Fall Away//phan

Chapter 5

Dan hasn't shown up at school all week, and Phil was worried.

Especially after Dan broke down in the bathroom and told Phil how he felt, Phil was worried that Dan would try something stupid.

"Pj, I'm really worried about Dan." Phil finally told Pj as they sat down for lunch. Pj raises his eyebrows at Phil from across the table as Chris and Louise sat down.

"Why are you worried about Dan, Phil? Didn't he yell at you or something?" Louise questions with a quirked eyebrow.

Phil shrugs his shoulders and sighs "He did but... That was a while ago. The last time I spoke to him in the toilets he never yelled at me. But he left school upset and hasn't come back for, like, a week and I want to know if he's okay!"

Louise sighs and Pj smiles at Phil. Chris is eating chocolate again. "He isn't worth your time Phil." Louise shakes her head "He never bothers with you so why should you bother with him?"

Phil folds his arms on the table and looks at Louise "Because I know that he's really struggling, he needs my help Louise!"

Louise giggles a little at Phil "You say that about everyone and everything, Phil. Wasn't it only yesterday when you said that ladybird in the Maths classroom needed your help?"

Phil sighs and looks down at the table. "This is different. Dan isn't a ladybird, but that ladybird was stuck and it needed my help. But that's not the point. He sounded so... Broken when I spoke to him. I need to help him, and that's final."

Pj sighs and looks across at Phil as Chris munches on his chocolate bar gleefully. "Well I suppose... If you really want to help him, I know where he lives. My sister is friends with his sisters and she went round their house once and I had to pick her up."

Phil looks up and grins at Pj "Really?! Thank you so much Pj!" Pj smiles softly at him, his green eyes twinkling.

"No problem Phil!" anything for you, he thought to himself smiling at Phil, gazing into his bright blue eyes. "His address is 7 Parkview Road."

Phil stands up happily grinning down at Pj "Thank you so much!" Pj and Louise look at each other sharing a look, then look at Phil with schooled expressions painting their faces.

"Wait, you're leaving now?!" Louise and Pj inquired loudly. "But it's lunch! You won't get back in time for Maths! There could be another ladybird!" They both looked at each other in shock but Phil just shrugs still smiling.

"Tell Mrs. Jones I went home feeling ill or something, she'll believe it, I've never skipped school before!" Pj laughs a little still shocked.

"Yeah, we know! That's why we're so shocked that you're doing this now!" Phil laughs and waves as he walks out of the cafeteria.

"Bye now!" He waves again as he walks out into the corridor, Pj and Louise wave back still slightly shocked, and Chris eats his chocolate bar. Classic Chris, Phil thought.

Pj smiles softly. Goodbye, I love you, he thinks to himself.

Phil hurries down the street, not taking his usual time to stop and admire the autumn scenery but instead hastily splashing through the muddy reddish-brown leaves below him.

"7 Parkview Road, 7 Parkview road.." he mutters to himself underneath his breath as he walks down the street Pj instructed him to. Was Dan going to be mad that Phil had shown up out of the blue? Would he be angry that Pj told Phil where he lived? Phil wasn't sure.

He hoped that Dan would be able to overlook the slightly stalker-ish behaviour.

"Number 3... Number 5... 7!" Phil exclaims happily out loud as he walks up to Dan's front door. Should he knock? They didn't have a door bell. And he didn't have a key either. If he did have a key Dan would likely be even more confused and concerned for the stalker-ish behaviour.