Hold On (Book 1 of It's Not Over)

After School

A/N: This is the version of I am the Walrus that the guys are playing at the end of the chapter.

Warning: Description of a car accident, and injuries. Also, Remus has more speaking lines in this so yeah, just be warned.

--

The rest of the first week of school went by pretty uneventfully, and rather quickly. When Friday rolled around I was surprised when Remus pulled up in front of Patton and me in an old beat-up van. Judging by the look on Patton's face he had been perplexed by this as well.

"Get in. You've got practice. And the puffball is coming along so Logan can help us with our maths."

"You don't have to be mean--"

"Aww! That's so sweet of Logan," Patton squealed, climbing into the back of the van and sitting beside the nerd.

I looked sceptically at the vehicle before me and chewed my bottom lip nervously. "H-how far away are we from your house?" My eyes shot towards Remus in the driver's seat.

"About ten minutes."

"How far is it to walk?"

"Dude, that's like a fucking four-mile walk."

"Language, kiddo," Patton chirped from the backseat.

"Just get in, Virge." Remus sighed. I took a step back from the vehicle and bumped into someone.

"What's going on?" The person I bumped into placed a hand on my shoulder to help steady me. Looking over the shoulder his hand was on I spotted Roman and mentally kicked myself.

"Trying to get home, but Virgil seems to think that a four-mile walk would be preferable to a ten-minute car ride."

"I-it's not that..."I stammered, lowering my head and allowing my bangs to help hide my face.

"Oh no," I heard some whispering and felt the hand on my shoulder tighten slightly which caused me to tense a bit.

"I'll give him a ride. He'll just be a little late for practice."

"Ro, dude."

"Look, he's obviously not comfortable with the idea of riding in your old junker. I'll just have to run pick up some drinks for the party tomorrow night. I could use the extra arms anyway."

"Fiiiiine," Remus groaned. "See you when you guys get to the house." The van started up again and took off out of the parking lot.

I didn't really want Patton in the van either, but it wasn't like I could stop him. he honestly wouldn't have even broken his arm if it hadn't been for me not wearing my seatbelt. I still have nightmares about that night. And our dad, being the ever accommodating parent that he was, opted to get a sedan instead of another mini-van. He claimed it upped his cool factor, but I knew that it was because he saw the fear in my face when we went to look at new cars and he'd asked about another mini-van.

I know that it's stupid for me to be afraid of riding in mini=vans after the accident. That I should be more afraid of being on the freeway or of semis, but phobias are never rational, even if the cause of them is rational. I mean, take Patton's arachnophobia for example. he's so terrified of spiders that he can't look at fake ones or even a picture of one. Now, being afraid of spiders is rational. That fear keeps us safe from the dangerous ones (which there are maybe like 9 of). But to be so afraid that even one that you know is fake or just seeing a picture of one freaks you out? That's a bit much.

And so, there I stood in the middle of the parking lot with Roman Wulf. The guy who had saved me from a bully twice in one day and shared every AP and honours course I had with me. "Did your parents like really like Roman mythology or something?" I asked, looking up at him. The look on his face was comical and I would have laughed if I wasn't actively trying to prevent myself from having a panic attack.