I screamed, they watched (solangelo)

Part three

I am walking to the bus stop to wait for the bus that will take me to school. There isn't a lot of people there, except me and one other girl. I look down at my phone, the bus will be here in a few minutes. Suddenly I see someone running against where I stand. It's a boy, I can tell that much, he's blond, wearing an orange t-shirt. Hold on, I think it's... no it can't be, he doesn't live here... Or does he?

Will comes up to my side, a little bit out of breath. His eyes are red and swollen, I guess he's struggling with the pollen as everyone else. "Do you want some eyedrops for that?" I ask him as I point to his eyes and put my hand down my pocket to get my eyedrops, who isn't struggling with allergies this time a year? He looks a bit confused, "the allergy?" I ask him, he's suddenly struck by realization before he nods, "ah yeah, thanks Nico." He takes it and starts dripping it into his eyes. He isn't as good as it as you would've thought he would be, having to do that pretty often and stuff like that, but he gets it in so what does it matter.

We walk on the bus together. We sit side by side even though we don't really know each other. I suddenly notice that I have more tics around Will than other people, usually it isn't that noticeable, it shows if I'm scared, stressed, happy, angry or tired, like if I feel something strongly, but not usually when I'm just casually talking to someone.

I throw my head back. My foot stamps. A yelp escapes my mouth.

Will looks at me, "I wasn't sure if I was going to ask, but... why do you do that? If you don't mind answering of course." He looks down in his lap. "No, not at all. I've got this thing called tourettes, it makes me do things I can't control." Will looks up, "oh," I smile at him. "You can ask me questions if you want, I don't have anything against talking about it." His face lits up a little bit.

"So like, you don't have any control over it at all?" I scratch my ear, "well like kinda. It's sort of like a sneeze, I can feel it coming, and sometimes I can delay it a little bit, but it is really uncomfortable and I feel like I might burst till I release it or till it escapes on it's own, but unlike a sneeze it never just passes without coming out." Will looks at me with big eyes, "wow, you're really good at explaining this stuff." I shrug, "it's all about practice." "Were you born with it?" I shake my head, "No, or sort of, er, no. I had a few tics when I was little, like maybe three or five, but I didn't really notice before I was around eleven or twelve when it suddenly got much worse and it started bothering me, I was diagnosed shortly after."

Will looks at me. "Why did it suddenly get worse?" I swallow, hard. "Uhm," I feel the tears start building up in my eyes, I wipe then away as fast as they got there. Will puts his hand on my shoulder and turns me against him, "oh my god, I'm sorry, you don't have to answer." I take his hand down, "no it's OK, it was a long time ago anyways, I've moved on. What happened was that my sister died, and that was pretty hard for me, so I was a lot in bed, just crying, or eventually feeling empty. When I finally started getting better I went to school, and that's when I noticed, a teacher told me it could be smart to talk to a doctor, so I did, and he gave me some meds that worked really well." I wipe my eyes one last time before going off the bus.

I walk side by side with Will through the doors to school. It's still like fifteen minutes till the first class starts at 08:15 but the halls are cramped with people. The thing people don't always realize with school is how much you learn outside of class. As an example, I've gotten pretty good at maneuvering my small frame through slim hallways filled with people, Will on the other hand, has a bit more of a struggle trying to get through the crowds with his lanky body, he steps on people sitting on the floor and bumps into those standing, he says "sorry," after every single time. It almost makes me laugh, but I manage to keep it to a minimum with a smile.

When Will finally comes to the end of the hall he's out of breath and looking awkward as fuck. I pat his shoulder, "it's OK dude, we've all been there, you'll get the hang if it soon enough." I smile at him, and he forces a smile back before he starts laughing, genuinely.

We're standing outside the maths room when Jason comes over. "Hey Nico! Who's this?" He points to Will. "Jason, this is Will, Will this is Jason, Will and I are partners at an english project, we take the same bus. Will this is Jason, he's a friend of mine." They shake hands. "So are you two ready for math class?" Jason asks, a bit to enthusiastic.

Before we get the time to answer the teacher comes and unlocks the door. We walk in together and get seated. The teacher starts talking, but I can't concentrate with Will right in front of me, I keep getting lost in his blond curls. Why? Don't ask me, I don't have a clue. But there's something about him, I don't know what, but it is something...

Class drifts by slower than ever, I can't wait for it to end. I usually like maths, but this is just repeating the complete basics, such as how to divide stuff without a calculator and all that shit.

I yelp, it came pretty sudden, even for me, but the class doesn't care, I've informed everyone and after a while they got used to it.