Chapter Text
He was so close to avoiding them. He was so close.
He walked through the cafeteria, a saran wrap sandwich in one hand and his wallet in the other. He tried to navigate his way outside for lunch. He couldn’t be bothered with the big crowds right now. He was so tired and wasn’t looking forward to his last two classes, Spanish and Physics. He is about to make it out of the lunch room when a familiar voice calls his name.
“Nick! Come sit with us!” He turns to see Bad, George, Dream, Karl and some other people he didn’t recognize all sitting at a table. Great. I really don’t want to but my dad didn’t raise a bitch. He thought.
He sighed and walked over to the table. He sat in an empty spot in between George and Bad.
“Guys this is Nick.” Dream began the introductions, “Nick this is Sam, Ant, and Skeppy.” He said pointing to the three boys. Sam had green eyes and wore a sweatshirt with jeans. He had short, light brown hair. Ant had purple and brown hair, glasses, and a grey and blue tee shirt. Skeppy had dark black hair, and also had glasses. A chorus of hi’s and hello’s greeted him.
Nick just sat quietly looking up every so often. He ate his lunch quickly hoping to get out of there. A part of the conversation catches his attention.
“How ‘bout tonight?” George said.
“Sure! You wanna come?” Karl asks. There’s a moment of silence. “Nick, do you want to hang out tonight before football tryouts?” Karl said again, clarifying. Nick looked up and without thinking said yes. He didn’t even think of his work or homework or anything. He just thought he could get to know Karl more.
“Perfect!” Here Karl gives him a paper. Nick unfolds it and it has a series of ten numbers and a little heart. His number?! Nick blushed a little.
“Text me when you get there! I’ll give you everyone’s numbers later.” Karl smiled a smile that set Nick's heart aglow. Nick quickly scribbled his number into some paper and passed it to Karl. He tucked it into his pocket.
“Hey Nick, what’s up with the panda?” Bad said. Everyone turned and looked at the panda patch on his bag.
“I dunno, I just like them.” He shrugged. “I guess because I used to spell it ‘Sapnap’.” Bad had a devilish smile at that.
“Awwww that’s so cute. That’s it! I’m calling you Sapnap!” Bad said. Even after he begged everyone was calling him “Sapnap”.
Conversation flowed easily after that, Nick, Sapnap chiming in every so often. He found out that he agreed to go to a burger shop after school, and hang out at a park. He was looking forward to it.
The bell rang and they all went their respective ways. Sapnap went to Spanish and got yelled at by the teacher for not paying attention. He then left halfway through Physics, probably earning him a detention for the next day. He wandered the halls and hung around until the final bell rang out. He made his way to his locker when he suddenly remembered he had detention.he cursed at himself. He knew he was already going to have a second detention the next day and he didn’t want his parole officer to have to get a call from school. He sighed and went in.
After an hour of sitting at his desk, staring at the ceiling,his detention ended. There were some odd people there. There was a man with long pink hair and a tall boy with blonde hair. There was also a guy with a bit of facial hair, and brown hair. He didn’t know why they were there and he didn’t really care.
He ran out knowing he was late to hangout. He tried to text Karl but couldn’t find his number. “Shit, shit, shit!” He mumbled it himself.
He went online and looked up “burger shops near me”. He picked the closest one and hoped they would be there. After a few minutes of running he saw a bright green hoodie off in the distance. He ran up to them and saw the group walking away from the store.
“Guy!” He yelled as he ran up to them. Once he got to them he began panting and gasping for air. He could feel the eyes in him and quickly steadied his breath.
“I… I’m sorry I’m late!” He took a moment again to breathe. “I got detention and forgot to let you guys know.” He managed out.
“Your good dude.” Dream said. Everyone seemed to agree.
“Do you want to get something to eat?” Bad asked.
“Ya sure. I’ll only be a second.” Sapnap said.
“I‘ll go in with you!” George offered.
“It’s ok, thanks.” Sapnap walked backwards into the shop. After about two minutes he came back out with a paper bag and a small soda.
“Alright, let’s go!” Someone spoke.
They all began walking towards the park. Skeppy and Bad were in their own conversation, while Karl George, Sam, and Ant were talking about something else.
“Hey, listen I know we just met today, but I don’t think you should be playing with fire and smoking like that. Especially at school.” Dream began. “I’m not gonna make you do anything and I don’t want to pry, but why do you even have a lighter with you at school?”
The question made Sapnap's heart stop for a moment. What was he supposed to say? He can’t just say “oh ya I’m a pyromaniac who burnt down his old school. Now I have severe anxiety because of all the bullying and use smoking to cope!”
“Oh shit.” Dream said under his breath.
I didn’t say that out loud? Oh fuck! Fuck! “Did I say that out loud?” He warily asks the taller.
“Um ya.” A moment of awkward silence passed. Dream began walking faster and joined in the conversation ahead of them.
Sapnap was angry and confused and he didn’t know what to do. So he did what he knew best, he was an asshole.
“Dream! What the fuck?” He yells. This catches everyone off guard. “I accidently told you something very personal and you just walked away!?” He took a step forward getting in Dream's face.
“Dude, you told me you're a criminal! How am I supposed to react!” Dream got defensive.
“Dream…” George grabbed at his sleeve. “Let’s just go.” Dream turned to leave. Sapnap couldn’t sit and let him walk away.
“Ya listen to your bitch!” He said.
Instantly he regretted it. He was met with Dreams' ringed knuckles colliding with his jaw. Nick smiled.
“All you got?” This is one of Nick's fatal flaws. He doesn’t know when to stop, especially when the adrenaline kicks in. He swung back.
Now blood was dripping from Dream's nose to his mouth and from Nick's chin down his neck.
“Guys! Stop!” Bad pleaded but it was too late. Nick tackled him to the ground and pinned him to the sidewalk. Even though he was short he was strong as a bull.
He had two solid punches before he felt two pairs of hands on his arms. He squirmed until he loosened the grips. He went into his pocket and pulled out his lighter. A manic smile spread across his face as he lit it up. You could see the fear in Dream’s eyes and he made eye contact with Nick.
This is what he needed. He needed power over people. There is no way to gain respect otherwise. He wasn’t going to be their friend so instead he was going to make them so scared of him, they would be too afraid to bully him. He needed this power.
“Please.” The voice broke him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Karl crying on the sidewalk. The sight broke him.
He let Dream up and stayed on the ground. He looked at his blood covered knuckles and bruised hands. He turned and looked at George who was cupping Dream’s face in his hands, examining his injuries. He whipped his head around to see Ant and Bad crying into each other's shoulders, shielding each other's view. He looked behind him at Sam and Skeppy who were just trying to pull him off. His gaze shifted back to Karl.
“I-” he began. He didn’t know what to do. He hurt his first friends at his new school.