Always Out of Reach

Did he leave me?

The constant sadness was back. I woke up feeling abandoned. The one person who I thought cared about me had ran off. They'd left like everyone else. I always thought Daniel would stay no matter what....who was I kidding?

The anxiety was back too. Daniel could always make it go away....now it was constantly there. It had a hold over me. Stopping me from doing things I really wanted to do. Hanging out with Shane, even just going to the shop took all my strength.

I trudged to school the next day, dreading having to face Daniel again. Maybe he'd just ignore me....to be honest I'd probably prefer it if he did that. That way I wouldn't have t explain what happened. I wouldn't have to tell him about the ongoing feud between my parents who, aparently, used to be in love. Sure, he knew about the depression, the anxiety, my idiot of a dad.....even James. But, he didn't know about my parents. How they fought day in, day out (whether that be about money or custody or some other stupid thing).

"Joey!" It was Shane. He ran over to me.

"Hey Shane." I didn't even bother trying to sound happy.

His face fell. "What's wrong?" I said nothing and stared at Daniel who was busy chatting and laughing with his friends. Shane followed my gaze.

"Trouble in paradise?" He said sympathetically. Shane wasn't blind, he knew me and Daniel had been spending more time together.

"Paradise?" I laughed. "It's hardly paradise.....but yes, Daniel and I had a......misunderstanding." I sighed

"Don't worry, Joey....You'll sort it out." He reassured me.

"Ye, i don't know." I didn't blame Daniel for running off.....but it still hurt.

The day was normal. Maths was boring, art was ok, English dragged on forever, Science was nothing special. Then finally it was PE. Don't get me wrong,  I hated PE....but it was last lesson so that meant I would get through the whole day without talking to Daniel.

"Joey?" A hand touched my shoulder just as I was about to go into the gym. I sighed and turned around.

"Yes." I turned around to see Daniel looking nervous behind me.

"Is it ok...if we talk?"

"About what?" I said

"You know what, Joey."

"What is there to talk about? Do you want to talk about how my family is completely messed up? How you don't want to be friends anymore? How you've decided I'm not as amazing as you made me feel yesterday?" I'm on the verge of tears.

"You are amazing,Joey. All you've been through...you're so, so strong."

"You don't have to drag this out Daniel. Just ditch me and get it over with." I said bitterly.

"I'm not just gonna ditch you Joey." He  gently lifted my head to look at him. "I really like to Joey." I blushed. "But....do you want to talk about what happened?" He added on the end.

I thought for a moment. "No." I said eventually. "Can we just forget it?"

"Okay." He said softly. "Now come on, we're already late for class." He grabbed my hand and we headed into the gym.

He didn't leave me.

Authors note:

Please let me know what you think

Thanks for reading
Erin xx