Chapter Text
10/10/2017
It’s a beautiful October afternoon, among the last of the year before the mid-Autumn chill sets in near the end of the month. Both gym classes are outside, a group of seniors and a group of sophomores, playing soccer or football or frisbee or just walking around the track and talking.
Hana and Efi, with no interest in any of the listed sports, opt to join the dozen or so other kids on the track. “I’m not quite sure what you mean,” Efi says, frowning.
“It’s just so hard to explain. It’s like… well it kinda feels like I’m dreaming, first of all, which just makes the whole thing worse. Everything gets floaty and slow. When I talk it sounds like it’s coming from someone else. Usually I get nauseous, but not always. It’s just so disorienting and it happens at the worst times.”
“Wait… did this happen in English yesterday? You got all tense and pale? I wanted to check if you were alright when class was over, but you bolted as soon as the bell rang.”
“Yep. That was it.”
“If it happens and I’m, like, there, is there anything I should do?”
She sighs. “I… I dunno. I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do besides wait it out.”
“But can—”
“Oh, well would’ja look at that.” Hana breaks out in goosebumps as an unstable tenor wavers through the air.
Efi rolls her eyes as the girls turn around. “What the hell does that mean, Jamison?” Despite the fact that he has almost a foot and a half on her, and his silent cohort outweighs the two of them and then some, she’s thoroughly unintimidated.
Both Mako and Jamison are seniors, Mako being a year older but having failed once and forced to repeat. After both of them got unanimously booted out of the football game for poor sportsmanship and the occasional brutality, they scoped out Hana as an easy target and approached.
“Well, her dads are gay, it only makes sense that she’d go off and try to find herself a girlfriend,” he casts a cursory glance at Efi, who stares back, unamused. “You could do better. Maybe someone of the Asian persuasion, like yourself.” Both girls wrinkle their faces in distaste.
“Fuck off, Jamie,” Efi says.
“Oh, I see, must be because you got that scar on your face, no one wanted you so you had to go sniffing around elsewhere.”
Across the field, Jesse squints over at them. “That’s not… is that Jamie and Mako?”
“Looks like it,” Lena says. “Let’s go.” They start jogging across the field.
“Aww, look at her. She’s shaking.” She flinches and tries to pull away as he grabs her by the wrist. He’s right, it is trembling in his wrist. She’s having trouble breathing and her heart is fluttering. She’s terrified, convinced that something terrible’s about to happen, she’s about to be hurt, tortured, killed , and oh god why can she hear the car and why is it taking so long to hit her it’s agonizing, agonizingly slow, time’s not running properly, the car’s about to hit and she knows what it’s going to sound like, waiting for the ear-shattering crash, the scream ready to escape her once again but why isn’t it happening —
“Pathetic, isn’t she?” He drops her wrist, practically shoving her away from him. Mako nods, silent as ever. “I can see why her birth parents didn’t want her.” Despite being free, able to run, she just freezes, the panic as present as ever. It’s all she can do not to break down crying.
“Jamison, no matter—” Efi starts, a “small penis” comment at the ready.
“Stay out of this,” Mako says, his voice low and gravelly, staring directly into her eyes. She goes quiet against her will.
“Honestly, it’s shocking that you’re the normal one in that family. That oldest brother of yours is sick in the head if he—”
The metal in Jesse’s hand that allows him basic motor function cracks against Jamison’s skull. As he starts to fall, Jesse grabs him by the arm and pulls him in for another hit to the head, his hand throbbing. Hana and Efi step back in surprise, Hana pulled into sudden clarity. Lena watches, wide eyed, shocked at his sudden show.
“Get over here!” Mako grunts, reaching out and yanking him in with surprising strength. Lena gasps as he punches her friend in the mouth, and runs in to try to free him.
To Hana, it always seemed like their new gym teacher didn’t move like a normal person. She thought she was back to normal for the moment, but she has to question it when it seems like Coach O. leaps high into the air and launches himself towards them, arriving within seconds.
“Enough!” He roars. Pulling Jesse and Mako apart. Jesse’s bleeding from his hand and mouth, and he struggles against the massive fist gripping the back of his shirt. Mako, his flabby shoulder starting to bruise where Lena had punched him repeatedly, doesn’t resist. “All of you, to Principal Kaplan’s office.” He speaks with a thick, powerful accent. “Now!”
Jesse, Hana, Lena, and Efi stand on one side of the office, waiting for their parents to show up. Jamison and Mako are in another room, where they can’t see them.
Jesse’s mouth is still bleeding, and he has to hold a piece of gauze inside his cheek where Mako cut it. Fortunately, none of his teeth were knocked out, but a couple are loose. His hand is wrapped tightly in gauze, and he’ll probably have to see someone to reset the metal in his hand. He’s still seething, pacing around and trying to calm himself. Lena and Efi are fairly level headed, now that the adrenaline’s gone they can start planning what they’ll say when Kaplan questions them.
Despite the fact that she did nothing wrong, and she knows she did nothing wrong, Hana’s still terrified. The feeling of impending terror is long gone, replaced with the childish fear of simply being in the principal’s office waiting for her parents. Times a hundred, because that’s just the state she’s in.
Efi and Hana are called into questioning. Efi has to hold Hana up because her legs are shaking so hard, gripping her hand to comfort her. She hardly speaks as Efi retells their story to Principal Kaplan.
Over an agonizingly slow half-hour, all four kids are questioned and four out of their six parents have arrived. In the other room, Jamison waits with his mom and Mako waits with no one. Once Kaplan’s finished with Jesse and Lena, he opens the door and calls everyone else in to join him around a long conference table.
Hana sits down next to Jesse, and Jack next to them. Lena’s parents are on either side of her, with Efi’s dad next to them and Efi on the end. Mako, Jamison, and Mrs. Fawkes face them on the other side.
“So…” Kaplan says, rubbing his face before starting. “Here’s what happened as I understand it. Hana and Efi were talking during gym, and Jamison and Mako came over and started harassing them. Despite Jamison’s claim that they were “just talking”, Hana became visibly uncomfortable and the boys were asked to leave, and they did not. Jesse saw Jamison grab his sister by the wrist and shove her, got angry, and attacked Jamison. Mako restrained and punched Jesse, which then lead to Lena striking him.”
“I didn’t touch her, we were just talking,” Jamison insists.
“Yes he did!” Efi shouts. Every noise feels like a personal assault on Hana’s brain. She closes her eyes and tries in vain to relax herself.
“You’ve never liked my kid,” Mrs. Fawkes accuses. “You’ve had it out for him since ninth grade. And now, now, now you set this whole thing up, try to defame him, but it won’t work! My Jamie would never do anything like this, and that kid,” she points to Jesse, “should be expelled for viciously attacking my son like that!”
“Mrs. Fawkes, I’m sorry, but at least four kids and a teacher saw your son intimidating another student, a girl in sophomore year no less. Now, for the—”
“You can’t—”
“Mrs. Fawkes, you are doing your son no favors here. Hana, Efi, you two will receive no punishment. Lena, for getting involved with a fight that was already occurring, we have no choice but to give you an out of school suspension. As it was your first offense, however, it will only be for one day.”
She nods, quietly. While she’s mostly sure her parents won’t punish her further at home (and they won’t), there’s that bit of uncertainty that worries her.
“Jamison, for harassment and intimidation, and the fact that you’ve received multiple warnings, you’ll have four days of in-school suspension, starting tomorrow.”
“You should be ashamed, Mister Kaplan.” He bites back an “I should be a lot of things” remark, and quietly waits for her to continue. “I know my Jamie, and he would not have been talking to those girls unless they had said something to him first. And you’re giving him four days of suspension and not punishing them at all ?”
“Well, neither Jamison, Mako, or Coach Ogundimu reported any interaction between the girls and the boys before the boys approached them and started harassing them. So yes, I am suspending your son and not punishing Hana or Efi.”
“This is unacceptable! You can’t do this! I’ll sue the district. I will ruin this school!” Mrs. Fawkes grabs her son by the hand and leads him out of the office. The parents and students watch, all in some measure of shock or incredulity.
“Anyway,” he starts. “Jesse, because you escalated to a physical fight, and you weren’t provoked directly, I have no choice but to give you a three day out of school suspension.” He sighs and nods. “I’m sorry, it’s district policy. Use it to finish up college applications or get your hand fixed up.” He feels guilty looking at the kid with the set jaw staring at a point on the wall, but he doesn’t have a choice. “Mr. Morrison, there’s a letter we have to put in his record that says he got in a fight, but you or your husband are more than welcome to write your own letter that says he was just defending his sister.”
“We’ll do that, thank you.”
“If none of you want to appeal or ask anything, then you four and your parents are free to go. There’s only one class left, so you can either go back or you can sign out now. Mako, you stay here. You’ve committed a number of infractions over your years here and we need to have a serious talk about your future at this school.”
They file out of the office. “Thank you,” Hana whispers to Jesse. He nods. “You alright?”
He shrugs. “I’ll talk to you when we get home.”
Efi rolls her eyes but listens when her dad sends her back to class, while Jesse, Hana, and Lena get signed out.
“Not bad, Jesse,” Lena says. “Got a five-day weekend out of that.” He shrugs, staring at the ground. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be celebrating once the bleeding stops. See ya!”
Hana and Jesse climb into their dad’s car. “Both of you alright?” Hana nods, the faraway look in her eyes betraying her. “Jesse? Can you move your fingers?”
“Ugh, mostly. I can… agh!” He groans as his fingers are more or less locked in place.
“Does it hurt when you don’t move them?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Alright, we’ll get that checked out after we get Satya. But before then! Either of you up for ice cream?”
“Yes,” Hana says almost immediately.
“Wait, so… I’m not in trouble?”
“Well, I wish you hadn’t hit the kid. But I also wish that said kid wasn’t harassing my daughter, so it breaks even. Just… do your best not to do it again.”
Sombra’s doing her homework on the couch when her sisters get home. She notices Satya finishing up the cup of double forbidden chocolate with chocolate sprinkles and chocolate syrup as they walk in the door. “Hey, any chance you brought some for me?”
“Nope,” Satya says, licking the spoon.
She sees the car pull away. “Where’s dad going?”
“Taking Jesse back to the hospital,” Hana says. She fills her in on Jamison harassing her (leaving out the comments he’d made about Sombra), Jesse hitting him and messing up his hand, Lena and Jesse getting suspended, and then going out for ice cream.
“Holy shit. Are you both alright?”
“I dunno. It’s just… I dunno.”
“Well, we had two weeks of all four of us all being in school for a full day, I guess that’s good enough.”
“When’s Jesse coming back?” Satya asks.
“A couple hours, maybe. Not sure. Why?”
“I wanna talk to him.”
“What about?”
She’s quiet for a second. “I don’t know yet.”
Jesse: Sorry if this is taking a while
Jesse: I can only use my right hand
Hanzo: It’s quite alright
Hanzo: Other than your hand and face, you’re alright?
Jesse: I’m a little scared to be honest
Jesse: I’ve been *so angry* for the last three or so weeks
Jesse: And when I hit him it was, like
Jesse: Perfect
Hanzo: Perfect?
Jesse: Like it was exactly what was supposed to happen
Jesse: I think it’s like what Angela feels when she, well, does the opposite of punching someone
Hanzo: You felt like you were realizing your destiny?
Jesse: Yeah, exactly!
Jesse: But I don’t want my destiny to be “guy who punches people”
Hanzo: It probably only felt good because you were letting out a bunch of built up anger on someone who deserved it
Hanzo: I don’t believe in destiny, for what it’s worth
Hanzo: You forge your own path, there’s no predetermined route for anyone
Hanzo: You won’t become that guy if you try not to.
Jesse: I hope you’re right
Hanzo: I’m still curious what’s been upsetting you
Jesse: Promise not to tell anyone?
Hanzo: Of course
Jesse: My birth father raped my mother
Jesse: She gave me up because she couldn’t stand to look at him
Jesse: I look like him
Jesse: I’m carrying his genes
Hanzo: I’m surprised you care so much
Jesse: And everything that I ever do will all be because of a horrific abomination
Jesse: What? Wdym?
Hanzo: You almost never talk about your birth parents
Hanzo: As far as I can remember, the only time I’ve heard you mention then was when I asked and you told me you didn’t really care
Hanzo: And you’ve never been one to dwell on things you can’t do anything about
Jesse: Yeah, I guess
Jesse: It’s like this whole thing knocked everything I knew about myself out of whack
Hanzo: Are you scared of becoming him?
Jesse: I don’t know
Hanzo: I don’t see how you could
Hanzo: Considering how much you hate him
Jesse: Doc’s calling me in now
Jesse: Thx for listening
Hanzo: Talk to you soon
Hanzo: Hopefully it goes without saying, but I’m not going to cast any judgement because of your parentage.
He hopes Jesse will do him the same courtesy if he ever has to meet the leader of the Shimada clan.
Satya doesn’t get to talk to Jesse until after dinner. She opens his door and paces around in a circle as he sits in the bed, doing the exercises the doctor recommended.
“How’d you hurt your hand?”
“I, uh, hit someone. Which is bad, and you shouldn’t do it.”
“Are you in trouble for it?”
“Yeah, my principal said I can’t come to school the next few days.”
“That doesn’t sound like much of a punishment. And if you’re being punished, why did you get ice cream earlier?”
“Little tip, dads usually won’t punish you when you make a mistake as long as it’s the first time. Yeah, I shouldn’t have punched the guy, but since I haven’t punched anyone before they’re gonna be a lot more lenient.”
“Why’d you punch him?”
“He was… d’you have to pace around like that? It’s making me dizzy.”
“Why are you dizzy? I’m the one moving.”
“Because… nevermind. Basically, the guy was being really mean to Hana, and she was getting really upset, so I got angry and hit him.”
“If he did it again, would you hit him again?”
“Maybe.”
“But you’re in trouble for doing it this time.”
“It’s just… I don’t even know what else I would do.”
“Hitting people’s against the rules.”
“Sure is.”
“But being mean to people’s also against the rules, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“Is the guy you hit in trouble?”
“Yeah, he has to spend the next four school days alone in a special room with only an administrator.”
“It sounds like he got a worse punishment than you.”
“Sure hope he did.”
“So you broke the rules because someone else broke the rules… is that what you’re supposed to do?”
“That’s one of life’s big, unanswered questions.”
“If someone was being mean to me, would you hit them?”
“Well, if they were your age, I’d probably just yell at them a bit. If they were older, maybe.”
“Can you come to my school soon?”
“Why? Is someone being mean to you?”
“It’s Ethan and Jackson. They make fun of me because I pace around during lunch and rock back and forth during class. They shout in my ears and once they brought a flashlight to shine at my face because they know I hate it.”
“Shhh… oot,” he catches himself. “Did you tell the teacher?”
“She says boys pick on girls because they like them. But if they like me why do they make me feel bad?”
“Yeah, that’s bull…” he cuts himself off again, and completely fails to find a perfectly clean word to replace “shit” with. “... crap. Boys don’t pick on girls because they like them, they do it because they can get away with it. Come on, we should talk to dad.”
“Okay.” She follows him outside. “Is there chocolate downstairs?”
“Not tonight, kiddo, we already had ice cream.”
They find Gabe in the living room with Hana. “Dad, can I talk to you?”
“Sure. In private?” She nods.
“Do you want me to—” Jesse starts.
“No,” she cuts him off.
“Alright.”
“You,” Hana says.
“Me?”
“Help. You read Dracula , right?”
“Hell yeah! Only book I liked from sophomore year.”
“Alright, there’s a question on my homework asking about the significance of a certain scene on these two pages, but my brain’s just, like, fried, and I’ve read it three times and nothing’s sticking.”
“Let me see.” She hands him the book. “Oh, yeah, the blood transfusion,” he chuckles. “Teach got mad at us cause we couldn’t stop laughing about this. Basically, blood’s a metaphor for semen in here, so when she gets the blood transfusion from all the guys it’s basically like having an orgy.”
The corners of her mouth turn up. “Gross.”
“Yeah, and later when Dracula finds Mina and… tries to turn her, it’s basically… forcing himself… yeah.”
Her face falls. “Oh. Sorry.”
He sighs. “It’s fine. It’s just…” he trails off, holding his thumb in place to keep her place. “Actually…” his eyes land on a name. Van Helsing . He starts flipping through the pages.
“Can I, uh, have the book back?”
“One sec…” The idea of dressing up as a cowboy disgusts him for some reason, suddenly epitomizing everything he started to fear about his destiny. Champion of a lawless wasteland where might makes right and you take what you want… he couldn’t do that again.
Of course, not doing anything for Halloween would be a travesty. As a seventeen year old high school senior, it’s gonna be his last one, so he’s been racking his brain thinking of an alternative. And now it’s finally landed in his lap.
“I think I got something.” He starts walking towards his room to plan it out.
“Hey! My book?”
“Right, right. Sorry.” He hands it back, then runs back up to his room.
“Weirdo.”