Everything in life came easily for those two.
Even when karma for the bullshit they pulled arrived, it didn’t come for them.
It came for me.
The kicks stopped and a rough hand grabbed my collar. Nicotine-stained teeth sneered at me. “Tell your brother that this is what happens when he fucks my girl.”
I rolled my eyes internally. Part of me wanted to laugh in his face at the idea that Max would give two shits about anything that happened to me. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d exchanged more than a handful of words. Not ones that weren’t spiteful, anyway.
But I said nothing. Like always, I was too afraid to speak.
Just stay quiet and they’ll leave you alone.
It had been my mantra for a long time. Ever since the day I’d realised preferring books to football was enough of a reason for people to taunt me. Or that me enjoying home tech was a good excuse for boys to use me as a punching bag.
The less said about my art the better.
The bullying hadn’t stopped me doing the things I enjoyed, but it had taught me to hide them. To keep anything that made me happy to myself so it couldn’t be taken away from me.
That was how I got through my days. Head down. Feet moving silently. Praying no one would take a second look at me.
I’d hoped sixth form would be better, but it was just the same old bullshit. Only differences here were the names of those delivering the hits and the reasons behind it.
Fucking Max. Unlike me, he didn’t haveanyissues getting girls. Why was he going after taken ones?
A final kick landed on my ribs. “Make sure the fucker knows the price. If Max goes near my girl again, we’ll knock the shit outta you.”
Internally, I rolled my eyes again. Hadn’t they already done that?
Externally though, I didn’t move. Didn’t make a sound. Just kept my eyes tightly scrunched closed until long after their footsteps had faded away into nothing.
Coward.
Even my inner voice hated me. I hated me.
I hated that I didn’t have my brother’s easy charm. That I couldn’t replicate Dominic’s confidence. I hated that, while they got to swan through life getting off scot-free, I couldn’t. I didn’t.
Really, what I hated most was that I didn’t stand up for myself. That I was weak. A pushover. That I just lay there and took it. That I knew I wouldn’t report it. That I’d lie about the bruising, not to protect them, but out of shame.
I hated that Iwasan easy target. Because make no mistake, that was precisely why they’d targeted me over my brother.
Max might’ve been the one to fuck up, but he was also the twin to fight back. He always did. Never alone either—Dominic always threw himself into the fray at his side. It had only happened occasionally, but it had sent a message loud and clear.
Max and Dominic were untouchable.
Shame the same courtesy hadn’t been extended to me.
Not once had either of them stood up for me. A single word from them and the bullying would’ve stopped.
But they didn’t speak up. I wasn’t even sure if they knew the full extent of what was happening, to be honest. Or maybe they did, but they just didn’t care enough to step in.
I didn’t know which was worse.
I sat up gingerly. Nausea rolled through me and the ground seemed to tilt. Muscles hurt in places I hadn’t even realised Ihadmuscles.
Fuck.
I breathed in and out through my nose.Do not cry. Do not fucking cry, Ryan.
