Perfect For Me

CHAPTER 10 (Liam Williams)

"Oh, there you are! We thought you went home or something. Sorry for not looking for you sooner." Ryan and I both glared at Mr. James. How could someone this irresponsible become a teacher?

I stood up and pulled Ryan in a standing position as well. I quickly whispered a "I'm sorry" to him before running out of the room. His story surely would keep me up this night but now I really had to think about Ethan. I already could feel my heartbeat speed up again and decided to run even faster.

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"I'm so sorry!", I said as soon as I had opened the door. A "Shhhh! Ethan is sleeping." was the only response I got. In front of me stood Nate, wearing one of my hoodies, a lopsided grin on his face. "I thought I would look after him when you didn't show up at six. Now tell me what took you so long. Did Ryan keep you occupied?" He suggestively raised an eyebrow. I shuddered at the thought of doing anything...sexual with Ryan. Not because he was a boy, I had known I was gay since I had been eleven. And Nate knew that too. No, I shuddered because Ryan was...Ryan! The cocky, arrogant bastard who always knew how to rile me up. "We got locked in the basement", was all I said before hugging him. "Thank you", I whispered in his ear. "I really thought something had happened to Ethan!" "That's what friends are for, isn't it? But I will keep this hoodie!", Nate said before hugging me as well. Oh, he really was a saint!

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Grumpily I turned off my alarm. I just hadn't been able to get Ryan's story out of my head. I didn' even know why. It sure as hell wouldn't change the way I was treating him, that bastard still deserved it! But it was kinda hard for me to not sympathise with someone who has a messed up family, just like me... Therefore I fell asleep very late, around 2:30 a.m. and definitely wasn't ready to leave my bed just yet. It was way too comfy!
But I didn't really have a choice I guess. Groaning I stood up and went to the bathroom to take a cold shower. Maybe that would wake me up.

It didn't. I quickly swallowed my pills and put on jeans and a red V-neck. Opening the door to Ethan's room I turned on the lights there simultaneously. I knew he hated it. But I really didn't have the energy today to gently wake him up. He should be grateful I got him breakfast, that's more than I got when I had been his age. Okay, maybe I was being unfair but too little sleep really took its toll on me.

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Over the lessons I shared with Ryan I began to notice that on a second look he didn't seem so happy and full of confidence like he did on the first one. He also kept looking at me from the corner of his eyes, as if he was afraid that I would tell somebody. But even if he was my arch enemy and his little story didn't change the way I looked at him...okay, maybe it did but still I would never tell anyone. I knew what it was like to have secrets. My story may be even worse than his but that still didn't give me the right to shout it out to the whole world. Also, I had my own problems to deal with. After I almost ended up having a panic attack and knowing Betty wouldn't be able to watch Ethan everyday until six, I decided to talk to the principal. He knew about my situation with Ethan. I had to tell him in case the was an emergency or I had to stay at home because my brother was ill. So I hoped he would allow me to continue the ball-project at home. I was aware that this meant bringing my partner, Ryan to my apartment but since yesterday I somehow felt like we weren't as angry at each other as before.

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With slightly sweaty hands I stood in front of the principal's office. I had decided to do it right during lunch so I could start working at home today. Betty had to cancel and so I had to pick up Ethan from kindergarten. "Come in!" Carefully I opened the door and took a seat opposite the big desk in the middle of the room. Our principle was a strangely nice looking guy in his fifties. He already had gray hair but it somehow suited him and made him look more experienced. He honestly was a great teacher, I just didn't like him that much because I had been in his office too many times because of Ryan.
Wanting to get over with my plea as soon as possible I quickly started to explain my problem. When I finished the principal seemed to be deep in thought before nodding slowly. "Okay. You can do your work at home. But only because this really is urgent. AND you of course have to do things we can check if you have done it." That was great! "Thank you. Have a good day." I closed the door. Relief filled my body. Now I only had to tell Ryan. And somehow make him believe that my parents were on a business trip or something. I could do that. Sadly, lying wasn't something new to me.