If I should fall

Two

Evan walked down the corridor feeling as if there was a spotlight on him. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants as he got closer and closer to his locker. Oh my god. there was someone standing next to his locker. Someone wearing black, who was aggressively shoving book into his bag.

Connor Murphy.

Evan walked towards his locker, stopping a couple feet away. He really didn't want to talk to anyone right now, least of all Connor Murphy. The rumours he had heard...

Evan leaned carefully against the locker, zoning out. He prepared himself to wait while Connor finished, and then he would go get his books. A bit further down the corridor, he spotted Zoe Murphy. He'd liked her for a while now, and he watched her happily for a while as she talked and laughed animatedly with Alana Beck.

"Um, do you need something?"

WHAT IS GOING ON?! Evan attempted to stand up quickly and tripped over himself, grabbing onto the nearest thing, Connor's arm, to steady himself. CONNOR TALKED TO HIM?!

"Woah, easy. I just asked if you needed anything," Connor asked, looking at Evan as if he was crazy.

Evan blushed bright red and coughed to try to hide his embarrassment. He realised he was still clutching Connor's arm and he quickly snatched his hand away as if he had been burned.

"I, um-- sorry, I kinda zoned out, you scared me," he muttered nervously.

Connor laughed easily. "Yeah, I can tell."

Evan's mind was going round and round. Here was Connor, the emo, "school shooter" kid, talking him him and having a normal conversation. This was Connor. The kid who threw a printer at Mrs Garcia in first, or maybe it was second grade. TALKING TO HIM. ACTING NORMAL. LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING.

"Hey, uh, are you ok? You look a bit weird," Connor asked, his brow furrowing nervously.

"Y-yeah! Fine, I'm fine," Evan attempted a cheerful, "I'm-totally-chill-definitely-not-freaking-out" voice.

"So um... did you need anything?" Connor asked again, looking at Evan curiously.

"Oh!"

Ohmygod Evan he asked you that like ten minutes ago and you still haven't answered he's gonna be so annoyed at you you just wasted so much of his time acting like an idiot and he's supposed to be the weird one but you've been the one acting weird this whole time while he acted completely normal and OH MY GOD ANSWER HIM ALREADY HE PROBABLY HATES YOU NOW!

"Evan?"

"Oh my god I'm so sorry no um I mean yes but like take your time my locker is the one next to yours and I didn't want to get in your way or anything so if you want I'll just wait until you're finished oh wow look at me rambling on I'm sorry." Evan dropped his head. Connor was staring at him, completely surprised, and a little bit curious, as if he was trying to figure out what was going on in Evan's head.

"Why didn't you just ask?" Connor said. He sounded genuinely confused.

"Um... I didn't want to, um, disturb you," he mumbled.

Connor laughed again, although this time it seemed more forced. He picked his bag up and, facing away from Evan, muttered "Right. See you around," and walked off. 

Evan might have been imagining it, but he thought he heard a trace of something sad in Connor's voice. Hurt. What was the reason for it? It was just a conversation, wasn't it?

***

Yeah Connor, it was just a conversation. And he was fucking scared to talk to you. You've never even talked to him before, but already he's scared of you. That's the impact you have on people.

***

Soooo... there ya have it! In case you couldn't tell, that last bit was Connor's thoughts after this, from his POV. Love you <3