The Thing that Keeps Me On the Ground - Chapter 1

[nerdonthemove27.livejournal.com]

Title: The Thing that Keeps Me On the Ground - Chapter 1

Rating: R for the swearing, just to be sure.

Pairings: Brad/Greg, Colin/Kathy G. (I know, weird right?)

Summary: It's Greg's first day in his new school. Will things end up good for him?

Word Count: 2,674 words

A/N: I do not own the people mentioned (I still have them in my wish list, though). Major AU, no wives mentioned, lots of time screw up. Feedbacks are welcome.^^ By the way, enjoy! =]




"You can start introducing yourself to the class, Mr. Proops," The man who sat behind the teacher's desk named Wayne Brady told Greg. The new student took a deep breath.

"Good Morning. I'm Gregory Everett Proops." He said his voice audible around the room. He tried to put up a smile in front of the crowd. It had been a month since he accepted Dan Patterson's offer and he was looking forward to this day. But still, he couldn't deny that he felt anxious when he was walking down the hall that morning.

What was he anxious about? A lot of things: making friends, studying, bullies. He never made friends when he was in Seattle. His only friend was Josie and she was there for him since they were kids. She was the only one who stood by his side whenever he felt alone.

He found studying boring although he was really smart and learned many things from reading books. Unfortunately, those facts made his schoolmates think he was a nerd.

'Greg the Dork'. The bullies who used to beat him up after school always chanted after him.

"I hope you enjoy yourself here," Wayne --- Mr. Brady said. "Now let's find you a seat, shall we?" He paused and looked around then called,

"Mochrie."

Colin Mochrie stared aimlessly outside the window beside him and when he heard Mr. Brady call his name, he turned his head to the front.

"Is the seat beside you occupied at the moment?" Mr. Brady asked.

Colin turned to the empty seat on his right then looked back at the teacher. "My brother sits here, actually."

"Then why is he not here?"

"He... went to see a doctor." Colin replied. Greg noticed there was a hint of uneasiness in his tone.

The teacher sighed and said, "Don't worry Colin, this is just for today. Tomorrow I'm going to give the class a new seat plan. For the mean time, Mr. Proops is going to sit beside you. Is that okay?"

"It's cool," Colin replied with a shrug.

"So Mr. Proops, you may sit beside him." Mr. Brady said with finality. Greg nodded and walked to the chair next to Colin.

Greg sat and settled down on his seat as the teacher checked attendance. Seconds later, a voice called his attention with a simple "Hey".

Greg turned. Colin was staring at him.Then he just remembered he was sitting on this guy's brother's spot. Even though the stare almost made him freak out, he tried to keep his composure.

"Look, I'm sorry I took your brother's place, alright?" Greg started. He didn't want trouble on his first day. "I really don't want to be beaten up----"

"Wait! Who said something about beating you up?" Colin interrupted. Greg blinked with surprise. "I was just going to ask what your friends call you 'cause... you know, Gregory is a pretty long name."

Friend, Greg mentally corrected him. Good thing he was used to keeping his thoughts in his mind.

"I... my best friend calls me Greg."

"That's better," said Colin with a smile. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Colin."

Greg stared at him with disbelief. No one had ever done that before, of course, except for Josie. He nodded, taking this chance to make a new friend all the same.

"Nice to meet you too, Colin."

"Mochrie," Mr. Brady suddenly called. He was still checking attendance. Colin responded with a quick “Present!”

“Proops,” he called next and Greg answered with a polite “Here, sir.”

“Stiles,” Mr. Brady called after checking three students after Greg. When no one responded, he jerked his head up then murmured, “Oh yeah, he’s absent, I forgot.” He went back to calling on other students. Right after he was done, he snapped his book shut and started on his lecture.

 

The school bell rang at exactly twelve noon. All of the students, except for Greg, left the room to go to the cafeteria.

He sat alone, recalling his whole morning. He really thought the tables were going to turn upon meeting Colin. They had been talking about teachers and school stuff for almost half of the day. After Colin, a few students already made friends with him and most of them were girls. It made him glad, actually, until Colin had to leave the class after Math period.

They were talking about what Colin knew about Mr. Brady at the time when the classroom door opened. Kathy Greenwood stood at the door way and she was staring up in their direction. She wore a happy smile when she approached them. She beamed brighter when she called Colin’s name.

“Hey Kathy,” Colin said.

“Oh, a new guy!” she said when she saw Greg.

“Oh yeah, he’s Greg, he’s a new classmate. Greg, this is Kathy, she’s…” he paused, a little hesitant to continue but Greg saw his cheeks flush. He gave him a hearty chuckle, the first one he had ever given that day, and finished Colin’s sentence for him.

“Girlfriend?”

Colin smiled and Greg took it as a yes.

Greg held out a hand to Kathy and she gladly shook it. He felt his confidence increase a notch when she smiled and greeted him. It had been like this since he was little. He felt normal with women but not around men and loads of people.

He wondered if it was because of the terrible incident that happened to him in the past. He tried to repress the memory in his brain. He jerked his head up when he heard Colin call his name.

“Yeah?” Greg answered. He felt a little stupid after that.

“The council wants to see me…” Colin said. His cheeks went red again as he pointed to himself. “I have to… I’m the president, you see.”

“Oh,” Greg said. He nodded encouragingly. “Have fun!”

And that was the last time he had seen them that day.

Greg stood from his seat and went out of the room. He aimed for the stairs and climbed without stopping. When he finally got to the highest floor, he leaned on the door and panted heavily. He felt his legs weigh him down.

After resting for a bit, he held the knob and turned it. He pushed the door forward.

The strong wind blew through him and he beamed. He walked to the middle and breathed in the fresh air deep into his lungs.

Greg had always loved rooftops. It was the only place where he could scream and cry when he was a kid. Later on, it became his and Josie’s favorite place to rest after a hard day. They always sat there and smelled the wind that brought them peace. It was the place where he let out his secrets and shouted it to the heavens whenever he needed to. Even when he went there to be quiet, Josie would always go with him.

As he sat there, on the rooftop of this new upbringing, he stretched out a hand to his side. He wanted to feel the hand that had always been there to comfort him, to hear the soothing words she spoke to him.

He sighed. He curled his hands into a fist and closed his eyes as he lifted his face up to the sky above.

 

“Where have you been?” Colin asked him the second Greg stepped in the room. The new guy gave a hollow laugh as he sat on the chair.

“Just went up the rooftop. I needed some fresh air…”

“Kathy and I went there after the council meeting ended. She was actually the one who asked me to check up on you. We tried the cafeteria when we didn’t find you here but you weren’t there either.”

“I didn’t feel hungry so I skipped lunch.” Greg said with finality. Colin just gave a small shrug and kept his mouth closed.

Time passed quicker than Greg had expected. He was just chatting with Colin when the bell rang again. This time, Colin stood and carried his things.

“Time to go home,” he said. Greg followed suit and they walked together to Kathy’s classroom after Colin had begged him to go along. Kathy happily went out of her classroom that afternoon and joined the guys as she tucked her arm with Colin’s.

Greg suddenly remembered Mr. Brady’s words before he left the room: “Go to Theater Club after class. Principal Patterson told me to remind you of that.”

“Colin, Kathy,” Greg called. The couple stopped and turned to him. “You two go ahead. I just remembered I have to go to the Theatre Club.”

“Alright,” Colin said. “It’s by the Central building.”

“Thanks,” Greg said before he turned around and left.

 

Almost thirty minutes later, Greg arrived at the Central building. He stopped by the entrance not only because he was tired but also because he was stunned by the simple beauty of the place. He slowly walked into the building and wondered what he would see inside.

He walked gradually onto a deserted corridor. The sound of his shoes every time he stepped on the fully polished floor echoed all over the place. He found himself asking, is there no one in this building?

His head darted to the window near him and he saw it was getting dark. He had to hurry up. All he wanted now was to get back to his lonely apartment and sit on the couch alone while he ate pizza. Come to think of it, the effect of not eating lunch suddenly kicked in. He started picking up his speed as he explored the building.

Minutes passed. Greg realized he was running in circles. He was done searching the first four floors. Well, there is the fifth floor, he thought. He glanced at his watch and found he had been walking for twenty minutes already.

He climbed the last staircase and finally got to the fifth floor. He strolled around the corridor until he found a door with a sign “THEATER CLUB”.

Greg exhaled with relief. He lifted his hand and turned the knob. In an instant, his emotions changed from ease to disappointment for the door was locked. No matter how many times he twisted the knob, it wouldn’t budge.

With defeat, Greg took one step back. The members of the club might have left already. They might have waited for nothing and went home instead. It actually made him guilty. It was his fault for forgetting and he knew that.

He decided to leave so he turned back with a snap.

He didn’t notice the man that was standing behind him. When he turned he accidentally knocked the guy away. The man might have been standing too close to him for the force of the crash was stronger than what Greg could handle. His glasses flew away from his face and fell on the floor, filling the hall with a loud clatter. Then, he was falling on his back, his head aiming for the door knob. For a split of a second, he closed his eyes, afraid of what would happen next.

Suddenly, he felt a strong pull and a hard, painful grip on his right arm. Next thing he knew, he was falling face first onto a hard chest. He still felt the gripping hand on his arm and it almost crushed it with its powerful grasp.

Greg opened his eyes. Everything was in a blur but even though his eyesight had failed him that moment, his other senses seemed to double up on their work. He smelled the scent of sweat and body spray across him, he heard his ears pounding, his mouth went dry from shock and he felt the warm grasp of the body that held him close.

“You okay?” the man asked him. Suddenly, Greg froze and started shaking. The man pushed him slowly to the door for him to lean on.

Suddenly, Greg closed his eyes and moved a step back as he shielded his face with his hands. “Please don’t! I’m sorry I won’t do it again!!” Greg almost shouted. His voice shook and it was followed by a light sob.

Surprised, the stranger suddenly let go of Greg’s arms and held his own hands up with surrender.

“Hey, calm down! I’m not going to hurt you!”

Everything suddenly jerked back to reality for Greg. Little by little his consciousness went back to the present and he lowered his hands down. He still couldn’t see well but he could see the man with his hands raised.

“Oh, shit,” Greg whispered, agitated. He froze, unable to speak. He could feel his heart thudding painfully in his chest. When was the last time I acted like this?! Probably years ago when he was still fresh from the wounds his father gave him, he told himself. The therapist told me muscle memories were uncommon, so what the hell just happened to me?!!

Meanwhile, the man started lowering his hands when he noticed it was already okay to do so. He bent down to fetch Greg’s glasses and handed them to the owner. Greg held them and pushed them up to his eyes, still feeling awkward and uneasy.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

“Hey, are you okay now?” asked the man named Brad Sherwood. Greg could sense that Brad was hesitating to approach him. “Your head almost crashed on the door knob that’s why I pulled you. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

Greg didn’t know what to say. He felt so embarrassed from showing his vulnerable side to this stranger. He knew he was still trembling from shock but he tried his best to sigh it away and put up a casual smile.

“Don’t apologize. Shit happens,” Greg said as cool as he can.

Brad smiled with relief. “But really, it’s my fault for sneaking up on you. I was just curious if you were the new guy Patterson was talking about.”

“Stop apologizing already,” Greg murmured. He walked to the stairs and Brad followed him.

Then, there was silence and the only thing that made a sound was their walking as they stepped down the stairs.

Finally breaking the stillness Brad spoke. “What were you doing up there?”

“I checked up on Theater Club. It looks like the members all went home.” Greg said bitterly. He didn’t bother to look back; he still felt a little awkward with Brad. The other man grunted behind him.

“Meeting was canceled today. Drew had to do some errand and Wayne ran off with him. He told me to tell you about the canceled meeting.” Brad explained with a shrug. “I guess I came too late though.”

Greg stopped and turned to look at Brad. “What were you doing up there if the meeting was canceled?”

Brad continued to walk, his hands in his pockets. “I had to fetch my things. I left them in the room yesterday after rehearsals.”

Oh. This guy’s in the Theater Club. Greg mentally kicked himself hard.

By the time they got out of the building, the moon had already risen up high in the night sky. Greg glanced at his watch and it showed 7:30.

“Crap,” he murmured to himself. He turned to the stranger --- savior --- whatever --- and said, “I have to go.”

“Sure thing,” Brad answered. He held up a hand. “See you in Theater Club, new guy.”

Greg started walking away from Brad. He wanted to be as far away from him as possible. He wanted the incident to be buried forever in his mind and be completely forgotten. However, the opposite happened and he left remembering the face and the scent of the strange man.

Brad stood right on his spot as he watched the new guy walk away. Suddenly, he shouted, “Hey, what’s your name?!”

Greg didn’t respond. Realizing he must be out of earshot, he shrugged, slightly surprised with what he just did. He didn’t expect an answer anymore. He turned back, chuckling for a reason he didn’t know, and set foot home.