FicWad

Work. That's what life was about. Working. Everyone had to do it eventually. Get up. Go to work. Work all fucking day until your bones break. Go home and pretend like nothing happened. Isn't that the way of life? That's what my parents had done, and that's what I did, before I lost my job. That's what everyone did because if you didn't work you couldn't survive. It was simply way of human nature. If you lost your job (as I had) you better have someone to fall back on, or get a new job quick. I had someone to fall back on but it wasn't a permanent solution. So, that's why I had spend every moment trying to find a new job that would surly kill me as the other one had. I had been looking for four months now and nothing came up. I tried out with my music career again, but people weren't interested in anything I had to do. I had worked with repairing bicycles, so my last job wasn't bad. I actually enjoyed it. But then I was accused of stealing........ so now I'm here. Standing in front of Belleville High.

I used to go here when I was a teenager, seven years ago. I had hated this school, but who didn't? I was bullied, yes, but to a certain extent. I remember when I came out. That's when people had really started to tease me. Coming out and being gay in high school back then was a pretty big deal. A lot had changed in seven years though. Ever since all this efforts in the gay right movement though, things were getting better. Even for high school students.

I looked at the steps in front of me. There were three concrete steps in total. Each one seamed to lead me to my doom even more. I imagined that working at Belleville High probably wouldn't be as bad as attending it. I wondered if the same teachers were there and if they still remembered me. Some of the teachers had been okay, but what do you expect? Their just teachers. I took one shaky step and placed my foot on the first step. As I looked at my foot I couldn't help but chuckle. Converses. That's what I wore in high school too. These were not the same dirty pair though. My feet had grown so now I wore a dirty pair of black ones, instead of red as I had done then. I took another step. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Finally, I had made it up the steps and now stood in front of two large wooden doors. They seamed as scary as they had freshmen year. They were big and towering over me easily. I hoped they represented a new beginning, not an old memory. There were flyers to different school clubs and activities taped onto the smaller windows that were in the middle of the doors. I could actually barely see through them because of so many flyers. I wondered if the inside of the school looked the same.

I wrapped my fingers around the cold door handle and pulled. It took quite a bit of force to open it due to how large it was. I opened the door only halfway before slipping inside the sinister building. The warmth inside was comforting against the forty-six degree weather outside. The air inside was dustier, but gave me a familiar smell that my brain instantly recognized.

Sure enough, it was mostly the same. Right in front of me was the offices; including nurses, principles, and counseling. To the right and left were two long hallways that held mostly freshmen and sophomore classes. I looked down to see that the once green dirty rug was replaced by an odd brown tiling. I wondered when they had that done. Had it been right after I graduated? Last year maybe?

I slowly made my way to the main office and once more had to struggle with myself to open the much smaller (lighter) door. When I stepped inside I noticed that it had not changed much either. It still consisted of artwork that past students had done and the same waiting chairs were in the exact same spot. I walked up to the front counter and placed my portfolio on top of it. The office seamed to be empty which scared me. What if it was closed and the door was just unlocked? What if I had to come back later?

God, I was pussy.

"Hello?" I called throughout the office. It was a Saturday so I knew that students wouldn't be here, but on the web sight it said some staff members would be. Maybe I should have set up an appointment with the principle.

Right then, a woman came wondering out of the principles office. Dear god. It was the same one that had been here when I was a student. She had a brown skirt that made it's way to her knees and a white button up that she had tucked into her skirt. Her heels were probably about only an inch on the ground. This chick had defiantly needed to go shopping.

I'm so glad I didn't say that out loud. I had had friends that wanted me to go shopping with them before and it was ridiculous. I was gay, not a woman. Just because I liked cock didn't mean I didn't have one myself.

"Hello" she smiled as she walked around the counter to meet me face to face. Her voice was light but firm.

"Hi, I'm here for the job opening?" I felt nerves build up inside me. I hoped that she either didn't recognize me or didn't mention it. There had been a lot of kids here from when I went here, I hoped her memory was clouded. I had never been a bad kid, but I had not been a particularly good one. I was mostly always hurting myself and ending up in the nurses office or not showing up to school because my body sucked at staying healthy.

"Oh, yes! Right this way. I'll just need to interview you, if that's okay" she seamed enthusiastic about my being here. Strange, I would've thought she would be tired and frustrated with life by now. How could you not in her line of work? She had been at Belleville for ten years, starting my sophomore year. I remember not thinking much about her accept that she had been less tired looking back then.

"Yes ma'am" Once we reached her office I took a look around. I had never actually been in the principles office because I had stayed out of serious trouble as a teen. It was a small office with many awards and degrees hanging from the wall. She was overly proud of them. Just like the pictures of children that sat on her desk.

"Are those your kids?" I asked at one point.

"Kids and grandchildren" this took me off by surprise. She dressed old but I had thought she had only been in about her forties or something. I voiced this opinion (leaving out the part about her dressing old) and she seamed to like me on the spot. The interview consisted of normal questions and in my opinion it went by smoothly. She was nice I guess. If I had actually met her seven years ago I probably would've hated her.

"Iero?" Why does that name sound familiar.

"I went here as I student" I had been nervous to tell her because to me it felt somewhat personal. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Either way, it didn't matter.

"Oh wonderful! So you already know your way around?" She seamed happy by that. I figured later on she would go through old records and pull out mine... seeing an impressive amount of C's and D's. Probably gawking at the absences.

"Mostly" I figured I remembered the place pretty well, if not I could find my way around.

"Great. It's good to see a student come back. So, when do you want to start?"

"I got the job?" Well that was forward.

"Seams like it. When can you start?" She repeated.

"Monday?"I hoped to start as early as possible. I needed the job and the money.

"Then I'll see you Monday, Mr. Iero"

Mr. Iero, I like the sound of that. Now, I was Mr. Iero. The schools new janitor.

~

"Your a janitor?" Pete hung his mouth open in shock. I sighed and ran my fingers through my black hair.

"Yeah I know" it wasn't a great job, but it beat being a hobo for sure.

"Wait. wait. Where at?" He sat up straighter on the couch. I sat next to him with a beer in my hand. After I got the job I imminently went home and called him. Pete and I had always been close friends. We had met senior year after I came out. Apparently, he had heard that I came out and he asked me to help him come out to his family. That felt like ages ago. Not a lot had changed between us though. We became pretty good friends, we even hooked up sometimes. We knew it didn't mean anything, but that those times just happened.

"Belleville" I said quietly. I wasn't completely sure how he would react.

"The highschool?" He grimaced. He hated that place more than I did I think he had had some problems there with some friends before he met me, but he didn't like to talk about it.

"Yeah" I took a swing of my beer and finished it off. Maybe I shouldn't have taken the job. Was I making a mistake? I just needed a job. How else was I supposed to support myself?

"Dude. That's low"

"I know but I can't keep living off you, dude. I need this job" it was true. He had brought me food to make sure I was eating properly. It was harder than I thought to find a job. Even harder to find a decent one.

"Whatever. Have fun cleaning up people puke" he popped open another beer and chugged half of it.

"It's not gonna be that bad"

"Yeah it is. On the bright side though, your gonna be a dirty, dirty boy" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh my god" I rolled my eyes and stood up. "When was the last time you got laid?"

"Few weeks" he shrugged.

"Few weeks? Damn Pete, for you that's practically starving yourself" I chuckled and grabbed a bag of chips, heading back to the couch.

"I know. I know. I need to get my game on" he chuckled as he flipped through the channels on the television. Maybe that was why he was acting odd.

"Why don't you?" I suggested. I hadn't been out in a while, maybe it would be good for us. The more I thought about it, the more psyched I got. I hadn't been out in probably almost a year. Plus, I could celebrate the new job by getting hooked up. It had been a while since I had done anything like that, I can't remember why.

"Oh, I don't know. Don't wanna go alone I guess" he shrugged. It was also true. Ever since I had lost my job I couldn't afford to go out with Pete. To be honest, I hadn't been laid in a while either.

"Do you wanna go?" I asked slowly.

"Are you sure?" He turned his head to face me. he knew how long it had been for me to go out like that.

"Yeah" I tried to play it off like it was no big deal.

"Let's go to a club!" He cheered.