Stitched up Heart

Patience

Rhys and I caught the bus together the next morning. I had woken him up half an hour before we had to leave. He looked shattered when he went to bed so I figured the best thing to do would be to let him sleep as long as possible. We talked a bit while I was packing my stuff, i think Rhys was trying to distract his mind, probably from last night. He was ready to leave before me as he already had all his books in his bag, where as mine were all over my desk.

We left the house and walked down to the bus stop, it was a cool morning, a lot more pleasant that the sweltering heat of the afternoons. British weather. Rhys and I spoke some more while waiting at the stop, mostly about video game stuff - strategies and cheat codes. It was nice to have someone to talk to especially when they had the same interests.

He still looked awful, if I'm being completely honest. He could have done with another two hours sleep, at least. It was Friday though, only one day until the weekend.

I knew he was worried about her, his sister. It was clear he cared about her a lot; he had spent the past few years of his life protecting her from their dad. I decided to ask him about it, how he was doing.

"A-are you worried about her?" He nodded, "Maybe I could t-take you to see her at the weekend?" I offered.

"Yeah, ok. I just... don't want my dad to find her. I don't want him to hurt her again, she doesn't deserve it. Poor kid."

"Y-you don't deserve it either, though. Do you? You've been putting up with it as well." He didn't reply. He simply covered his face with the sleeves of his hoodie. "Hey, Rhys it's alright. Nobody's going to hurt your sister now, or you." I rubbed his back and tried my best to comfort him. I didn't know what it was like to be abused for years and still out someone else ahead of yourself. I'd it'd never have siblings for a start. Or a Abusive parents...

"Are you alright?" He smiled weakly, his eyes red from crying.

"Yeah. Thank you."

"I-its fine, that's what I'm her for." I smiled back.

A few minutes late that bus arrives at school; we grabbed our bags and headed towards our Tutor Room. Rhys and I sat in the back corner of the room and discussed some more gaming things. I learnt a lot from him, he was a really good gamer. Every so often, he would run his hand through his dirty blond hair, pushing any loose strands form husband face. It made me smile every time.

He seemed to smile at me too. Not big, stupid smiles like the one I couldn't help doing, but dark, cute grins. He did it while I was explaining something in depth, nervously playing no sight my hair and plotting things with my hands.

Inside I just wanted the school day to be over so I could do something with Rhys, I wanted to seem him happy and not stressed out. If the only way to accomplish this was by taking him to find his sister than that's what I would do.

"Good morning class." Mrs Grant said entering the room. Rhys didn't move each to his usual seat, he stayed with me. Normally he would sit a few seats away from me on the other side of the room but today he sat with me. It felt good. After so long dreaming about the day where we would final,y talk and finally be friends, he was sat with me, enjoying my company. I'm glad that I was able to he,l him when I did. If I had left things a day longer the. He would have spent a night getting abused by his dad or a night on the streets. I don't m own which was worse, I was just glad I was able to help.

Maybe I'd be able to tell him how I felt sooner. Not really soon of course, but sooner than I had original,y expected. Still, we had only been friends for a day so I didn't want to get the wrong message and rush into something too quickly...