Stitched up Heart

Trust Comes with Time

The cool autumn breeze made shivers run up my spine. I was stood, leaning against the wall to the canteen- waiting to see if Rhys would show up. I felt sick with nerves, I wanted to talk to him again so badly. However a part of me said I shouldn't get my hopes up too high, maybe he wouldn't come after all. I checked the time, it was nearly half twelve. I sighed and rubbed my eye.

"Ah, hello Dawkins." Said a voice to my right. I looked up, it wasn't Rhys, it was Matthew. He had always made fun of me - bullied me - calling me a teachers pet and a number of other things. Much worse things. Matthew had picked on me from day one, for no reason at all. He just decided that for the rest of secondary school, he would make my life hell. He was one of the 'cool' kids who bunked off lessons and got into trouble most days. I did my best to stay out of his way, to avoid being beaten up. However, it was times like this where I had no other option than to accept what I had coming.

"What to you want, Matthew?" I said with a sigh.

"Oh nothing," he replied with a smug grin on his face, "Just came for a little... chat."

"Please Matthew, I'm not in the mood. I-I'm... waiting for someone anyway." As soon as I had said this I knew he would be on to me. I should have thought about it before I said it.

"who, Lewis?" He demanded shoving me backward. The grin on his face continued to widen. Of course he was going to want to know who it was. But it was too late to take it back...

"Nobody. Don't worry about it." I said stepping back from him.

"No, I asked a question, tell me." As he carried on walking towards me I stumbled and fell backward. Matthew took advantage of this and pushed his hand against my throat, digging a knee into my stomach. "Who is it, Lewis? I won't ask again." He said while I gasped for air.

"Get away from him Matthew." This time, it was Rhys, my hero. Mathew took his hand off my throat and stood up; he adjusted his bag and pushed past Rhys, glaring at him all the while. As he was walking off, he muttered something under his breath - but I didn't need catch what. I sat up, my whole body shaking. Rhys walked over and helped me up, though my skin prickled with goose bumps as he took hold of my arm - his soft skin against mine...

"I-I didn't think you w-were going to come." I said brushing my shirt off and running my hand through my hair to get it out of my face.

"Well, you're lucky I came when I did." He said, flashing a quick smile.

"T-thank you." I said smiling back, forcing my cheeks not to turn bright pink.

"Look, I'll... umm... watch out for you, yeah? Now that we're friends and all, I'll watch your back for you."

"Yeah... yeah, thank you."

I was so glad Rhys had showed up. It was even better now that he had said we were friends. Finally, after months of wishing - dreaming - I was a step closer to him. Maybe, at some point, I'd tell him how I felt. Just not yet, of course, I didn't want to ruin things.

We chatted for a while. Rhys mainly asked me questions; I tended to ramble on a bit in my responses. It was nerves, I suppose. Occasionally, when I asked him a question he'd give a slightly longer answer than 'yes or 'no'. I found out that he had a sister, that he worked most evenings, and that he played guitar. Also, I found out that he lived on the other side of the town, only a five minute bus journey from my house. I told him a lot about myself, mostly stories from when I was younger. He told me bits and pieces of his past, but he kept his family life vague - as if he was hiding something from me.

But, then again, trust comes with time. If it was something quite personal I guess I could wait until he felt like we were close enough. I would have done anything to show him that could've kept any secret he told me, things that no one else in the whole school knew. Inside, I kicked myself for being so open. I didn't need know if he had friends outside of school if he did, he could go and tell them anything about me. He probably didn't though, and he wouldn't have done that anyway. I knew, somehow, that he just wasn't the type of person to do that.