Let Me Switch Places

Chapter 5 : The Calm Before The Storm

When the bleeding finally stopped, my stomach called for food again.

Simon ran to his backpack and grabbed a bit of everything, except the cigarettes of course. He put them on the night table next to the bed and I immediatly grabbed some chips.

I opened the packet and fulled my mouth with the salty taste. It was delightful.

Simon sat back on the bed, smiled a bit and said : "Don't eat too quick, your mouth is gonna bleed again."

I ignored him but still tried to eat slower.

Okay it wasn't a real meal. But it was clearly better than nothing.

I hesitated some seconds before saying: "Thank you."

He said : "Don't thank me, it's nothing."

A serious expression got back on his face as he opened his mouth to say something. He closed it back, hesitant.

"What?" I asked

He looked at me weirdly.

"You wanted to say something, what is it?" I said while finishing the last chip and grabbing a chocolate bar.

He hesitated one last time before saying : "Does your mom... forbidden you to eat?"

I stopped moving, dropping the chocolate bar I was about to eat on the table.

"I'm sorry, it's probably a sensitive subject but I was just curious."

"You think that asking this while I was finally eating was a good idea?"

"You're the one who told me to say what I wanted to say!"

"Yeah well I didn't know you were gonna ask that! I'm not even hungry anymore..."

He stopped a moment, thoughtful.

"Does... talking about it would help you?"

"I'm pretty sure you just want more informations to make fun of me at school, don't act like suddendly you became nice to me."

"What would I win telling our class?"

"Popularity. That's all you love."

"Wrong."

"Liar."

"Telling the school all I know about you would be useless anyways, everyone already thinks you're a weirdo and I already know plenty enough informations to make fun of you anyways."

"Thanks for being honest I guess."

"You would tell them my little dirty secret with boys anyways."

"Because you think they would believe me ? Simon you said it yourself: I'm the weirdo of the school."

"Can you stop saying my name?"

"Why?"

"Because it- I- when you say it, it makes me feel... weird." He sighed.

Weird? What does he mean by that? This guy really has a mental problem about people saying his name.

"What's wrong with people saying your name?"

"It's not people, it's just- you..."

"What do you mean, Simon?"

He hardly swallowed and said : "Stop. You know exactly what you're doing."

"No I don't, tell me."

"I wont."

"Fine then. I'll keep calling you that until you answer Simon~"

"Okay fine I'll tell you! But only if you answer my question."

I sighed before saying : "You're acting like a child."

"You shouldn't start now, you're the one trying to make me feel soft by saying my name- wait no I meant... uhm, not like "soft" but- like weird, I hate it... it's-"

A smile was growing on my face as he was stuttering and losing himself in his words. He blushed even harder at this realization and couldn't help chuckling a bit.

"Stop, y-you're so annoying."

"I can see you smiling right there!"

"No I'm not!" He denied with a smile while putting his hand on his face.

He then said: "Now you have to tell me if I'm right or not about your mom."

The smiles on our faces slowly disappeared and I sighed.

"Yeah yeah you were right. She doesn't want me to eat because she... thinks I'm fat."

I quickly added: "Which I am! I guess..."

"What? That's so fucked up, you need food to survive. And even if you're fat, what's the problem?"

I looked in his eyes, shock on my face. Did he just- body positived?

Maybe that he wasn't that bad of a person after all... Okay, maybe he is fucked up, but he wasn't actually as mean as I thought he was. Simon had always been confusing to me. Like a puzzle to solve, maybe this was the actual reason why I was attracted to him: Curiosity and intrigue.

A normal person probably wouldn't find him weird or hard to understand. He wasn't that mysterious neither. But it seemed so difficult for me to get him. It felt like a fiction character, this kind of side character no one understood, but was intriguing at the same time.

Simon's voice got me out of my thoughts.

"Do you need rest? Or we can start the project maybe?"

"I'm fine, let's start."

"Good."

I sat at the desk after him, my chocolate bar in my hand. He noticed this little detail and smiled. He was probably glad that I was eating. Maybe he thinks it's thanks of him, which actually is.

We started to do searches on my computer as well as on our books. Surprisingly, Simon was actually good when he was focusing. Sometimes he was even bringing me back on earth when I was losing attention or was starting to daydream.

Suddendly, I accidently opened an article on my computer about those strange missing blonde people which made me say "Oops accident."

I continued : "Those cases of missing people are kinda strange, don't you think? I mean, why only blondes?"

Simon just made a little : "Mmh..." without much concern, he was more trying to close the article quick so that we get back to work.

Around 23:30, Simon started to get tired and decided to head back home. He said he would come back tomorrow around 20:00 so we could finish the writing and so we could train at the presentation the next day.

Once he was out, I closed my window and yawned before going to the bathroom. My parents were already asleep so I tried to be as quiet as possible. Once I was ready to go to bed, I turned off the lights and layed down in my sheets, a silly smile on my face as I let the sweet warmth of sleep envelopping me.