One and Only (MINICAT)

C h a p t e r 34

Craig's POV

We had already ate dinner with my family and chatted a monk each other. Tyler and I told them about the beach house and how Evan got it for us to stay in for two weeks. They asked Tyler a lot of questions which didn't surprise me as they hadn't seen him in seven years. After eating I helped my mother clean the dishes as Tyler and my father chatted in the living room. We ended up playing a few rounds of UNO, shared some laughs, and talked with each other until they headed to bed. So now we're here, Tyler was sitting in the rolly chair beside my desk as I was sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Do you remember how we became friends?" I ask, looking over to him as he turns his head in my direction, away from his phone. "Of course I do." He replied. I sign as I get up and walk over to him, sitting in his lap with my legs swung over the arm of the chair.

Flashback (Now in Tyler's POV)

I'll never forget that day I met my best friend. I walked into my second grade classroom and immediately noticed we had a new classmate at our table. He had short but curly light brown hair, glasses that laid nicely on the bridge of his nose, he was a bit on the short side but that may be because I was the tallest in the class and everyone here to me was short. But what stood out to me the most was his eyes, they were a beautiful light green colour that had a little sparkle to them. He was talking with the other classmates that were at the table, seeming to get along with  everyone. I thought to myself, I have to be his friend.

I later learned that his name was Craig, Craig Thompson to be exact. I wanted so badly to talk to him, be his friend but for some reason I never could. Like there was something holding me back, but I didn't quite know what it was. I mean I was only in the second grade, so of course I didn't know. The only thing I could do was look at him when he would talk a monk the kids at our table, I did this for a few years. It was quite sad if you think about it. But one day that all changed when word got out that he was gay.

We were in the sixth grade now, he ended up telling the wrong person his biggest secret and it got out. No one talked to him, not even the people at our table. Everyone left him, I knew this was my chance to step in but yet something was holding me back.

One day though when I was walking to school early in the morning I saw three boys kicking and punching Craig, he was on the ground holding his stomach as he cried out in pain. I felt the anger within me rise as I stomped over to them. (Tyler was popular now) and literally threw one of the kids to the ground scaring the other two. "Leave him alone!" I yelled as I raised my fist to punch one of them but was stopped by a hand holding mine. I looked to see Craig holding it well tears were streaming down his face. "S-stop I-it's not w-worth it." He cried. I turned back towards the two scared looking kids as I calmed myself down. "get lost before I beat you up." I spoke through gritted teeth and watched them run away from us. I turned back to face Craig and did the only thing I could, hug him.

He sobbed into my chest as I rubbed his back and tried my best to calm him down before people started arriving. I pulled him away from my chest slightly and grabbed his hand, running off school grounds. "W-what are you d-doing!?" He asked from behind me. "We can't skip school!" He shouted but I didn't stop nor did I let go of his hand until we were far from the school. We now stood in a meadow full of colourful flowers. I let go of Craig's hand as he whipped his head at me. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" He shouted, the anger lingering in his voice. "Do you know who I am?" His face turned into confusion as he tilted his head to the side a bit as he looked at me. "Of course I know who you are, you're Tyler Wilde. The most popular kid in school." He rolled his eyes near the end of his sentence and crossed his arms over his chest. "You probably brought me here to beat me up didn't you!? That's the only reason why you 'saved' me because you wanted to beat me yourself right!?" He yelled well waving his arms around as he talked. I felt my eyes growing wide as I tried taking a step towards him but he only backed away. "Don't fucking step any closer!" He shouted, he sure had a bad mouth for being in grade six. "I brought you here because I wanted to talk!" I suddenly yelled. His body straighten up as he looked at me. "W-what?" He stuttered, his eyes slightly wide. "I said I brought you here to talk. Do you remember grade two, Craig?" I used his name at the end causing his eyes to go fully wide. "You know who I am? Like you actually know my name?" I felt my heart ache as he asks me this. "You're Craig Thompson." He opened his mouth to say something but closed it, guessing he was confused. "I've known who you were since the first day you came here. I remember seeing you and wanting to be your friend, but I was always scared to talk to you. I also don't care that you're gay, it shouldn't matter if you're black, white, gay, bi, or straight were all human." I spoke but soon realized I had literally just told him I've been watching him since grade two. He probably think's I'm a creep or something, good job Tyler.

My thoughts were interrupted by Craig walking slowly over to me. He stopped once he was standing about a foot away from me and stuck his hand out between us. "I'm Craig, wanna be friends?" My eyes go wide as I look down at him and his hand. I soon grin wildly as I bring my hand into his causing him to blush a light pink. "I'm Tyler, and I would love to be friends Craig." We both smile at each other, never letting go of our hands.

We never actually went back to school that day. We ended up getting ice cream and talking, getting to know each other quickly and soon enough we became best friends. People stopped picking on him as they were scared of me. I promised him that night when he was at my house that I would protect him until the day I died, and I planned on keeping that promise until then.

End of flashback (back to Craig's POV, also try to remember this because it will be brought back later in the book)

Tyler and I laughed at the memories. "I plan on keeping that promise." He says as I get off him and back to the bed. I smile at him as he also gets off the chair and over to me. We get comfortable in the bed and just stare at each other. "I know Ty."

"I know."