Wrapped

Chapter 51

-Zack

  "He ‐ Hey," Nick cries in my and Pierce's arms. "I can't believe you ‐ you guys are here!"

        "I know," I smile and hug him even closer to me that I might even suffocate him. 

        Pierce and I have been driving since six in the morning, and we just got here. Of course we're tired, but at least we're here now and that's all that matters. 

        "How long are you guys staying here?" Nick asks with the biggest grin I could ever imagine. 

        "We're living here, now," Pierce says lowly and fixes his hair once we broke away from our group hug.

        Nick squeals and jumps up and down hugging us again. I just realized that it's the beginning of the day for Nick at the school, awkward isn't it? Other students could be staring at us three wondering what on Earth is going on.  But, all that matters is that Nick is actually happy, as well as Pierce and I are. We're all happy together, in the middle of a hallway.

        "Nick?" Two boys come up behind Nick holding a binder. 

 "I thought we were going to walk you to class," the brown haired boy says. 

        I give them a look and peel myself off of Nick and force him behind me. "Are you two the friends that hurt Nick?" I demand. I didn't even plan on saying that to them. It all just came out instinctively. 

        "I wouldn't say hurt him," The blond one says and leans against the other. "We are simply his friends ‐ "

        "Are you?" I ask with sternness leaking into my tone of voice. "Or are you just saying that so you don't lose your reputation?"

        "We don't know what you're talking about," the two says at the same time. I swear, just hearing them talk is going to make me lose my mind. 

        Their eyes showed great fear, and determination as to make me leave them alone. But, I can't help knowing that those two must have been the owns that hurt Nick and I won't let them go for that. 

        I sigh calmly and looks them in the eyes, "I would appreciate it if you weren't Nick's friends, okay? I am not fond of you two already, and I wouldn't like to see or hear that you hurt Nick again, got it?"

        They huff, shove the binder to me and stalk off. It seemed to be quieter now, and a little more awkward.

        When I turned back to face Nick, he had a confused expression. "Why did you do that?" He asked almost silently, his eyes were still red from crying and his hair seemed messy. "They apologized to me earlier, they want to make it up to me ‐ "

        "No, Nick," I interrupt him, "They don't want to make it up to you, they just want you to trust them again, then they will end up hurting you again," I stare at him, almost frowning, "I don't want that to happen to you again, Nick,"

        The hallway starts to clear out, a few kids still hung around by their lockers, the bell had already rung, and Pierce, Nick, and I still stood in the middle, just staring at one another.

        Before I could apologize for my rude behavior, Nick quickly walked up to me and gave me a large hug.

        "Thank you," he whispered and took a small breath.

        We stayed in the position for what seemed to be forever, but was actually a few minutes.

        "Ahem," Pierce cleared his throat and stepped towards Nick and I, "Sorry to break up the reunion, but we can't stay in this hallway all day,"