Hope (Tyrelliot)

Chapter 17: If you knew me better

The morning is the same as the other ones before.

Getting dressed.
Breakfast.
Brushing my teeth.
And that's it.

I'm on my way to school.
I'm early this time.
I enter the hall.
"Hey, Elliot!"
Oh shit. I heard that voice before.
It's not Leon, it's not Shayla and it can't be Darlene. It has to be him, doesn't it?
I turn around.
And there I see him standing.
Tyrell Wellick.
The very same Tyrell that I've been dreaming of.
"Hey, how are you doing?"
He's sweating a little. He must've seen and ran towards me from behind.
"I-I'm fine."
"Oh that's good to hear!"
He's breathing heavily, but he smiles.
I do a half smile back.
He looks down and clears his throat.
He looks more serious when he's facing me again.
"Should we go? We still have plenty of time left."
I look down.
"Y-yes."
He nods too and starts walking besides me.
This is awkward.
And I'm not sure if it'd be less awkward if I said something.
"I'm sorry about that first meeting yesterday," he says, "I hope I didn't seem weird when I gave you my phone number out of the blue."
I stay quiet. I'm nervous.
I didn't prepare for this.
"Just thought after what happened in maths you might need someone to talk to, so if you ever need anyone you can tell me."
I think he's smiling at me, but I can't look at him. I think I'll have to be honest with him on this one.
"I-I don't know you at all, why would I tell you?"
He just shrugs.
"So you're saying that if you knew me better you would be willing to open up?"
"Not really. S-Sorry if that sounded rude-"
He lifts his hand in a 'shushing' motion.
"Don't apologize for that. I completely understand your trust issues."
Is he opening up to me?
"My mother tried to send me to therapy, but it didn't work, because I simply didn't trust the therapist. He always said 'this isn't about me, it's about you!' when I asked anything about him, no matter what it was. Even if it was the tiniest non-mattering detail, he wouldn't tell."
I don't like it when people open up to me. It puts a new kind of pressure on my mind, a pressure I can't make out or understand and therefore, not eliminate.
"Where were you going on Monday then? And why didn't you come to school that day?"
"Didn't feel good, headaches and all of that, nothing of interest. I went to 'aggression therapy', which is basically a kind of meditation where you channel all of your energy into that furious feeling you have to fight and punch it all out."
I'm listening. I'm starting to find him really interesting all of a sudden...
"Oh look, we're here!"
He opens the door of the almost empty classroom. There are only 5 students sitting already. One of them being Shayla.
She looks up to me and Tyrell.
Fuck, she's going to think something's going on.
"Join me for lunch?" Tyrell asks out of the blue.
I hesitate a little.
"S-sure, I eat..."
He smiles. Did I say something wrong?
He pats my shoulders.
"Then you're just like the rest of us."
He goes to sit on his chair.
I do the same and wait for the lesson to begin.