Fighting Together

8

TW's:
-Homophobia/ableism
-Bullying

George's POV

Clay held his arm around my waist as I slowly walked back inside to get my bags. I was really glad that Clay was with me during my seizure, because it made me feel safe to have someone with me meanwhile.

I took a deep breath as I walked into the classroom to grab my bag and Clay carefully let go of me. 'I'm going to the teacher, okay?'

I nodded slowly and lifted my bag up on my shoulders as I sat down to take a breather. Suddenly a random person came up to me again and pushed me back so I almost fell down my chair.

TW bullying/homophobia/ableism
(More Clay popping off)

'Did you have a seizure again? You're so annoying. You can't even do anything yourself, why don't you take your mum to school next time so you can hold her hand when you're scared? Why aren't you going to Josh? Tell him you love him so much that you're ready to humiliate yourself in front of everyone.'

I shouldn't let it hurt me, but I was just so sick of being made fun of because I asked Josh in front of everyone. I was really ashamed of what I had done.

'Hey, leave him alone,' Clay suddenly yelled as he pushed the person in front of me away. 'Is it that hard to leave him alone?'

'I really don't like him, why can't he just die from his seizures?'

'You know what,' Clay said. 'Can you bully me instead? I have diabetes. Funny, isn't it? Now bully me instead of George.'

The boy bursted out into laughter. 'Diabetes? Isn't that for obese people? Explains a lot.'

Clay rolled his eyes. 'Or you educate yourself more before making a fool of yourself with false "insults".'

'You're fat enough for it.'

'Mhm,' Clay nodded. 'That's why I'm slightly underweight.'

'You just eat too much sugar.'

Clay bursted into laughter. 'You're so dumb, I'm not even kidding. This is so funny to me. Come, George, we are going home.'

'So you can grossly make out?'

'Oh yeah, of course. We do that all day. I turned so gay for him, it's incredible. I make out with him for hours on end.'

I giggled softly and the boy rolled his eyes. 'I know you were just as gay as he is.'

'So gay,' Clay said. 'Come on, use better insults. Why would I care if someone calls me gay? I know I'm not, but I wouldn't care if you called me gay when I actually was either.'

'So you accept gays? You don't find it gross as hell? Two boys touching and kissing?'

Clay walked closer to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, leaning in to kiss my cheek.

'You're disgusting,' the boy scoffed.

Clay held his hand on his heart. 'Wow, that hurt. I'll definitely cry myself to sleep now.'

TW over

He lifted me up and grabbed my bag. 'I'll carry your bag.'

We walked away and Clay smiled at me. 'How are you?'

'I'm okay, and you? I didn't know you have diabetes, I'm sorry for not asking about it.'

Clay shrugged. 'I didn't really want people to know at first, but if they are bullying you with epilepsy, I'll let them bully me with diabetes.'

'I'm really uneducated on diabetes, can you tell me about it?'

'I have to count all my carbs all day and inject insulin as soon as I eat something. If I don't do that, my blood sugar either gets way too high or when I do inject it but eat too little, it gets way too low.'

'How do you know if it's too high or too low.'

'I get a lot of symptoms and-,' Clay started as he grabbed his bag and opened it, showing me what was in it. 'I have this too, I have to prick it in my finger and it shows my blood sugar. I have a lot of glucose tablets for if my blood sugar gets low and my insulin of course.'

'How did no one ever notice this?'

'I always go to the bathroom when I have to inject insulin or prick my finger.'

'Do you have to inject insulin for everything you eat?'

'Yes,' Clay said. 'That's why I write everything I eat down in this notebook.' He showed me a notebook and opened it. 'I wrote down my lunch too.'

I looked at the page before that and frowned. 'You didn't eat anything last evening?'

'Uh-,' he shrugged. 'Does your mum pick us up?'

'Clay, why didn't you eat last evening?'

He sighed softly and his happy smile faded, turning into a sad one.

'My parents don't really care a lot about my diabetes.'

'How did you end up not eating?'

'They told me I was going to eat beans, potatoes and meat, but my mother prepared pasta. I can't really eat that because there's way too many carbs in it so I asked them to prepare something else for me. Then they found me complaining and sent me to my room without food.'

'Oh my goodness, are you okay?'

'I had a hypo,' Clay muttered.

'What does that mean?'

'My blood sugar got really low, because I ate too little and had too much insulin. I had already injected my insulin for the meal we were supposed to eat. I ended up taking three of my glucose tablets.'

'Do you want to eat with us?' I asked.

'What are you going to eat?'

'Whatever you're allowed to and want to eat.'

'I used to like it when someone made a salad with chicken and vegetables, but still low on carbs.'

'Okay, if you give me all ingredients you like in your salad, I'll let my mother prepare one.'

'But uh- I have to weigh all my food so I know exactly how many carbs and insulin I need.'

'That's going to be no problem at all, I'll text my mum to pick us up.'

Clay smiled. 'Thank you for being this sweet.' His cheeks were a light shade of red and I giggled.

'You're welcome, you're helping me with my epilepsy so I'll help you with your diabetes. I don't see why I wouldn't.'

1049 words

Summary:
Basically, mean guy got destroyed by Clay so YES.