Born To Be Alone

C H A P T E R S E V E N

After two weeks of bed rest , I was finally able to go to school .
Brady had come over every day after school and given me the assignments. During the weekends, he taught me what I didn't understand. We watched movies and he even slept over some days .

When I went back to school, I felt more insecure . I always felt like Greg was gonna appear out of nowhere and start beating me up. I admit, it was a little too much, but I couldn't help it. You'd think that after all those beatings I would get used to it but I never did. The incident was all I could think about as I walked down the hallway, oblivious to everyone and everything . I was however snapped to reality when I hit someone .

I stumbled backwards and almost fell but was quickly saved by two muscular arms wrapping themselves around my waist. I looked up to thank the person when my brown eyes met with familiar ocean blue ones. They were Wesley's.

I stayed still, not wanting to leave the comfort of his arms. His eyes stared deeply into mine, his gaze so sharp that it looked like it was piercing my heart, exposing every little secret I had hidden in my short life. I tried, and failed, not to get lost in his mesmerizing eyes.

I don't know how long we stayed like that but the moment was cut short by the ringing of the bell. We both snapped back to reality and realized that people had stopped to look at us . Some had taken out their phones and were taking videos.

I jumped out of his arms , turned around and started running . I did not know why but it felt like the right thing to do. I needed to get as far away as I could from people and everything else. I knew people would misinterpret it and start calling me gay , which meant more beatings from Greg and verbal insults from the rest of the student body. As for Wesley, since he was a popular kid , they would let it pass. I ran into the bathroom and made sure no one was in. I needed to be alone.

I went to the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. I could feel my breaths coming out erratically and tears threatening to spill.

" One , two , three , four..." I counted . But this time, it didn't help.

I inhaled more sharply and exhaled shaky breaths. My heart was beating faster and the tears were coming out . I furiously wiped them away but they kept on increasing. I gave up after a while and let them flow freely . My whole body was shaking and I could not do anything to stop it.

Then I felt a hand on my back. A big strong warm hand. Then a voice followed " it's going to be okay. Just follow my breaths." It was Wesley's. I wanted to run from him but I didn't have the energy to . So , I just let him help me out .

Eyes closed , I listened to his breathing and tried to follow it . It took about twenty minutes but soon enough I was breathing normally again. The tears had stopped spilling but my eyes were all red and puffy and I had tear marks on my cheeks .

I turned to see Wesley looking at me with concern.

" Are you okay?" He asked.

I didn't trust my voice not to come out weakly so I nodded .

" Do you wanna talk about it?"

I looked at him as though he'd just lost his mind.

" I know what you're thinking but I'm a good listener."

I still looked at him as though he had two heads . I mean, the guy barely knew me and he wanted me to spill out all my secrets to him? In the school bathroom? He must be mad.

" If this is about the hallway then I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me . "

Finally able to speak , I told him,
" Don't worry about me , I'll be fine . These episodes come and go. And about the hallway, I'll be ok. I'm used to people talking shit about me."