@carolkean requested an extended version of this story to clarify some of the events herein. I hope you like it!
@Lymmerik

Something Eventually Living Forgives

SELF

By Lymmerik

Most schools are well stocked with bullies. Tyler High was no exception.

The first day back to school from summer vacation, Elvin tripped coming into home room. The commotion caused a hush over the small class, then laughter. Elvin collected his books and sat down at his desk just a moment before Mr. Cloud entered, jovially announcing that he had just witnessed a miracle.

"I saw Titus trip Elvin...and Elvin didn't even swear! Wait for it..." He chuckled.

Laughter filled the room and every head snapped toward Elvin.

"FUCK!" Yelped Elvin, slapping himself in the mouth.

"With that, class, tenth grade has officially commenced!" Announced Mr. Cloud

Everyone grumbled, except Elvin. He was looking forward to tenth grade and entering Tyler High's Got Talent show. His parents had signed him up with a vocal coach over the summer. He had a lot of talent...and Tourette's. Remarkably, Elvin didn't show any of his ticks while he sang.

Elvin grew up with Titus. They played ball and rode bikes. But that changed when Titus' family moved across town. The two hadn't seen each other for a couple of years until last school year; both had changed.
Tourette's Syndrome is a fickle fella...it can be something that a person at a young age can acquire; and it can befall someone seemingly overnight. With Elvin, something crazy occurred when he was in his first year of junior high, he struck his arm on the bleachers after a ballgame. Within two days he developed a twitch in his arm. As it worsened, other symptoms appeared; a twitching nose, throat noises...and uncontrollable cursing. By the next school year, he was fully animated.

Elvin thought that Titus would still be his friend last year after their hiatus, but Titus had grown up to be a handsome young man, and Elvin not so much. Of course, they couldn't be friends anymore; what with a ticker for a friend, it became trendy for Titus to pick on Elvin. Bullies come in all different shapes and sizes; a bully could be your worst enemy, your best friend, or somewhere, anywhere in-between. Elvin didn't think of himself as being bullied by Titus, he couldn't fathom his former best friend being mean to him, but he knew that Titus could be curt, curt to the point of feeling embarrassed and fostering hurt feelings. Most of the time he just chocked it up to miscommunication.

For all that Titus had going for him, a jealousy stirred beneath the surface. He had looks, he had charm, but he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket! All Titus ever wanted was to become a pop star.
As Titus began junior high school, he had watched all the Idol shows, all the Got Talent shows and then some, one could say that he was desperately trying to imitate the glitzy glamour of the performers to show everyone that one day his name would be in lights. After each of the show's episodes, he would race to his room, shut the door and grab his hairbrush "microphone," and put on a show for himself in front of his mirror. He knew all the dance moves, every hand gesture, every facial expression, right down to the lip curls of his favorite contestants. Of course, he knew all the lyrics, by heart, of every song, word for word. He really thought that he could sing, until he made a recording on his camcorder, and nothing was more humiliating for Titus.
Titus was so proud of his recorded "performance" and wanted to show Elvin, but he wasn't ready for what Elvin had to say. It was then that Titus had concluded that he was a failure, a flop. Elvin hadn't really been cruel, but he was honest with Titus. he simply said,

"Titus, you have heard yourself sing, haven't you? I think with that body of yours, football should be your calling, not singing."

Eight weeks into this new school year, Elvin began filling out, and his skin was clearing up, just in time for the talent show. His talent was raw and natural. Elvin also watched all the talent shows on television, and imitated his favorites singers. His voice never cracked, it just evolved.

Now that Elvin was getting popular, and his vocal skills getting better with the instruction of his vocal coach, Titus began withdrawing more and more; ranting on social media, his grades falling. At every practice for the talent show, Titus loomed in the back wanting, but that boat had sailed. His focus was not on himself, it was on Elvin, he was infatuated with him. He kept telling himself that he wasn't gay, even if Elvin was, and Titus' mannerisms confirmed that. But his inner self couldn't stop thinking, "I could be him!" Titus' self-loathing dipped to record setting lows for a teenager of his caliber.

As the semester rallied on, Titus couldn't stop thinking that he had drawn the short straw. He could not comprehend that he had other talents. He began disrespecting his teachers, his parents, his friends, everyone. He would act out if he wasn't the focus of attention or the life of the party; and party he did!
Right after Titus found out that Elvin was going to be entering the "Tyler High's Got Talent" competition, he was attending a party for the "Sophomore Mentor-a-Freshmen" gathering, he deliberately tried to spill his drink on Elvin so that Elvin would have to leave to change clothes. But that backfired and his fake trip on something invisible on the floor exhibition landed him flat on his face...at Elvin's feet, and a red-faced Titus was the one going home to change.

The last week before the competition, Titus had had enough. He hatched a plan to put Elvin in his place once and for all. It would be the ultimate sacrifice, the last hurrah. All the while, his feelings for Elvin were turning from confusing to confounding. Titus would be making a statement, to Elvin, and to everyone at Tyler High. Elvin would not know what hit him.

Throughout that week, Elvin practiced after school until late in the evening, it was only one song, but it was his favorite. The song he would sing for the competition would be Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror." He didn't sound totally like Michael, but he could hit all the right notes. He had developed his voice into somewhat of a mid range tone; his pitch, on point.

Again Elvin stayed after classes the evening before the talent show to practice. Titus had missed classes that day, but made a special drunken appearance at the practice. He mocked Elvin's Tourettes, he cursed him, and belittled his singing. Then he belched out this slurred monologue.

"Hey, tick-man, you think you're Elvis, don't you? Huh? Here's something for you to sing about one day."

Titus promptly pulled out a gun, put it to his head...and fired.

Elvin spoke at the school service the next week, giving a moving tribute to Titus, his ticks at bay for the most part.

He ended with this...

"I noticed that Titus had changed over these last few months, he withdrew, he never asked for help, and sadly I didn't offer. I think we all saw it, but did we offer to help? I was sometimes in his cross-hairs, but in the end, it was his own self that he couldn't overcome. We shall go on, some of us will grow into the men and women that we thought we could become, but over time there is something...eventually...living forgives. FUCKING Self"

Thank you for taking the time to read this extended version of my short story!
@Lymmerik


Here is a link to the original story:
Something Eventually Living Forgives