Better Sorry than Safe

26.

Mild violence warning for this chapter again. There's some blood involved this time, but nothing too shocking. Don't want to read it? Stop at the part with the ** and feel free to PM me if you'd like a clean summary of what happened. :) 

Sem's phone buzzed on his nightstand, and he immediately made a dive for it. Was it Connor finally talking to him? A frustrated growl escaped his lips when Nick's name appeared on the cracked screen instead.

Nick: I gave the coach a new drill to test and he agreed, aka prepare to die [Sent: 15:03]

Letting out a sigh, Sem replied a thumbs up emoticon and put his phone back on the nightstand. It was a miracle the thing worked after its unfortunate meeting with the pavement last week, in front of Connor's building.

His body felt heavy, thinking about the reason for that cracked screen. Not one word from Connor all week. Their old conversations, which he re-read every night rather than sleep, were the only proof left they were really together. That he hadn't imagined it.

Moving to the pile of sport shirts, Sem snatched a random one and tossed it into his open bag, on top of his football shoes. It was weird how easy it'd been to blend back in at school though. With friends and everything. Without Connor, everything almost seemed back to the old days.

It turned out Nick, Matthew, Ethan, the rest of the football team, and school honestly didn't know. Well, mostly didn't know. Sem wasn't sure which was more exasperating; the smug, knowing looks Sophie and Leanne shot him every now and then, or Emma's apologetic glances. Thank God Shannon wasn't in his class. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to hold himself back if she was parading around too. Then there was Blake. Blake didn't try to approach him in school, but he did sense the guy's lined eyes on him sometimes, as if he was asking him when he was going to spit it out.

But surely enough, on the surface it was like nothing had changed. For the guys at school, nothing had actually changed. The girls acting disdainful or distant towards him was easily blamed on him bashing Emma, and Shannon putting them all up against him. And Sem botching things up with his parents was a common occurrence. With or without Shannon's help.

Whatever, mom was at work. He wasn't going to listen to her stupid grounded rule. He'd just had to clean up or hide the dirty clothes so she wouldn't notice he'd went anyway. Nick would have his head if he abandoned the football team, and fights at home had never stopped him before.

Besides, he had an even better reason to go.

Everyone would be there. He could get all of them at once. One big ripping off the bandaid, one big un-closeting. Each morning he'd been telling himself 'maybe today.' Each day he let every chance pass, couldn't work up the guts. It was so much easier to sidestep the entire issue and settle for some discomfort, as long as the girls kept their mouth shut.

Sem picked up his phone, clasping it. Maybe today, after practice.

Whether he would or wouldn't, a quick glance at the clock told him it was time to go. Sem swung his bag over his shoulder, and opened his bedroom door. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Daniel's door across the hall was open. His brother briefly glanced at him from his desk chair.

Great, why was his door even open? There went his whole inconspicuous plan; momma's boy was definitely going to tell on him. Sem glared at his brother but then started walking again, stomping down the stairs.

There were quick footsteps behind him, and Sem ground his teeth, realising Daniel was following him.

"Wait, aren't you grounded? Where are you going?"