Tyrus || Afterparty (Completed)

A shoulder to cry on

TJ POV

I ran. I ran until i got to the front door when I heard a voice.
"Where do you think you're going?", said some lady. I turned and saw one of the deans, Ms. Robinson.
"I-", but I didn't have an answer. And for the first ever time at school, I started to cry.
"Why don't you come into my office", she said, leading me. We got into her office and she asked, "now why were you trying to run out of school?"
"I- I don't know", I said through tears. I really didn't know. In that moment I just wanted to be anywhere else here.
"What was happening right before you decided to leave?" She asked. I was feeling so much in that moment that I didn't want to hold it in.
"I just felt like everyone was watching me. Judging me. My concussion didn't help".
"I understand you are feeling overwhelmed. Do you want to talk about? Or is there someone you want me to call?" She asked. Her voice was soothing.
"Can you call down a student?" I asked. The only person I wanted to see was Cyrus right now.
"I'll go see", she said. She got up to leave the room, "who do you want to see?"
"Cyrus Goodman", I said, maybe a little to quickly.
"Alright then". She closed the door as she left the room.

I tried to pull myself together. It had been a few minutes since she left so I thought about what happened. Then the door opened and my heart exploded with happiness.

"Oh my gosh TJ! What's wrong?" Cyrus said as soon as he saw me.
"I'll leave you two alone in here", she said as she closed the door.
"What happened?" He asked as he sat down in the chair next to me. I didn't even know what to say.
"It's just-", I took a deep breath, "I've never felt so- I don't even know the word". Cyrus grabbed my hand and I continued, "everyone knew what happened. Everyone was judging me. Everything was so overwhelming. Part of it was the concussion and the migraine I probably have now but- but some of it was just- I just felt so-"
"Powerless?" Suggested Cyrus. He was right.

I've been the big tough guy at our school forever. 'Scary basketball guy' is what Cyrus called me at the swings the first time. But now I wasn't. I don't want to be known as 'scary' but I also don't want to be known as the kid who got beat up.

"Yeah. Powerless", I said.
"You are not powerless, TJ", said Cyrus, "you are one of the bravest people I know". I squeezed his hand tighter as i felt a tear roll down my face.
"It sounds stupid, I know", I said
"No it's not. I get where you're coming from", he said, scooting his chair over so they were touching, "I've felt powerless basically my whole life. I was always the small nerdy kid who would sometimes get picked on. The sloppy joe incident really brought back those memories"
"Sorry. Now I feel really stupid", I said, "you were the one who was more hurt by this". He stared at me with a confused face.
"You were in the hospital", he said
"Emotionally, I mean". He looked at me again.
"Was I though?"  This whole time I was trying to hold it back but I couldn't anymore. I let all the tears out. Cyrus looked like he was starting to cry too. He pulled my head closer and I laid it on his shoulder.
"Wow. I'm a literal shoulder to cry on", said Cyrus. I tried to laugh but it was more of a half laugh half cry. He laid his head on mine and we just sat their for a few minutes and cried. I rubbed his thumb with mine as our fingers were still interlocked.

"You know where I want to be right now?" I asked.
"Where?"
"The park. With you". He was silent for a few seconds before saying, "why don't we go then".
I lifted my head up, "What? Ms. Robinson told me you tried to run out of the school", he said, "is that where you were going to go?"
"Um, probably", I said.
"Well, she's not standing there anymore"
"So?"
"So.... let's go!"
"Cy, are you sure? We would get in trouble"
"Dancing with danger is on my bucket list". I remembered him saying that when I helped him get the chocolate chocolate chip muffin.
"Haven't you already done that? Chocolate chocolate chip muffin?"
"This is real danger", he looked really exited to be skipping school. I guess he's always been a rule follower.
"If you are caught, I'm taking the blame", I said
"I will", he demanded
"We both will". He smiled and I smiled back.
"Are we really doing this?", i said. We cleared our tears and left the room.
"Where are you going?", one of the other deans asked.
"I'm feeling better so we're going back to class", I lied. We went out of the deans office, made sure no one was looking, and we left.