Somebody like you (boyxboy)

23. Wherever You Will Go

Charlie

I walked over to Trevor's bed, and looked at the boy. He looked much younger when he slept, peaceful. It was a shame I needed to wake him.

"Come on, get up. It's Monday and I'm not facing it alone!" I said cheerfully. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. I'd already been up for hours. I needed to make sure everything was ready for later. It already was, but I was still nervous. It was now or never.

"Why are you so cheery?" I glanced at my cup. I'd had three cups of coffee already.

"No idea. Come on or we won't have time to eat!" I threw him some clothing and packed his bag.

"Alright, alright, mum! Calm down a bit, I can do this myself, don't worry."

"It is a good day today. Look, the weather is marvellous!" I put my arm around his shoulders as we walked towards the dining hall and grinned.

"It did you some good to finally talk, did it?" Trevor said carefully.

"Oh yes, I feel so much lighter now," I said and tried not to sound too mocking. I don't know what had come over me, but now Trevor knew everything, and I didn't know what I felt about that. It didn't make much of a difference, was my conclusion so far.

"Which classes do we have together today?" Trevor asked as we sat down.

"History and English," I replied and started to dig in.

"Wait - are you actually eating?"

"I'm hungry. I've been kind of under fed lately. Stop looking at me like that!" I grinned at him and became warm all over as our eyes met across the table.

"Why haven't we talked about what we're doing for break?"

"Because we haven't been talking these last two weeks. You're going to your father's, right?"

"Are you going to your mother?"

"I don't have much choice."

"I thought Raymond was going home too." I sighed.

"Haven't talked to him. I'll have to find somewhere else to stay. But on such short notice... no I'll find somewhere." The first bell rang and we sprang up, then hurried to different parts of the school.

***

Trevor

"He is happy. It scares me. What is going on?" I looked up at Raymond, still annoyed that I had to bend my head backwards to be able to do so.

"He's happy?! What do you mean, happy? He wasn't happy when I talked to him last night." I had sworn I wasn't going to talk on Charlie, but his good humour was making me suspicious.

"He is bouncing around like a bunny; I wouldn't be surprised if he gives people Easter eggs!"

"Damn it. What happened last night? What did you talk about, what did he say to you, or you to him?"

"Nothing special," I lied quickly.

"This is not good. This really isn't good. Keep an eye on him, will you? I'll tell Matthew to do the same."

"What's going on, Raymond? Why are you so worried about him? Please tell me, so I can help - at least a bit."

"I don't think he wants you to help at all. I think he wants you to stay as far away as you can."

"What, why?"

"Because he cares about you and wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"What are you talking about?" The second bell rang and we went into class, sitting down on opposite sides of the room.

I couldn't for the life of me understand what Raymond was talking about, but he always talked like that, never actually saying anything. But it was even harder to wrap my head around Charlie's behaviour. He would never act happy, not like he had this morning. Doesn't mean he would never be happy, but if he was he definitely wouldn't show it. I groaned in frustration at the brothers.

Football tonight, I told myself, football will help you get your mind off that annoying brat.

***

I walked with Charlie from history to English, and he wrung his hands the entire way, though never lost the goofy grin on his face.

"Trevor?"

"Hm?"

"You know you're my best friend, right?"

"Considering the competition, I'm your best friend, your worst friend, your weirdest friend, your dumbest -"

"Yes, but you know you're my best friend?" I chuckled.

"Yes, don't worry." I put my arm around his shoulders, and got an ugly look from Amanda's older brother as we walked past him. "And to be honest, you're my best friend too," I admitted. Charlie stumbled and looked at me with big eyes.

"Seriously?"

"I've never been close friends with anyone before. Many friends, yes. Close friends, no." His grin widened and we reached the classroom. I let go and we went in to sit down beside each other.

***

It was freezing. I was in tights, shorts, two sweaters and a t-shirt, scarf and gloves, two pairs of socks, and I was still shaking with cold. Bloody hell.

"Come on ladies, can't you take a little cold? Laps now, we're here to play football, not huddle together like penguins!"

"We're freezing our balls off here, Matt!" Daniella, one of three girls on the team, called. Everyone managed a forced laugh.

"In that case I'm very impressed. Come on!" He led the way and started the round of some excruciating rounds around the field.

A while later he stopped up, telling us to keep going, and sent a text. Not long after, I saw Raymond's tall figure run over the grounds up by the school, towards the forest. Matt came over to me.

"Trevor," he pulled me away by the elbow. "You might want to go to the forest, right now. Raymond told me not to tell you, but I don't care. Raymond's already on his way. Charlie passed ten minutes ago, and I'm worried something bad will happen."

"Why are you telling me?"

"You don't want to go? I know Raymond has been very worried, and I think it's because Charlie is about to do something stupid. If he is your friend, then you go after them. Find Raymond, he'll probably know what to do." I nodded gratefully, and left in a sprint.

It didn't take long before I reached Raymond, who was in between the trees, looking ready to pull down every last one of them in order to find his brother.

"Hey," I said and stopped to catch my breath.

"Trevor! What are you doing here? No, forget that! Where is my brother?! I can't find him anywhere!" He ran his hands through his hair and pulled in frustration.

"Calm down, we're two now, we'll find him. Just don't go too far away, we need to be able to see each other." We were about to run off when another voice interrupted us.

"Raymond, is that you?" Raymond stopped in his tracks like he'd been frozen in place.

"Dad! What are you doing here, I thought you said you were going to stay away!" It was my turn to freeze. Dad?! Alarms went off in my head. Dad - no it couldn't be, because their dad had been killed years ago.

I turned and took in the sight of the man, shorter than Raymond, looking sick and haggard.

Oh god. Somebody had held this from Charlie all along, and Raymond had known.

***

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