A New Chance To Live

31

Warnings:
-None

Clay's POV

I wiped my tears away and tapped my bed. 'You can sit down if you want. I'm sorry if I'm going to act weird, I just feel like I have to be more perfect to impress you. Maybe you don't even want a friendship with me anymore. That's fine too,' I whispered.

'We can just start from the beginning. If you want to,' George said.

'George, can I surprise you? Or is it just stupid?'

'You can surprise me.'

'Okay, but I want to surprise you with your parents there too.'

'My mother is waiting for me in the car and my dad is at home.'

I got so excited that I stood up and grabbed his hand. 'Come, I can't wait.'

'Clay, I'm so sorry,' George whispered as he looked at me. 'I'm so sorry for what I let you go through. Did you cut a lot?'

I shrugged. 'Just sometimes.'

'What's sometimes?'

'I'd rather not say,' I said with an uncomfortable smile.

'Clay, please.'

'A few times a day, but it's okay. I can't wait for the surprise, can we go?'

'Fine,' George whispered. 'I'm really tired, I'm sorry.' He was walking really slowly and I grabbed his hand.

'I can lift you up if you want, but you would probably not want me to touch you anymore because I'm bisexual. You're probably right about me being a-.'

'No, I was absolutely not right about that. I was just mad and I'm sorry.'

'Okay,' I said with a smile. 'Come.'

I wrapped my arm around his waist and felt my whole body getting weak because I was this close to him. I took a deep breath and George giggled softly.

'You still get nervous around me.'

'Because I want you to care about me,' I whispered. 'I'm sorry for being nervous, I promise you that I'm not hitting on you.'

'Stop saying sorry. You haven't done anything wrong.'

I nodded and we went downstairs. My mother looked at us and I smiled. She just left it like that and we went to the car.

We didn't say much in the car, but George grabbed my hand which caused me to smile. I was so nervous that I felt breathless and overly excited. I was trying to say a lot, but was afraid to mess up.

A few minutes later we arrived at George's place and I told his mother I had a big surprise. I had the proof of the money on my phone and I was going to give it to them with some help from someone who knew more about money than me.

I walked into the house and George's mother told his dad to sit down. I greeted him and he looked at me shortly.

'I thought you weren't my son's friend anymore.'

'Uh- well, sort of.'

'We are uh- okay right now,' George muttered. 'Don't get mad again.'

His dad nodded. 'I'm not judging about that anymore. But go ahead, what's up?'

'Okay, I have a really big surprise and I wished to give this way earlier, but I uh- couldn't earlier.'

I grabbed my phone and looked up the proof and took a deep breath.

'I know George has a deadly disability and I promised him that I would do everything I can to help him. In the time he stayed at home because he was feeling so sick and after I had to perform CPR on him, I organised an event at school.'

George looked at me with a shocked face and I smiled.

'I raised money to give George a new chance to live his life like a teenager should. It went way better than we expected it to go and uh- I might sound unbelievable, but I have the proof here,' I said with a big smile, turning my phone around.

'We raised just a bit more than a hundred thousand dollars.'

It was completely quiet and even George's dad was left in a shock. It didn't take long before George's mother started crying and his dad stood up. George looked at me and his dad walked closer to me.

'Clay, you don't know how much you've saved us. Is this actually true?'

'It is,' I said with a smile.

George walked closer to me and had dark red cheeks as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close to his body.

'Clay, I'm so sorry. I should have believed you, forgive me for what I've said and done to you. I thought you didn't love me anymore.'

'It's f-fine,' I stuttered nervously. I giggled shyly and George gave me a really tight hug.

'I love you,' he whispered in my ear.

I smiled, but couldn't even speak because of how nervous I was.

'Do you know what treatments there are?' I asked his parents once I calmed down. 'I looked it up, but he has to go through a lot for that. When he's eighteen, he can get surgery which reduces the symptoms by a lot.'

His mother smiled. 'You saved us, Clay. Do you realise that?'

'It's not only me, it's also all the people who donated and helped raise money.'

We talked for a little while and George grabbed my hand to pull me upstairs. I went upstairs with him and he laid down on his bed next to me.

'I'm sorry, I'm genuinely sorry,' George said as he let me rest my head on his shoulder.

'I'm just very happy,' I whispered. 'You are happy and not mad at me anymore. I just hope you will ever forgive me...'

'I already forgave you, Clay. There's actually nothing I needed to forgive you for. I need to be forgiven and I hope you want to do that, I'm so sorry for being this mean to you.'

'I can't stay mad at you for long anyway. I've never even been mad at you, I've just been really sad instead. I'm just very glad that you still like me.'

'Do you want to hug me?' George asked with a smile. 'We can hug again and I promise you that I don't care about your sexuality. I was just mad, but I can hug a bisexual guy and I don't care.'

'Please,' I whispered.

He smiled. 'I'm really tired now. Do you want to stay with me if I sleep and be my friend again?'

'I would love to.'

1075 words