Someone Like You

8

Warnings:
-Mentions abuse/self harm

George's POV

I woke up with a way worse headache than I had this morning and slowly opened my eyes. I was feeling a bit drowsy and I lifted myself up, leaning against the stone wall behind me to calm down for a little as I saw someone appear in front of me.

I looked away since my vision was blurry and I didn't recognise them, but the person gently grabbed my chin and dabbed something onto my forehead, sitting down next to me.

'I'm sorry for letting that happen, that's way too far,' the voice sounded. I was pretty sure this sounded as Clay and I looked over to see dirty blonde hair and greenish eyes look at me.

'Mhm,' I mumbled so he wouldn't get mad at me for not answering him. I stared at my hands in an uncomfortable silence until Clay spoke up.

'I can't control my anger well,' he admitted. 'There's a reason for that, but I will never tell that to anyone. Just know there's something going on and even though this sounds as the lamest excuse there is, I'm genuine right now. It's not because of you, it's because I'm a dick who needs therapy to control his anger.'

I looked at him and let my eyes focus, noticing his eyes were full of tears. He was staring at his hands and now I was this close to him, I could see makeup on his cheek and his eye. What was he trying to cover?

I lifted my hand up to his face and ran it over the makeup, seeing him wince and then gasp, pushing my hand away. 'Don't!'

'You either have no idea how to use makeup or you're hiding something.'

'It's nothing, let it go,' he mumbled as he looked away. 'I think I need to go.'

He stood up, but I grabbed his wrist. He winced again and pulled away as I frowned, standing up as well. 'Are you okay?' I asked him, holding one hand on his shoulder.

'I'm not supposed to be here, George. Let me go and definitely don't ask me these things.'

'I don't think you realise that the one person you bully is the only person you can genuinely trust,' I told him as he looked at me with his mouth slightly agape.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean that Sapnap is untrustworthy and so is every single one of your other friends. They can't be serious, they just want to joke around and have fun. If you'd tell them anything, they would immediately tell anyone what happened within a second.'

'What has that to do with you?' Clay questioned with a sad face.

'I don't have anyone, everyone hates me. Who would I tell your secrets to? Even if I would, who would believe me over the most popular guy?'

Clay stood still for a second and then stared at his hands, slowly turning around. 'Maybe one day... but not now,' he whispered as he quickly walked off.

I sighed softly as I started walking after him at a way slower pace. My head was hurting a lot and I figured it was bleeding for a while since Clay held something against it.

I grabbed my phone to see myself in it and noticed some blood on my face. I didn't have anything to clean it with so I ended up fixing it with my saliva, wiping that away with the napkin Clay dabbed onto my forehead.

I continued walking to school and went inside with an anxious feeling. I knew Sapnap wasn't done with me, he would probably hurt me way more today. It was better to hide myself in the bathroom.

I quickly walked to the bathroom so he couldn't come up to me before I was hiding. I went into the bathroom as I suddenly heard loud sobs coming from behind one of the stalls. I stood still for a minute, clearly hearing someone cry loudly.

They hitched a breath and then I heard them wince softly, dropping something that sounded a bit like metal on the floor. 'Shit...' the voice, that sounded an awfully lot like Clay, sounded through the bathroom.

I heard them grab a lot of toilet paper and they sat there for a bit longer, opening the stall again. I saw Clay walk out and he seemed to be really startled when he saw me, almost jumping as he tried to act normal.

I looked at him for a brief moment and then saw some toilet paper sticking out of his sleeve. 'You have-,' I started as I grabbed it.

He hit my hand away and pushed it lower into his sleeve so I couldn't see it anymore. 'Don't do that again.'

'Are you bleeding or something?' I asked, suddenly remembering the metal thing that fell down. 'Why did you cry?'

'That's none of your business and you better shut your mouth about this, okay?' he scoffed as he walked closer to me. I felt threatened since he was so much taller than I was and he grabbed my shoulder, squeezing it tightly. 'If you say this to anyone, I'll beat you up, okay?'

'Yeah, because I have SO MANY friends I could tell this to! All my four hundred and twenty-three friends will get to know that you were crying and doing whatever there.'

He seemed surprised by my confidence and sarcasm and then rolled his eyes. 'Just shut up about it, okay? I'm seen as a strong guy and they don't know that I cry.'

'Boys cry too, no matter how strong they are. Well, it's not a surprise, but I cry too... I guess that was an obvious one, anyway.'

Clay rolled his eyes to hide the smile on his face. 'You know... thank you.'

'Huh? What are you thanking me for?'

'Just for being you and not laughing at me,' he answered me with a soft smile on his face. 'You're pretty nice.'

I smiled back and then shrugged. 'I know there's way more going on behind that mask you're putting on. I think there's something that's breaking you, because the look in your eyes gets more lifeless each day.'

He didn't answer and looked at the ground. 'Well, shit... now I'm going to cry again.'

I looked at him and opened my arms to show him he was free to hug me. He immediately accepted the hug which showed me how much he needed this.

'How long is it okay that you've gotten a hug?' I asked him as he clung onto me.

'I've never gotten a hug,' he whispered. 'At least... not a genuine one.'

'Well, I can stand here all day, so take your time.'

He hugged me for minutes while he tried to hide his tears. Eventually he started sobbing softly and looked at me. 'I know you're never going to forgive me for what I've done, but thank you so much. You don't even know how much you've helped me with this.'

'I don't take anything you tell me seriously, Clay. I might be ugly and fat or whatever you call me, but I'm not dumb. I know there's something behind that arrogant smile.'

He smiled again. 'I have to go to class now, but thank you again.'

1222 words