Appointments || DNF

chapter twenty-four ✤

"You don't have to cover them up you know; they don't bother me." George said quietly. He was lying in bed, but had turned to look at Dream who was standing by the dresser.

It was early in the morning, Dream had woken up before him, he was shirtless at the moment, he had just taken his long-sleeved shirt off and his arms were wrapped in bandages like they usually were.

Dream wasn't facing George.

He took a deep breath. He knew George was trying to be nice, trying to make him feel comfortable and he appreciated it, he really did.

But George would never understand what it was like to look down at your own arms and be so disgusted by the way they looked that it made you want to throw up. Dream didn't just hide his arms from others, he hid them from himself as well.

"I prefer to have them covered." Dream replied quietly, he then placed another long-sleeved shirt on.

He hadn't cut himself for three weeks now, moving into this new flat had kept him busy and after telling George everything that had happened to him, he had realised how messed up it all sounded and he didn't want George to be with someone so messed up.

So, he had made a promise to himself, for what felt like the hundredth time, to stop cutting himself, but this time he was actually sticking to that promise and three weeks he thought was something to be proud of.

Dream moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge; he was putting his socks on.

"What time does your lecture finish?" Dream asked, wanting to change the conversation.

"Twelve." George replied.

"You still going to see Wilbur afterwards?"

"Yeah."

"I'll see you when you get back then."

George nodded and Dream left, he had somewhere he had to be too.

He made his way out of his flat and onto the street outside where he walked for a couple of blocks. He was going to an office; he had received an email from the people who organized and gave out bursaries and he was going to meet them.

Once he arrived, he was ushered into a small room that had no windows, a man was seated at the desk before him and he was scanning the screen of his computer.

"I'm sorry Clay but we can't."

"What?" Dream didn't understand.

"We're not going to fund you."

"Why not?" Dream was sitting opposite the man and he started playing with his hands in an attempt to distract himself.

"You know why we can't."

"I don't." Dream said, he was trying his best to keep his voice steady, he didn't want the man to know how desperately he wanted a bursary, how desperately he wanted to go to university. "I got a scholarship, I sent you the essay I wrote, have you read it?"

"I've read it." The man said. "It was very impressive."

"Then why can't you fund me?"

"Clay, you don't have any qualifications, you stopped turning up to school years ago, there are other people we could fund, other people who do have qualifications, people who are better suited for university."

People who were better than him.

Dream's face dropped a little.

He had been so stupid to allow himself to hope that he was going to get this, to allow himself to think that something might work in his favour for once. Everything he had ever done had gone wrong, why he thought this would be different he didn't know.