Desolate Love

Chapter 2: Alone

Vaughn POV

The months went by quickly after they had told me they were dating. It started off with us hanging out all the time like usual, but as more time went by, more reasons popped up until we barely even hung out in school anymore. I was just about to ask them if they wanted to hang out this weekend, like I ask every week, but stopped in my tracks as I heard Toby shout;

"Just tell him we don't want to hang out with him anymore! I'm done making up bullshit excuses every week!"

I froze. They didn't want to hang out with me?

"We can't do that to him, he's too fragile for that! He'll go off crying and I'll feel bad." Al seemed to try to reason with Toby but he wasn't having any of it.

"You don't even like him! God, I don't even like him! Why would we feel bad about the useless fucker? Just tell him we don't want to be friends anymore and that's the end of it." Toby yelled, each word feeling like a dagger going through my chest until I struggled to breathe, but he didn't seem to be done just yet. "Plus, we wouldn't have to hear his squeaky voice every day."

I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to hear anything else they had to say. My only friends didn't like me, and that hurt like a bitch.

I quickly rounded the corner and sprinted to the bathroom. Alec is right, I am too fragile for it, the tears streaming down my face just proving his point even more.

***

I started to avoid them after that day. Apparently, Al and Toby were some forms of protection for me because as soon as they were gone, the bullying began.

It only started off with small remarks under people's breath about me being gay, and people were never the biggest fan of that. However, the small remarks soon became loud remarks, then they became small pushes until they kept progressing into the now almost daily kicks and punches that were thrown in my direction. However, what hurt worse than the punches were the words that they said while beating me.

"You fucking faggot!" Nick, a popular guy in the year above, yelled as he sent a punch towards my stomach, "Kill yourself already. Your childhood friends don't even like you anymore!"

Yeah, I was constantly reminded of that. but I couldn't be mad. How could I if everything they were saying was correct?

Toby and Al never even stood up for me when they saw everything going on, all they did was walk by, occasionally having a guilty look in their eye. I would rather them beat me than just walk by. Then I would know that I was at least worth a small fraction of their time still.