Don't Move | A Tree Bros Fanfic

Chpt. 1 - Senior Year

"What happened to your arm, Evan?" Jared Kleinman inquired, pointing at a disheveled Evan Hansen. Evan held his cast-laden arm to his chest, trying to find the correct words to say... "I fell...out of a tree." He murmured. He was hoping Jared would offer to sign it, but he didn't. Jared just chuckled, shook his head, then walked away with Alana following behind him. Evan stood in front of the school all by himself. He was used to this, being alone... He never imagined he'd be so lonely. He wanted nothing more than to have a friend of his own. He had Jared, but Jared wasn't much of a friend... The only reason Jared even talked to him was so his parents would pay for his car insurance and that fact left Evan feeling extremely crummy.

Evan placed his bare palm against the glass of the school door, ready to push it open and head to class, but something was holding him back. He just stood there, unable to move, wanting to go home and sleep and pretend for just one day he wasn't alone. He could think up little scenarios in his head that involved him hanging out with someone, maybe Jared... If only Jared wasn't such a jerk. "Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna go inside?" Asked a tall boy with long, unkempt hair. Everything he wore was black, even his fingernails were painted black, and there were bags underneath his eyes from lack of sleep. Evan just stood there and gawked at him for a few minutes, until finally Jared showed up once again. Alana was gone this time, probably off to class.

"Well, well, well... If it isn't Connor Murphy. Nice nails. Finally coming out of the closet, I see." Jared jeered. Evan was taken aback by Jared's rude remark, even though it wasn't directed towards him. He knew Jared was a bit of an ass, but he didn't know he had the audacity to openly bully another student. The tall boy, who Evan now knew as Connor, just simply rolled his eyes. "Can you be any less annoying?" He retorted, walking into the school, not once looking back at Evan and Jared. Evan turned to Jared, his brows furrowed. "Was that really necessary?" Jared pushed his glasses up the bridge of nose, a smirk lazily drawn across his face. "C'mon! I was only joking." Evan didn't take it as a joke and Connor obviously didn't either.

Evan had noticed that Connor was Zoe Murphy's brother... The girl he had been secretly in love with for who knows how long. He didn't enjoy Jared making a fool out of Connor, or out of anyone really, it was completely rude and over the line. Not once had Evan ever been mean to another person and he couldn't see how anyone could stand to hurt someone like that. He finally managed to walk into the school with his head down low. Jared avoided Evan throughout the day, not even stopping to sit with him at lunch. 'Some "family friend" you are,' Evan thought as he collected his lunch from the lunch line and sat down at an empty table near the trash cans. He didn't typically eat school food, but he had forgotten to pack up his lunch this morning, so this was all he had. He'd rather eat gross food than go through the day with a starving stomach.

"You do realize you're sitting at that fag's table, right?" Jared whispered as he walked past the place Evan was sitting. 'Fag? Really? What an ass...' He began to dig into his mashed potatoes, ignoring the stares from the other students as a tall figure sat down on the other side of the table. "Oh, uh... I-I'm sorry if I'm sitting at your place! I'll move-" Evan began to get up, but Connor beckoned for him to stay seated. "No. It's fine." He murmured. Connor laid his head down on the table, his hair spreading out all around his head. Evan noticed Jared and Alana pointing at Connor, both wearing mischievous grins on their expressions. Evan had a bad feeling. He knew Jared and Alana were cooking up more ways to humiliate Connor. It was only the first day back at school and already he knew this year was going to be the absolute worst.

"Hey, uhm... Connor, is it? Are you okay?" Evan tapped Connor's arm, not meaning to intrude on Connor's physical threshold, but he just wanted to make sure he was okay. He seemed down... Which was about right actually. Connor had been diagnosed with depression from an early age, but his family paid so little attention to him, he never could get the help he needed. Every day was a battle. A battle with his parents, sister, the school, and himself. Some days he wondered why he even tried anymore. He used drugs to cope, but they only helped temporarily. Hell, he was high right now. "I'm just fine... Whoever you are." He mumbled. Evan frowned. He obviously wasn't fine, but he didn't want to annoy someone he had only met today. "Evan. I'm... Evan." He introduced himself, hoping he wasn't being too pesky. Connor didn't even move. "Cool."

"Well... A-Alright then." Evan responded as the bell sounded. He stood up, dumped his tray, then left the cafeteria feeling like he hadn't made any progress today. He didn't believe he had sparked any new friendships and honestly today was just feeling like one of those days. One of those days meaning today was just 'Meh.' There was no other way to describe it. Today was simply... 'Meh.' The rest of the day felt the same. No progress on Evan's end. He thought he had seen Zoe walking through the sea of other students, but he couldn't really tell and he was hoping beyond everything he would get to see and maybe even have a conversation with her today. But, it just didn't happen. He dipped into an empty computer lab and sat in the dark... Waiting for the crowd to disperse so he could make his way home. Crowds just made him feel uneasy and he'd be damned if he was going to have a panic attack in front of so many people at once.

"What are you doing in here?" Jared questioned Evan as he strolled into the computer lab. Alana waltzed in after him. "I just wanted to be alone for a minute." Evan said, refusing to look at Jared. "That's not how you make friends, Evan." Alana crossed her arms, and rolled her eyes, deeply annoyed by Evan's statement for reasons he couldn't comprehend. "Just go." Evan mumbled. The duo walked out of the computer lab, leaving Evan in solitude. Sweet, sweet solitude... Hah, as if... There was nothing sweet about solitude in Evan's mind. He felt so, so alone, but there was nothing he could do but sit there and wish he was never born. He spent most of his time imagining how different his mom's life would be without him in it causing problems.

He stood up, finally deciding to make his leave. He reached the door, but a dark figure ran into him, knocking him to the ground.