Red-Letter chapter 2

Chapter two

School is never easy for people, regardless of their mental state of mind. It's distressing, mind-numbing and boring as hell to the majority of children. Red, however, actually enjoyed going to school as part of his routine. He kept himself to himself and didn't socialise as much as the others would have liked, but it didn't bother him.

Green was the only friend he needed, and that suited him fine. Having new people interrupt his perfectly content life was something that raven-haired boy couldn't handle very well, and everyone who knew him was aware of that fact. However, it seemed Red's mental state of mind had become something of a bad habit as of lately.

At the end of the school year they decided to change the uniform, which required all student's parents to unfortunately buy a brand new uniform for the up and coming school year. Red couldn't seem to understand this change, and why it was necessary; what was wrong with the old uniform? It worked fine, so why did they feel the urge to change the colours? No matter how many times people told him the reasons why, he just didn't understand.

"Red, it's nothing personal, okay? They are just changing the uniform that's all..." Green informed him one day, when they were relaxing over at his house. The crimson-eyed boy sighed, puffing his juvenile cheeks a little.

"...what's wrong with the old one...?"

"Nothing is wrong with it, they just...want to brighten things up a little, and try something new."

Red frowned, still struggling to understand the reasoning behind it. If nothing was wrong with it, he saw no reason to change it. However, he had no choice in the matter; he would have to wear the new uniform by the start of the new term, whether he liked it or not.

"I don't understand..." He whined softly, gently resting his head against his best friend's arm, as they relaxed on his sofa. "...I like my uniform..."

"Red...I like the uniform too, but we don't have a choice in the matter."

"Why not?"

Large innocent crimson eyes stared up at Green, desperately wanting answers, because right now his brain felt like pea soup, unable to piece anything together, and when he did it became a horrible sopping mess.

"It's the school's decision...we just have to go along with it."

A small sigh escaped Red's lips, as he rested his head firmly against Green's arm once again, feeling a little saddened about the whole idea. Why did they purposely have to complicate things?

He closed his eyes tightly, feeling his throat become dry, and his chest heave painfully. Nothing was making sense, and it terrified him. Weakly, his small fingers gripped onto the sleeve of Green's top, which alerted the older boy.

"Hey...what's wrong?" He consoled, moving so he was wrapping his arm around the frame of his best friend, who by this point was a trembling wreck. The younger boy couldn't speak. It felt almost impossible to tell anyone the reasons to why he was behaving this way; not even he knew why he suddenly became overwhelmed with such intense sorrow.

"Don't get upset Red...it's not that bad, honest." Green tried again, desperately wanting to make this right somehow. He hated seeing Red sad, or worse cry. If Red cried it felt like he had failed in his duty of being best friend. The duty involved making Red happy, however he could, so he would try anything to do that.

After a while of just sitting in comfortable silence, with Green every so often rubbing his hand along Red's arm, the younger boy had managed to calm down to a reasonable level. There was no longer any prominent danger of a panic attack, or worse, and that was a relief to the emerald-eyed boy.

"Feel better?" He eventually asked, noticing that Red nodded, but still refused to move, and was still gripping onto his t-shirt tightly.

Knowing Green was here with him, and wouldn't leave him because he was a freak, or because he obviously had something seriously wrong in his brain gave him some much needed comfort. The last thing he wanted was Green to turn his back on him, because after all, Green was the only person who knew how to handle him.

XXX

The beginning of the school year was not something anyone would forget in a hurry, and it wasn't due to mindless school antics, or playing a practical joke on an unsuspecting supply teacher. Oh no, it was much worse than that. It seemed Red's defiance of the school uniform had continued up until now, and it was gaining a lot of unwanted attention.

The shy raven-haired boy clutched his school bag tightly, almost frightened to let go as he wondered down the corridor to his next lesson about Pokemon status moves. This was the one class where him and Green didn't share, so he would ultimately be on his own, which in his current condition wasn't the best option.

Without a moments warning he received a forceful shove, knocking the bag out of hands and onto the floor, spilling the contents out for all to see. Malicious whispers, and devilish snickers echoed around him, as he nervously bent down, attempting to retrieve his text books.

"Do you think you're a girl or somethin'?" Someone called out, not too far away; a masculine voice.

"Yeah! Or do you just enjoy wearing skirts?" Another teased, as more laughter erupted into the air.

The crimson-eyed boy tensed at the torment, not understanding why they were doing this. Red didn't like the boys uniform, and so when he went shopping he bought the girl's uniform. Of course, in his own mind he saw nothing wrong with walking around wearing a black skirt and a blouse.

Girls wore them, so why couldn't he?

As he managed to grab his books and shove them back into his bag, he saw out of the corner of his eye a shadow; then two, until there was a gang congregated around his hunched form. His heart was rattling in his chest, as he refused to make eye contact with any of them.

"I bet he wears girl's panties too!" Another voice joined in, and it caused the raven-haired boy to flinch involuntarily. None of this was making sense to him.

Why were they so concerned over the uniform? No one else had said anything...so why were they?

Slowly, and cautiously he got to his feet, frightened in case the crowd of boys tried to do anything else to him. With his head bowed down, and his eyes glued to the floor; all he could hear was their hurtful laughter, and mocking jeers.

"Look! He even acts like a girl!"

Once again, he was pushed forcefully, knocking the younger boy against the wall. He flinched, still refusing to speak, because right now he was terrified. He could feel his legs shaking, and was doing his best to hide that apparent fear from the bullies.

"Prissy pants~" One of them teased, and that was it. It started a chain reaction of them all chanting 'prissy pants' over and over, until tears were welling in Red's eyes, and he just wanted to go home.

His heart was hurting, and his brain was struggling to understand the whole situation. He didn't know what the words meant, or why they were laughing at him, and the confusion made him more upset.

"HEY!"

A loud brash voice entered the fray, which Red instantly recognised, and lifted his head. He saw Green standing not too far away, and the scowl on his face proved that he was royally pissed off right now.

The crowd surrounding the raven-haired boy became a semi-circle as Green stepped forwards defiantly, not too thrilled about people bullying his best friend.

"Leave him alone!" One of the boys sneered, not affected by Green's words.

"Aww...have you come to rescue your girlfriend?" He teased, causing a few snickers from the others. Green's eyebrows furrowed together, as his eyes hardened with anger. No-one spoke about Red like that!

"If you wanna survive I'd shut your mouth, if I were you." He warned, glaring hatefully.

Then one of the others seemed to notice just who Green was; after all, having a grandfather who is famous Professor does have some brownie points. There were a few whispers scattered about, and then realisation struck.

Red continued to shy away, being as diminutive as possible to not cause any problems. He didn't like fighting, and he didn't want Green becoming a part of that. After a long time of just glaring at one another, the crowd of bullies seemed to give up the ghost, and walked down the corridor, muttering amongst themselves.

Green sighed, and then his emerald eyes focused on Red, and his attire. No wonder people were saying things; he DID look like a girl. Even so, bullying was never the answer, just because someone was different to the rest.

"Are you okay?" He asked the younger boy, who nodded meekly, actually feeling much better since his intervention.

"Y-yeah...thanks..."

"For Arceus's sake Red...you can't go around wearing the girl's uniform!"

Large crimson eyes stared innocently at him, not understanding what the problem was.

"...why not?" Placing a hand to his head the taller boy thought it would be beneficial to not have this conversation in the middle of the corridor where anyone could see. The lockers would be more ideal.

"Come on...lets talk somewhere more private..."

When they reached the boy's locker room, thankfully everyone was in class so it was devoid of any nosey students, who could potentially overhear said conversation. Red had sat down, putting his bag on his lap, staring at Green; who still seemed shocked about the uniform.

"Red...why did you decide to wear the girl's uniform?" He asked calmly, deciding to start from the beginning. The younger boy shrugged a little.

"...I didn't like the boy's uniform..."

"So, you decided to wear a skirt instead?" Red nodded, which earned a sigh from the brunette in response.

"Red...I know you think it's fine to do this but, you can't wear a skirt at school. Not everyone thinks the way you do...people don't take kindly to things that they don't understand..."

Once again, the raven-haired boy failed to understand what the issue was. So, because he was a boy meant that he had to wear the boy's uniform? Wasn't this against human rights?

"...it looks better on me..."

Even though Green couldn't deny that it did suit him, it was still only going to lead to further issues at school, issues that Green wasn't prepared to tolerate. With a heavy sigh, the brunette ran his fingers through his hair.

"Well...there's no choice...you will have to take it off..." He mused aloud, as Red watched him. Slowly the younger boy moved his bag so it was resting beside him, as he stood up. For an odd reason he appeared bashful, and Green couldn't understand why; but then again Red wasn't the easiest person to figure out at the best of times.

"You can't go around wearing this, Red..."

The raven-haired boy nodded shyly, and then, to Green's surprise, started to pull down the skirt, taking it off. A wave of panic rushed over the brunette, and without thinking he grabbed Red's arms, stopping him.

"N-not here...!" The crimson-eyed boy blinked innocently, wondering why Green stopped him, when he told him to take it off in the first place.

"Why...?"

Green couldn't believe how naïve Red was behaving; did he really see no error to this situation? He couldn't go around stripping in the boy's locker room. People would start talking, and that was something the brunette didn't want any part of.

"Just...wait till we get home, okay?"

The raven-haired boy nodded, and pulled the skirt back up. A fierce blush exploded on his cheeks as he realised he had made the atmosphere awkward between them. He never meant to act in this way, most of the time he had little control over how his brain functioned, regardless of whether it was deemed as appropriate or not.

With that said Red picked up his school bag and slung it over his shoulder, feeling nervous. He never meant to make Green angry with him, he just didn't like the boy's uniform.

Why was he being punished for that? Just because most people didn't see it as the normal thing to do didn't make it wrong, right?

The two boys walked down the corridor in silence, Green deciding that it would be beneficial to get Red home now, rather than later. After all; round two with the bullies didn't seem too appealing.

XXX

Once Green had got Red safely back home, and tried countless times to explain to his mother about her son's behaviour, the two retired to the raven-haired boy's bedroom. To put it lightly, his mother was tired, and unsure of how to handle Red anymore. It seemed his mental state of mind was continuing to diminish the older he became.

There had been many times she had considered calling a Doctor, to find out just what the underlying problem was; but she knew it would only alarm Red, and that in itself had deadly consequences. If anything destroyed her son's routine it would bring on a panic attack, or worse; and that was something she couldn't risk.

Thankfully, having Green by his side seemed to have a calming influence on the crimson-eyed boy. He felt safe with his best friend; knowing that no matter what, Green was always there for him, and would never hurt him, or let him down. That constant entity in his life was what kept Red going.

"Now, promise me that tomorrow you'll wear the boy's uniform." Green scolded his best friend, who nodded meekly, feeling as if he were five years old, being ordered to sit on the naughty step.

"I-I will...sorry..."

"Why are you apologising?" He shrugged weakly, setting his bag down on the floor, not able to meet his friend's gaze.

"I made you mad..."

"Red, I'm not mad...I'm concerned! I don't want anyone hurting you, or saying horrible things to you just because you're different." The brunette sat down on Red's bed, watching as the smaller boy sat beside him; his body language appearing tense.

"So...it's bad that I wear the girl's uniform?" Red asked quietly. Green had no idea how he was supposed to explain the social normality to someone who freaked out if his eggs weren't cooked in a certain way, or his sock draw wasn't arranged in the way he wanted it to be. How could he even begin to explain any of it?

"Well, it's not bad as such..." He tried, thinking the words through carefully, so that Red understood everything. "...just, not everyone thinks the way I do."

"So...people get mad when I wear this?" Green nodded, thankful that he seemed to understand parts of it.

"I guess you could say that. To them they think only girls should wear it, and get angry when people don't do that." The raven-haired boy frowned, hating all these normalities in society. He saw no problem with wearing a skirt, especially if he looked better in it than some of the girls.

"That's being mean to girls...what if they wanted to wear trousers? Would they get bullied too?"

The brunette sighed, hating how reasonable Red could be when he understood something, or was at least trying to. He wasn't stupid, it was just normal everyday things were much harder to deal with.

"Red...all I'm saying is, don't wear it tomorrow, okay?" Their eyes met, before Red slowly nodded. If Green told him not to wear it, then it was for a good reason. He trusted his friend with his life, and so decided to go with his better judgement.

"Okay..."

"Don't worry, tomorrow I'm walking you to school. Those bullies don't stand a chance!"

A small smile crept onto the younger boy's face, as he leaned against Green's shoulder. He closed his eyes, eternally grateful for Green's intervention earlier.

There were still so many things Red didn't understand about the world, and even though Green did his best to explain everything; sometimes it wasn't enough.

It would take a lot of time and dedication to eventually figure out the reasons for his behaviour; and it might not be something that anyone wanted to hear.