The Countdown // Phan

Chapter 4

Phil's POV

01:08:05:20

"PHILIP WAKE UP YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL"

I wake up from a wonderful dream by the voice of my mum. I quickly look at my phone to see the time.

8:08 AM

Shit. I overslept again. I had exactly 22 minutes to get at school, which was atleast a 20 minutes walk.

I quickly get out of bed and immediately put on my school uniform. After that I quickly run to the bathroom to comb my hair (which had no use). I then run back to my own room to grab my backpack and just when I'm about to go downstairs to quickly say goodbye, I notice myself in the mirror.

I look like a complete mess.

I make a mental note that I couldn't oversleep tomorrow and I storm out of my room. I go to the kitchen where I quickly grab a cookie, that will do for breakfast. I quickly kiss my mum on her cheek and leave for school.

After 18 mins of half walking, half running, I reach school. Just in time. I enter the English classroom just when the bell rings. I made it!

~ TIME SKIP ~

"I feel like my head is going to explode" Steve says. We just had an incredibly hard history test.

"That was way too hard! How am I supposed to know who lived between 768 and 814?!" I hear Ashley complain.

"That was Charles the Great, you dumbass!" Sean launches back.

We walk to the canteen for lunch. My friends quickly claim a table and I'm walking to the queue for food.

While I'm waiting for my turn, everybody suddenly turns silent. I cannot see what exactly is happening, but in the middle of the canteen, directly next to the table my friends are sitting, is something going on. I see Zoe, who quickly stands up and pulls at someone's arm. A second later, a red headed Steve sits back at our table. He gives one last threatening look at the fragile figure who lies on the floor. They probably got into a fight. Steve couldn't really control his emotions.

The figure who lies on the floor quickly gets up and leaves the canteen.

Dan's POV

As soon as I leave the canteen I go to the male's bathroom. I enter and immediately check if no one else is there. I'm lucky, I'm all alone. I lock the door and drop my bag on the floor. I then turn to the mirror to look at myself.

I literally had no idea what just happened. I replay it all in my mind, trying to figure out what I did wrong this time.

I walk into the canteen, after a very boring period. I look around and see that there is no spare table left. I guess I have to eat my food outside again then.

While I look around I accidentaly make eye contact with Steve, one of the most popular guys of the school and also one of the scariest guys at school. I quickly focus my gaze back on the floor again hoping he didn't notice. Of course he did.

While I walk to the queue to get some food I suddenly trip over something. I fall face forward to the floor. I quickly turn around so my back is against the floor. I see what I tripped over, Steve's foot.

"What are you looking at Howell" he spits out my name as if it's a curse word.

"N-nothing" I stutter while attempting to get up.

"That for sure wasn't nothing" Steve says while standing up from his seat. He sounds angry.

"I told you so many times before that you musn't tell lies!" he says loudly.

The next thing I know is that I feel an awful pain in my stomach.

He punche me, he actually punched me again.

"Steve, please just leave it. It's not worth our time" I hear Zoe say.

"Fine" he grinds through his teeth. "You better get out of my sight before I chance my mind. GO!"

I quickly get up and nearly run out of the canteen. Why did I always embarrass myself?

I sigh. My stomach hurts. Guess it'll hurt for a pretty while. It's not for nothing that he is the boxing campion of our city. But I deserve it. I was wrong, just like always.

Phil's POV

"Hey guys. What was that about?" I ask as soon as I reach our table with my food.

"Nothing!" Steve yells. It obvious that he is still irritated.

"Oh take it easy mate. You don't have to yell at him" Peter answers before me.

"Sorry Phil. It's just that freak Howell looked at us" Steve says, still sounding annoyed.

"So?" I answer. I didn't see the problem.

"SO" Steve spits out again. "HE IS GAY"

"I still do not see the problem" I say, knowing I'll regret it later.

"The problem.. the problem is that I see that stupid freak look at us the entire time. What if he wants to be a part of this group or worse, what if he has his eyes on someone in this group. I will not let that happen!" Steve screams.

I can feel myself getting angry.

"Seriously, what is your problem Steve? Just because he is gay doesn't mean he is a freak. Calm down!"

As soon as I said that, I already regretted it. I saw something in Steve's eyes.. almost like he hates me. In the mean time everybody in the canteen started listening to us and turning their heads toward us.

"Why are you protecting him? What is the deal with you and him? Are you a fag too?" He says venomously.

"The deal" I laugh, ignoring the last part of his sentence "There is no deal. I never even talked to him. Why would I?"

As soon as I say that the veins in Steve's neck start becoming less visible. But I wasn't finished yet.

"But just because he is gay doesn't mean you can embarrass him in front of the whole school!"

I stand up and say my final words.

"You are overreacting. Like always. See you later guys"

And with that I leave the canteen. I couldn't stand to be near him any longer, to any of them to be honest.

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Also thank you for reading this. 'Till next time :)

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