❛ 'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby ❜
- Teenage Dirtbag, Wheatus

REESE

High School is very different from Middle School, I should have seen that coming.

Back in Middle School, I was an absolute Alpha—no one even dared to cross my path. I used to be invincible. Now, people look away from me not because they fear me, but because they have no idea who I am. The high school building is bigger, there's more people—all kinds of them. Those people are also very different from the ones in Middle School, even the same kids I grew up with have changed.

Friends don't come easy for me, it's something I'm well aware of, but absolutely hate about myself. I mean, I do try, I just manage to screw that up too. I guess not many people get me, and this becomes more of a problem when I'm not only trying to make friends, but get a girlfriend.

Girls, girls, girlfriends. It's something that's been heavy on my mind for the past few years, and I have certainly not gotten lucky at the field. I know that, I just prefer to not think about it often. I wouldn't consider myself completely repulsive, I don't fully understand why girls dont take interest in me, and I totally don't understand why they'd ever be interested. All I know is that they simply don't like me and I try to ignore that fact the best I can.

Now, being in high school, I haven't quite gotten lucky at making any friends. Hell, it's nearing the end of the school year; and I still haven't found a group of people to hang out with...

I do have one person, though: I guess she's my best friend. The only reason I'm okay with all of this.

I sit with Tess almost everyday at lunch, I practically have no other choice other than not sitting for lunch and rather tormenting a few students. She doesn't have many friends either, but she still has some. I know she has sort of a problem with the kids at school, she doesn't particularly like them. I don't get it, I wish I could have the privilege to care about their opinions as much as she does.

Despite the fact that she doesn't take kindly to most of the students, I notice her getting along with her girl friends more every day—and it scares me. Must be a breath of fresh air after hanging out with my brothers and I every single day, I expected her to grow out of it; but I guess not.

I do like having her around, as irritating as she can get sometimes, she's the only friend I have. She isn't half bad, and without her, I'd look like a total loser at school. People think she's my friend, and so it stops them from thinking I'm some cranky nobody... which I sorta am. I think some students even assume she's my girlfriend. I'm not complaining though, it probably does help my reputation a bit.

When I don't sit with her for lunch, she just goes to sit with the girls from her classes. Sometimes I wonder if she would rather hang out with them. I try not to bother her as much as possible, she definitely has enough of me already.

There is a gang of sorts I wander the halls of the school with from time to time, just causing destruction in our paths. I wouldn't call them my friends; they're more like business partners who help me wreak havoc each day.

It's not just teenage girls that don't get along with me though, it's teenage boys too. At this point, it's starting to sound like nobody does—which is partly true. However, I still try my best to join in on their conversations about parties and girls and football games the best I can.

That is essentially what I'm doing right now.

We're sitting at a table in the corner for once rather than picking on other kids. I hear them talk about the girls they can observe from where they're sitting, making comments about how attractive they are and whether they would get with them—I make a statement every once in a while, agreeing or disagreeing with their opinions on the girls.

They begin discussing some girls at the table where Tessa is, their fingers shamelessly pointing to each girl they rate. One of them lands on one of the girls Tess is talking to, they're standing next to each other—I think Tess once told me her name was Lina. She has dark hair and pale skin, I gotta admit, she's pretty hot—just not my type. "Check that one out, do you see that ass? If my girlfriend wouldn't kill me, I'd totally tap that." A sophomore sitting at the end of the table says, I grin at the crudeness of it.

"What do you think about her?" The guy next to me asks, pointing at Tess this time—I frown as I wait for the other guys' answer. She's standing along with Lina by the table full of her friends, a few books in hand. She's absolutely clueless as to what I'm doing right now.

"Eh, she's hot—just too lanky. I don't know, I like blondes, but this one's too tall for my taste... I've seen the tits she's got on her though, not too bad." I'd still tap that." He shrugs and makes a bouncing motion with his hands. My blood simmers. The other guys laugh and agree with him. An indescribable rage now begins to boil and I clench my fists as I look at his smug face. Who the hell does he think he is?

"Don't talk about her like that!" I growl. The entire table stares at me as I raise my voice.

"Dude, calm down, we didn't know you had a girlfriend," the older boy tries to laugh it off. I'm taking absolutely none of it, not after what he said about Tess. I can't believe he would even look at her like that.

"No, asshole! You don't even know her name for you to say shit like that!" I'm standing up now, I can practically feel the smoke coming out of my ears.

The guy stands up too, and the rest of the table looks at us in amusement. "Hey, what the hell is your problem? What, you're a saint now? We've been talking about girls like that all day."

"You're my problem," I say threateningly slow. I raise my chin at him, trying to intimidate him. He's a junior,and yet he's an inch or so shorter than me, maybe that's why he thinks Tess is too tall. What a pussy.

"Oh, you really wanna do this, Freshman? You can't handle me saying some bitch is too tall? Seriously, man," he scoffs at my behavior and I have to resist the urge to punch him in front of his friends who are 'ooing' at his reply.

"You're the one that can't handle that a girl is taller than you. And don't call her that!" I give in to my basic instinct, tackling him to the ground. It's all I know to do. He can't get away with being disgusting about her, and definitely not calling her names. I raise my fist to threaten him as people swarm towards us to see what the fuss is about. "You understand? Or do you need me to knock it into you?!" When he doesn't reply, I grab him by the collar and push him hard back into the bricks, keeping my fist up. I knew if Tess heard him say what he just said, she'd want to beat him senseless. I know what she's capable of, she's definitely not some 'bitch'.

"Do you understand?!" I ask again. I'm on top of him so he can't move, he nods at my question, his face scrunched up in fear. That's what I thought. I get up after knocking him into the ground one last time and I glare at the rest of the guys who are still sitting. They all deserve the same after how they laughed at his comment. I pull myself together and decide to walk away. Maybe this is why teenage boys don't get along with me, they're all mindless perverts.

I pass by Tess to go into the school building, she simply gives me a worried look, but I walk right past her.

When I go back home, Malcolm is sitting in the kitchen with his Krelboyne girlfriend. I immediately go for the fridge to grab a drink. But when I walk in, she walks away. "Bye, Reese." She says in that shrill voice of hers, she's wearing what looks like something from a homeless man's wardrobe.

"What a pig," I say out loud.

"What?"

"What happened to your friend? She was never that great, but now—geez, it's like she's trying to be ugly." I speak my mind.

"Shut up," I knew Malcolm would get all defensive, his taste in girls sucks.

"Someone should tell her she's not in Europea anymore. In America, we take showers." I laugh to myself. Good one, Reese.

"Drop it, Reese, she doesn't smell."

"Well she dresses like a bag lady." I think for a moment and a smile makes its way to my face.

"Oh, I know! Her butt is gigantic, and she's trying to hide it. This is so great, I have so much material for that." I think of the possibilities I could annoy her with. "I have a wide load sticker, and I can make truck noises when she backs up. Beep, Beep, Beep."

"Reese, when exactly is she gonna back up?" Malcolm frowns.

"You're right. Okay, when's her lunch period? I think I'll sneak in and throw bacon at her. Then, she'll back up. Beep, Beep, Beep."

"Look, moron, she isn't hiding her butt! She's hiding her big boobs, okay! So if you tease her, you're just gonna look like a-"

Malcolm stops speaking and my jaw almost unhinges, this is even better than I thought. "You are a good, good brother."

"No, I lied! Her butt is huge." I smirk at his desperation as I walk away, this is great. I could do so much with that, so I think of a plan that night. I'm going to trick her into helping me with schoolwork so I get to hang out with her, and I'll go from there. Heck, why don't I write it on my calendar.

So, the next day, the Krelboyne girl and I are sitting on our backyard's picnic table. I asked her to help with algebra, so she is. This would be incredibly boring if my plan wasn't actually working. Malcolm walks in on us and pulls her away. I try to ignore their arguing. Why is he so worried about her anyway?

She comes back to sit next to me. "How are you doing on number five?"

"Awful. I'm never gonna get this, I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not."

"Everyone says I'm an idiot all the time." She looks over at Malcolm and he agrees with me. What I'm saying isn't completely false, but I know how to say it in a way that will make her weak heart fall for me.

"It's not his fault... Someone at some point decided I was dumb, and that's all anyone ever sees in me. Why do they always focus on one detail? They can never look at the whole person." She's looking intently at me now, she is pretty for a Krelboyne, so at least I'm getting a lot out of this.

"I don't know."

The next day after school, I walk to my room, only to find Tess there. She's sitting on Malcolm and Dewey's bed, a notebook open in front of her, she has a pen in hand. She's always writing something in that thing, I gotta find out what someday. She looks up when I enter, "hey."

"Hey. What are you doing here? Why are you alone?"

"Just journalling," she says nonchalantly as she continues writing on the thing.

"I'm not even gonna ask what that means." I go over to our comic book shelf grabbing two of the new ones I got from the store the other day. "You want one? It's new Green Lantern," I offer. Tess has always liked comic books, now that I'm older, I wonder why. Girls never like comic books or anything of the sort, and she has always been into the same stuff we are. I guess it's just because she grew up with us.

"Nah," she shakes her head, "busy." She points to the notebook. I put back one of the comic books and head to my bed to read the one I have in hand. We sit silently for about twenty minutes, each doing our own thing, until she says, "hey, Reese?" I look up from my book and make a 'mhm' sound. "What happened at school before yesterday? I saw that guy on the ground and it looked pretty heated."

"Oh, I was gonna tell you but I didn't want you to be upset," she frowns inquisitively, "some random douchebag was talking smack about you, said you were 'too tall.'" I scoff. "He said some nasty things... about your body... he got what he deserved." Tess' frown only grew deeper.

"But, I don't even know the guy, why would he..."

"Yeah, I know. He had no right." I look back into my comic book. "And for the record, you're not even that tall." I shuffle uncomfortably, just the thought of that guy makes me angry.

"You didn't have to do that for me, Reese. You know how I feel about you taking up stuff I can handle on my own."

"I wasn't gonna let him talk about you like that!"

"No—thank you, but maybe next time tell me about it before you do anything."

"You're welcome I kicked that guy's ass for you," I shrug and say sarcastically and we both turn back to our books. Another 20 minutes later, Malcolm storms into the room.

"What are you gonna do to Cynthia?" Oh, that was her name—I almost forgot about that.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." I try to feign innocence, "...okay, I've been dying to tell someone. Malcolm, I'm gonna see them!" I stand up in excitement, both Tess and Malcolm give me confused looks.

"What?"

"I'm gonna be nice to her, make her my girlfriend, and get her to take her top off."

"Woah, wait a minute," Tess speaks up.

"You're crazy!" Malcolm exclaims, he's just jealous.

"That's what I thought first. But, I've got it all figured out!" I get on my knees to fetch my calendar from under my pillow. "I've been working on this for days," I smile proudly and tell him my plan, which involves many make out sessions and spans over a week to end on March 8th, AKA Double D Day.

"You're pure evil!"

"Reese, that's insane." I look back and forth between the both of them.

"Who's more evil? Me, or the person who told me."

"You!"

"Yeah, but you would still be in trouble. I bet she'd never forgive you. Now excuse me, I have to go make a mixtape." I walk out of the room and Malcolm soon follows, dumbfounded.

I return to the room with what I need for the mixtape, Tess does not keep her eyes off of me—it gets a little creepy. "What?"

"I just can't believe you! What was that all about?"

"Nothing, just my epic plan to see Malcolm's friend's huge boobs." When I turn to her, she's giving me that angry look of hers, the one that reminds me of Mom's—she probably learnt it from her.

"You're—what is wrong with you?!"

"What?!" I ask, I don't understand why she's getting mad about this. She doesn't even know the girl.

"You can't do that to her!" She stands up from her position on Malcolms bed to sit on mine, she pulls the CD's out of my hand. "If you go through with this—I mean, this has to be one of the most terrible...disgusting things you've ever done!" I stare at her distressed face and I hate it. I already know this is gonna make Malcolm's friend mad, but probably more at Malcolm than me.

"I really don't see the problem."

Tess gawks at me for a few moments and stutters. "I really—I don't know how to put this in a way you would understand because it is just so evil as it is, but... how would you feel if someone did that to you?"

"Did what? Dated me to see my huge boobs? I'd be honored!" I laugh at the thought. If anything, she's making this funnier. She does look pretty pissed, though.

"No—okay... how would you feel if someone... did this to me?"

"Well... they wouldn't because you don't have massive jug- Ow!" I'm interrupted by her hitting me on my shoulder. Damn, she's strong.

"No, Reese, I'm serious."

"Okay, okay."

"How would you feel if someone took advantage of me like that? Used me for something pervy and that was it? Cause I know I would be very hurt." I think for a moment, and the comment the guys from school made about her body pops back into my head. Tess is pretty and blonde and everything great, but I've never thought of her that way before. Her boobs have obviously gotten bigger over the years, but I never noticed them much until now. I try my best not to make it obvious I'm looking at them but my face turns red at the sight.

Truth is, if someone did that to her, I would be beyond furious. If I got mad at a bunch of assholes talking about her in that way, I don't know what I would do if any of them actually did anything to her. The thought alone makes me shudder in anger. My eyebrows knot, and I look up at her upset face. "I would be... I don't know—I'd kill him."

"Exactly. That's almost just how I feel about you right now. I just wanna-" her hands form claws and she grips my shoulder, insinuating she wants to hurt me. "...You've changed a lot, Reese. I don't know why, but I didn't expect this from you." She looks sad now, and I feel a heavy sensation in my chest. I look down at my hands, I don't know what to say. This all seemed like a good plan just a few minutes ago.

"Look, just don't do it. Cynthia's a nice girl. I mean, for god's sake, she's helping you with algebra. You!" She has a point. Tess gets up to grab her things and walks out of the room, probably going home. Leaving me all alone with my evil plan.

Me being my stupid, impulsive self; when Cynthia comes over and tutors me, I kiss her. Malcolm sees us, and proves to her I'm just doing this to see her boobs. And I was right, she does get mad at him, but I'm the one that gets beat up.

God, why are girls always hitting me and not hitting on me?!

When I see Tess again and she looks at my swollen face, she doesn't say anything but ''I told you so. Next time, listen to me.' And I just hope whoever is dictating the future right now decides that I'm smart enough to do so.

AN:

rare reese pov! he's so protective :')

also i accidentally deleted this chapter and had to reupload :/