How to save a life ||PHAN||

7. Choose

I woke up the next morning by the rays of sunshine that shone through the window. I was still laying on the couch, bit Phil wasn't there next to me. He probably went home.
I stood up from the couch, yawned and stretched. It was half past seven. Way too early.
I decided to go upstairs first to fix my hair, when I heard a sound coming out of the hallway.
I opened the door that gave way to the hall and saw Phil taking his jacket from one of the pegs.
"Dan, I'm so sorry," he said when he saw me, his eyes big and terrified again. Was he really that scared of me?
"I'm sorry if I woke you up, and I'm really, really sorry that I fell asleep last night, I-"
"Phil, just stop," I said, and he froze. "Just stop saying sorry. You say it way too much." He seemed to relax a bit.
"So-"
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows, making him stop mid-sentence. "What did I just say?" I said, and he looked​ like he had to try very hard not to apologize again.
"Is there anything you need? Any beauty rituals?" I asked.
"Do you... Do you have a hair straightener?"
I gestured him to follow me upstairs, to the bathroom.

I rummaged in one of the cabinets, but couldn't find the hair straightener.
"Fuck," I said. Maybe my mom​ had taken it with her on her trip to visit her sister.
"You know what," Phil said behind me, "Never mind. My hair is not that bad today."
"I need the hair straightener as well," I said while looking in another cabinet, "Or haven't you seen my hobbit hair?"
After two more cabinets and a lot of swearing, I finally found the hair straightener.
"Finally," I sighed and handed it to Phil. He reached out his hand to take it when the sleeve of his blue sweater lifted and revealed thin, red lines on his white skin.
Phil took the hair straightener from me and quickly pulled down his sleeves, but it was too late; my eyes had already seen the scars, and my mind could only think of one person: PJ.
What I did then surprised both me and him. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around the broken boy.
"It's going to be okay," I whispered softly, and I felt his shoulders shaking and his tears staining my shirt.
"How, Dan?" he sobbed. "I'm nothing... I'm garbage... No one cares about me..."
"I do," I said, surprising both of us again.
"Really?"
"Really."

Math started with the usual, annoying question.
"Where is your homework, Mr. Howell?"
Because of the English assignment, I didn't had time to make my math homework - not that I would've done it anyway.
I sighed. "Look, I didn't do it, okay?" I said. "Whatever it is, just lay it on me... Just do it."
The teacher raised an eyebrow and made a note in his notebook. Great.
Phil, who sat in front of me, hadn't made the homework either. What a coincidence, I thought sarcastically.

Despite what happened earlier that morning, I still sat with Chris, Tyler, Joe and Zoe during lunchtime.
They were all talking about some party next week, until Phil walked past. Of course, he became the new conversation topic.
"Hey, Phil!" Chris yelled. Phil looked our way, and saw me sitting in the middle of the group, unfortunately.
"Who let you in? I thought fags weren't supposed to come here?" Chris continued. They all laughed, while I saw the tears well up in Phil's eyes.
I didn't laugh with them.
"What's wrong, Dan?" Tyler asked when Phil had disappeared.
Zoe, who was sitting on my lap, turned around and kissed me. Like that was going to take away the bad feeling I felt.
I turned away from her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
I didn't answer her, and listened to what Chris and Tyler were taking about instead.
"He's as stupid as that boy that killed himself two weeks ago," Chris said.
"I bet Phil plays video games at home as well," Tyler said, "That's why he didn't do his homework."
PJ and his videogames... We used to spend hours playing Mario Kart and Zelda, but that had been years ago. No one knew I loved to play these games; no one could know. Maybe I would become their next victim instead of being their friend.
"I don't think that's the reason why he didn't do his homework."
I couldn't help it, the words had left my mouth before I could hold them back.
The four people sitting at the table all looked at me like I had turned into an alien. I felt my cheeks flush red.
"Why are you defending him?" Chris asked. Judging from his face expression, he wasn't quite sure whether I was just joking or not.
"I- I mean... No one will need trigonometry in their life..." Probably.

What happened during lunchtime kept bothering me for the rest of the day. I felt like this wouldn't end well if I would continue this way. It felt like I had to choose between following Chris or maybe saving Phil's life.