Wear - Chapter 33

Finally, lunch period began and The Rejects went up to their usual spot to eat. Everybody except Jessica. “I’ll meet you guys there” Jessica says as the rest leave the classroom, “I’ve gotta go meet Mr. Maloney real fast”.

“You fell behind on work didn’t you?” Jackson asks.

Jessica smiles nervously, then Wyatt says “We’ll wait for you there, I guess”.

“I just need to pick up some extra credit work” Jessica says. “It’ll only be about two minutes, I swear”. As the rest of the group heads to various places to get food, whether it be to their dorms or to the cafeteria, Jessica heads towards the teacher’s lounge at the center building, the main building of the school. She quickly found Refus, who recently left the principal’s office. “Mr. Maloney!” Jessica calls out.

“Oh, yes?” Refus asks as he looks up at Jessica. “You need something? Is it for that club?”.

“No, that’s not it” Jessica says. “I was wondering if there was any possible extra credit work or anything you could set up for me? I’m trying to pick up in my grades… because I fell behind on work again”.

“Uh…” Refus says as he scratches the back of his head, “sure. I’ll have something printed out for you. It’ll be ready for you tomorrow morning”.

“Thanks, Mr. Maloney” Jessica says. “You’re a life saver!”.

Refus laughs and says “If only! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to talk to someone”.

Refus walks down a hallway leading towards the second year building. Jessica then turns around and begins to leave towards their club spot. However, she immediately ran into another student, a boy, who was coming from the second year building. The two of them bump into each other, and the other student says “Ah- sorry. I didn’t see you there”.

“M-my bad!” Jessica says as she looks up at him.

“I was just looking around for the teacher’s lounge to ask about something” the student says. “I didn’t think I’d run into someone else here. Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention at all…”.

“No, it’s fine” Jessica says. Jessica then looks down and noticed he was holding a poster. The poster was the club poster Rose had made for The Rejects. “Were you… asking one of the teacher’s about that club?” Jessica asks.

“Oh!” The student says as he holds up the poster nervously, “y-yeah. I wanted to ask Ms. Weber about what that club is… since she’s the… sponsoring teacher for the club”.

“Not that I feel like it’s a bad thing to be interested in that club” Jessica says, “but are you interested in joining it?”.

“I… I’m not sure” the student says.

“Are you scared to join it?” Jessica asks.

“N-no!” The student says. “I know people usually think other students are weird for supporting this kind of thing, but I- I mean… I’m not joining it, I just had some questions!”.

“Don’t worry, I’m not that kind of person” Jessica says. “By the way, my name is Jessica Allen”.

“T-Thomas… Thomas Ryde” the student says. “I’m a second year student here”.

“I’m a first year” Jessica says.

“Anyways, I’m going to go to… the teacher’s lounge” Thomas says. “I need to ask Ms. Weber a few things”.

Thomas goes up to the teacher’s lounge and asks for Rose. However, Jeff answers the door when he knocks and tells him “Ms. Weber isn’t here…”.

“O-okay… Thanks” Thomas says as the door closes. When Thomas turns around, Jessica was still behind him. “Why are you following me?”.

“Well, don’t you want to ask about that club?” Jessica asks.

“… Why?” Thomas asks.

“I can tell you about it, if you want” Jessica says.

“Are you in the club?” Thomas asks.

Jessica turns to show the badge on the shoulder of her uniform. “Yep” Jessica says. “My friends and I formed the club together”.

“So you really aren’t that type of student, huh?” Thomas asks.

The two of them start walking down the hallways together as Jessica asks “So, what did you want to know about the club?”.

“What kind of support do you guys give to… laibah?” Thomas asks.

“Just… a place away from the other students who might be judge-mental” Jessica says. “Are you a laibah?”.

“N-no… I’m human” Thomas says. “But I secretly knew a laibah student who went here. His parents forced him to leave the school after last semester, because the other students were in an uproar about laibah in this school. He didn’t bother anybody, yet he still had to leave”.

“I’m sorry…” Jessica says.

“Meh, forget about it…” Thomas says. “I just wish there’d be some way to get people to stop being so… so-“.

“Hatefully ignorant?” Jessica asks.

“Yeah, something like that” Thomas says.

“If you have questions about the club” Jessica says, “and want to know more about it… why not try meeting the club? You might even decide to join, if you’re interested”.

“But why?” Thomas asks. “Not like it’ll bring my friend back to school”.

“Well, not now” Jessica says, “but we do hope to someday make this a better place for laibah to stay… as well as the club was mostly formed for us to figure out what we want to do when we graduate college… not sure why Ms. Weber prioritized the thing about having a safe spot for laibah…”.

“Pfft- really?” Thomas asks. “That’s a weird club…”.

“Yeah, and all of us in the club are weird!” Jessica says with a smile. “That’s what makes it fun though!”.

“Certainly sounds like a group of weird people” Thomas says. “Then again, I didn’t think there’d be a group of people who’d openly support laibah like that…”.

“Well, you support them too, right?” Jessica asks. “If not support, wish there’d be less… of an issue surrounding them?”.

“Y-Yeah, I guess that’s true” Thomas says.

“Well then, come on!” Jessica says as she starts dragging him towards the roof of the first year building.

“Wait, hang on” Thomas says.

“At least come meet the club” Jessica says. “You don’t have to join if you don’t want to!”.

When Jessica arrives at the club spot with Thomas, Jackson says “That was a lot longer than two minutes… who’s the guy?”.

“I-I’m Thomas Ryde” Thomas says.

“He has some questions about the club” Jessica says.

“I expected the club to be… smaller than this” Thomas says as he looks around. “There’s seven people here… and although that’s not a whole lot of people, I somehow expected less”.

“Don’t be too surprised” Jackson says. “Like… half of us are laibah”.

“Jackson!” Aeris says. “You don’t have to tell him that immediately!”.

“What?” Jackson asks. “He’s here for a reason, isn’t he!?”.

“That’s true…” Aeris says.

“What questions about the club do you have?” Wyatt asks.

“W-well… Jessica already told me a little bit about it” Thomas says. “I just wanted to know… what good does joining the club even do?”.

“That’s a good question…” Wyatt says. “If we can get a large amount of members in the club, or even a large amount of people not in the club that support the club, it’ll show the rest of the school that a good portion of us not only don’t have a problem sharing a school with laibah, but we even support them being a part of the public community. The idea behind this is that most of the bad views against laibah are only made by a small percentage of the population. Otherwise known as ‘The Louder Few’. The majority of the population just goes with the flow of what everyone else decides is alright, as a way to simply… blend in with everyday life. If we show the rest of the population that it’s okay to support the laibah, maybe they will show their support too! Eventually, leaving the louder few alone in their views, the world will be a better place for laibah to fit in!”.

“I see…” Thomas says. “I’m not sure I fully understand though”.

“Did you want to join the club?” Emma asks.

“I’m not so sure” Thomas says. “However, I’m not currently in any club… so I guess I can help where help is needed. Because of that… louder few, as you called it, my friend was forced to leave the school”.

“How was that?” Emily asks skeptically.

“Well, he was a laibah” Thomas says. “His parents didn’t feel this school was safe for him, with the recent uproar about laibah in this school”.

“Well, if you want to join” Darren says, “you can bring a spare uniform up to this clubroom and Emma here can sew our club badge on the shoulder”.

“You mean that little patch you all have?” Thomas asks. “Is that a requirement?”.

“Well… I guess it’s not really a requirement” Wyatt says, “but it does show support for the cause”.

“Do you have to be a laibah to join?” Thomas asks.

“Are you an idiot?” Jackson asks. “I already said half of us are laibah. That obviously implies some of us are human”.

“Stop being rude…” Aeris says.

“Our club president is human too” Emily says.

“Human and laibah alike are allowed to join” Wyatt says. “It wouldn’t really be a just cause if we only supported laibah alone, while putting humanity down. The two need to be equal, not give one special treatment…”.

“Who’s the club president?” Thomas asks.

“Wyatt is” Jackson says as he points at Wyatt.

“Huh…” Thomas says as he thinks. Wyatt was not the one he expected.

“You look a little older than the rest” Darren says. “Are you a second year?”.

“Yeah, I am” Thomas says.

“Cool!” Darren says. “Finally, another second year student!”.

“You’re a second year too, right?” Thomas asks Darren. “I think I’ve seen you before, although we go to different classes”.

“Yep” Darren says. “Second year, homeroom teacher is Ms. Weber. Anyways, welcome to the club! You’re now a reject!”.

“Wait, I never said I was-” Thomas says.

“You don’t want to join after all?” Jessica asks.

Thomas thinks for a moment, then says “Alright… I guess this works out for the best, right?”.

Darren slaps Thomas really hard on the back and says “That’s the sprit!”.

“Ow…” Thomas says, trying to rub his back.

“Anyways” Darren says, “it’s good that we’re finally getting more members! Oh! Which reminds me! A bunch of my classmates were asking me about the club. Some of them were surprised that I finally joined a club, and now they’re asking about it. So we might be getting more possible members soon. Some of them seemed disappointed though…”.

“How so?” Wyatt asks.

“Some of them were shocked to hear me say ‘We support laibah’ out loud” Darren says. “Which is… hilarious if you ask me. None of them have figured out that I’m a laibah yet. However, I think my popularity is either going to spike or drop completely soon. Whether or not we get more members will probably answer the question of ‘will it spike or drop’. Honestly kinda excited to see how this goes. There was one girl in my class that took a particular interest in me after saying that”.

“A girl you say?” Jackson asks, poorly pretending to sound interested.

“I don’t think it’s like that… we can only hope” Darren says with a wink.

“I didn’t actually want an honest answer…” Jackson says.

“You’re that popular in your class?” Wyatt asks.

“Oh yeah” Darren says. “I’m the class clown! Everybody loves me in there! It’s important to have comical relief when you’re overburdened with work!”.

“You know being the class clown is a bad thing, right?” Jackson asks.

“That depends on how you see it” Darren says. “You guys may get dirty looks in your class, but I still get to see people laugh and smile. It’s also been a rather good cover for being a laibah”.

“That’s… a curious way to blend in” Aeris says, rather impressed.

“That’s a stupid idea” Emily says. “If, and when people find out you’re a laibah, the negative attention will be brought to you that much faster”.

“Ah… that’s true” Darren says after a short pause. “But it’s become a habit since middle school. After having to move so much and hide so often, simply for being a laibah, I just felt there was something I needed to change. When I started acting up like this in class, people started putting aside the consideration of if I’m a laibah or not. After that, my family and I no longer had to keep moving”.

“Cute story and all” Jackson says, “but stay on track. Do any of the students suspect that you’re a laibah at all yet? I know you already said none of them have it figured out, but how does the current situation look?”.

“Coming from the guy who basically told the whole school he’s a laibah…” Darren says.

“Consider it advice based on experience then” Jackson says.

“Right…” Darren says. “Well, right now, the class seems to be split on this recent news. Some of them seem disappointed, some of them think it’s cool, some even think it’s just another joke of mine. Regardless, none of them have confronted me about being a laibah yet”.

“Well…” Wyatt says, “thanks for standing up for the club like that, Darren. I know it put you in the spotlight, and possibly in danger, but it may move our goals faster”.

“Hey, I’m on my own now” Darren says. “It was a scary thought at first, not being able to rely on my family anymore… but then I realized that I don’t have to worry about these people forcing my parents into a corner or attacking them. Whatever I do, is my business now. If they want to wage war, I’ll wage war. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been in a fight, right Wyatt?”.

“If I remember correctly” Wyatt says, “that was me and Kemal who did all of the fighting…”.

“Wyatt got into a fight?” Emily asks.

“Wyatt can fight?” Jackson asks.

“Don’t worry about it” Darren says. “It’s all in the past!”.

“I have… no idea about what is going on here” Thomas says.

“Yeah, me either…” Jessica says.

“Is it usually like this?” Thomas asks.

“Yep, pretty much” Emily says as she rests her chin on her hand.

Thomas looks at Jessica with a confused look. Jessica nervously shrugs and says “Welcome to the club…?”.