If I Could Tell Him

Chapter five

EVAN POV

After school, Evan's hands were still shaking uncontrollably. He kept thinking about what Connor had said. He wants to talk to me? No..that can't be right. Unless he's gonna beat me up for having a "crush" on his sister. The thought of it made him shudder.

"You good?" Jared asked, a concerned look on his face that was quickly replaced with indifference. "Not that I really care, but if my mom finds out you were upset and I didn't ask about it I won't get any car insurance." Evan couldn't help but smile at Jared's concern.

He's such a great friend. Evan thought. "Yeah. I th-think I'm o-okay. Thanks f-for ask-asking." He said, looking up at his friend. Jared rolled his eyes.

"Okay great. Don't get all sappy on me now." Evan frowned and focused on not being sappy. Like a tree. I wonder how Arnold is doing. Evan thought to himself. Arnold was the tree Evan had recently planted in his backyard. He watered it everyday and took extra care to make sure it was okay. Since he didn't have control over much in his life, he worked on raising the tree just right. He hoped that Arnold knew that he loved the little tree. Which, of course, was stupid. Evan chastised himself for being so sentimental over a tree.

"Hello? Earth to Hansen?" Jared's annoyed voice cut into Evan's thoughts.

"S-sorry." Evan said quickly. "IwasjustthinkingabouttreeslikemytreearnolditisdumbthatInamedhimImeanitbuttreesarelikereallycooltome.." he stumbled over his words. He tried to stop talking. He knew that no one liked trees but him. They were boring, and Jared had pointed that out to him time and time again, but he just kept talking. "Didyouknowthatoneofthelargestlivingorganismisagroupofaspenconnecteeattherootshowamazingisthat..."

"Okay I didn't ask for the lecture." Jared interrupted sharply.

"Sorry." Suddenly a group of large boys approached them.

"God, what is that?" One of them sneered, pointing. Evan looked to Jared for protection, but the boy had left as soon as he saw the bullies. Evan tried to ignore them and walk past, but the largest boy caught him by the collar of his polo shirt.

"My buddy here just asked you a question. What are you? You're too scared to be a person. Maybe a mouse." That earned a laugh from the other boys. Evan continued to ignore them.

"No dude it looks like a rat." Another boy grabbed Evan's cast roughly. He winced. "A rat that was caught in a trap. Look, it broke its arm." He jerked the poor boy's injured arm up so the others could see. To his dismay, Evan felt tears of pain and fear burn his eyes. He was determined that these boys wouldn't see him cry.

"Look! It's shaking!" The first boy scoffed. Evan was, in fact, shaking like a leaf. "The rat's crying!" Evan looked down at his feet. It will all be over soon, it always ends, they can't hurt you forever. He told himself, but that didn't stop the tears from flooding down his face. There was no use trying to hide them now. He felt his legs kicked out from under him and the cold cement under his face and stomach. His good arm was twisted behind him, being held by one of the bullies.

"Let's see how strong this arm is. Hey guys, how long do you think it'll take to break this one?" Evan closed his eyes and braced himself for the first blow.

"What the hell?" One of the boys asked, obviously surprised. Evan felt someone being thrown off of him, but he didn't dare open his eyes.

"Back the fuck up." A familiar voice threatened.

"Or what?" One of the large boys snarled back. There was a hint of fear in his voice.

"Dude he's probably high. He's got that like, batshit crazy look he could probably kill one of us. I'm being dead serious." Another breathed. Evan was still frozen on the ground, eyes tightly screwed shut in fear.

"Don't test me," the familiar voice said with a hint of a smile in his tone. "I would get out of here if I were you." Evan heard some scuffling and finally felt safe enough to open his eyes and look at his rescuer.

Connor Murphy smiled warmly down at him.