The Space Between Us

Chapter 1

Dan lay on his bed, the light blue sheets making his skin itch slightly, for they haven't been washed for a week or longer. Dan heaved himself up, his hair looking messy and unkempt.

"Another day of hell." He muttered to himself. You see, Dan wasn't exactly popular with everyone in school. If fact, he doesn't have a single friend in school to begin with. But, it didn't really help that he had just came to his new school from London. Him and his parent moved to Australia 2 years ago, last year he had been home schooled because of his parents fear of him being bullied like back in London. But, that year Dan's father had died in a car crash so his mother didn't have time to be his teacher and his mom while still holding down a 2 jobs. So, Dan was forced to go to public school. Prairiewood high school was the best school he could get into with his moms low budget. With a sigh, Dan picked up his Black and blue backpack and headed out the door. Before he could leave to catch the bus, he was startled by a gentle hand touching his shoulder.

"Sweetie, you need to comb your hair before you go. You didn't get to go to your first day of school because of.. Anyways, you need to make a good first impression." Dan's mom said gently.

" Can't you just say that we were at Dads funeral? It's not like being silent about it is gonna make it change. And besides Mum, there's no coming back from missing the first day of school in as a new student." Dan retorted, not meaning to snap at his mother. Now that he looked closely, he could clearly see that that bags under her eyes had gotten worse. Her eyes looked dull with exhaustion.

"Sorry mum. I love you, I'm just.. I don't know. I'll- I'll see you after school." Dan's mom nodding in understanding and let him go. Dan waved with a fake smile to his mom at the end of the drive way. Once she closed the door, Dan frigging booked it to the bus stop. He ended up chasing the bus for about a mile in the Australian heat. Once he caught up to the wretched thing and the doors opened, he quickly and quietly walked to the back of the bus and read his book.

~~~~

Phil pushed his way through the crowds of geeks and weirdos before finally meeting his group of friends. Most of them wore his kind of attire. All black with neon coloured hair. People on Tumblr would call them emo. But, to Phil, this was just his normal. Him and his group were talking, not about anything very interesting just about last nights homework or what they did over the summer. Phil made a joke about someone's mum and the person punched his arm playfully, causing Phil to drop his phone by mistake. He jokingly stuck his middle finger up and bent down to pick up his phone. Something bumped him quit hard, causing him to fall over sideways. Phil was prepared to curse out whatever, or whoever caused him to fall over. He fixed his hair back into a side bang and looked at his next victim of torment.

"What the fuck, mate?! The hell are you doing?!" Phil raised his voice, brushing himself off. The other boy looked small compared to Phil's obvious height advantage.

"Oh.. S-sorry I didn't mean to I'm sorry.." The shorter man stammered, his face flushed a light pink. Phil could tell he was about to cry, but, that was a normal reaction when people met him.

"Ya, whatever nerd. Keep away from me or I'll get you after school." Phil said, turning his back and not bothering to help the shorter pick up his books. A single tear fell down the shorters' cheek as he stumbled to pick up his books. The bell rang and Phil and his group walked past and over the brown haired boy on the ground ,sighing as he dropped his books once more.

~~~~

Dan sat down at the wooden desk, multiple lewd carvings  permanently embedded into the once beautiful wood. Dan whipped his eyes. Making sure not to draw any attention to himself, he quietly drew out his book It Looks Like This and began reading from where he last left off. Most other people would be joking around before the teacher walked into the classroom, but not Dan. He didn't have any friends. His only friends was his cat named Leo, his light tan and white fur seemed to calm Dan whenever he needed it. The teacher brought Dan out of his thoughts when she began to address the class for the day's assignment.

"Today, and for the rest of the school year you will each be assigned with Juniors or Seniors to help you with your assignments. Including Semester finals." She called out, signaling for the Juniors and Seniors to come out from the hallway and into the, now crowded, classroom. She started listing off last names in alphabetical order.

"Garçia and Krisp, you'll be partners. And Howell and Lester. You'll be partners." Dan looked around hoping to be partnered with somebody who was smart, maybe a little outgoing, unlike himself. When he spotted the Junior with the name tag that said 'Phil Lester', Dan gasped, unable to comprehend what was going on. He didn't notice his breathing becoming more rapid and short, while the older man looked at with a mixture of an evil smirk and a devious frown, until the teacher stopped talking and looked at Dan.

"Daniel, are okay? Do you need to go to the office?" She questioned obviously annoyed with his slight interruption.

"No Miss. I'm s-sorry Miss.." Dan replied, stuttering nervously as the class, plus the Seniors and Juniors, looked at him while she continued addressing Freshmen to the upper class men.

"Alright. Raise your hand if you have not been assigned. Good. Everyone may find their partners and get to work. You will each be assigned a small project after this so you can get used to working with each other. Now, since I'm also the art teacher for Freshmen, this new assignment will be art related." She took a pause to make sure everyone was listening.

"Each of you and your partners will need you use at least 5 different mediums onto an art piece with shading and some sort of perspective. You will have until the end of the month. Now, find your partners and begin discussion." She finished her speech and began answering students questions while they walked up to her. Dan saw Phil walking up to him, obviously upset as he glanced back at the teacher. Her ice-cold glare was enough to keep him walking. Dan wanted anything but to be stuck in this class room, stuck between the desire to run the door and cry. His breathing became quick again as if he was trapped underwater. He couldn't get a single breath in, yet at the same he was breathing so hard he felt as though he would pass out. He quietly rested his head in folded arms on top of the wooden desk and tried to regain control of his breathing.

"Hey. Wake up dork we've got to start talking or Ms. Asshat will give us detention." Dan was interrupted by the deep voice of, what he assumed, was his partner. He carefully unfolded his arms and looked uncertainly into Phil's eyes. While tears still burned at the back of his eyes, Dan spoke.

"Sorry.. Let's get started then.." Dan bent over to take out his art binder to start sketching ideas.

~~~~

Phil looked down at the smaller boy while he suppressed a feeling that was not known to him.  It felt like pit of heat in his face and stomach. The feeling made him angry but also made him feel like he was on cloud 9. He'd never experienced anything like this before. And it made him angry not knowing how to make it go away. Anything else, Sadness, Anxiety, fear. Hell, even anger he knew how to suppress. But this was a whole new thing entirely.

"So what do you think we should do?" The boy asked, he sounded exhausted and defeated. Phil was slightly taken aback by his voice.

"Oh um.. What about a rose or something? It symbolizes love, and it can also symbolize death." Phil suggested something completely out of the blue.

"Love.." He heard the younger murmur. Phil grew slightly confused but let it go, trying maintain his usual don't-care attitude.

"Whatever. Let exchange numbers and we can come to my place to work on it. No idea why they would start the second day of school on a Friday but they did so we have the weekend. We have 'till November 1st and it's the 16th so we should have plenty of time to do this." Phil said, writing down his phone number, plus his parents, on a sticky note. He handed it to the younger and hopped off the desk he was sitting on.

"Oh ya, never caught your name, dork." Phil called behind his shoulder. He heard the younger mumble 'Dan' and Phil turned away. The knot in his stomach returned and pushed it away.

(A/N: Wow! 1574 words! I really hope you guys like this. I've never done a Phan fiction to so I hope I'm accurate enough! I I get anything wrong PLEASE tell me I'm the comments so I can change it! Alright, I hope you love, love, loved it! If you did feel free to slap the vote button and leave a comment! Thank you my little ghosties. 
Wilde out 🐾~)