𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 • 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯

five

Chants fill the campus as a crowd of students hurdle around shouting.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" They roar in unison.

Grayson stands in the middle of the crowd in the midst of a heated brawl with the anti-smoking committee.

Blake throws him around before landing a punch right onto his eye. They fall to the floor rolling around trying to get their hits in, Blake lands another punch to his lip before the fight is broken up.

"Stop! Get up! Get up!" the principle yells while grabbing Grayson and separating them.

—

Grayson arrives home, after a long day at school. He walks through the backdoor by the kitchen hoping to sneak past his parents unseen.

"Hey honey." Lisa greets him while sitting in the kitchen drinking some tea reading a newspaper.

"Hey." Grayson says quietly while speeding to his room.

Lisa puts her newspaper down as Grayson tries to avoid her.

"Hold up. Come here." Lisa demands stopping him.

He sighs then walks back towards her kidding his head down, his hood from his sweater is pulled down in an attempt to cover his face.

"What happened?" Lisa questions sadly as she pulls his hood off exposing his cut lip and bruised face.

"Nothing." Grayson states calmly not wanting to have his mom freak out and make the situation worse.

"This isn't nothing." Lisa implies strictly.

"Look at your face honey." she says brushing some hair away from his eyes. "Are you being picked on again?"

His silence answers for him, so instead of questioning any further she pats on the chair next to her motioning for him to sit.

"Come here." she makes her way to a cabinet grabbing the first aid kit.

"Screw those kids." Lisa curses while dabbing Grayson's cuts with alcohol as he hisses in pain.

After finishing cleaning his cuts she puts everything away and sits back down next to him.

"You've been through this many times before hun, don't let them phase you." She consoles him kindly.

"What's in there" she states pointing to Grayson's heart on his warm chest. "that's what makes you different from them. That's what matters. Your heart, your spirit, the way you treat others." She looks into his eyes and continues.

"You're special. You're strong. Don't doubt that Grayson, ever."

He looks at his moms warm smile, and he feels at peace. He's glad she was there to calm him down.

"Thanks Mom. You're strong too." He says while hugging her tightly.

"Do you think this move will help you and dad... your relationship?" Grayson questions as his head rests on her shoulder.

"I hope so." Lisa responds hopefully with a sigh while rubbing his back.

"I hope so."

—

After the talk he had with his Mom, Grayson goes into the shower wanting to rinse away the stress and bullshit he faced today.

Once he's finished he gets out and dries his hair roughly with a towel, looking into the mirror. He thinks of standing in this exact spot yesterday doing what he does best to calm down when Ethan walked in on him. His heart beats a bit faster thinking of his mysterious new friend. If that's even what they were.