These Feelings

Chapter Two: Friends?

Bens P.O.V

When the ball flew back over the net, Marcielle volleyed, I set and Tristan spiked. That's when I knew he fucked up. The ball hit Leo in the head, seconds after, he blacked out and fell to the ground. As the scorekeepers announced, "Point! Misfits!", Tristan, Marcielle and Marcus cheered, while Chad and I ran over to Leos team. "Shit. is he okay?" Chad asked, to which one of his teammates responded, "Like you'd even care." One of their other team members muttered profanities, directed towards Tristan and I. "Fuck. We need to get him to the infirmary now." One of the girls on his team choked out between sobs. "I'll do it. I can carry him faster." I spoke quickly, with a worried expression on my face. "You'll throw him in a fucking trash bin you-" "Please Ben." One girl was cut off by another, their team captain. "Just bring him there and stay with him until he wakes up. We'll be there as soon as we can." I nodded, and I began to carry the fragile boy towards the infirmary.

Everyone in the school knew he was transgender, everyone knew he was gay. Why didn't I find out until a few weeks prior? Maybe because Tristan didn't want me to know? Whatever the reason was, I felt bad for Leo. All the shit he goes through. All the shit Tristan and the rest of us put him through. I felt like it was my fault he was in the infirmary right now. Although I know it wasn't. I was sitting by the side of his infirmary bed, my hands clasped together. I was trying to hold my breath. I felt like I couldn't breathe without hurting him. I felt like a monster. Soon enough though, his eyes fluttered open, and he sat up quickly, gasping for air. "What.. What happened?" His gaze flowed around the room, until it landed on me. He pulled his knees up to his chest, and pushed himself further back in the bed. "What are you doing here? What do you want from me?" He was frantic, nervous, and speaking fast. He was scared of me. "I- I'm not here to hurt you.." I said, I raised my hand to place it on his shoulder, and he flinched. He thought I was going to hit him. He calmed down a bit once he realised I wasn't. "I carried you here because you blacked out in the volleyball game. Your team couldn't bring you, they're trying to call a foul on Tristan... Which I think they should." I muttered the last part. "Th- Thank you Ben.." He managed to choke out, he was still breathing heavily. "Yeah. No problem. I just-" "Leo! Shit! We came as soon as we could we're so sorry, we were fighting for the last point and-" "Breathe, Vera." Their captain smiled at me. "Thank you Ben. This game meant alot to Leo, thanks for not letting him die during it." She laughed, and Leo let out a small laugh as well. "I'm Molly. This is Vera." She held out her hand for a handshake. I stood from Leos bedside and shook her hand. Vera shook my hand as well. Leos breathing had calmed down, so he spoke quietly, "Wait.. So who got the last point..?" He said. "I was wondering the same." I spoke with a sense of rationality. "Well," Molly began, although another boy walking in cut her off. "They called a foul on Tristan. They also may suspend Tristan." He laughed. "What? How did I miss that part?! Awww I missed the look on his faccceee." Vera dragged out her sentence, Leo and Molly just laughed. "Good game Ben." The boy shook my hand. "You too. I take it you guys won?" I asked with a smile. "Yeah. Only because of Tristans foul, but it was a really close game. You guys play well." Molly praised me. "We would've played better if Tristan knew what 'less power' meant." I laughed, as did Leo and Vera. "Ben! The fuck did you go?!" I heard Tristan yelling for me. "Shit.." I mumbled. "You have five fucking seconds! " He yelled again. "I gotta go.. Sorry." I muttered. "It's okay! Again, thank you for helping with Leo." Molly whispered with a smile. "Yeah.. Thank you Ben." Leo whispered, we didn't want Tristan to hear. "No problem. You ever need anything, I'll be-" "BEN! I swear to whatever fucking God you believe in-" "I'M FUCKING COMING!" I screamed. "Sorry." I whispered again, and walked into the halls of our highschool.

I walked over to Tristan, staring him daggers. "We fucking lost Ben." He started, "I heard. Why is it that big of a deal? It was a game for fun, Tristan." "I don't have fun when I don't fucking win." He retaliated. Marcielle and Marcus were chatting in the background, Chad came up to stand beside me. "The fuck you yelling at him for Tristan? You spiked the fucking ball, its your fault we lost." Chad stood up for me, which wasn't unusual. "If he fucking set me lower I wouldn't have hit that thing in the head." "Not fucking cool." I spoke up. "You didn't fucking tell me he was transgender, or gay, you fucking knew this whole time." "Yeah, well you support that shit. I don't. That he she, whatever the fuck it is, shouldn't be here." I started to walk away, but Tristan grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. "Ben, it's fine. Just set lower next time and-" "You try not to fucking kill a genuine person, next time." I retaliated, "I care about you, Ben." Tristan spoke, I said nothing, and I walked away.