Finding The Light

28

Warnings:
-None

Clay's POV

'Could I speak to Clay?' my biology teacher randomly asked after knocking on the door to my English classroom. 'It's important.'

'Of course,' my English teacher replied when she noticed the urgency. Slowly, I raised my bag up to my shoulders and frowned upon walking to him.

He smiled and laid a hand on my shoulder, closing the door behind us. 'What is this about? I need to get a good grade,' I groaned, still upset with him for what he had done to Reggie, no matter how much I disliked him.

'I would like to talk to you about a few things,' he started as he went into a different classroom than he usually sat in. 'Take a seat, please.'

'Fine,' I grumbled as I sat down and threw my bag on the floor without any interest in him.

'Clay, has everything been going alright lately?'

'I'm fine, why are you asking?' I questioned with a confused face.

'I hope you know you're safe here and are able to say anything you want to say without being judged for it,' he assured me, but it left an even deeper frown on my forehead. 'There's no need to be afraid.'

'Sir, I have no clue what you're talking about. I said I'm fine and I mean it. You've probably heard about the argument between Reggie and me, but it's just two friends growing apart.'

'It's about Reggie and I understand this is really difficult for you, but I know what he did to you and you're allowed to stay quiet. I just want to know how I can help you get through this.'

'Hold on, something Reggie did to me?' I asked with squinted eyes because of how serious he sounded. 'We argued about something personal, that's it.'

'Clay, in case you feel alone, this doesn't only happen to girls. Boys can be victims too and it happens more frequently than we think. You're not alone.'

'Wait,' I started. 'What is this about? Did he tell you what happened between us? Because I knew he's an asshole, but he didn't have to get a teacher he hated involved.'

'I don't like it when you speak to me like this, Clay. Reggie has never hated me. He told me he did something terrible and I figured out that he raped you. It's really impactful and I just want to be here for you.'

I stayed quiet and just stared in front of me, slowly shaking my head. 'No, I'm not sure what this is about... He hasn't raped me, but I feel like he has some lying disorder or some shit, because if he has always been kind to you, he lied to me too.'

'What do you mean, Clay?' he asked with confusion on his face too now.

'He told me you hit him,' I groaned with a low tone in my voice. 'So figure that out with him. I'm going back to class, he didn't rape me and I have no clue why he is trying to get attention like that. It's probably one of his weird tricks to ease his addictions.'

'Clay, what has he told you about me? That I hit him?' he repeated. 'Because I haven't hit him, you know that right?'

'I don't know, because he did show me the bruises caused by you,' I answered. 'So either way, just stay away from him, he's a creep.'

'Can you follow me for a second?' the teacher asked me. I sighed, but still nodded and walked after him into the direction of his classroom.

Slowly, he unlocked the door and pointed inside, which soon revealed Reggie. I gasped and shook my head, ready to turn around again, but the teacher locked the door again and pointed to a chair close to him.

'I want to talk to both of you about these situations, because I have heard something that you've said about me, Reggie, and Clay doesn't seem to recognise himself in the story you told me either.'

'W-what?' Reggie whimpered as he looked at me, and then back to the teacher. 'Did you tell him another secret? Is that the way you take revenge?'

'I told him the truth, asshole,' I groaned. 'And the truth is that you lie about everything to get attention.'

'I haven't lied!' he yelled out, but the teacher slammed his hand on the table to make us stop.

'So you're telling me you haven't told Clay I hit you earlier?' the teacher questioned, which made Reggie turn his eyes away and stay quiet. 'That confirms the truth. Why have you told him that? Why did you come up with a lie about raping someone? You can go to jail for such a thing.'

Reggie turned completely quiet as he turned his eyes towards me. 'You hate me so much, right? Why aren't you just honest to him about what I've done?'

'Reggie, I don't know what this shitty method of yours is, but you haven't raped me and you know you didn't. You're a psychopath for making up a lie about that. Do you want me to be seen as some victim? Or do you want to be seen as more powerful than I am?'

The teacher held up his hand to make me stop speaking when we saw Reggie curl up on his chair more and more. 'Reggie, can you say something?'

'I d-don't know what...' he mumbled. 'I'm not lying.'

'You lied about the teacher hitting you,' I answered without feeling remorse. 'Are you such a weirdo that you used makeup to fake bruises?'

'Clay, stop it,' the teacher shushed me. 'There can be reasons behind this lie and the way you're treating him is blatantly rude.'

'I'm sticking up for you,' I said angrily. 'Because if I didn't say anything, you could have been fired for abusing kids at school. Next to that, it's obvious he's sick in his head because he is lying about raping someone.'

'Stop,' the teacher repeated when he heard Reggie sob softly. 'I don't care what's a lie or not, I just want you to be respectful towards him. He is clearly upset and feels a lot of guilt after what happened.'

'Are you literally just trying to make me tell him the truth?' I accused Reggie. 'Because you're such a dickhead if this is the way you want it to be, bro. Fine, sir, we had sex, out of free will, but he ran off after it happened and went to another guy the next day and blocked my number.'

'I felt guilty,' Reggie whispered. 'I didn't mean to rape you...'

'You know you didn't rape me, asshole!' I screamed out as I jumped up. 'Seek help, unstable liar!'

'I'm not lying...' he whimpered again, which made the teacher grab a paper.

'Clay, I want you to cool down and when you're calm again, I want you to answer a few questions I'll write down for you. Hand it to me before tomorrow.'

1176 words