gloomy. ~ joshler

four

his mom was right. it's easier to just get it over with than wait. maybe.

the bell rang which made tyler's already bad anxiety get worse. what if he was in every one of his classes. that can't be possible, right? surely it can't be.

he had first period with brendon. that much he knew.

as he walked into the classroom, he started towards the back of the room until he looked up and saw him in the seat he was going for which made tyler immediately turn away and go to the other side of the room.

he set his things down, his hands shaking slightly. just being in the vicinity of him made tyler want to cry and punch a wall.

brendon came in a few seconds later, taking the seat next to tyler, blocking his view.

"hey,"

"h-hey." tyler stuttered and looked towards the front of the room.

"what's the matter?" brendon looked at tyler and then around the room, nodding to himself almost angrily. "oh."

"brendon please don't make a big deal out of this, i just want to get on with the day so i can go home," he muttered, looking down at the old desk and immediately freezing up.

his watery eyes looked at the desk with pure fear as he scanned the markings on the desk.

"i'll try." brendon responded, but tyler ignored it.

this cannot be happening.

tyler stood up quickly, having to stop himself from flipping the desk over and rushed out of the classroom, leaving a confused look on everyone's faces.

brendon did a double-take, looking at the open door and then back at the desk, only to get even angrier.

this was tyler's old desk in junior year. it had markings and scratches in it from all of the times he got too bored to care in science class.

the thing that set tyler off though, was the heart in the corner with him and his ex's initials in it.

t + j

brendon looked over at josh and scowled before getting up from his seat as well to try and find tyler, despite the efforts of their teacher to get him to sit down.

tyler had ended up running away from the classroom, locking himself in one of the bathroom stalls where he just broke down, letting all the tears he'd been holding back since this morning out.

even this place gave him bad memories.

this wasn't how he wanted to start the year off. this wasn't what he wanted to do.

he leaned against the wall to steady himself, hiding his face in his hands.

pathetic.

he sank down to the floor and curled up into a ball, tugging at his hair trying to calm himself down. that usually worked.

but it didn't.

he put his sleeve over his mouth to muffle his cried once he heard someone enter the bathroom.

"tyler?" he heard brendon say.

he sniffled a bit. "g-go a-away." he said weakly.

"tyler, please. we're here to help you." he heard another voice. frank.

"u-unless y-you can m-make s-someone disappear y-you can't help m-me." tyler said, and he didn't know whether he was referring to josh or himself.

"tyler, please just unlock the door." brendon pleaded.

tyler let out a breath and reached up to unlock the stall door before returning back to his ball position.

"thank you." brendon opened the door and frowned when he saw tyler's state. he sat down across from him while frank sat next to him and wrapped his arm around tyler's shaking shoulders.

"i-i d-don't wanna go b-back." tyler stuttered, referring to class.

"you don't have to. and we'll be right here with you. it's not our first time skipping class." frank joked, trying to lighten the mood as he shook tyler a bit.

he cracked a small smile and wiped his flushed face, sniffling some more.

"we will always be right here with you." brendon corrected, smiling as the boy.

"th-thank guys."

"of course. what are friends for after all?"

they spent the rest of the period hanging out in the bathroom and, luckily, no one came in at all.

once the bell rang, tyler could feel his heart sink. he didn't have second period with either brendon or frank. he didn't even want to go to any of his classes.

"alright." frank sighed as he stood up and held his hand out to tyler. "let's get going. don't want to be late."

frank pulled tyler up, let him splash some water on his face and they left the bathroom, tyler walking in the middle of them both kind of like they were his bodyguards.

he would've found it pretty funny if the circumstances were different.