Chapter Text
Petey had no idea how Gary did it so easily - being able to become another person in the blink of an eye, whilst Petey didn't even have the guts to change something like his style in fear of being tortured by these testosterone-ridden dunces even more than he already was. Gary could be whoever he wanted and he'd fool everyone flawlessly. Maybe not the majority of the student body, he's a known sociopath by everybody unlucky enough to have had an encounter with him (Basically everybody anyway). Even then, he's tolerated. A literal snake like Gary has a somewhat better reputation than Pete Kowalski, the boy that has never hated nor harmed anybody in his life... Perhaps that's actually a reasonable point as to why he's picked on as much as he is. Petey had always stayed the same, in fear of this. Laying low was all he knew, similar to how prey adapted to hide from predators. Bullworth was like a zoo, only - violent animals like gorillas down to the meek rodents all shared one big battleground.
Canus Canum Edit, right?
Eat or get eaten, or as Gary world put it, sink or swim. Gary was very good at swimming whereas Petey has been at rock bottom for a very long time. Petey wasnt equipped, emotionally (in the sense hes too shy) nor physically (the kid still looks 12), to 'swim' to the top and make it through a day at this dump without ending up with a pit in his stomach. He was weak in every aspect. Petey missed the bus to the land of growth spurts and teenaged charisma, and he had zero idea when the next bus would come pick him up aswell as the other unlucky kids his age. Gary would occasionally come along to light the hypothetical bus-stop on fire. Petey knew puberty didnt work like bus-stops, but it was the best analogy he'd get...From his mother, atleast. Even his way of thinking was somewhat 'childish' - and Petey hated how this naïvety didnt extend to his self-awareness, where he was sickeningly aware of the horrors of adolescence and what's to come. The best thing about childhood is that someday, it ends.
He prayed that someday he'd grow up properly and find actual pleasure in socialising, maybe even get himself a girlfriend (the very thought bewildered Gary, strangely), but despite Petey's tendency to daydream, he had this looming feeling that it'd never happen. The concept of being alone forever started to be more welcomed than feared. Bullworth taught him this better than anything else. Petey had only realised he had been doing that 'feeling sorry for himself' monologue again when Gary entered the dorm quite loudly, and made a snide remark telling Petey to 'look alive' that he only really heard the tail-end of. Petey looks up from his untouched geography textbook that he was meant to be revising, directing his tiny frown to Gary's general area.
"I said don't look so sad, Petey, there's a new kid in that single dorm." Gary trailed off into a giggle, pulling open his creaky bedside drawer and looking through it. Whatever he could have possibly been looking for in such a manic rush was beyond Petey.
The single dorm was envied by everyone - it was the only bedroom to have one bed after some kid broke his bedframe down to turn it into firewood (for a bonfire Gary organised) and the school never bothered getting another one. Petey had actually heard the conversation Crabblesnitch had with Miss Danvers, and it went along the lines of; 'If I must replace a single bedframe, I must worry about replacing the rest of them.' Doesn't look like Bullworth will be getting any replacements of anything at all anytime soon, by the looks of it. Petey wouldn't put it past Crabblesnitch to do something so careless.
"A new kid?" Petey echoed thoughtfully, now seeming a little more interested in the world around him, and not the inside of his own head for once (Thinking about it, is Gary rubbing off on him?) He realised how childish the whole daydreaming thing was as soon as he felt a little proud of himself for paying attention.
"Yes, a new kid, are you deaf now?" Gary bit, standing back up to his full height, then slouching again. If Petey were going deaf, it'd definitely be Gary's fault.
Gary's ability to go from giddy to irritated so quickly stemmed from his incapability to be around those 'dumber' than him. To gary, everyone was dumber than him, but when they actually acted on their incompetence, it drove gary up the wall - more up the wall than he already was, if that was actually even possible. Gary behaved like every breath used on saying anything remotely disinteresting was a sin, and if you were to ask him a question that had no benefit to anyone whatsoever, his mood would switch like a light and he'd get irritated. Your words were simply a traffic cone in the never-ending racetrack that was Gary's mind.
Petey didnt realise Gary had gone to greet the new kid until he could hear his own quiet breaths in the room again. Had he really been stuck in his own head again? Gary's entire presence was so loud, you could scream until your throat bled but nothing made your ears ring more than sitting with Gary Smith, even in silence. And somehow, Pete had gotten so used to this unexplainable white noise Gary emitted that he didn't even sense it was gone. Now the dorm room was actually quiet, and Petey found himself untensing his shoulders that he didn't even realise were tense to begin with. Petey could hear Gary in the hallway, just outside the slightly-ajar door, where he was telling the likely 'new kid' that he should put his uniform on. His voice full of bravado was unmistakeable, even when he was using his 'inside voice'. Petey frowns (does he ever stop frowning, really?) at the yet another childish term for something he couldnt find a better word for.
Gary's heavy steps followed the same pattern back to the dorm petey was still sitting in. Petey had only actually seen Gary do it a few times before, but there are two long uneven floorboards in the hallway that Gary always tries to walk on like one of those tightrope walkers you'd see in a circus (Gary would fit right into a circus, no?). The familiar squeaks that those same floorboards made were the only warning signs that Gary was about to walk in, unless you included the ridiculously heavy sound of his school shoes that had a small heel in them. Petey was near certain that Gary only wore those kinds of footwear just so he could be even taller than Petey than he already was. Gary walks back inside, as if on cue. Petey is less interested in what Gary is up to now than he was the first time he walked in, and took it upon himself to go seek out said 'new kid'.
"Careful, Petey, he bites!" Gary mocks, somehow already sensing that petey was away to see the new kid. Even though Gary was just being an ass, Petey still felt a little hesitant.
"Shut up..." Petey mumbled, his words barely audible enough to have any effect whatsoever on Gary. Despite himself, Petey still leaves the room.
Petey found himself stepping on the two creaky floorboards, too. He had been so distracted by watching where his next step would go that he hadn't realised he was now standing infront of the single bedroom dorm. He saw right in, to a stocky boy with a buzz cut sitting on his bed, wearing a Bullworth uniform in a way that couldnt have been more unkempt if he tried. Petey hadn't really anticipated he'd get this far in terms of welcoming the new kid. He paused briefly, torn between pretending to keep walking (it's not like this new kid would even care anyway, he's just staring dejectedly at the wall - strangely hopeless for someone that hasnt even fully experienced the horrors of Bullworth) and actually introducing himself. Petey decided on the latter and tried to make himself atleast look a little more happy as he nervously stepped into the room. You'd think this new kid would have his door bolted shut by now, but...it was wide open.
"Hey," Petey threw up a lame wave. "How ya doin'? You must be the new kid..."
Petey had that familiar urge to just leave (or run away, with how this new kid was glaring at him), but he knew this was basically his only shot at 'starting fresh' with someone. First impressions count...especially in a place like Bullworth. Pete learned that the absolute hardest way ever.
"Names Pete, uh, Pete Kowalski."
His thin arm anxiously stuck out stiffly, feeling like an absolute moron. Pete would soon add this to the 'childish habits I've caught myself doing often' list.
"Now look what you've done, Pete, Jimmy can't stand you already."
Gary's snarky tone full of disappointment hurt more knowing it was probably true. Petey had done his best to give Jimmy - that was the new kid's name - a good first impression of himself, then Gary had to come in with his loud presence and ruin any chance Petey had of pretending he was cooler than he actually was. It wasn't that hard to pinpoint the exact moment when Jimmy lost all interest, which was when Gary walked in, interrupting the somewhat refreshing conversation that Jimmy and Petey were having just seconds before Gary entered with his big mouth full of mean words. Most of which used to humiliate petey, who barely had a chance to defend himself properly before gary shot it down with another jab at Petey's size. Petey couldn't help but wonder why Gary was being a little performative with his teasing, like he was using Petey to see how Jimmy would react to broad-daylight bullying. Like Petey, was Gary also trying to start fresh with Jimmy? The both of them probably came across as two actual weirdos. Petey gave another tiny wave at Jimmy, managing a pathetic smile that doubled as a silent apology for Gary's behavior, like how you'd apologise on behalf of your dog for jumping onto a stranger. Petey follows Gary out of Jimmy's room, and subconsciously watched as Gary walked on the two floorboards again. This time, Petey made the effort to listen to Gary's mumbles instead of listening to his own inner monologue.
"-...the perfect idiot for this," is all Petey could make out.
"What?" Petey blurt out almost instinctively, mostly because he didnt want Gary to turn Jimmys life upside down for the sake of some stupid adrenaline rush, like he has many times before with others - because Petey actually LIKES Jimmy.
Another childish habit. Petey was too trusting.
Gary wasn't a very predictable person in terms of his mood and neither were his plans - the only pattern in that brain of his was his malice. That was what petey could look out for. Petey preferred the familiarity of Gary's footsteps or his routines or his sleeping habits - it was a guilty comfort for Petey, knowing he wasn't ENTIRELY lost when it came to working his way around Gary. Maybe it was also why Petey was a little fixated on 'understanding' the other boy. It was a little ironic, how Petey read about dragons being slain and villains being killed, and Petey STILL chose to deal with his tormentors through understanding and communication.
"I wasnt speaking to you," Gary snapped from over his shoulder, pushing the dormatory door open with his side.
"But if youre so curious to know-" Here it came. Gary's lame excuse to ramble to petey over some 'foolproof' plan while disguising it as a privledge. Right, because listening to Gary's monologue was a blessing. Petey almost admired Gary's ability to be so narcissistic while also priding himself on 'not needing friends'.
"Actually, I think I should make you wait a little. You know, give me a chance to clean up the edges of my masterplan." Petey sighed. Gary always did this, and petey always walked into it. Its not like Petey would wait very long to hear this epic plan of Gary's, because Gary's mind ran nonstop with all sorts of paranoid thoughts and schemes that it probably wouldn't take much effort to 'clean up' his plan in terms of just sitting there staring at a wall.
Between that and finding an excuse to hold off on taking his medications, Gary was an expert at daydreaming. Petey found himself able to relate to that, but, maybe not in the clever way that applied to gary. Peteys daydreams were just woeful. Petey always wondered why Gary bothered with making excuses for not taking his medication that often when he admitted to everyone else that he 'just didnt want to'. Petey thought it was because it was too vulnerable of a topic that Gary just avoided speaking about, or he was staying vague for the sake of keeping pete on the edge of his seat. Both were likely.
Gary dropped his weight down onto his creaky mattress, the unsteady bedframe letting out a squeak that petey recognised from the constant tossing and turning Gary would do in the late hours of the night. That was another familiar thing Petey found a strange comfort in.
"I think you should leave Jimmy alone, Gary..." Petey mumbled, his voice barely loud enough to cause an echo.
"Oh, give me a chance! It'll be great!"
Whatever 'it' referred to, it didnt really make Pete feel any better about anything. He sat back down onto the chair he had been in before seeing Jimmy, putting his hands awkwardly into his lap as he directed his stare back to the geography textbook he was supposed to be revising.
"Yeah, okay." Petey mumbled, his voice sounding more dejected than sarcastic like he intended it to be.