Things Change

Chapter 17

Phil wakes up before me in the morning. I was unsure how much earlier. I feel a gentle hand on my arm and a gentle shake.

"Morning sweetie." Phil whispers

I slowly open my eyes and see him kneeling beside me. I smile when I see him.

"It's time to get ready for school, come meet me downstairs when your ready." He gently whispers.

I smile and nod. He walks out of the room and I sit up. I start looking through clothes and grab a long sleeve sweater. I start changing but, think about what Phil said last night. I gulp and exchange it for a short sleeved shirt.

"Do this for Phil." I whisper to myself and put it on.

I look at my wrists. A few tears fall but, I quickly wipe them away. I finish changing and grab my jacket, throwing it over my shoulder. I gently walk down the stairs. Phil hears me and walks out of the kitchen. He smiles when he sees me.

"Thank you so much." He walks over and hugs me. "I really think this will be great." He smiles confidently.

"I trust you." I whisper.

"Let's get some breakfast." He leads me to the table where two plates of food sit there. Each one has two pancakes, two pieces of bacon, and a slice of toast.

I sit down next to Phil. He grabs my hand as he starts eating. I take a small bite of the toast. I struggle to chew but, I simply look at Phil and eating becomes easier. I manage to eat about half of it before we have to leave for school. We walk to my car and drive to school in silence. We park and I lay back.

"Phil, I'm scared." I whimper.

"Don't worry. You don't have to say or do anything you aren't comfortable with and you are completely safe." Phil reassures.

Just the sound of his voice comfort me. I nod and step out of the car. I walk over next to Phil and grab his hand. I smile at him and we start walking. Everyone turns to look at us as we walk. People whisper. People stare. Nobody tries to hide it. I look down a bit to cover up the discomfort that I feel but, Phil stays confident. We walk to my locker.

"Ok baby, I have to go to class. You can do this." He places a kiss on my forehead, making me blush. He walks away and I continue grabbing my stuff. I suddenly feel a presence beside me. I look over and see a boy stand next to me. I had seen him in the halls but, we had never talked. He had blue eyes and was shorter then me. His hair was brown and he spoke in a clear Irish accent.

"Hi, your name is Dan right?" The boy asked.

"Umm, yeah." I whisper.

"I'm Jack. I just wanted to say that I'm so incredibly sorry for never helping you. I saw you on the news the other night and I had no idea that you were going through that and bullying at the same time. I always saw it but, never helped and I'm so sorry." He rambles.

"Umm thank you for saying that, that means a lot to me." I whisper.

I grab one last book from my locker and he sees my wrist. He covers his mouth when he sees it.

"Oh my god." Jack gasps

I look over confused.

"Your wrists. That's so terrible. Oh god, I feel like such an asshole for never helping." He leans against the locker next to me.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault." I smile at him. The bell rings and we part to our separate classes.

I walk into my classroom, I was a little later then usual so more people were in the room. The room goes silent when everyone sees me. I stand at the door. Everyone looks ashamed. I walk over to my desk and sit down. I hear a girl next to me whisper to her friend.

"I can't believe he has been going through that for so many years. Should we say something to him?" She whispers.

The other one responds.

"He doesn't look like he wants to talk to anyone. Maybe we should talk to Phil about it." She whispers.

They nod and the late bell rings. The teacher starts teaching but, the atmosphere of the class doesn't change.

Every class after that has the same atmosphere and reaction. During lunch, I quickly find Phil. When I find him, I give him a huge hug. I see the people around us smile when they see us.

"Did anything bad happen?" Phil asked.

"No, everyone was just a little weird. One boy said sorry for never doing anything about it though." I explain.

"Oh, that's so great. Let's go to lunch." He suggests.

"Are you gonna make me eat?" I ask.

Phil thinks for a minute.

"No, I won't make you right now." He smiles at me.

We walk to our normal seat. I lay my head on Phil's shoulder. A few people smile at us until two boys walk over to us. One is tall with curly brown hair and a grey beanie. The other is much shorter with straighter brown hair. We look up at them.

"Hi, I'm Ethan." The shorter boy says.

"And I'm Tyler." The other says.

"We just wanted to say that, we think it's amazing that you two are being open with your relationship, it has inspired us." Ethan says as he holds Tyler's hand.

Me and Phil smile at each other.

"Wow, thank you for saying that. You two look very cute." Phil says.

They walk away. I look at Phil and place a long kiss on his lips. I hear people around us gasp, squeal, and awe. I let go and place our foreheads together.

"What would I do without you?"