Those Who Love | Phan

Twelve - Those Who Talk

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Talk: speak in order to give information or express ideas or feelings; converse or communicate by spoken words.
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Dan walked out of English with his three new friends feeling giggly, like he was on laughing gas. After they'd figured out what they were going to do for the project, they all just talked and told jokes and funny stories.

Phil walked next to Dan, a bright smile on his face. But Dan noticed that he held onto his bag strap tightly while his eyes darted around the corridor.
Dan understood. He was scared of his 'bullies' coming to find him.

He smiled softly to himself, they wouldn't hurt him. Not after they made the deal.

Almost like in a cliche high school movie, the gang of boys walked from around the corner and in Dan and Phil's direction. Dan quickly looked at Phil to see that his smile was gone, and he was staring obviously petrified at the gang.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked him, even though he already knew the answer. "You seem tense."

Phil gave him a small glance, "Yeah," he stuttered out. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" He could see the boys getting closer, and Phil's eyes widening with fear.

How could somebody want to hurt anybody this much?

The gang were practically right next to them now. They saw Phil, looked at each other, stopped, but then carried on walking. Phil blinked in surprise at the fact that they didn't do anything at all.

"Are you okay?" Dan repeated his question again, getting silence from Phil.

Phil hesitated, "I mean, I'm fine now, it's just..." He trailed off.

"You're just not okay all the time," Dan finished. "What did those boys do? Are they your friends? Did they hurt you or something?" Dan questioned, even though he already knew all of the answers.

Phil stopped walking, "They just like to take the mick out of me, that's all. It's nothing big, I hardly even notice."

If Dan didn't know the truth he would have believed him, but he knew. But for Phil's sake, he pretended.

"Oh I'm sorry," Dan told him, stopping to look Phil in the eye. "That must be horrible." He was glad he liked the subject drama, as he can act like he didn't know about it and hadn't done anything.

Phil shrugged, continuing to walk, "Well, it's bearable. It's not that bad." Once again, Dan knew he was lying.

"So," Dan said, planning to change the subject. "I'm looking forward to our English project. It would give me a chance to get to know you guys even better. But, I've been here two days and it feels like I've been here two years!"

"So am I," Phil replied, sticking a hand in his jean pocket. "I'd like to get to know you better, Dan." Phil admitted.

Dan's tummy flipped but he ignored it. He's only known him two days. It wasn't love, it wasn't anything.

Dan smiled, "Me too."

At least he wasn't lying then.

Phil cleared his throat, snapping Dan out of his daydream immediately, "Let's go to our next lesson."

Dan sarcastically cheered, "What fun! Everybody loves Maths!"

Phil laughed, "Let's be honest, I'm terrible at Maths. You?"

Dan nodded, "Yeah. I think everybody is bad at Maths to be honest. Like it's just a feeling everybody has with hating Maths, I have never met a person that actually enjoys going to Maths."

Well, he'd never been in a proper Maths class before. Also he's pretty good at Maths, it just comes naturally to him.

Lies. Lies. Lies. When would they stop?

"Are you in my class? Room 12?" Phil asked.

Dan opened his bag and checked his timetable, "No," he said, disappointment evident in his voice. "I'm not."

"Never mind, we're in most classes together." Phil told him. "This is my room," Phil said, stopping. "I'll see you after?"

Dan nodded, walking away, "Yeah, see you."

A sentence echoed in his head, making him smile.
"I'd like to get to know you better, Dan."

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