Staring Competition ~ Phan AU

XVII

Dan's PoV

Jamie, Phil, and I all went downstairs after our little scene with Charity. Phil and I sat close to each other and Jamie sat next to our cuddle bundle. He had his arms wrapped around my shoulders as I rocked back and forth in pain. Phil was so nice and comforting. His soothing words calmed me tremendously. I just sat there with my eyes closed and my head on his shoulder. And eventually, I fell asleep.

>•<

I fluttered my eyes open. My head was no longer on Phil's shoulder, it was on the couch. I sat up abruptly and looked over to find Jamie. "Where's Phil?" I asked.

"Bathroom," she said. I relaxed. I guess I should really stop over obsessing over him. I'm really just scared for him after what's been happening. I got shot in the arm, Phil broke his arm, Jamie... well Jamie's fine, but Charity's rib cage was broken and her foot as well. I am just very scared to go back outside. Ed's gone, but his men aren't.

>•<

(Monday)

We are going back to school for the first time since my gun shot to the arm. Jamie got special permission from the school to be our class guides. She is going to carry Phil's books for him, and help me not drop mine or stab my wound with them. We all began to walk towards English, which we all had. When we all walked in late, everyone turned to look at us. We ignored them and Jamie helped Phil to his seat with his books. I followed and Jamie traded seats with the girl next to me so that we could all be together in the class.

"Welcome back," Mr. Barnes greeted. "How are you all?"

I smiled. "Amazing now." I restrained looking at Phil as I said this. We agreed that we wouldn't tell anyone else in the school... yet. We're both still self-conscious about being together in front of other people.

The lesson begins, but nobody is paying attention. They are all looking at Phil, Jamie, and I. Finally, Mr. Barnes turned around and saw where the attention was heading. "Alright class," he began. "Take out your journals and write a paragraph about this weekend." Everyone groaned and obeyed. Phil, Jamie, and I looked at each other and pulled out our notebooks. We all wrote about the same thing: how Phil broke his arm. Nothing after that. No extra details about us and Charity.

After writing, we all shared with the class. Jamie went up first in our group of the Phil's Broken Arm story. "'This weekend was a maze of confusion. I was with Dan and Phil," she smiled, "when they went to visit Dan's dad." My heart skipped a few beats when I was reminded of Dad. I shook it off and looked at Jamie. "There was suddenly a crash at the end of the street and when we arrived, Phil's car was demolished." Everyone gasped. "I thought they were still inside the car, crushed along side the criminal driver that purposely killed himself to try to kill them, but then I saw Phil on the street. Dan, who was on the grass, and I ran over and we got him to the hospital. They had both jumped out of the car because their brakes were broken and they wanted to live. My weekend was crazy, but amazing because my two best friends survived a terrible car crash."

The class was dead silent, looking at Phil and I. Then, everyone erupted into applause. They all smiled and some people came over and congratulated us on surviving. I smiled and looked at Phil. "We made it," I mouthed.

He smiled and mouthed back, "I know."

>•<

"Dan!" Mr. Barnes called after class.

"I'll meet you in science," I told Jamie. She nodded and left with Phil.

"Dan," Mr. Barnes said, "You will be starting the student tutor option today at study." I nodded. I had completely forgot about my consent to let another sophomore teach me English. "I'm sure you will be happy to know that Phil will be your tutor." My eyes and smile grew wide and I nodded.

"That's awesome!"

"Yes, so you will get right to studying, no intro. Comprendes-vous?" I nodded and he sent me off to science. In the extraordinarily green classroom, I took my seat next to Jamie and Phil.

"Hey!" I greeted. "Hey Phil! Guess what?"

"What?" he asked, smiling.

"You are my student tutor!"

"Yay!"

Jamie giggled. "You guys are adorable."

I flipped my hair. "I know!"

Suddenly, the teacher walked in and we faced forwards. "Today," she said. "We will be working on chemistry." An 'oo-la-la' came from the other side of the room and I blushed. This was going to be a long class.

>•<

At lunch, I sat down in the cafeteria at my usual seat in the back, but this time, I wasn't alone. Five minutes after I sat down, Jamie and Phil joined me. I smiled. "Hey!"

"Hey!" Jamie greeted.

I finally felt I wasn't alone.

>•<

We decided to walk home from school at the end of the day. "Let's go to my place!" Jamie squealed. We agreed and began to walk towards her small, blue house. Our feet made distinct tapping noises on the street.

I looked at Phil as we began to walk. It was slightly windy, just windy enough to push his dark fringe back away from his face. His blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight and I could now see that they had flecks of green and gold in there, too. It made his eyes even more special and beautiful.

Suddenly, there was a loud rumble and a van, similar to Ed's except black instead of red, appeared out of no where. Jamie screamed and I pulled Phil back onto the grass. "Are you okay?" I asked him. He nodded. We looked up and three men, Ed's men, emerged from the van with guns. "Run!" I shouted, grabbing Phil's arm and hoisting him up. I ran as fast as I could until I heard a scream. We turned around to see Jamie in the grasp of one of the men.

"No!" Phil shouted. He charged at the men and grabbed Jamie. He eventually freed her and we began to run again. But then a gun fired and Phil collapsed.

"No!" I shouted. I tried to run over to him but one man grabbed him and another held a gun up.

"Don't take another step," he commanded. But I did, and he fired. He didn't hit my heart, but he was close. I suddenly realized I didn't have the strength to stand up and collapsed onto the ground. Before I closed my eyes, I watched as they dragged Phil into the van.

I thought about how bad I failed. I was dying, Phil was being dragged off to be tortured, and I have no idea where Jamie is.

I guess this is the end, I thought as I closed my eyes.