I was the one who asked Mr. Lange if Charlie could change seat. After what happened, I wanted him to be safe and, for some reason, I felt like Charlie was going to be safer next to me. I was the only one who knew what was going on between Charlie and Ben, or who at least saw what happened.
Charlie looked so tired when he entered the room. People who didn't know what happened to him didn't notice the bruise on his face, but I did. Fuck, I didn't know what to do, like at all. I didn't sleep much myself after what I had witnessed. I just felt so useless and unhelpful and selfish even if I knew it wasn't my fault but part of me was hating myself for standing there like a dick, looking at Charlie getting hurt by who I thought was my friend. I was just so angry at myself for not stopping Ben before it was too late. The only thing I could do now is talk to someone. But who?
During my few hours of sleep, I came up with a plan. First, I was going to try to get closer to Charlie. Second, I would ask him if he would like to hangout sometime and hope for him to invite me to his house so that, if things would go bad, his family would be there for him. Finally, I would pray for him to open up to me.
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We barely talked during class but I could see him looking at Ben once it a while. I could see his leg bounce and his hands shake a little.
N - Hey. Are you okay?
C - Yeah, I'm good! How are you?, he said with a smile.
N - I'm good, thanks.
C - ...
N - ...
N - Hey listen I know we barely know each other but you look like a really nice person and I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with me.
C - Oh, um, ya sure! I just have to warn my friends though.
N - Cool. Great. Amazing. I'll see you at lunch then!
C - We still have 30 minutes of class though...
N - Oh yeah, true.
He let out a little laugh and so did I. Seeing him laugh and smile was not something I was used to. But for some reason it made me a little happy inside my chest.
As planned, we ate lunch together and talked about A LOT of things. We talked about school, our families, our friends, our childhoods, and a whole bunch of other stuff. For the first time I felt good talking to someone from school. When I would be with Harry, all he did was stupid things like run around and shout out some meaningless names to people. For once, I felt listened and heard. I quickly realized that Charlie is a great listener. I could really feel that he wanted to be there, with me.
Shortly after the bell rang, Charlie received a message on his phone.
Ben Hope - You better come to the music room NOW. We haven't talked since yesterday.
That feeling of panic and fear came back and I could see that Charlie felt the same way. What if Ben was going to do the same thing? I had to stop him this time. So I followed Charlie to the music room... again...
