F.A.F // H2OVanoss [Completed]

Chapter 39

"You know Evan likes him, right?" Brock said as him and Craig lounged in his room, having a spontaneous chill session. Craig raises his eyebrows at his friend. "Tyler, Evan clearly likes him. You know what you said about Evan blowing you off, but he agreed when Tyler asked him?" Craig nodded. "Evan totally likes him, and Tyler probably doesn't have a clue."

"Of course he does, you know Evan just as well as I do." Craig pulls out his phone, typing away. "He hasn't even texted me since, he's definitely avoiding me, too. Idiot." He blinks rapidly as if to diffuse tears.

"But, something still seems off about the whole thing-" Brock begins to think aloud, only to be cut off by Craig, who still seems fired up about the whole situation.

"Nothing is off about it, Brock, Evan is just upset that he couldn't get who he originally wanted so he's going after the guy I like just because he can. He's trying to fill the hole where his pride used to be. Fuck Evan, after middle school he just turned into a piece of shit-"

"Then why did Tyler tell me that Evan actually liked Jonathan though? Near the beginning of the year, Tyler was telling me how he knew that Evan liked someone. He picked up on his certain habits and he figured out that he liked Jonathan. It kinda makes sense, Evan has been kinda down-"

"It's an excuse for him to be distant, after the party you know we're never gonna talk to him ever again."

"What if thats not it, Tyler said he had panic attacks-"

"Those are the kind of things that friends should know about."

"You don't know how they affect him, Craig, it could be serious. You know we've never actually seen Evan cry, he could be really hurting himself."

"He's fine, Brock. Just drop it. If it really affected him then it would have been important enough for him to tell us, that's not something you just keep to yourself. He's fine."

"He didn't tell us about his parents for a while, that's something friends should know about, Craig, you don't know what Evan's going through."

"Evan is just trying to decide which one of us he is going to screw over next."

-------------------

Evan didn't want to go to the party, where it would be loud and any witness to future crimes would be too drunk to be trustable. They used to be Evan's crowd, but no longer. He was no longer like them, he was too broken to be a part of their cause. Meaningless drinking and one night stands, his coping mechanisms, they had all left him alone, so now he would end up standing amongst a crowd of happy go lucky high school students and feel absolutely alone. No one would give him a second glance as the music blasted through the speakers, red solo cups thrust into the air in triumph. It would be so loud, Evan knew that quiet would never visit him again.

Until then, he sat in English class, his essay placed in front of him, completely finished and ready to be turned in, and all he could think about was the party. Jonathan sat across from him, tapping away on his phone with occasional glances over at the boy in front of him. Evan drifted into his mind, walking through a field of emotions as he waited for the period to be over. His teacher had said that she would pick up their assignments at the end of the period, and Evan was too scared to turn his in early. The idea of standing up and walking to her desk seemed insane. His essay would be clutched in his hands and his eyes wouldn't know where to look as his stiff muscles forced him forward, eyes burning holes through the sides of his arms and his back. Just the thought of that was terrifying. He couldn't do it.

"Hey," Jonathan speaks up, ignoring the looks various people throw at him as Evan's head perks up and his brown eyes meet his. They look sunken in, dull, and have dark circles underneath them. Yet, the vibe he gave off was completely different, because it was normal. His shoulders looked tensed and like they were trying to be as small as possible, almost as if they attempted to cave in on themselves. "You okay?" He can feel the irony of him asking that question the moment he says it, and can also feel immediate sadness as Evan gives a convincing nod and goes back to staring at nothingness, completely lost in his thoughts.

Seconds ticked by like hours, minutes as long as days as Evan's eyes darted over to the clock on the wall every few moments or so. Fifteen minutes were left in the period, meaning he had spent well over an hour hidden away in his thoughts, interrupted only by the small interaction he had with Jonathan, which had cleared his thoughts for a few minutes before taking him back to where he didn't want to go.

His scars itched, scabbed over lines no longer in need of protective bandage are hidden beneath his sleeve. Evan ignored the urge to scratch them, he couldn't draw suspicion, so he let the itch bug him further. He couldn't risk drawing blood since he had no bandages to cover it up, nor did he have a jacket to hide a bloody sleeve. Instead he suffered, thankful to have another thing to distract him from his violent thoughts.

Finally, he hears the words he's been waiting to hear. "Alright class, please turn in your essays now, both group and individual. Just sandwich your group one in between the individuals. After that, you may leave." Evan immediately offers to take the essays up, to which Jonathan agrees and hands them over. Putting them into the proper order as he made his way up along with a small crowd of students.

By the time he had gotten up there was a small stack of essays, he placed his own small stack on top and smiled at the teacher who smiled back at him. "Have a great weekend, Evan." She said as he turned to leave the room, having already grabbed his stuff and was eager to get out of class. He felt emotions of dread and fear fall to the pit of his stomach as he digested her words.

The party was tomorrow.