upon us, so get cleaning. Agatha, you can go back to your seat” the teacher had a smile on her face, despite all the chaos of the past 40 minutes. Barkovitch shrugged off his coat and was surprised to find Garraty’s outstretched hand in front of him.
“I’ll go put them back” Garraty was smiling at him. Barkovitch hesitantly handed the coat over and started gathering the trash from the desk. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Garraty standing around one of the desks with his friends, waiting for one of them to finish packing their things. Garraty was talking and they were all laughing. ‘Why are they laughing?’ Barkovitch thought as he put the equipment back on the teacher’s desk. He saw one of the boys, McVries, nudge Collie Parker as they looked at Barkovitch. ‘Shit, they’re fucking laughing at me. Great, just fucking great’
“My theory that no one likes our dearest friends is proving more and more correct” Ray announced as he stepped to Hank’s desk, who was still gathering his things.
“Really? How so?” Richard asked, hand already halfway to his pocket notebook.
“Gary doesn’t like them either!” Richard looked disappointed.
“Have you considered that maybe he doesn’t like anyone?” Pete sneered.
“I mean he didn’t seem so bad, you know?” Ray didn’t know why he was defending Gary Barkovitch of all people, but it felt right.
“Hear that, Collie? You have a chance” Pete followed Parker’s line of sight and nudged him with his elbow, also now looking at Barkovitch.
“I don’t have a crush on him, I just said that he’s objectively attractive” Collie groaned. “I should stop telling you guys all of my thoughts, it never ends well.
Despite the rocky start, Gary still thought that this day might not be as bad. He was, of course, wrong. He forgot to pack his pencil case and his knitting needles, so he spent the better part of most lessons doodling on the margins of his notebooks with a barely working pen. A blue pen. He hated blue pens. There was a surprise short test in biology, and he wrote nothing, as he never paid attention during classes. It wasn’t his fault that the teacher went on tangents more than he taught. When it was time to turn the papers in, he avoided looking at said teacher, feeling how he looked at him, with disappointment. Barkovitch could already picture the next rant in homeroom, this time about grades. He pulled sharply at his hair, welcoming the stinging left behind.
“I don’t know, Ray” Pete sighed.
“Oh come on! You’re the only one against this”
“I mean I’m also not sure” Hank interrupted between bites of his sandwich.
“Ew, gross, don’t chew with your mouth open” Art said, moving slightly away from Hank. “Also, it couldn’t hurt, right? What’s the worst that could happen? And maybe Collie will stop acting like a creep and staring at him”
“Not necessary and I don’t stare, but I agree. It’s probably not going to lead to anything anyway”
“Let’s hope so”
“Is that a yes, Pete?”
“Not yet, give me a few days”
Barkovitch sat at his desk and looked at the F in his school journal app. It was from biology, of course. He knew it was coming, but it still stung more than he expected. He locked his phone and hit himself with it. On the thigh, where no one could see it. When he looked around the corridor, no one was even looking at him anyway. There was no reason to.
“Let’s talk about the test results” the biology teacher, Mr. Bane said. Everyone immediately started talking over each other, yelling out pointless arguments. Barkovitch laid his head on the desk, hoping that the coolness would help with his headache. He was so tired.
“Mr. Gary, am I boring you” Barkovitch sat up straight and felt his face redden.
“No, I just- uh-”
“No, I know I’m boring, just maybe be more subtle about it next time” he felt tears well up in his eyes as the class laughed. He blinked to get rid of them and scratched at his neck. He had to get through this
“You know what?” Pete asked as they walked home.
“What?” Ray answered as he kicked a rock, his mind clearly somewhere else.
“I made up my mind. He can sit with us, as Regina George once said” Ray’s eyes lit up at this information. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, he might still say no, and I can’t say that I’ll be sad when it happens”
“If it happens, you mean. And I know it won’t, I can feel it” Ray smiled.
“Whatever” Pete smiled back.