Silence [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter Seventeen

"Daniel, my man! What's up?" High fiving his friends, Daniel smiles as he's pulled into a bro-hug. Amid the mindless chatter of students, the sound of someone being thrown against a row of lockers is heard. Daniel's group turns to see none other than Joey Graceffa laying on the tile school floor, clutching his leg. "GET UP YOU LITTLE ***!" Extending a shaky hand, the mute boy attempts to push himself up off the ground. Before he's an inch off, he's kicked in the stomach. Watching from his group, Daniel visibly winces at the sight of Joey being struck but quickly shrugs it off. As he observes the mute boy being beaten by another group of jocks, Daniel feels a tug at his heart before it seemingly plummets into his stomach. Why is he feeling this way about seeing Joey Graceffa be picked on? Is it because he's not the one doing it?

Tapping his friend on the shoulder, Daniel motions for them to join in on the "fun." The new group smiles as Daniel and his posse walk over to them. "Well hello, boys, here to join?" Daniel looks down at the now bleeding Joey on the ground "looks like you already did quite a number on him. You did enough for today. Let five percent of his injuries heal and we'll join in next time." The hallway goes silent as everyone stares at Daniel with slacked jaws. "You're not going to pummel him into nonexistence?" "Not today! Now, everyone stop staring before you all end up in hospital rooms!" Everyone shuffles away, leaving Daniel staring down at the shriveled up mute boy on the floor. Meeting his hateful gaze, Joey hesitantly reaches a hand out for Daniel. Sighing, Daniel grabs his hand, carefully helping the boy up. Standing on his two wobbly feet, Joey looks down at his bloody shirt. "Tell no one I helped you, got it?"

Daniel watches with a slight grimace as Joey limps away. Maybe he should go with him to make sure he gets there safely...wait...why does he care so much all of a sudden? "Yo! Daniel!" His head turns to see his friends walking towards him with smiles on their faces "why aren't you guys in class?" They chuckle "what are you? The hall monitor?" Patting Daniel on the back, the boys push him forward "so Danny Boy. We saw what just happened, between you and mute boy. And we want you to know, there's no chance of you being on both teams here. You're either with us, or with him. Not both, no back and forth. One or the other. You got that?" "'Course I do! I was just keeping those pricks from getting in trouble for murder. They were going to be possibly expelled if I didn't stop them. I was just helping them out." The jocks hum, looking him up and down "you haven't gone soft on us Preda, have you?"

"You haven't gone soft on us Preda, have you?" The question rings in Daniel's ears throughout the day, his brain slamming against his skull. Joey came back to class with some gauze wrapped around his arms, sitting down next to the only available seat next to Daniel. From the corner of his eye, Daniel notices Joey writing something down on a slip of white lined paper. "Thank you for helping me, even though you didn't want to." Sliding the paper in front of him "You're right, I didn't want to. But they looked like they were going to kill you if they weren't stopped." Joey smiles at the sloppy writing, scribbling back. "Means a lot, regardless. I know you hate me, I'm not expecting us to be friends ever again. Just wanted to say thank you." Staring down at the paper, Daniel feels a stab at his heart. Why does it hurt to see that?

After class, Daniel heads to his locker. Only to find the word *** spray painted on the small door. "WHO THE FUCK DID THIS?" Everyone starts laughing until Daniel turns to face them. Silence rings through the hallway as Daniel's eyes scan the faces of his peers. "Who. Did. This." No one answers until a boy steps out from beyond the crowd. "I did." Daniel's eyes narrow at the boy standing before him. "Andrew." The boy - Andrew - steps toward him "nice to see you again Daniel. How long has it been? Three years?" The students form a circle around the two boys, who are too deep in their glaring contest to notice. "What the fuck are you doing here? I thought I left you in Portland with the rest of your ****?" Andrew chuckles "you're one to talk about being a *** Daniel, does everyone know about your ***** past? How about your precious Joey?" Something snaps inside of Daniel once Joey is mentioned and his fist flies at Andrew's face. "LEAVE HIM OUT OF THIS!"

Andrew smirks "what is this? Bad boy Preda has a soft spot for mute freak Graceffa? Isn't that cute?" Reaching his boiling point, Daniel lunges at Andrew, pinning him to the ground. Punch after punch lands on Andrew's face until he becomes immobile. Blood splatters all over Daniel's hands and face until someone pulls him off the unconscious boy. All eyes are on Daniel before he's pulled away from the crowd. Controlling his breathing, Daniel looks over to see who stopped him from killing Andrew. "Joey?" The mute boy doesn't acknowledge him until they're out of the school, taking a moment to look behind him. Cracking a smile, Joey continues dragging Daniel down the street. "Where are we going?"

Mr. Dawson greets the two boys at the door, his eyes widening to the size of saucers as he takes in Daniel's appearance. "What the hell happened?" Joey points to the cashier computer and the three of them walk over. "Daniel got in quite the hell of a fight. There was this bitch who wrote the f-word on his locker. He said something about me and Daniel started beating the shit out of him! It was crazy." Mr. Dawson looks at Daniel "what went down Daniel, really?" "His name is Andrew, I lost my temper once he brought Joey into our argument. I couldn't see anything but red, I heard bones cracking and the sound of his body going limp." Joey's boss shudders "what did he say about Joey?" "Nothing specific, he just threatened to tell everyone about my past. But once he brought up telling people about Joey, I couldn't control myself. After Joey was almost killed today, and my friends telling me to choose between them and Joey, then this. I couldn't handle it. I lost control."

Joey watches in amazement as Daniel tells his boss about what went down, not fully understanding why Daniel lashed out over someone talking smack about him. Like, Daniel claimed to hate his guts, why would he fight for him? "Who is Andrew?" Daniel freezes, looking down at his feet. "Let's just say, how I've been treating Joey, he treated me the same way. From the mental abuse, to the physical abuse." Mr. Dawson and Joey pause, looking at Daniel with wide eyes.

"You were abused?"