may shatter on impact (tronnor)

9. Rattling Buses & Comforting Conversations

The bus creaks and groans it's way to the school, dropping off the eighty or so kids who didn't live in the school in front of the building. Kids from the dorms flood through the fields, half asleep and chatting and shivering and their fists clenched tightly around steamy cups of hot chocolate and coffee. The grass wet, darkening my converse and sticking my socks to my feet. Tyde walks on the sidewalk next to two of the students he had met, Ben and Alexis. They're nice enough, but Ben seems to be giving me a weird looks.

The whole school knows what happened in math class yesterday.

Everyone.

Everyone knows that there's something wrong with the new kid, Connor's going to hate me, and Zoe, and Dan, and Phil, and oh God everyone.

"Tyde," I manage tugging at my younger brother's sleeve.

"Mm?"

"I - I can't do t-this, t-they're...they're a-all staring at me - "

"Tro, there's nothing wrong with you and no one is staring. Don't worry; it's going to be fine. Just get to homeroom and find your friends, yeah?"

"Tyde - "

Someone taps my shoulder and I spin around, stumbling backwards.

Dan throws his hands up as an apology. "Sorry! I swear I didn't mean to scare you, Troye."

I relax a little, starting to walk again, Dan beside me this time, Tyde back to a conversation with Ben and Alexis. "H-hi."

He smiles. "Hi. Are you alright? I - uh, heard about what happened yesterday..."

I swallow, playing with the straps on my backpack to stop my hands from shaking. "I - it was just a...a - a thing, and it -it won't happen again, I p-promise - "

"Troye," Dan says softly, eyes calming. "We're just worried for you, we're not angry or scared or whatever else you might think we are. We just want to make sure you're okay."

"I - Yeah. O-okay. Thank...you, I t-think." I think, I don't know, I can't promise, nothing is safe, everything is going to -

"You alright?"

I just nod this time.

"Come on, let's get to homeroom then."