marionette | DreamNotFound

- 17 -

lunch break

PE was horrible, Clay felt as if he couldn't breathe anymore. The feeling of a burning chest made him want to die. Will on the other hand had all of his energy left, Toby managed to get out of exercising. It was completely unfair. "Dude," Clay spoke, "how?" "I like running," Will simply answered as he took a sip of his water. Clay fell onto the ground, looking up to the sky. He slowly tried to control his breathing again. "I fucking hate PE in the morning. You're gonna be sweaty the whole day, Nobody will come close to me," he complaint. "Honestly, the mixture of cigarettes and sweat isn't very appealing, but I feel like George doesn't care, so you should be good," Will joked. He glanced at Toby who was sitting on the bleachers, looking down at his phone. "Shut up," Clay mumbled. "What? You don't like George? Cause it sure as hell seems like you do," Will uttered. "Of course I like him, don't be silly, how couldn't you," the American responded. "But?" "There's no but" "I feel like you wanted to say something after that," the tall British guy stated. "I definitely didn't" "Okay then, keep your secrets. You can always talk to me, though," Will added. "I know how George can get, we've all been there before" "What do you mean?" "George always needs a person he needs to cling to in order to function. Therefore, he can get a bit clingy sometimes," he replied. "I guess," Clay mumbled.

"You won't guess who's in my first period class," George exclaimed excited. "Alex and Karl?" Will guessed. "How did you know?" George pouted. "Cause Alex and Karl told us. I already wondered why you never told us. They're not that hard to see," Will said. George sulked as he sat down on his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Will wanted to talk to him about skipping his first period but he didn't know if it was the right time to do so. He'd ask Nick at lunch, he'll probably know something.

The class passed slowly, George's mood has dropped since the other guy ruined his surprise. How did he know but the guy in the class himself didn't? Was he that oblivious to the world around him? Did he share any other classes with someone he knew? God knows, maybe he shared another class with Clay that he's never been to. Unlikely since he always looked out of the tall blonde, but still.

Nick and Niki already sat at their usual table at lunch, both of them eating already. Clay was getting himself some pasta and grabbed an extra fork. As he came back to the table, Will and George just sat down, the shorter brunette looking for his crush. The pasta was placed in front of him and the fork was held next to his hand. "There you go, Georgie, same as yesterday," Clay explained as he sat down and held George's thigh. He didn't feel like lifting up his arms after that PE class today, it was truly horrible. The other boy subconsciously pushed his thigh to him. Clay pulled it over his leg, so his thigh was on top of him. The blonde slowly stroking up and down.

The conversations at lunch were pretty much everything but boring. Most of the time, Toby, Will and Tommy argued over something stupid, Niki was still enjoying her food and stealing from Will, Nick just kind of listened to everything and George and Clay were occupied with each other. In general, George only paid attention to Clay anymore when he was around and if he was being honest, it pissed off Nick just a little bit. He tried not to show his saltiness, but George constantly complaint about the new student, now he wanted to glue himself to his side. The way he rejected any help he offered but accepted all of Clay's so easily made himself question. Does he even mean anything to his best friend anymore?

"Nick, are you okay?" Niki asked. She was kind of the first person to notice when something was off with someone. When George's mental health started to go downhill, she noticed immediately but he always said he was fine and there was basically nothing she could do. Nick nodded at her and tried to smile. "You wanna go outside to talk?" she suggested. Nick just stood up to show her that he indeed needed to talk to someone. Clay noticed them leaving the table but he simply assumed they were going to clean their plates, so he returned to giving all of his attention to the short brunette in his arms.

"Has it to do with George and Clay?" Niki instantly asked as soon as they were far enough away from the table. "It's so frustrating, Niki," Nick sighed. They left the building, sitting down at the stairs. Nick pulled out a cigarette, to his surprise Niki wanted one too. "Since when do you smoke?" "I do it occationally, I first started when I still was in Germany. It's like normal there," she mumbled, "but we're here to talk about you" The lighter got passed to her and she lit the cigarette, enjoying the first drag since months. "Damn, does Will know?" "Are you crazy? He would've killed me!" "Probably," he shrugged, "George frustrates me so much. He refused any help from me but Clay is his hero," he added, "Like I get it, he's got a pretty obvious crush on the blonde guy, but am I simply not enough?" "I've watched George long enough to know that Clay helping him will not benefit his mental health. As soon as Clay leaves, that guy's mood is absolutely ruined. Do you remember when you left with Clay for a few minutes? He looked like he was about to cry. George seeks help, but he doesn't really want it. I think he believes he bothers everyone with his problems. The other day, I saw him walking into the principal's office once again and he never said he was there. To anyone. Not even Clay. I know you think George let's Clay help, but he's not solving any problems. He simply forgets about them when he's with Clay. I can see it when he's with you, too, Nick. He doesn't seem like he's about to cry any second anymore. He likes the distraction but it's just running away from his problems. He doesn't need you, you're not helping. He needs professional help and I don't know if he will ever consider going to a therapist."