Heartstopper || Nick + Charlie

An exhausting, confusing day

Nick pov:
Charlie walked into the classroom and placed his bag on the floor next to the table. I smiled up at him as he sat down next to me, but he didn't smile back. I was confused and that's when I noticed the dark circles around his eyes, I saw them yesterday but they seemed to have gotten a lot darker today.

"Hi." I said, trying to get my mind off of it, it was his business, not mine. He didn't reply to me though, instead he just slammed his head on the table which made me flinch, that had to have hurt. The teacher continued on with the lesson but Charlie had still yet to lift his head up. "Are you okay?" I asked him, his head moved up from the table and he looked at me with a confused expression before nodding his head and moving it back to the table. I didn't believe him whatsoever but it was clear he wasn't going to talk about it. There was only ten minutes left of the class but Charlie was starting to worry me. I tapped his shoulder gently and he lifted his head, making a noise of confusion. I ignored him, for now, and asked the teacher if we could use the bathroom, to which Charlie had a very worried look on his face.

"Are you sure, you are okay? You've had your head down the whole class and you look really exhausted." I explained to him once we made it into the bathroom. He looked mid thought and didn't respond for a few seconds.

"I... uh..." He started but then closed his eyes and started to fall in my direction. I quickly caught him and wrapped my arms around him, so I could carry him. My breathe became really rapid and I quickly started to panic. Why the hell did Charlie just faint? I hurriedly carried him to the nurses office and they took charge immediately, thank god for that. I remained seated in the small waiting room, my knee bouncing up and down, an hour had already passed. I had definitely skipped the second class of the day but I didn't care, I just wanted to make sure Charlie was okay. I'm not sure why, seeming we only met yesterday but I felt sort of connected to him in a way.

"Nick Nelson?" A nurse said as she made her way through the long hallway. My head shot up and my eyes went straight to the brunette nurse who had a small smile on her face but also a confused look. "What are you doing here?" She asked me. To be fair I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here either.

"I'm waiting to see if my friends okay." I explained to her. She looked at me confused and checked the clip board that was in her hand and then looked back down to me. That only made me more worried and the pace of my heart rate increased and I started to bounce my leg quicker.

"Charlie Spring? I would have never thought you'd two would be friends." She told me. Why the hell does she get to have an opinion on mine and Charlie's friendship? I didn't know how to respond, so I just smiled at her awkwardly. The nurse must have got the message because she started to read her clipboard before explaining what was going on. "He's very sleep deprived but if he gets a lot of rest, he should be back to normal in no time." She explained. Sleep deprived? Why would Charlie be sleep deprived, how had none of his friends noticed? As I was thinking about the whole situation, Charlie walked down the hallway and into the rom quietly. He still looked incredibly tired and his hair was messy, but it was cute. In a friendship way. He looked over at me with a confused look on his face and I awkwardly waved at him with a smile, causing the nurse to finally turn around and notice him.

"Oh, Charlie! We were just talking about you. You need to go straight home and to sleep, I've already checked you out of school for the day. Can your parents pick you up?" She asked him. He gently shook his head and the nurse sighed. "Well, can you walk home by yourself?" She asked him, to which he nodded his head and gave her a smile. That smile... it just seemed so... fake? The nurse said her goodbyes and Charlie started to walk out of the office, I sat there confused for a second. Was that it? Did he really not care that I was there whatsoever? After getting of the seat, I ran out the door and caught up to him.