The Emo School (A Fanfic)

Chapter 23

Max

I wake up with a start, panting and sweating.

"Max, honey, what's wrong? You've only been asleep for half an hour!" Andy asks, pushing me back down by the shoulders. "Did you have a bad dream?"

I nod, tears forming in my eyes.

"Aw, sorry to hear that, Max." Brendon says, sitting down on the other side of me.

The light above me shines right in my eyes, and I feel a throbbing pain in my head go from okay to bad. I squint and turn my head towards Andy, resting my head in his lap and allowing a tear to roll down my cheek.

"Max, hon, what's wrong?"

"I'll get Ryan." Brendon says quickly, getting up and leaving.

"Thank you." Andy says, stroking my hair softly.

Brendon comes back shortly after with Ryan, who jogs over to me and starts asking questions.

"Hey, Max, where does it hurt?" he asks softly.

"My head..." I whimper.

"Okay, well, on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your pain?"

"6..." I sob.

"Okay, let me take your temperature." he says, pulling out a thermometer and scanning the probe. "Your fever has gone up significantly, Max, I'll go get you some pills you can take that should help with the pain and the fever. I'll be sure to let Patrick know he needs to check on you when he comes back."

I continue to cry. This environment isn't all that comforting, either. The only thing that comforts me is the warmth of Andy's body and every soothing touch from him. Plus there's Brendon, holding my hand and squeezing it tightly.

Ryan comes back with a medicine cup with a few pills in it and a glass of water.

"Here, take these. They should help and they should activate quickly." he says, handing me both.

I gratefully throw back the pills and gulp down water to wash the vile-tasting capsules down.

"Thank you." I whisper, already feeling better.

"Anytime." Ryan says. "If if happens again, though, we may need to run some tests and scans to figure out what might possibly be wrong with you. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Feeling better, Maxie?" Andy asks.

"Lots, thanks." I reply.

"I'm glad, that was a little scary."

I look up at him, taking in every detail of his face. His icy blue eyes, his black hair, swept off to one side, his pale skin, and his cheekbones... oh, his perfectly chiseled cheekbones. I wish I had such a defined face like he does.

The things I love even more about him, aside from his face, are his deep voice... it's so comforting when I'm scared, or sad, or in pain... the fact that he's so tall, easily over six feet. Big enough that he can wrap himself around me and protect me if he feels I need protecting. And then there's the fact that he's extremely muscular. I know that if anyone so much as laid a finger on me, he'd be after them in a heartbeat. He's always so warm... if I'm cold, he'll give me a jacket pre-heated by his very own body. Or he'll just wrap himself around me, trying to cover as much of me as possible with his own body. And there's his beautiful smile, his long, straight, pristine white teeth. His huge hands, which he can wrap around my tiny ones.

But the things I love most about Andy Biersack are the way he treats me, the way he always makes up some excuse to see me. If he has an opportunity to talk to me, he'll take it in a heartbeat. He's always such a gentleman, too.

I love this man with all my heart. But what do I do about it?

"Max? You alright?"

No, I can't let him figure out about my feelings toward him!

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I'm okay." I reply, slightly startled.

"You just kinda zoned out." he says, concerned.

"I do that, I'll be okay, I promise."

"Okay, well, you've been kinda distant lately, like there's something that's been bothering you but you're scared to say. If there's something you wanna talk about, just let me know." he says. From the way he sounds, he doesn't sound like he totally believes me.

He's catching on.

No, no, no, no, no, please let this be a nightmare, he can't find out, or at least not yet!