Boarding School Boyfriends

Chapter Fourteen

Dan has Charlie's head resting on his lap as Will tries his best to stop the bleeding on his hand, wrapping his jumper around it and using his own belt to hold it tight, all whilst telling him that he's stupid and that he's lucky he hasn't lost his hand. Woody has run to get someone to call an ambulance for him.

"Are you okay? Apart from your hand, do you feel sick? Dizzy?" Dan questions the boy, looking at the blood splatters and the burns on his face. Everything about the situation feels a bit like a horror film. 

Charlie coughs, his voice weak and hoarse. "I feel pretty shit," he says with a breathless laugh, "But I tell you, if I'm laughing, Smith, I'm okay..." There is a pause as Charlie blinks a few times, each one longer than the last, "I fucked up, huh?" 

Dan nods, lighting running his thumb over Charlie's forehead. "Don't go to sleep," he tells him, "We have to make sure you're okay," 

Charlie just nods, "My hand hurts so much, Danny..." He mumbles in pain, his skin getting paler by the second. Will is continuing to try and help as much as he can, whilst mumbling under his breath about where the bloody Hell Woody is. 

"Of course it does, you almost blew it off," Dan chuckles, shaking his head. "You should listen to people when they tell you not to do something."

Charlie coughs and groans in pain, "I blame Woods. It just looked so harmless and..." 

Woody runs up the stairs with two of the teachers at his heel. One of them is one the phone and the other practically pushes Will out of the way to look at the damage done to Charlie's hand.

"If you take that off," Will warns him, not letting go of the boy's hand, "It'll keep on bleeding. This is the only way that he's not going to lose his whole finger." 

"The point is, Woody, I told you both not to do it. I told you not to fuck about with explosives, so what do you do? Send Charlie to go and poke a fucking firecracker. Are you out of your mind or something? Did you not listen to me?" Will yells at Woody as they stand in the hospital corridor. One of the teachers had taken the three boys to the hospital following the ambulance- they were too worried for it to be awkward.

"Boys, quieten down," the teacher comments as he sits next to them. "It was an accident, these things happen." 

"No, they don't happen!" Will says, "If they weren't always trying to destroy the fucking place, none of this would have happened." 

"Don't have a fucking go at me when Charlie might lose half of his fingers," Woody huffs, rolling his eyes. "It's happened, Will. You can't change the past."

"No, I will have a go because you sent him to do it in the first place! If you weren't trying all the time to blow everything up all the time, he wouldn't be in there, would he?" 

Woody begins to lose his temper as Dan rounds the corner from calling Kyle. He had to call main reception on a call phone to get through to him. Kyle says he's on his way.

"Look, Will, just because you mope around because you have to stay at school all year round doesn't mean we can't have fun! Don't pin your depressing ass life on me, alright?" 

There is a thick tension in the room as Will tries to swallow his anger. Dan can see the flicker of pain on the boys face before he speaks, his voice calmer than before. Even the teacher is in shock.

"There's having fun, then there's almost killing someone." He says, glaring at Woody, who has tears in his eyes. Will looks as though he may cry, and, as both boys storm off in opposite directions, one towards the front of the hospital and one towards the outside area, Dan doesn't know who to follow.

"He doesn't get it, though," Will says, tears rolling down his face. "He doesn't know how hard it is, when he's the football star, all-rounder, Mr I can do everything. He doesn't get what it's like to not have your parents there, to not be able to tell them when you get a good grade, not being able to go to them at holidays. It's hard." 

Dan just nods in agreement. He can't say that he understands or anything because he doesn't. He doesn't know what it's like to not have your parents there. He's had his for his entire life, so he can't relate. "What... What happened after?" He asks, "Like, after you got here and everything settled down. How did you feel?" 

"I was depressed as fuck. I was suicidal, I didn't see the point in being alive anymore if I was going to be stuck here. Nobody else was here because they were getting ready for our year and I had nobody. I was alone. Again." Will confesses. "I still think about it though- like, I could end it all and be with them again. And we'd be happy..." 

Before anyone else can speak, Kyle rounds the corner with Woody under his arm, wrapped around him in a supportive manner. "Well, the good news is that Charlies lost practically nothing apart from, like, the tip of his finger." He tells them. "And a few burns here and there. Like on his entire hand."