Achieving Unbroken

-Chapter 2-

Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Two

—

"She's got lions in her heart, a fire in her soul.
He's got a beast in his belly that's so hard to control."
Superheroes | The Script

—

Jason
[Monday, April 24th, 2018 - Two Weeks Ago]

If I hear another person mention what day today is, I'll lose it.

I know what today is. Today is marked on my internal calendar, and I don't need any of these dumbass teachers and guidance counselors reminding me of it.

"How do you feel today, Jason?"

I feel like I wanna rip someone's head off, Mrs. Menott. As if you aren't bad enough on every other day, you've just gotta lay it on extra thick today, because everyone is expecting me to just throw myself in a ditch. And I just might if you all keep looking at me with all of that pity on your face.

Today is something I'm trying to block out of my head with the powerful combination of my good friend Chris Cornell and my other bud, Billie Joe Armstrong. Music has proven to be enough to drown my thoughts, but no one is helping when they keep asking the teacher what day it is, and then the teacher writes it on the whiteboard, where everyone, especially me, can see it. And then, the icing on the cake: the look that the teacher gives me before they start writing it.

I. Don't. Need. Help. What I need is for you people to leave me alone, just for today. You can irritate me on any other day no matter how much I hate it, just stop doing it today.

Shoving my way through the lunch crowd, I can feel eyes on me, and I would rather not look and see them. So, I push myself outside, pass the outdoor tables with my head down, until I bump into something.

Or, someone.

When I look up, I see Charlie Felds' face. He looks bothered, too, probably because I just ran into him, but I'm not in the mood to pick a fight.

So I walk away without a word. But he doesn't like that.

"He's just upset 'cause he didn't know his little brother was a drug addict."

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me.

"Charlie, that's not cool. Your sister wouldn't want you to do this." I turn around and see Lilla Harris---a cool girl with a huge influence around the school---with Charlie pulled aside. She sends me an 'I'm sorry he's such a dick' look, but I feel tempted to speak up.

"It's because of that Oakland kid that my baby sister is six feet under! He—"

What? What the hell did Joey have to do with Charlie's sister?

"She wouldn't want this for you," Lilla keeps trying.

"You didn't know her. And thanks to his little brother—you never will," Charlie's menacing voice booms at Lilla as he points at me.