I Don't Want To Be Your Secret (Josh McClorey & Pete O'Hanlon/The Strypes)

Chapter 10

Estelle's P.O.V.

I was sitting next to the hospital bed Amy was laying on, holding her hand. Her mum was getting something to drink and Josh was waiting outside.

"Amy, don't leave me." I mumbled to her, even though I knew she wouldn't reply. "You're everything to me."

Amy's mum came back and asked me if she could be alone with Amy for a while. I nodded and gave Amy a kiss on her cheek before I left.

"Hey." Josh said as soon as I got out of the room.

"Hi." I mumbled a little. "Thanks for calling me to tell about her. Or else I wouldn't have found her."

"No problem." He replied. "Want a ride home?"

I shook my head. "No thanks, I kinda want to be alone right now."

"Alright, see you in school." He said, scratching the back of his head.

I gave him a quick nod and walked off, heading home.

I really didn't feel like going to school tomorrow, I knew they had to tell the class where Amy was and I knew I didn't want to think about it. But school was a good distraction for me, so I'd probably just go.
The fact that Josh somehow got my number and called me about Amy didn't change my opinion about him though. Once a bully, always a bully.

The next morning I walked to school alone, waited alone for the first class to begin and sat down at my desk alone.

I was nothing without my best friend.
I saw the four lads passing by on their way to their seats. Josh didn't look at me and neither did Pete.

Mr. Simpson stood in front of the class and cleared his throat. "I have an announcement to make. Your classmate Amy is in the hospital and we do not know when she will be coming back. On behalf of the class, I will send a card with our support."

Hayley, Rebecca, Charlotte and Jane looked at me and started asking me stuff.

"What happened?! Do you know?!" Rebecca asked without any decency.

I shrugged, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Come on, you can tell us." Charlotte said.

I got up, grabbed my things and said: "No, I don't want to talk about it."

I rushed out of the classroom, not being stopped by Mr. Simpson, and walked to my locker. I opened it, grabbed some books and slammed it.

Seeing Amy in the hospital made me think back about my own hospitalization. Everything that had happened went through my mind again, everything I did, wanted to do, planned on doing. I couldn't think of anything else.

As soon as I got home I saw a note from my mum, saying that there was an emergency at work and that she wouldn't be home soon. I sighed and hoped that she wasn't pushing herself too much.

About an hour later, I heard the doorbell ring. I got up, my eyes were heavy from crying and I had a headache. I walked up to the door in my jogging pants and a tshirt.

"Hi." Pete said quietly. He was holding a bunch of flowers, lavender, and handed it to me.
"I'm sorry." He said. "For last Saturday. And for what happened to Amy. For bullying you and her. For everything."

I took the flowers from him and his gaze flashed to my cuts. I quickly put my arm behind my back and sighed. "Thank you."

"When did you do it?" He carefully asked.

"After you left." I answered. I felt my eyes water and I wanted to cry, but not in front of him.

His fingertips quickly brushed the skin of my other arm a little as he tried to comfort me without too much affection.

"Do you want to come inside?" I mumbled as he weakly hold onto my hand.

"Only if you're fine with that." I replied as he let go.

I nodded and stepped aside so he could come in. I made some tea for the both of us. Pete walked into the kitchen and grabbed two mugs from the cabinet.

"Let me." He said as took the teabags from me and flashed me a tiny smile.
I waited for Pete to be ready before walking to the living room.

"Do you wanna talk?" He asked.

I shook my head and started crying. Pete pulled me into a hug and I buried my face into his shirt. He mumbled some soothing words to me as he hold on to me tight.

The rest of the day he stayed and played video games with me, told me some things about him and calmed me down.

"Wait, weren't you supposed to be in school the whole day?" I suddenly said when I saw it was almost time for dinner.

He shrugged and gave me a smirk, "I skipped the last few classes for you."

"I'm flattered." I snorted.

"Hey I don't do that for just any girl!" He said, fake-hurt.

I leaned closer to him and pecked his cheek, "Thank you."

As I backed off, I felt my cheeks getting red. I knew where this was going, I was falling for him.
But I still wasn't sure if this Pete was the real Pete or not.

"Are you going to school tomorrow?" Pete asked, clearing his throat.

"No." I replied. "Amy's mum has to go to work, so I want to stay with Amy until she gets back."

"You need her, right?" He carefully asked.

I felt him taking my hand in his and I nodded. "I don't want to live without her in my life."

"Is it okay if I came by your place after  you get back from the hospital?"

"Sure." I mumbled. "But I don't want people to know what's going on. With Amy, with me, and also with you."

Pete nodded, "No problem." He then searched his backpack and handed me a piece of paper.
It was the note he had written me and put in my locker.

"Why are you giving me this again?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I still mean it," he replied.