A Shitty School Year

Trying to Help

~~~~~~~~~~Alex's POV~~~~~~~~~~

"Mitch..." I whined. "Why are you so mean?" It was the next morning and after breakfast, Mitch immediately had us practising. 

He chuckled softly. "Sorry, I wasn't trying. I just thought that if we get the work done now, we'll have more time later to do whatever." He looked down sheepishly as we walked back to that clearing with the pond. "We can do something else if you want."

"No, you're fine," Nik said. "Alex is just not much of a morning person." Nik shoved me slightly and I glared at him.

"Oh..." Is all Mitch said. He had remained relatively quiet since we woke up again this morning. I was worried about him. I could tell he was thinking about something that was taking most of his attention. 

I decided to ask him about it. "Hey Mitch, what's going on? You seem distracted.

Mitch was quick to respond. "Ah... It's nothing. Just a lot to think about." He seemed nervous, so I asked him again.

"Did something happen last night that you're not telling us?" I narrowed my eyes at him

He squirmed under my gaze. "Seriously, it's nothing. Let's get to practising." I dropped the subject but made a mental note to ask about it later. We made some good progress as we continued to work through the day. We made it back in time for lunch. This time and were bombarded by Luna and her friends. She ran up to Mitch and tackled him to the ground.

"Brother!" She yelled joyfully. "Why have you been ignoring me?"

I saw Mitch wince as he pushed Luna off of his left arm. "I haven't been ignoring you. I just didn't turn my phone on until last night." Mitch got up and pulled Luna to her feet. "How has camp been for the lot of you?" He addressed Luna and her friends.

"It's been amazing!" One of the twins exclaimed. I couldn't tell which one even though I've known them for so long.

"Really, Mia? I didn't take you for the nature type." Mitch said.

Mia giggled. "Christia and Zana haven't been enjoying themselves. Me and Luna have been having a blast!"

"Shut up, Mia," Zana said to her. "Christia and I are fine."

"Oh really? Yesterday you were nonstop complaining about the weather and bugs." Luna responded.

"Stop arguing, girls." Derek stepped up. "Let's go eat lunch and talk there." We walked into the refractory and found an empty table. I saw other kids looking at us, mainly Mitch, and start whispering.  

"What's with all the talk?" I asked Mitch loudly. His face pinkened slightly, but my words silenced the nearby tables.

"I don't usually come in here during the lunch period," Mitch responded. He sat down next to Luna and I sat next to him.

The lunch went on rather nicely. No one bothered our table and we had a fun time talking. Once lunch was over we hung out together for a while longer. I was noticing that Mitch was keeping his distance. He seemed afraid of... himself? I don't know. I wanted to get him away from the group and interrogate him. When the conversation died down, and everyone was on their phone, I went over to Mitch and pulled him away.

"What's up, Alex?" He asked. Leaning against the tree behind him, he looked independent and strong.

"You've been acting weird, and I wanna know what happened last night. You came back injured and wouldn't tell us what happened, and you've been acting distant." I explained. It sucked that I couldn't see his eyes, because his face didn't give anything away.

He smirked slightly. "I'm fine. I'm just tired, really." I didn't believe him. He looked pale and he didn't eat at all today. 

I walked closer to him and crossed my eyes to match him. "Then explain why you haven't eaten today. And you're extremely pale. And I don't like you lying to me."

He shifted nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about." He pressed himself closer against the tree.

I was basically right on top of him and our breath mixed. "What. Happened. Last. Night." I put my hands on his hips and waited for his answer.

His face was beet red. "I- umm- I-" His hands shot up to his face and said. "I'll tell you if you back up!" I laughed slightly and backed up one step. Mitch took a deep breath and lowered his hands. "You've gotta promise not to tell Luna or the other guys."

I watched him glance around nervously. "Yeah, I promise," I said after a minute. I was concerned about why he was so nervous.

"Well, I, umm." Mitch took a deep breath. "Last night, I ran into a group of seniors who were out to reak some havoc.  One of them used an Earth spell on me and tied me to a tree as the rest of them unleashed other spells on me. I was extremely angry at the use of spells and thought about burning the ropes. Seconds later, the ropes burned off. It was as if I just thought of something and it happened." He scratched his head and looked anywhere but at me.

"So, you've been worrying about that nonsense since this morning?" I asked. "That's ridiculous! Are you afraid of burning the forest down or something?" 

"Yeah actually..." Mitch responded. Pink still stained his cheeks as he stood there. I felt for him. Going up to him, I hugged him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"You're actually kinda cute when you're nervous." I held onto him for a while. I could tell he was confused and flustered. When I backed away, I said, "Now just calm down. We've put some colour back in your cheeks, now we just need to get you back to your annoyed and stoic self."

"Is that how you actually see me?" Mitch asked jokingly. 

"I mean, you are usually annoyed at something that someone has done," I said. He seemed better now that he told someone. I was baffled by what he told me, but I mainly just wanted him to calm down. "Let's head back to the group," I said.

For the rest of the day, we hung out. After dinner, I persuaded Mitch to stay in the cabin and we stayed up half the night playing a card game that Mitch wouldn't stop winning at. Derek and Nik both fell asleep around 1 am while Mitch and I stayed up until 3 am. Mitch had regained some confidence in himself and I was happy. Things were getting better.