Unlikely Lovers

16: Evan

Evan got home from school, and his mother was standing in the kitchen mortified.

"Evan Hansen!" He froze.

"Mum what are you doing home?" She shook her head angrily.

"Well i don't know Evan, maybe it's because i got a phone call from your principal saying that you cut class since first period today? And i leave you a dozen messages and missed calls and you don't respond to any of them?" Evan ripped his phone out of his bag, and scrolled through what looks like hundreds of notifications.

"Mum I'm so sorry." She waved him away.

"I don't want to hear your excuses Evan. What were you doing? Who were you with?" Evan drew in a shaky breath.

"i was with Connor." His mum frowned.

"Connor? Who is that?" Evan stared at the ground.

"He's my friend." Evan's mum raised her eyebrows in shock. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you it's just that you've been working so much and i just didn't know how to tell you." She nodded slowly.

"Okay then what were you doing cutting class with this friend of yours." The anger from her voice has left but her tone was stern.

"Please mum i don't want to talk about it." He pleaded.

"Tell me Evan." Evan swallowed hard.

"Okay but you have to promise you wont tell anyone else, please it's- it's important." Evan's mother was beginning to look concerned. She went and sat on the sofa, Evan sat beside her.

"Okay then, tell me everything." Evan nodded.

"Well you see, Connor he, he hurts a lot. He's not a bad person he just, he just can't handle things sometimes and it all just gets too much for him. And i told him to stop hurting himself because it's not good, and i told him if it ever got too much for him to call me? For him to call me so i could help him make it better cause that's- that's what friends do?" He shrugged, trying to ignore the fact his eyes were burning. "And we hadn't talked in a couple of days and didn't he didn't come to school and i was getting worried. And he called me in the middle of maths class and, and so i went to the bathroom and he told me he needed me. That he was hurting and he needed me to help him. And and and so i ran to his house i just, i just ran the whole way there because i was so scared and and when i got there, when i got in the house he was on the bathroom floor-" Evan could feel himself slowly falling apart, tears were falling down his face, "and he was just sitting there, holding a razor blade in his hand and there was blood everywhere, his arm was just covered in cuts and he just looked so scared. Mum he just looked so scared. So i got my first aid kit, the one you gave me, i got it out and i bandaged him up but i had to clean his arm first because it could get infected." Evan look a minute to swallow and compose himself, his mother watched him with concern as she started at her son with tears in her eyes, "So i rinsed his arm under the sink and-" Evan started sobbing, "he screamed, he just sat there and screamed and there was nothing i could do to stop it he just sat there and he was hurting and i was hurting for him and there was nothing i could do and i just wanted to fix it." His mum started crying, and she took Evan in her arms and squeezed him tightly as he cried to her.

"Oh honey I'm, I'm so sorry." Evan started shaking.

"I just wanted to fix it, i just wanted to make it okay!" The two of them just sat on sofa as Evan poured his heart out to her. Once he calmed down she pulled away and looked her son in the eyes.

"Now you know how i feel about you huh?" Evan smiled and nodded and he wiped the tears from his face.

"You just, you can't tell anyone okay he only trusts me. He only trusts me." She nodded.

"Okay honey i won't tell anyone, I'll just say we had a family emergency pop up and you forgot to take your note to the office okay?" Evan nodded slowly.

"Thanks mum." She hugged him tight.

"I love you honey, I'm sorry you had to go through with that. Seeing your friend like that, it must have been hard for you." Evan whispered quietly.

"Yeah. It was."