Down In The Forest

Chapter 7

Tyler's P.O.V

My body tenses slightly as Josh rests on my right side, mainly because-once again-I have never been in this situation before, so I was clueless on how to respond. There's an awkward silence for a moment, which makes me even more tense.
"We have music later," Josh says, breaking the silence. I relax a little. 
"What did I miss from last time?"
"Eh, not much. Although I must warn you the teacher is horrible."
"Oh, brilliant." Hopefully they don't ruin my love of music. "Who is it?"
"Mr Harlow." His face drops into a frown after saying this.
"What is it?"
"Oh yeah..." He rubs the back of his neck uneasily, "Jason's in our class as well."
Oh God, literally the LAST thing I needed.
"Seriously?" I whine. 
"I'm afraid so...you don't sit near him though."
"I'm sure he'll find a way to beat the hell out of me." 
"Oh, he will." It says.
"Not helping," I say under my breath.
"What?" Josh asks, he looks confused.
"Oh uh..." I really need to stop talking back to it Infront of other people. I can't help it though. I shake my head, "Nothing, it's nothing."
"Uh huh," he says, looking at me suspiciously. 
"Really," I turn away from him and go back to staring out the window. "It's nothing."

Josh's P.O.V

We put our bags in our lockers and have lunch, just the two of us because the others have disappeared, God knows where. 
"What the heck is this?" Tyler asks, motioning at the...food? I laugh.
"Honestly, I have no idea. It looks like they literally just got it straight out of a dog food can." It really does. I cautiously put the 'good' in my mouth. Big mistake. I gag and cough at the taste.
"I swear this is poisoned."
"Might be," He eats some himself, and his reaction is virtually identical. 
"Is it like this everyday? Please tell me it's not like this everyday." 
"I would, but I'd be lying." I tell him. He's talking more. He hardly spoke at all on the first day.
"Oh God, I'm gonna lose so much weight, which is the last thing I need. Any thinner and I could be mistaken for anorexic." He wraps his finger around his wrist. He is thin, but it's the kind of thin everyone envies. 
"I'm sorry, but I can't eat anymore if this...whatever the hell it is," I complain, waving my hands around. I hadn't eating very much at all, but then again that wasn't unusual. Besides, a few mouthfulls was enough to make you full anyway.
"Thank god you said that I thought I was going to have to finish." 
"Don't worry, I can't even remember the last time I finished a school lunch."
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After lunch we make our way to the next lesson. He always walks either behind or Infront of me, which I can't understand.
"What is it with you not walking next to people? I'm not gonna attack you you know?" It came out a little harsher than I expected.
"No I know, I just don't feel comfortable walking next to people. Normally I walk  further away from people than I am with you so..."
"So?" 
"So I guess I'm more comfortable around you than with most people," he seems a bit embarrassed as he says this as his face goes a bit red. I feel a sense of accomplishment, and to be honest I'm probably more comfortable around him than anyone else as well. 

Tyler's P.O.V

As we walk closer towards the music block I begin to get nervous; I get stressed out super easily. My arms begin to tremble ever so slightly and Josh notices.
"Are you Ok Tyler?" I shook my head. 
"It's Jason isn't it? You need to forget about him. We'll just ignore him, you can do it," He reassures me.  
"I'll try."
"You'll fail."
"Go away," I say quietly.
"Ok, you really need to tell me what's going on with you talking to yourself. If it's no reason it's just weird," Josh asks, looking very confused indeed. There was a reason...I think it counts as a reason anyway.
"You don't tell him Tyler, no matter what, you don't tell him."
"I can't tell you, not yet."
"Not yet hey?" He asks looking intrigued.
"Never," I add. I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to tell him.
"Nah, I'm sure you'll give in eventually," he jokes, "but I'm not gonna force you to tell me."
As we walk around the corner, I can see Jason. He has more people in his clique this time, stronger people. He is holding a sharp pair of scissors and when he notices me he holds them up and cuts the air threateningly. I immediately start to panic and begin hyperventilating:
"Tyler?"
"Excuse me for a moment," I say as a sprint to the toilets.
"Wait!" Josh shouts as he follows me. He's a fast runner so by the time I get there he has already caught up.
"I'd rather you didn't go in," I say.
"That's fine, I'll just wait here."
I enter and lock myself in one of the cubicles. I sit down and hunch over with my head in my hands. I am still hyperventilating so I try to calm myself down so I did some breathing exercises because it my heart went any faster, it could probably be considered a heart attack.
breath in...5...4...3...2...1...breath out...5...4...3...2...1.
After a couple of minutes of this. I'm feeling a bit better, and I know that unfortunately I couldn't stay in the bathroom forever. So I unlock the door and leave.
"What happened? Is everything Ok?" He asks, worried.
"Yeah, just panic attacks, anxiety, you know." Did I just tell him I have anxiety? Well it was kind of vague so hopefully he doesn't notice.
"Do they happen often? The panic attacks I mean."
"Not that often," I said stressing the 'that'. "but they're easily triggered." 
"Oh right. Do you wanna walk around a bit until class starts? You know so we don't have to see HIM?" He suggests.
"Yes please."

Josh's P.O.V

We walk around for a few minutes. I can see from his face and body language he's dreading going back. There was maybe a minute left before lessons so we start to walk back. He's looking tense again, I place my hand on his shoulder reassuringly. 
"Calm down Tyler. There's nothing to worry about. Besides, I think you may be on the same table as me."
"I'm more likely to be sat next to Jason with my luck." 
"Come on, I'm pretty sure you are on the same table as me."
He relaxes a bit. We line up, Jason begins to walk over but that doesn't matter because the teacher is coming as well.
"Jason, get in line!" Me Harlow yells. I always found it funny how weak Jason was when it came to teachers telling him off. I'm guessing Tyler does too as he's smiling. When we walk in the seating plan is on the board as a reminder. When I see a seating plan I don't look for my name first, I find someone I don't like's name and then I see if I'm sat near them. If it's not there then I look for my name. Tyler was on my table, sat a couple of seats away.
"Told you." He rolls his eyes, but I can see that he's happy about it really, I hope.
"Yeah well, just checking."
We walk over to our table and the person who sits next to me is sat in Tyler's space.
"Shh don't tell." She asks. She's ginger and quite pretty. 
"Ok, I won't," It means Tyler has to sit next to me. Why would I tell?
"I guess I'm sitting here then."
"I guess you are." I say still smiling involuntarily. 
"Good morning class," Mr Harlow says as unenthusiasticaly as humanly possible. The class gives an equally enthusiastic reply.
"As you know last time we began to cover song writing, a skill that I know many of you obviously do not have." The whole class gives each other a 'well that was nice' look.
"Songwriting? Did you start any songs?"
Tyler asks.
"No, we didn't do much last lesson."
"There are several things you need to consider when writing a song..."
"Oh god," Tyler groaned, he was already bored out of his mind and I don't blame him.
After a good 15 minutes we are finally allowed to start.
"Work in pairs or by yourself if you want to be a complete loner. Threes is too many."
"Do you want to work together?" He asks.
Normally I'm the one who has to ask.
"Of course."
"I actually write songs in my spare time, I've done a few."
"Oh really? Any good?"
"It doesn't think so."
"It?" Tyler's face drops almost immediately, instantly regretting what he had said.
"I don't think so" He says almost shouting.
"Tyler, you need..."
"Forget I said that."
"But..."
"Please," he begs. I'm going to argue with him, I can tell it's a sensitive subject.
"Fine."
"Thank you." He starts writing lyrics ideas on a page. He's already written ideas for a verse.
"You any good with song lyrics?" He asks me.
"I'm ok," I had helped with a few lyrics before. "Can I read what you've done?"
"Well..." I take the paper from him anyway.
"Hey!" He exclaims as he tries to get it back. 
"I'm sure they're great, I don't see the problem." I read the lyrics. My jaw drops.
"Oh. My god." 
"What?"
"These are some deep lyrics Tyler."
"Are they any good?"
"They're beautiful." They are. 'Good' is an understatement on an incomprehensible level.
"Really?"
"Have you read them yourself? They're better than a professional singer's lyrics. And I'm not just saying that, I genuinely mean it."
He's trying not to smile, but he shouldn't be ashamed of being proud of himself. 
"I'm stuck on the rest though, I can't think of anything."
"How about for the bridge you put..." I scribble down a lyric I've had in my head for a while. It actually fitted quite well.
"Oh yeah! That's good." We now had a verse and a bridge while other people had a few lines written. We work on the chorus and other verse. By the end of the lesson we have a whole song written. 
"I think we've done well" Tyler says.
"Damn right we've done well, look at all this!" He laughs. I love it when I make him laugh, I feel proud. 
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We walk to the lockers together. 
"Well that wasn't as bad as I though it would be."
"Well he wasn't as bad today, but when it's mainly a theory lesson, that's when you wish you would just die on the spot." He smiles. 
"I can't wait for that to happen." We get our bags and head for the main doors. We walk on the grass before reaching the exit.
He touches me on the shoulder for a few seconds before retreating it.
"See you tomorrow!" He says cheerfully.
"See ya Tyler!" He's really opened up since he joined, I wonder if I did that or if he just needed some time to get used to the school. I like to think it's the first one. Either, apart Tyler's panic attack, today couldn't have been more perfect.