YN - 2 = 1. I find it humorous as to how much algebra relates to my life- well, this equation, at the very least. I used to live a jolly ole' life. I had a small, moderate group of friends. We were close and we seemed almost inseparable. There was me, my friend Natalie and my other friend Hannah; three of us. Let us say that YN in the expression YN - 2 = 1, is equal to three. Well, it is three if you solve it, but whatever, there was three. Then one day, something happened that made two out of the initially three friends, leave the group, leaving but only one remaining.

I'm making this more confusing, aren't I? Let me simplify things for whoever may be reading my story. Central Creek, the 76-year-old school downtown, closed due to being unsafe. So the students that once attended Central Creek, were dispersed throughout the other schools in my town. A bunch of new kids were sent to my school. My friends Natalie and Hannah became obsessed with these flirty guys that were in their English class, and it was almost as if they were in a trans. Soon enough they, they being my ex-friends, were dating these jerks, just 2 weeks after they met. I warned the both of them about these kinds of guys. You know, the ones who flirt with pretty girls just in hope of getting in their pants. Those were my friend's boyfriends.

Natalie and Hannah ended up getting defensive with me, claiming that these boys were not what they appeared to be on the outside. I stayed stubborn and told them that they needed to ditch their boyfriends before they got hurt, which then resulted in the end of our so-called everlasting friendship. I presume that having them ditch me was for the best. After all, I don't know where I'd be now if they hadn't left me. I'm living a better life without them than I was with them. But this wasn't initially the case. I was quite lonely, over the summer. I had nothing to do but wait for the next school year to start. I dreaded the first day of school, in fact, I dreaded school in general. I would have rather died than be seen at school without my friends. But as the new year rolled around, I came to accept being lonely.

I ended up having my 11th grade English class with Natalie and Hannah. Lucky me. They sat a few rows down from me and would look back every so often and scold at me. Although this did bother me, I had decided that it would be best to refrain from retaliating, and just let them be immature. After all, in the end, I'd be coming out as the adult who left the past in the past. But anyways, I'll stop rambling on about my pathetic past and get to the real story. It started that year in 11th grade, when I was leaving my 5th period English class, to go home.

I left through the left wing's back entrance, the only entrance that I thought nobody but myself used. I swiftly made my way through the doors, pondering on the fact that it was a Friday. I couldn't wait to get home and watch TV. Luckily but unluckily for me, I had stumbled upon a fight. I noticed a group of seniors huddling in a circle. They had seemed to had found yet another younger, smaller student to pick on. I proceeded to walk by, but something caught my eye. Well, it wasn't something, it was someone. I froze in place and observed the fiasco. "Get up, faggot", one of the tall boys yelled. The person below the towering seniors quivered in fear.

One of the boys, one I recognized, grabbed the person by their shirt and pulled them up. I was finally able to get a good look at who they were picking on. It was someone I had not seen before. Somehow, this someone had seemed to capture my attention long enough for me to fully stop what I was doing and observe the chain of events that were occurring. I don't know why I was so mesmerised by this lost soul, but I just was. But anyways, I once I finally caught a glimpse at who was being pummelled by the 12th graders, I began to feel personally offended.

The seniors were beating up a blond boy whom I had yet to meet. He wore his blond bob back in a ponytail, had light blue eyes, porcelain, china-white skin, and was about my height. I don't know why I took so much offence from him getting picked on, but I sprung into action. I knew that I had to do something, so I did. I approached the cussing group of boys and tapped one on the shoulder. A tall, familiar brunette boy turned around and towered over me. "Can I help you?" he sneered. I straightened myself and looked at him straight in his brown, beady eyes. "Yeah, you can", I growled. The rest of his friends stopped what they were doing, to join our conversation. "What do you want?" A boy named Jason asked, in a robotic tone.

I noticed the boy on the ground, looking at me. "What can I help you with, sweetheart?" Jason asked. Rage boiled within me. I had so much hatred towards the boys in this group. Jason was one of the boys who had taken my friends from me. He was Hannah's boyfriend. I knew he knew me and his innocent act made me so angry. I stepped forward and pushed him backwards. All of the boys looked at me, completely stunned at what I had just done. I wasn't really thinking then, but what I did was just the trick. "Woah", Jason yelled at me, looking as if he was ready to punch me. A couple of his friends held him back and convinced him to stand down.

"Let's get outta' here, guys", Jason snarled, glaring at me. I returned equally evil looks and watched the boys walk away. I stood in silence for a moment, basking in my own rage. I then snapped out of it, paying attention to the boy I had just rescued. He looked up at me in amazement. I approached him and held out my hand for him to grab. He hesitantly grabbed my hand and pulled himself up. "Th-Thank you. Thank you so much", he said to me. "I-It was nothing, I guess", I stammered. "They're jerks that I've known for a while now, so when I saw them hurting yet another person", I paused and looked away from the boy.

He walked closer to me and gave me a compassionate look. "What did they do to you?" he asked. "Nothing" I hissed rudely.
"Oh, okay. Sorry for asking."
I looked back at him and began to feel bad for snapping so quickly. "No, no, it's fine. I didn't mean to freak out on you so suddenly".
"Oh, alright. Well, thank you, again. If you hadn't intervened I would have been beaten to a pulp. I owe you", he told me as he began to turn around. I felt a jolt of energy surge from within me. It was if my body was telling me that I needed to continue making conversation with him.

"Wait", I yelped. He turned around, startled. "Y-Yeah?" he questioned. I froze up, unable to speak. I was so lost in the moment. My thoughts were telling me that I was so stupid and that I should have just left things as they were, but my body was saying otherwise. "Wh-What's your name?" I managed to stutter. He looked at me calmly and put out his hand. "I'm Armin, and you?" he said softly. I took his hand and shook it, noticing how soft it was. "I'm Y/N", I mumbled. He smiled at me and told me, "That's a nice name. I haven't heard that one in a while". I didn't respond.

I began to notice that he was more injured than I had initially thought. His collarbone and face were brutally bruised and cut. Just looking at his injuries made me squeamish. "You're hurt", I pointed out stupidly. "Huh?" he hummed, feeling the blood on his cheek with the back of his hand. He looked at the blood on his hand and said, "Woah, I haven't actually bled from this, before now".
"We should go to the nurse's office. They'll have bandages and rubbing alcohol" I explained. He looked at me annoyingly, as if he did not want to go with me. But to my surprise, he said, " Alright".

We began walking towards the school. Once we reached the back entrance, he opened the door and held it open for me. This small act made me feel as if I was a princess. I felt so happy and I still don't know why. Maybe it was because I hadn't been treated respectfully, before then. I walked through the door and he followed me through the halls of our school. Once we got to the nurse's office, I knocked on the door. There was no answer, and I noticed that the lights weren't on the inside.

"I don't think anybody's here", Armin stated. "You're right. Hm", I muttered. I knew that the nurse's had gone home, but I also knew that his injuries needed to be addressed. I came to the conclusion that the best idea was for him to come to my house so that I could help him. "Uh, how about we go to my house", I suggested. "I have just about everything that the nurses have and it's close, I swear", I assured him. He looked at me wearily, and I could tell that he was really uncomfortable. "We'll be quick", I added.

Armin looked around as if he were trying to avoid making any eye contact with me. He sighed and said, "Sure, I guess. If it's okay with you". I smiled warmly and lead him through the halls, to the front of the school. We exited through the main entrance and began to head down the main street that went off of the one our school was on. Armin looked around nervously. I don't think he had ever been down that road before that day.

A sudden breeze flew by, flinging my hair everywhere, turning it into a big knotted ball. "I swear, I contemplate just shaving all of my hair off, every day", I commented sarcastically. Armin chuckled, "Believe me, me too. I'd cut mine again but I look ridiculous with short hair. It makes my baby face look even worse".

"You don't have a baby face", I assured him. "I may not now, but rest assured, I most definitely have the face of a fetus when I cut my hair shorter than it is now", he declared. "I'd like to see that", I told him. He interrupted me quickly; "Oh no you don't".

After that conversation, the rest of our venture to my house was silent, awkward almost. Once we arrived at my house, we stepped up onto the front porch and I unlocked the front door. I walked in and began to take my shoes off, noticing that Armin had not come inside with me. "Come in", I insisted. "Oh", he mumbled as he stepped inside of my house, closing the door behind himself. I threw my backpack on the ground by the door, and lead him up the main stairs. We went into my room and I sat him down on my bed. "Wait here. I'm gonna' go downstairs to get some bandages", I instructed him. He nodded in recognition and I made my way back downstairs.

I went to the kitchen and began to look through the medicine cabinet. I wasn't quite sure as to where my mother kept our rubbing alcohol, so I started taking a bunch of bottles out and placing them on the counter. As for Armin, he was curious. He didn't listen to what I had told him to do, and he got up off of the bed. He began to look around my room. He walked into my closet and ran his fingertips along some of my clothes. By this time, I had found what I needed and put everything else back into the medicine cabinet. I made my way back upstairs and to my room.

When I walked into my room I noticed he wasn't there and I called out his name. I startled him, making him squeal. He shamefully walked out of my closet and into the open. "What were you doing?" I asked. "I-I don't know. I just got up and started walking around. It was so rude of me. I'm so sorry", he apologized, sitting back down on my bed. I pulled my rolling chair from my desk, in front of him, and sat down on it. I put my hands down on his knees and said, "It's fine. Don't worry about it".

I pulled the items I had collected from downstairs, from my pockets, and put them beside Armin. I opened up the bottle of rubbing alcohol and got a cotton ball. I poured the rubbing alcohol onto the cotton ball, then put the bottle back down. "Bend down", I ordered Armin. He lowered himself down to me so that I could address his wounds. I put one hand on his cheek to steady him, and my other hand held the cotton ball. I began to rub the crusted blood on his cheeks, collarbone and forehead, with the wet cotton ball. He winced at the sting that the alcohol made when it got into his cuts.

"It's okay. I'm almost done", I told him in hope that it'd make him feel a bit better. Once I finally finished, I put bandages overtop of his cuts. "There", I stated, once I was done. Armin sat back up and touched the bandage on his cheek with his hand. "Oh, thanks", he said quietly.