I have everything, except you - Thomas Brodie Sangster fic

27. That's what friends are for

I was terrified. I wanted so badly to tell someone about Evan, but who? No one was talking to me, i'd done them all wrong in some way or another, so I basically had no one. It's not like I could tell my parents, they would freak out, and it would lead to me having to explain to them about all my arguments with my friends.

Instead of doing anything, I moped around school, dreading the bell, but at the same time I couldn't stand avoiding everyone. I ended up in the library, somewhere I had rarely visited, sitting in a quiet corner reading Twilight. It was nice to read the familiar words, even if the storyline was cheesy and mocked tirelessly, I still found comfort in the worn out pages of the book.

I felt someone sit next to me almost silently. I looked up, and Violet was beside me, giving me her gentle smile. I smiled back, unsure.

"Hi Milly, I was wondering if I could sit with you for a bit?" She asked, and I was struck dumb. She hadn't spoken more than a few words to me ever, and I didn't know how to respond.

She tucked her thin blonde hair behind her ear, motioning just above it, at the small device attached to her.

"It's okay. I can hear you now," She grinned, obviously excited for my reaction.

"Oh my gosh! I had no idea you had gotten hearing aids, Violet! That's so cool!" I hugged her, feeling her skinny arms go around my waist.

"Do you need someone to talk to?" She asked, and I nodded, a tear forming at the corner of my eye. I sniffed, and decided I could trust her earnest blue eyes and sincere personality.

"Evan came and found me just before, and he apologised for being a jerk, so I was really surprised and thought he was being genuine, i'm so stupid." I hide my head in my hands, and Violet rubs my back. "You're not stupid, Milly. So he wasn't being serious? What did he do?"

"He tried to hurt me, Violet. I.. I think he's going to, later on. He said if I didn't meet him after school he'd make sure everyone hated me. I'm really scared," I confessed, unable to stop the tears now. Her face was paler than usual, she looked shocked as we hugged again, tighter this time, I felt a bit safer locked in her thin embrace.

"Milly, we have to do something. Tell someone, the police?" She suggested desperately. "No! If we tell them then Evan will do something really bad, besides, they won't lock him up or anything, just give him a warning or something like that,"

She looked deep in thought as the bell rang. "Meet me by my classroom straight after school, before Evan gets a chance to get to you," She said simply, before walking away with a determined look. I shivered, wondering how I would get out of this one.

*
I returned to class, seated directly behind Thomas in science. He turned around as I sat down, but looked away almost straight away, so I didn't have time to see his expression.

It made me more sad than I cared to admit, since I genuinely had feelings for him now. But it was too late, I'd fucked it all up, and he knew the truth.

I worried about it the whole period, and was startled by the bell ringing. Oh god. I thought. Evan.

I stumbled out into the courtyard, where Violet was waiting. Thomas approached her, and I hung back by the classroom door.

"I'm just going to hang out with Milly today, but I'll talk to you later, yeah?" She told Thomas, and he looked surprised.

"Why? I thought you were my  friend, not hers," he muttered, and I gulped. But Violet gave him a stern look and he rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Yeah, yeah, talk later," he hugged her quickly then walked off without a backward glance.

"I.. I'm sorry if that got you into trouble with Thomas," I said. "I don't know why you'd want to hang out with me, either," now it was her who rolled her eyes.

"Thomas and I are different people, Milly. You haven't done anything to me, so why should I have bad feelings towards you? And about Thomas, give him time. He'll come around eventually, I think you had a larger effect on him than you thought, I know how he felt... feels about you," she smiles. I'm taken back. I'd never heard her talk so much, or act this confident, it was as if something had drawn her out of her shell.

"Okay, thanks Vi. But have you had a chance to think about-"

"Evan? Oh, I sorted him out, don't you worry." She folded her arms, glaring over to where I saw Evan wandering towards the school gate, looking rather pathetic. 

"But.. How..?" I was struck dumb. Violet, small, skinny Violet had done or said something to make the biggest bully in the school leave me alone. I didn't understand.

"Come. Let's go get milkshakes somewhere and i'll tell you." We walked out of school with our arms linked.

*

Once I had found out about how Violet had kept Evan at bay, I was sure I could never face him again. She had told me a few old stories, we'd both cried, and I came to realize what a strong person Violet was. 

It turns out I wasn't the first person Evan had sexually harrassed. Violet had been his target about 4 years ago, when we were just starting high school. 

They had been friends, so Evan knew about how Violet's father was in jail and her mother was unstable, hardly ever at home.

 They were studying together at her house one day when all of a sudden Evan had tried to kiss her. She told him no because she didn't like him like that, which made Evan mad. He wasn't used to not getting what he wanted.

After that he had ambushed her and hurt her, then made her keep quiet about it, with the threat of exposing her family situation to the whole school. She retreated into her shell, and eventually he got bored of using her. 

Now, years on, she was a different person, more confident. She had used his own threat against him, this time promising that if Evan hurt me the way he had hurt her she would tell everyone- the principal, the police, his parents- what he had done. 

"I'm glad something good came out of that whole situation," Violet said, smiling sadly. I covered her hand with my own. 

"But why didn't you tell anyone, even after he finally got sick of treating you badly?" I asked gently.

"I guess I had kind of gotten over it, or learned to cope with the pain. I didn't want to stir things up, I was just glad he was ignoring me. I started to feel safe again with Thomas and Lola and the others, they helped me get back to normal." 

Thomas. He was such a good person. I couldn't bear to think about him, so after a little more conversation I decided I should go home. 

"Thank you so much, Violet. You saved me, I owe you one,"

She grinned. "You don't owe me anything. That's what friends are for, right?"