i like you but i cant say it

CHAPTER 3: shattered pride (page 10)

Caleb was standing by his locker, the thoughts of Kenji had long left his mind as he had better things to look out for. However today his phone seemed to have quieted down, maybe his body will finally get the time to recover, even if it's only for a day or two.

The crack on the screen almost obscured the texts. His heart was silent and numb, his mind was the same.

"Hey, here's the worksheets you left." A voice abruptly came as a few sheets of paper were presented in front of Caleb. He had no trouble figuring out who it was by the pale hand and the black sweater sleeve.

He looked and sure enough he saw Kenji.

Caleb had never noticed it before but Kenji's hair looked so soft and oddly fluffy despite the short hairstyle he rocked.

His mind was full of fog as he stared aimlessly at the black hair, and nonagressively this time.

Has something changed?

Caleb swiftly snapped out from his monotoned state, "How long have I been standing here?" he thought.

Regaining his senses he now looks down into Kenji's eyes, the memory from yesterday all came back and he was now suddenly aware of the bandaid on his elbow.

"I needed something to stop it from bleeding okay!?-" Caleb caught himself blurting his own thoughts out by mistake, his eyes widening as he realized it.

"What?" Kenji asked in a state of confusion but flinched back when Caleb snatched the papers from his hand.

"Tsk."

He threw a spiteful glance at the boy before turning and leaving.

"Aaand he's back to being a douchebag." Kenji thought as he watched the blonde boy storm off at the opposite direction.

Thoughts ran through Caleb's head, distracting him from his already aching body. There was no way he was going to let his guard down, ...but how could he manadge that after Kenji showed him such compassion?

"I didn't deserve that." He thought as he walked through the hallway holding his elbow with one hand. He could feel the brown bandaid underneath the layers of clothes he wore. A bit of guilt washed over his senses.

It's as if Kenji had shattered the walls that Caleb had put up. Caleb's never been treated nicely before, not even the people who chose to adopt him did.

He knew his parents only adopted him to try and mend their broken marriage, and when it didn't turn out the way they've planned it, it's like they just gave up entirely, now there's 3 people stuck in a decade of Hell.

Everytime he's put his heart into something it's never worked out, so he decided to close it off entirely since he was a kid. But something about Kenji seemed to have broken that inside of Caleb's heart.

A bomb had been planted inside the blonde boy and it had detonated, and for once it was getting hard for Caleb to feel resentment towards Kenji.

The person who's reminded Caleb just how badly he's failing at in school.

Someone Caleb's always wanted to be.

"Shit."