From the prompt: "Be what you're gonna be, do what you're gonna do..."
"Seamus"
Keith huddled in the back of the lunch room with Tobias’s borrowed laptop.
Pyro_freak-eire: My personal song is Firestarter by Prodigy.
Green_J-flyboy: If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were a pyromaniac.
Pyro_freak-eire: Are you a pilot? Cuz if you’re not, I’m guessing you’ve got something of an ego.
Green_J-flyboy: LOL.
“Hey man, what’s up?”
Tobias looked up, flipping the laptop shut. A boy with owlish eyes behind thick glasses stood over him, grinning.
“Oh, hello, erm, Seamus,” Keith answered. He quickly turned off the laptop. “Not much. Just hanging by myself.”
Seamus plopped down beside him. “Is the accent for real? I mean, you say my name the way my Grandma says it, but she actually lived in Ireland.”
Keith sighed. “Yeah, the accent is real, or whatever. I grew up in Ulster until is was about fifteen, but the fightin’ killed my da, and my ma was already gone, so I was sent over here to live with my uncle.” It was his standard cover story, given to him upon graduation from the House of Shang.
Seamus frowned. “Oh, dude. I – I’m sorry.”
Keith shrugged. “I’ve dealt with it.” There was a lull in conversation, then he offered, “So, have you asked any girls to prom yet?”
Seamus rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Are you kidding? Like any chick would say yes to me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Besides, there’s a comet shower that night.”
Keith’s eyes lit up. “Really? My brother Tobias loves stargazing.”
Seamus nodded dreamily. “I want to be an astronomer when I grow up. If I was better at math I’d go for astrophysicist, but...”
“Hey, if you want it, go for it.” Keith nodded encouragingly.
“Yeah, but everyone calls me a geek.” Seamus slumped down on the bench.
Keith shruggd. “Ignore them.”
“I’m ‘Enry the Eighth I am, ‘Enry the Eighth I am I am,” Keith sang under his breath. “I’m getting’ married to the widow next door. She’s been married seven times before. Everyone wants an ‘Enry – ”
Keith shut his locked and sauntered around the corner, hands in his pockets, still singing.
“Second verse, same as the – oy!” He drew to a halt as he saw a ring of boys around Seamus, whose glasses lay on the floor a few meters away.
“Hey, let him go!” Keith let his bag drop to the floor and stood forwards.
One of the boys glanced at him. “Back away,” he snarled. “Geek boy is toast.”
“But he’s my friend, and no one picks on my friends,” Keith growled out, accent thick in anger.
Seamus whimpered, clutching one eye where he’d been punched.
Keith lunged, fists swinging, body going into attack mode. He made each hit count, taking out half a dozen boys. He knew that he’d get busted later – by Angel, Asia and the principal – but he was itching for a fight, and Seamus was his friend.
“And clear out!” Keith roared at the six sprawled boys. Then he stopped to scoop up Seamus’s glasses and help his friend to his feet.
Seamus gaped at all of the fallen bullies, then staggered after Keith.
“I told you that kids beat me up for being a geek,” Seamus mumbled.
Keith slackened his pace so that the other boy could lean on him for support. “And I told you to ignore them.”
Seamus gave something between a grimace and a smile, between a chuckle and a wince. “Hard to ignore them when they plant fists in my face.”
“Aye, true that.”
“You looked way cool, though, like Bruce Lee.”
“Thanks.”
“Am I really that much of a geek?”
“I say be what you’re gonna be and do what you’re gonna do.”
“You’re gonna be in detention.”
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© Agent Duo 2004