FreeFall

What the?

Shane's POV:

It was around 7 o'clock when I woke up. A quick glance at Damien's door told me that he was still asleep. Fine by me. I still have this bad feeling from last night when he was sitting with me. It was no problem when Noah was there too, but being alone already felt strange. I don't understand myself anymore. Maybe it's a side effect of my failed suicide attempt...

I quickly got ready and put on the clothes he had laid out for me yesterday. They were way too big, but they suited me.

Fuck! I didn't bring any school stuff and Noah didn't respond to my messages either. I left the house and walked outside with quick steps. Once outside, I plugged in my headphones, turned on my music, and took a deep breath. From one hell to the next...

Maybe I should just run away. Go far away and start over.

When I arrived at school, there were still 20 minutes until the start of class. Great, now what am I supposed to do?

Study? Definitely not, I'm not going to start that now. Yeah, education is important, but considering that just three days ago I wanted to jump off a bridge... I sighed deeply and looked around. Hardly anyone here in the courtyard.

Except for Leah. Who seemed to be charging towards me. Not in a caring way, but as if she wanted to punch me, which she actually did. I couldn't even react fast enough. My head flew to the side and my headphones came out of my ears. Ouch! That one hurt.

"What the hell?!" I shouted at her.

"That's for trying to break up me and Noah! Dirty piece of shit!" she shouted back and quickly dashed away.

My cheek throbbed. I didn't understand the world anymore. When did I try to break them up??? I turned around and left the school grounds just as Noah and Damien were coming towards me. Noah looked at me and tried to say something. But I sprinted away as fast as I could and ignored everything around me. Meanwhile, my tears were already falling...

Damien's POV:

"What the fuck?" Noah spoke faster than I could think and was about to run after him. But I grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Bro, I'll be faster with the car, besides, your parents will kill you if you skip now."

He nodded thoughtfully and I sprinted to my car. What the hell had happened? His cheek was extremely red. But I didn't see it happen, he was just too fast. I drove as fast as I could through the area, searching for him. Until I had a golden idea. I drove to the bridge way too fast and parked my car right in the middle of the road. But that shouldn't be a problem, hardly anyone passes by here. And there he was already. Out of breath, sweaty. I got out of the car and ran to him.

"Shane, what the hell happened?" I asked him when I arrived, but he just looked down at the abyss and silently let his tears flow.

"I," he whispered with a broken voice and paused, "I happened, a mistake. A 'piece of shit.'" His voice was barely audible.

Then he looked at me and I saw the handprint on his cheek, and my blood started boiling from 0 to 100 in a second.

"Who?! Who hit you? And who said that?" I almost yelled. He took two quick steps back from me. Fuck. That's exactly the opposite of what I wanted. But he remained silent, so I approached him and grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"SHANE, WHO!?"

"Don't touch me!" he shouted as if I wanted to kill him. I instantly let him go, but didn't step back, I stayed in front of him and tried to calm down.

"Tell me. Please." I tried to act as calm as possible, but I was redder than his cheek.

"Leah..." he looked at his shoes and said nothing more. I took out my phone and texted Noah, who had called me at least 20 times already. I told him what Shane had told me and that it was Leah. He just told me to take care of him and that he would sort it out with her. I put my phone away and took another step towards him before kneeling down and looking up at him.

"She hit you? And called you a piece of shit?"

He nodded hesitantly and sniffled. I took his wrist, which he clearly didn't like, and pulled him towards the car, put him in the passenger seat, and gave him tissues which he immediately used.

"Does it hurt a lot?" I asked with the calmest voice I could muster with my anger. He shook his head.

"Your punches have more force than that bitch's." I smirked, at least for a moment, until my head realized that what he said was really not good. I immediately felt guilty.

"Sorry, Shane. I didn't mean to yell at you or grab you like that. I was just worried," I confessed honestly and knelt in front of him. He slowly looked at me. I really have to say, of all the time I've known Shane, his eyes are the most beautiful of all time. But that doesn't make it better, and I never hit him in the eyes...

"Why?" he spoke softly. "Why do you guys worry about me? I'm a burden to everyone who exists."

I sighed and forced him with my hand to look at me.

"Because..." I took a deep breath, "you're not irrelevant, Shane. Not to Noah and maybe not to me either." He wasn't. That one day of shock was enough for me. Who else should I tease if not him? I was surprised and I have to admit, also a bit afraid when he left so quickly this morning. Just as the front door was closing, I wanted to talk to him, tell him he didn't have to go to school if he didn't want to.

"Damien, stop lying. First you beat me up and bully me for years, and now this? Fool someone else, just like Noah! Where is he? Hm? Not here... no one cares about me."

I'm going to kill him. Is he serious? Okay Damien, calm down, otherwise we'll just yell uncontrollably again, and that's the last thing this boy needs.

"Listen, I sprinted to the car to follow you, while Noah is at school so he doesn't get killed by your parents. And maybe also to figure out what happened. Don't listen to your head, little nerd." I smiled at him and tried not to let my raging anger towards Leah show.

I swear I don't hit women, but I'll make an exception for this conceited idiot *Bad women slur word*

"You can drive, Damien. Thanks for checking on me, but I'm fine." He's lying and you don't need any people skills to recognize that.

"Nope. Tough luck, you're stuck with me." He sighed deeply and sat down normally in the seat so I could close the door. I got in myself and just drove off, promising him that we would go somewhere else and do something cool.

[My actions have consequences, and I'm only realizing that again now]