The Cute And The Confident- Phan

Chapter 17 - Dread

Phil awoke in his nan's spare room and for a moment freaked out at the change in scenery, but soon reality kicked in and he remembered exactly where he was and why. He wished that he had a normal life with a normal family with parents that actually loved him, but that wish never came true and maybe that's because his family were too far gone.

"Phil, dear, it's seven o'clock," his nan called though the door. "I've got breakfast on the table!"

"Okay, be out in a minute," Phil replied with a sigh. He was not looking forward to school at all and the last thing he needed was to see Dan, as he was struggling to keep it together already.

He made his way down the stairs tiredly and slid into an available chair at the table beside his brother.

"Hey, Phil," Aden said through mouthfuls of pancake. "Nan made pancakes!"

Phil forced a smile, "That's good, buddy. Are they good?"

"They better bloody be, I put a lot of effort into them!" his nan laughed.

"Tuck in, boy," his grandad piped in with a smile. "They'll go cold otherwise."

"Morning to you to, grandad," Phil smiled. "Nice to see you to."

His grandad laughed, "Sorry, how's school going?"

"It's okay. It's school at the end of the day, so how good can it be?" Phil took a mouthful of pancake and his eyes rolled at the sweet taste; he hadn't had pancakes that good in so long. He makes them obviously for Aden, but they're no where near as good as these were.

"Aden was telling me that you're tutoring someone. Dan isn't it?" Grandad Jerry smiled, whilst sipping his coffee. "Is it helping him?"

Phil glanced to the side briefly; he didn't want to be reminded of Dan. What was he kidding? He was constantly thinking of Dan, so it didn't make much difference.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Dan's great!" Aden piped in. "He bought me ice cream!"

"Did he now?" Jerry smiled fondly at the boy. "Salted caramel, was it?"

Aden nodded enthusiastically, whilst munching on another pancake that he had piled on top of the three already on his plate.

"Aden, don't be greedy," Phil sighed, as he took another pancake from the pile.

"It's okay, Phil. He can eat as many as he likes," his nan smiled sweetly. She had missed the boys, as it was roughly two months since she had seen them and she felt awful. She should be doing something to help, but what that was she didn't know. "I washed his uniform last night and put it in the dryer, so it should be ready. It was looking a little grubby."

"Sorry, I just randomly picked up clothes for him," Phil tried to smile, but it wasn't working. He was finally reaching the limit of how long he could put on a facade. "Usually I've got them all washed, but I didn't have time."

"You wash your clothes?" Jerry frowned. "What's your mother doing?"

Phil shrugged and took a sip of his coffee to try and prevent further conversation of his mother; she wasn't a topic that he enjoyed even thinking about, so talking about her was something he tried to avoid.

He took a glance at the clock noticing that it was almost eight o'clock and he wasn't even dressed yet, so he excused himself from the table and sprinted upstairs to get changed.

The walk to school was extremely nerve wracking, but Phil had managed to make it into the building without being called out by anyone or bumping into Dan, so maybe this day was going to be better than usual.