The Boy Who Cried Help

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Aiden's POV

Monday morning came and nothing interesting happened. I did my usual routine of working out, showering and then breakfast. I got to school on time and headed to my locker getting ready for homeroom. I closed my locker and walked into the classroom. I immediately spotted Scarlett and when our eyes met, I gave her a half-smile.

Class started and my mind wasn't really there. Suddenly the door opened and all eyes were focused on the person who currently held our undivided attention. To my surprise it was Paul. "Sorry I'm late," he said sounding exhausted.

He took his seat and for some reason, I couldn't push away the feeling that there was something wrong. Now I'm not a particularly perceptive person, actually, I go out of my way not to be. It's easier being invisible if you aren't trying to figure everyone else out but there is something seriously up with him. His whole demeanor was sad and uncomfortable. He even dressed more reserved, in dark clothes that make him blend into the background.

Again, I'm not one to notice let alone care about the people around me especially in high school seeing as I just want to get it done and over with to move on with my life, but it seems that even though I only shared a few sentences with the dude, there was a part of me that wondered.

The bell rang signaling class was over and as I got up to get my stuff together, I noticed that Paul was being extremely slower than the rest of us. Since we have the next class, I am going to go to my locker and then find him. Because of the fact that he's moving so slow, it won't be hard for me to catch up with him.

I went through my stuff in my locker and looked around for him until I found him slugging around presumably heading to his locker.

"Dude, are you okay?"

The bell rang and we had to get to class. We walked together in silence because he hadn't answered my question but I didn't want to push him by asking too many questions. Class was boring as usual and I honestly was more interested to know what was up with Paul. Finally, lunch came and I followed Paul as he made his way to the cafeteria.

He got his lunch and ended up near where I had been sitting the first day I came here. I finally came into view and sat down next to him taking out my lunch. We sat in silence and neither of us made a move to change it. When lunch was finally over, we got up and dumped our trash. We were walking towards the doors when a football hit me. Which turned into a domino effect hence me bumping into Paul.

The ball didn't hurt too bad so I looked over to Paul and asked "Are you okay?" But the way he was clutching his side made it seem as if I had just punched his ribs. I couldn't have bumped into him that hard. I heard a faint "Sorry," from the direction the ball came flying in. I glanced over and saw some football jock running towards us to get the ball.

He apologized half-heartedly again and then ran away. I looked over at Paul again and saw that he was still in pain. If he was still hurting after that, then me bumping into him wasn't the problem. He was clutching his stomach when he noticed that I was looking at him.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked and I didn't even have to say what about because by the look on his face he knew exactly what I was talking about.