His Only Hope (A Newtmas Story)

Thirteen

My eyes widen as I see Teresa standing at the other side of the gate, her eyes widened in disbelief. Newt and I immediately pulled away from each other. I quickly rushed over to the other side of the gate. She was just about to walk away when I quickly grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"T-Teresa, I-I can explain." I claimed.
"What more do you have to explain that I don't already know?" Teresa asked. "You basically used me tonight!"
"I never meant to do that, I swear!" I exclaimed. "This whole thing is incredibly complicated to explain, but I just want you to understand—."

Suddenly, I felt a huge stinging sensation across my cheek as Teresa slapped me, which caused me to release her from my grip.

"Get away from me you freak!" She shouted.

Just then, she ran off.

My heart and mind both began racing. I knew everything would only go downhill from here. Knowing her, Teresa would probably tell the entire school that I kissed Newt and that I was gay, even though I never admitted to it, and ruin my entire high school football career, and who knows what that will do to the entire team!

My thoughts suddenly stopped as soon as I heard breathing and sobbing coming from behind me. I looked behind the gate, noticing Newt pacing the dark hallway, breathing loudly and sobbing uncontrollably. I knew it was too late to go back to Teresa, so I ran back behind the gate to Newt.

I quickly stopped him from pacing and held onto him tightly.

"This is all my fault this is all my fault this is all my fault" Newt kept saying.
"None of this is your fault," I assured him, "this whole thing is my fault. I made the decision to go with two people."
"But I asked you when you already had a date and just made things more complicated for you." Newt explained. "I should have never told you I had feelings for you because now things are only going to get worse for you and it's all because of me!"
"Newt! Look at me!" I shouted, looking down at him.
Newt looked up at me, his face all red and puffy, tears strolling down his eyes.
"Nothing is going to happen to me." I continued. "Teresa isn't going to tell anybody anything."
"And how do you know that?" Newt asked.

Newt was right, how did I know that? I haven't really considered Teresa a trustworthy person, but I know now she definitely trusted me, and I just broke it! She may actually end up doing something as payback to make me lose my trust in her...

But I didn't want Newt to know that.

"Teresa's just in a state of shock right now." I explained to him. "We see each other every day during homeroom, lunch and study hall. I'll have time to explain everything to her then and hopefully we can work some things out."
"A-And what if it doesn't?" Newt asked.
"Let's not worry about that right now." I told him. "One step at a time, alright?"
Newt was silent, but he nodded.
"C-Can we please get out of here?" Newt asked.

I nodded. We quickly packed away all of Newt's stuff in his locker and we headed out the door at the other end of the hallway. We weren't allowed to leave just yet, but neither of us cared.
———
I didn't want to take Newt straight home, and I didn't really want to take him back to my place, so Newt suggested going to the park. I agreed and we headed over there.

After parking the car, I noticed Newt immediately get out of the car and start walking. I quickly got out and followed him. We ended up going under a large, gazebo that overlooked the river. By the time I entered it, I already saw Newt sitting down and looking at the river. I went down and sat next to him.

"This is the one place I used to go to whenever I was feeling depressed or anxious and needed to escape." Newt stated. "Whether it was during school or while I was home, I would always come here when I needed to."
"You used to come here?" I asked. "Why have you stopped?"
Newt looked at me, "Because you came around. As soon as I saw you, even though you didn't know my feelings for you yet, just seeing and thinking about you made everything better."

I looked out onto the river, noticing the moon's light reflecting off of the surface of the water, creating crystals in the water. It was something I haven't seen before.

"This place is beautiful." I told Newt. "We should come here more often if you ever need to."
"You really want to?" Newt asked.
"Of course!" I responded. "I can see why you like this place, and I like it too. So why stop coming here?"
Newt gave me a smile, "Alright."

We stayed in silence for a few moments, looking out at the river again, noticing the city skyline in the distance. I suddenly heard mumbling.

The moon is reflecting off of the water
The water is flowing, causing the water to shine like crystals in the moonlight
And here he is, shining just like those crystals in the water
Not even the brightest star in the sky can take away this sight...

I looked over at Newt, where he immediately stopped mumbling.

"Oh... sorry..." Newt said.
"Why are you apologizing?" I asked. "That was beautiful."
"R-Really?" Newt asked, somewhat shocked. "Thanks, Tommy."
"Is that one of your poems?" I asked.
Newt hesitated, but nodded. "I-It's a poem in progress... I-I actually just came up with it now."
"Wow... that's really impressive." I responded.
Newt just simply shrugged, looking down and playing with his hands, showing me he was anxious.
"I-I have a poetry journal... where I write down my ideas and poems..." Newt explained. "Whenever I think of a poem... like I am right now... I-I say it out loud to myself to keep me from forgetting."

I quickly grabbed onto his hands to hopefully keep him from being anxious. I looked at him reassuringly.

"I think it's great that you're doing that." I assured him. "I know you told me you don't ever want me to see your poems, but do you think one day, you can show me the journal?"
Newt looked up at me, giving me a smile and nodding. "Y-Yeah... I'll show you next time we work on the project."
I then thought about how tomorrow was the weekend, which was when we normally worked on the project.
"Speaking of the project, how would you like to sleep over my house tonight?" I asked.
Newt's eyes widened. "A-Are you sure Tommy?"
I smiled, "Yeah! It's really late anyways, there's no point in dropping you off now."
Newt smiled back, "I'd really like that."

I then looked back over at the car and then back at Newt.

"Come on, let's go."

Newt nodded and we headed back to my house.