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"Well Lester, this is a very serious thing that's happened. Fortunately, you were not involved in the worst things so you could be let off lightly if you answer me truthfully. How much did you know about?" The head teacher looks at me with a very expectant look, serious and judgmental. Of course I don't blame him.

"I knew they were going to say something mean and that they wanted me to but I kept as quiet as I could. It hurt more than anything so I can only imagine how he feels. I didn't know that they were going to abuse him. That I wouldn't have let them go through with if I'd known. I should have known. They did it to me too." I look down in shame, unable to look him in the eye. Unable to see anything through the blur of tears covering my vision.

"To you? What did they do to you?" He looks at me concerned.

"It was a part of the plan, they were mean to me so Dan thought... thought I was telling the truth." I have to pause. I have to calm my breathing and slow my heart down. "I didn't know what they were going to do. Reece grabbed me, throwing me against the lockers, onto the floor and kicked me. A lot. The bruise on my face.. That is from his foot." I brig myself to look up at him. His mouth is turned down at the corners in a frown as he looks at me and then continues to note things down.

"Phil, you got yourself in deep didn't you? Thank you for coming to me, I will not issue any detentions to you due to the circumstances but the policy is not one I can ignore. Perhaps a couple of days suspension would suit you fine?" He looks at me and I nod with a 'yes sir' and look up at him.

"Thank you sir." I say, fiddling with my hands which become much more interesting to look at than his scrawly handwriting on the paper.

"You may come back on Friday. No pressure if you want to wait until next week though. I must insist your suspension ends Friday though so any absence will affect your attendance much more. I will have your teachers email you your work. If you would just tell me the last names of the remaining three students and then you can go. Get your books from your locker and go home. I will be in contact with your parents." He says and I nod and give him Reece, Louis and Josh's last names before leaving the room and heading to my locker.

I don't need many books but Reece walks up to me as I grab maths and put it in my bag.

"Where have you been Lester?" He asks and I swallow hard before giving him the hardest glare I can muster.

"The principals office. I've been suspended for two days. I suspect yours will be longer though." I stand up straight, I am taller than him which gives me an advantage and some confidence.

"What did you say Lester? Longer? Why would I be suspended at all? You better not have grassed. No one likes a grass." he looks up at me and I see his glare falter as I raise an eyebrow and shove him out the way before continuing to walk. He grabs my arm but the head masters voice shouts his name and he turns to me and whispers a threat in my ear before striding towards the head teacher confidently.

Leaving the school, I turn the corner to be met with a not-so-friendly face. "Rachel? Right?" I ask, trying to be as casual as I possibly could be.

"Don't speak to me like that. You're one low person. You know that right?" She gives me a cold stare, one that feels familiar like when I used to get into trouble when I was younger at home.

"Why do you care? Until the other day you had never spoken to me before. Why are you only just showing an interest in me? You know I'm gay right?" I don't quite shout but it's been a while since I've spoke to anyone like this.

"Trust me, I never had a crush on you." She laughs at me, leaning forward. " And I don't know where you think you're going, Dan won't want to see you." Her cold stare sends shivers down my spine but I stand my ground.

"Well all I have is an apology. I can't change what happened but I can at least try and change how he feels. I don't want him feeling like I did." my voice gets quieter, like a mumble.

"That's too late Phil. You weren't there when he needed you and he's going to be feeling a lot like you soon. Maybe even worse." her eyes dart to the floor after she says that and I take a step back.

"What do you mean worse?" I ask her, concerned. No one could feel as low I did. I was bullied because I was different, it only went downhill after she died.

"It's not my place to say. Do what you can but be sensitive. I said nothing. See you later Phil." She says and strides away. I'm too confused and shocked to try and stop her so I turn and run to where I think Dan lives. It's not far from the school, but in the opposite direction to my own home.

A few streets later I think I find his house which is confirmed by the muse poster in a bedroom window and 'Ponyo' on the TV screen downstairs with a small bit of brown hair poking above the sofa by the window. I walk to the door and knock. Someone approaches the door and knocks but they don't look like Dan through the blurred window.

"Hi, I heard what happened to Dan? Can I see him please?" I ask quietly, hoping Dan doesn't hear me and tell him not to let me in.

"Yeah, you a friend of his?" the boy asks, he doesn't look all that much younger than us.

"Kind of." I say very unconvincingly and he steps aside to let me in. I thank him and he points to a door on the left which leads to the living room where Dan is.

"Who is it Ronan?" Dan shouts as I walk in and I hear the front door shut. His face is literally black and blue all over and he's sat with popcorn rested next to him on the sofa with his foot up on a stool. He looks over to me and the gold flecks in his eyes have disappeared. His face falls but it isn't long before he looks up at me. I stand in silence, unable to form words in my mouth as I stare at what I caused, mouth hung open and tears forming immediately. "Go away Phil. I don't want to hear how much you cared or how much you are sorry. You hurt me deliberately and you haven't known me long enough to care that much. Maybe if you did then this wouldn't have happened; I don't want to know anyone who could do something like that anyway." His words pierce a hole in my chest ouch. 

Sometimes we say the most hurtful things to the ones we care about.

The New Guy // PhanWhere stories live. Discover now