"What are you doing here?" I asked Joshua in surprise as I saw him enter the detention classroom. He blinked a few times looking at me before he seemed to realize who I was. He tried to give me a smile but instead, a grimace came on his face.
I was slightly concerned at that.
As he walked towards me in the far end of the classroom, I could easily see the few bruises that have appeared on his face. I frowned. He surely did not have them when I saw him a few hours ago.
"I got a detention obviously," he replied to my previous question as he sat at the desk beside me. He let his bag fall on the floor and he sighed out loud. The classroom was still empty. We were the only ones present in the room but I knew that it would not take long for Mr Harold to come.
"What happened?" I asked him, looking at him with concern.
"You mean what did I do to get a detention or what did I do to get these beautiful things?" He asked me in response, pointing to the bruises on his face.
"Both," I replied.
"Oh it's simple," he said, "I got into a fight, there were lots of punching on me mostly hence the bruises on my face, Mr Harold was passing by, he saw everything, he took us to the principal's office hence the detention. Actually, I got one entire week of detention. It sucks."
"You got into another fight," I stated and Joshua nodded. I gave him a look of disbelief, "How did you even manage that? I saw you like a few hours ago for lunch and now you are telling me that you fought again. Two fights in one day. Is it one of your regular activities?"
"It's not like I'm searching for it," he complained like a kid, "My ex-friends, also members of the football team by the way, won't get off my back. Learning that there was a faggot, like they beautifully named me, in the team did not make them too happy. They can't make me quit as they know that I'm one of their best players so now-"
"They are going to beat the shit out of you," I completed his sentence and he nodded, "Are they not afraid to hurt you so bad that you can't play for a match?"
"They made sure not to hit too hard," he replied nonchalantly, "Though, it still hurts like a bitch. My chest hurts as well as my arms. I tried to protect my face as much as I could but I still got some blows there. No need to say that it was painful. I'm kind of scared to lift my shirt to see the damage done."
"You should have gone to the infirmary," I told him, looking at him from up and down. Honestly, I was feeling worried for him.
"It's okay. I can bare with the pain until I get home," he reassured me, "It's not a few punches that are going to make me cry like a baby girl."
My eyebrows furrowed.
I wondered why he even wanted to bare with the pain. How could he bare with it so casually?Before his friends learnt that he was gay, were there other people or someone that used to hit him? That was the question. I knew for a fact that the first time that I got hurt physically, I cried for the whole night. I could not handle the pain so well but with time, I became stronger and I learnt to bare with it. Though, I still did not like to get hurt.
"Why did they hit you this time?" I asked Joshua at last and he took a few seconds to answer.
"You already know that the first fight was because of the kiss with my best friend," he said and I nodded, "Well, the second one was because of something really stupid and non-important so let's just forget about it."
My eyes narrowed.
"What is that stupid and non-important thing exactly?" I questioned, giving him a suspicious look.
"It's dumb, Declan. Do not worry about it, I have complete control on the situation," he said, laughing it off.
"The bruises on your face don't show that you have everything under control," I told him and he averted his eyes, remaining silent. I waited for an answer but I got none. I sighed, "You can tell me, Joshua, whatever that thing is. I did not have friends at all before but I sure know that friends tell each other everything."
"So we are friends then," he said, giving me a small smile and I rolled my eyes.
"I thought that I already made that clear when I bought you your food earlier," I told him and he chuckled.
"Hearing you say it is much more official," he said and I rolled my eyes once again.
"Okay, just tell me already," I persisted to know and he let out a sigh.
"Like I said, it's dumb," he started before adding in a lower voice, "My ex-friends did not really appreciate the fact that I sat and talked with you during lunch."
"Excuse me?" I asked him in disbelief, eyes wide in shock and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Did I hear you right? They hit you because you talked with me? How is that their problem?"
"I don't know," he replied with a shrug, "I think that they think that as we are both gay, we are going to be...you know, together and they don't want that. They use words like sucking each other's dick and other things which I prefer not to mention as you look like you want to rip someone's head off and as I'm the only one around, it's not really reassuring."
"What the fucking hell!" I exclaimed, standing up from my seat and slamming my hands on the table. Joshua jumped in surprise at my sudden outburst and nearly fell off his chair but he quickly grabbed his desk to support him.
"Declan, don't scare me like that," he said, putting one hand on his heart, acting out of breath but I was not going to calm down so soon.
"Show me who hurt you," I ordered him, "Who are those guys? Show them to me so that I can have a little chat with them."
"Are you crazy?" Joshua asked me in disbelief, "You can't talk to them. They are going to beat your ass."
"Oh, I will manage, trust me," I told him and he shook his head.
"I appreciate your concern for me but I'm not going to let you get hurt because of me," he said.
"You already got hurt because of me," I reminded him, feeling more angry than before.
It just annoyed me so much. I hated bullying. Whoever liked that thing must have a serious problem. I used to get bullied. I knew how hard and painful getting bullied could be, reason why I learnt to defend myself. Now, whoever dared to hurt me was sure to get a punch right in the face.
So now learning that Joshua was getting beat at just because he talked with me, I was not going to let it go. No way I was going to do that. No, I was going to find those guys and break their face so that they do not bother Joshua again.
"This is not your fault," Joshua told me and he did look sincere, "None of this is. It's not because of you that those guys are being assholes with me."
"Well, I am going to make sure that they don't act like assholes with you anymore," I stated and before Joshua could reply anything, the door of the classroom suddenly opened and a group of guys came in followed by Mr Harold.
The guys immediately caught my attention. They were five in all, all tall and muscular as hell. I was curious about who they were at first but I quickly guessed that these guys must be the ones who started the fight with Joshua. I was proved that my assumption was right when I glanced at Joshua and saw that the expression on his face has completely changed into a worried one.
I understood now why he did not want me to go talk with them. Alone, I was pretty sure that those five weren't so strong but they looked like the type of guys who normally walk in group so trying to get them by surprise would be hard.
"I don't want any of you to sit next to each other," Mr Harold told the five of them firmly and they all groaned but still obeyed to the order. The maths teacher went to stand behind his desk and glanced at me and Joshua, his gaze staying longer on me. I immediately sat down. "Mr White, detention is thirty minutes for you but concerning the others, you are going to remain here for one hour. Now all of you quiet. I don't want to hear any of you say one word or make any noise. Find something productive to do," Mr Harold stated and I heard Joshua curse under his breath.
This was definitively not good. I could not let Joshua alone with those guys. I did not think that having some days of detention was going to make everything better, this would not make all the fights stop, those guys would not stop bullying Joshua for whatever dumb reason they find. And why did Joshua even need to be punished like those five? He was not at fault here, he was the victim for god sake.
I needed to do something about it and there was only one thing that I could do right now. When my time here would be over, I was going to wait for Joshua outside of the school. It would be just in case something did not turn out good for the blond head.
I sighed, leaning against my chair. Seriously, why was I so worried about this guy? I just talked to him today and I was already acting all protective towards him. God, I barely knew him. He could be playing a prank on me and I was falling right into his trap like an idiot. Though, he did not look like the type of guy who hurt others just for the fun of it. He seemed real to me. And for that simple reason, I was going to believe in him.
And maybe I wanted to have a friend.
Just as I was going to find something 'productive' to do like Mr Harold intelligently said, a small piece of paper fell on my table and a frown came on my face. Looking to the side, I saw Joshua staring innocently at his copybook with a pen in his hand. I took the piece of paper and unfolded it.
"So what's up, Declan?"
I could not help but rolled my eyes at that. Seriously, boy. I took out a pen from my bag and started to write an answer at the back of the page that Joshua threw at me.
"Just thinking of a way to save your ass."
I glanced at Mr Harold to check if he was looking at my way but no, he was now sitting at his desk, reading the newspaper so I took that as my opportunity to throw the paper back at Joshua. Reading my reply, he frowned. He opened his copybook at the last page and torn a new piece of paper which he quickly scribbled on before throwing at me.
JOSHUA - "Stop worrying about that. Everything is fine."
Was he fucking kidding me?
DECLAN - "You find the fact that people bully you for nothing fine? Do you like being in pain? Are you a masochist?"
JOSHUA - "Dumb question. I don't like being in pain and I surely as hell don't get any pleasure from it."
DECLAN - "If you say so. You don't seem like you want things to get better."
JOSHUA - "I want things to be right. And simply how are you going to make things better?"
DECLAN - "Simple. I will talk to your not-so-nice friends and if they don't want to corporate, I will get to the next level."
JOSHUA - "I just got one week of detention, one hour each because of a fight and now you want to fight again. Let it go."
DECLAN - "Letting it go won't solve anything. They won't stop unless you do something about it."
JOSHUA - "But they are five and you are one. How much damage do you think you will cause? Even if you succeed to hit one of them, the others will get at you and beat you. That's exactly what happened with me."
True. I would be quickly outnumbered if I started a fight with them. Even if I was quick with my punches, it would be hard to take them all all by myself.
DECLAN - "Well, do you know how to fight?"
I saw Joshua frowned in the corner of my eyes at that.
JOSHUA - "Yeah, I know how to DEFEND myself."
Now it was my time to frown.
DECLAN - "Why did you write the word 'defend' in capital letters?"
JOSHUA - "To put emphasis on the word."
DECLAN - "Why are you putting emphasis on the word?"
JOSHUA - "To make you understand that I don't like to fight. I know how to punch someone but I prefer not to do it."
DECLAN - "But what if others want to beat you?"
JOSHUA - "I will try to defend myself but I promised myself to never hurt the ones I care about. Even if the ones I love come to hurt me, I won't do anything to them."
I guessed that I understood him. It was the same for me after all. I would never dare to hurt the ones I love, I couldn't. Maybe that was why Joshua did not want to hurt his friends. He still care about them even though, he was clearly of no importance to them anymore.
DECLAN - "I'm sure that together we can take those five idiots down. We need to put a stop to their acts. I no longer want to see you get hurt."
JOSHUA - "And I don't want you to get hurt because of me."
DECLAN - "Boy, I know how to punch someone. I'm not a damsel."
JOSHUA - "Declan, for whatever reason my ex-friends are not annoying you but if you provoke them, they will start going after you."
DECLAN - "After I put my hands on them, they won't come after me and they will stop bullying you. You'll see."
Reading my note, I heard Joshua sighed.
JOSHUA - "Okay, if you really think that this is going to work."
DECLAN - "Show some more enthusiasm."
JOSHUA - "Sorry if fighting against a group of big guys doesn't make me happy."
DECLAN - "Are you scared of them?"
JOSHUA - "I'm not. Just, you know, they were my friends, I played football with them, we won matches together, and now, I can't believe that things turned out this way between us."
My eyes softened. Yeah, I knew that this was not easy to lose the ones with whom we shared the important moments of our life. Sometimes, we wanted to keep this bond that we formed with people safe but we could never know for sure who was going to turn their back on us.
DECLAN - "I'm sorry. I know that this isn't easy but things will get better after some time. You will become stronger and those petites things won't hurt you that much."
JOSHUA - "Did things get better for you?"
His question took me by surprise. I did not expect it and I did not know what my reply should be. The truth was, no, I did not think that things got better for me. Over the years, I waited for my situation to ameliorate but it did not, at least, not in the way that I wanted. The only thing that I could say did change for the best was my current relationship with Pierre but for the rest, my family and how people see me, it only changed for the worst.
Though, I did not want Joshua to see the bad side of things. Maybe his situation would be different from mine. I did not want him to think that now his life was going to become hell...Well, some people were going to make his life a living hell but it was important for him to know that there would always be someone, or some people, that would be there to make his life better. He just needed to wait for them to come.
DECLAN - "Not all aspects of my life are a joy but I try to manage with the little bit of happiness that I can get."
JOSHUA - "Does this little bit of happiness have a name? ;)"
A chuckle was out of my mouth before I could even stop it and Mr Harold looked up from his newspaper to look at me.
"Is something wrong, Mr White?" he asked me with a severe look in the eyes and I shook my head instantly.
"Everything is fine," I told him and his eyebrows furrowed.
"If I hear a sound coming from you again, I will make you stay here for another thirty minutes," he said and I remained quiet. He returned back to reading his newspaper and I let out a sigh. This guy seriously needed to learn to cool down sometimes.
I reread the message that Joshua sent me and was going to reply when another piece of paper fell on my table. I frowned as I unfolded the new note.
JOSHUA - "I'm curious. Do you have any feelings for Pierre?"
I blinked at his words and decided to keep my answer short and simple.
DECLAN - "I love him since the first time I saw him."
Glancing at Joshua as he read my reply, I saw his eyes widened in surprise and he quickly wrote something back to me.
JOSHUA - "You love the priest's son! That's wowing! Do you know what will happen if people hear about that?"
DECLAN - "Nobody will know about it. Don't you dare go around and spread the news. I'm serious, it won't end well for you if you do that."
JOSHUA - "Jeez, boy, I'm your friend now. I won't do anything against you but these types of secret normally don't remain a secret for long. Does Pierre know about it?"
DECLAN - "Yeah."
JOSHUA - "And he is still talking to you?"
DECLAN - "Yeah."
JOSHUA - "Wow! Does he love you too?"
This time, I had to contain myself from laughing. The fact that Joshua thought that Pierre actually loves me was funny at some level. But I guessed that I understood his point. Pierre's parents were super religious so it was obvious that they raised their son in the name of God so logically when Pierre learnt that I have feelings for him, he should have ran away from me. Thing that he did at first but now, it was completely different between us.
DECLAN - "No, Pierre doesn't love me but I'm working on it."
JOSHUA - "You want to make him fall for you?"
DECLAN - "Yeah, that's basically it."
JOSHUA - "What's your current relationship with him then?"
DECLAN - "We're friends."
JOSHUA - "I can totally help you make him fall for you!"
DECLAN - "I don't actually have any plans to make him love me. I'm just going with the flow of things."
JOSHUA - "Well, let's go with the flow of things together! Friends, bro!"
I smiled at that. I could definitely get used to Joshua around. His way of behaving was certainly different from the people I'm used to being around and I liked that.
Joshua and I continued to communicate on paper. He asked me questions about Pierre mostly and I was happy to reply to them. I must admit that it was good to talk about my love interest with someone. I could finally share the events of my life with another being. It was much more better than having conversations with myself.
Time flied by quickly and soon Mr Harold told me that my time was up. I packed my things while Joshua threw all the little pieces of paper that we wrote on in his bag without any care. He threw a smile at me and I gave him a nod, the corner of my mouth quirking upward.
I walked out of the classroom with everyone's eyes on me. I did not even bother to say goodbye to Mr Harold. I wanted to get out of here. I made my way outside of the high school towards the parking. I did not know where else to wait for Joshua as I forgot to ask him how he was going to go home after his detention. I needed to take the bus but I did not know if he has any vehicle. Though something told me that his friends must have one so logically, they needed to come to the parking by some way.
Once at the parking which was nearly empty, I went to stand against a wall. Waiting for thirty minutes without doing anything was going to be long and worse was that I did not have anything to do. Reading my secret journal crossed my mind but I wasn't feeling like it so I started to do the one thing that I always did when I was bored; I thought and a lot.
Of course, the first thing that came to my mind was Pierre. He must have reached my house by now and he was surely talking to my parents. I wondered what they were talking about. What was Pierre telling them? What would my parents reply to him? Would they be angry? Would they do something to my love? No, it was impossible for them to hurt him but, would they tell him something that wasn't true about me? I wasn't so sure of that one.
And now that I thought of it, did Pierre even know where I live? Obviously, I knew where he lives but I did not know if he knew where I live. Perhaps he did because he would have asked me if he didn't know about it. But even if he did not know where my place was, it was fine by me because in this way, he would not be able to go to my house. I sighed. But knowing my luck lately, I was sure that Pierre already found my house.
I hoped that I get the chance to see him before he goes back home. I missed him already. I wanted to see him but I couldn't. Despite the fact that I really wanted to go home immediately, I couldn't leave Joshua alone. I needed to stay to make sure that he would be fine.
So I waited for another thirty minutes. I mostly thought of Pierre and of my parents and after some time, I looked at my watch to check the time. I was glad to see that about one minute remained before Joshua would finally be free as well as the little assholes. I prepared myself for their possible arrival and after a few minutes, I saw Joshua getting out of the high school.
He was walking in my direction and he was walking fast. It was only after I saw five familiar faces following behind him that I understood why he was such in a hurry.
"Hey! Josh! Wait for us!" I heard one of the devils shout at Joshua and the others laughed. That only made Joshua quickened in his pace while it enraged me. I pushed myself off the wall and made my way towards them all.
"Declan," Joshua said in surprise, once he saw me, "You're truly here."
"Of course, I am," I told him but my eyes were directed on the boys behind him. It was only after a matter of seconds that they realized my presence and they immediately stopped in their track. I glared at them.
"Oh, looks who's here, Josh's new boyfriend," one of them dared to say, a smirk appearing on his face.
"For the last time, he is not my boyfriend, Greg," Joshua exclaimed, turning around, "Declan is just a friend."
"He's your new fuck buddy, you mean," 'Greg' spat out in disgust, "What? You couldn't get me to fuck you so you went to search for someone else."
Judging from Greg's words, I instantly knew two things; he was the best friend that Joshua kissed at the party; I was totally going to kick his ass.
"Why are you even angry about it? I'm leaving you alone so stop bothering me. All of you, just stop," Joshua said, exasperated.
"Oh, Greg can't do that. He loves you too much," I let out with a smirk and Greg sent me a glare while the others seemed shock by my words.
"What did you just say?" Greg asked me, stepping forward menacingly and I went to stand in front of Joshua.
"Admit it, you thought that as Joshua likes you, he was going to come after you, begging for you to like him back but I bet that when he came with me instead of you that made you angry as well as jealous as a bitch," I chuckled at my own words but it did not seem to amuse Greg very much.
"Shut the fuck up, fag," he exclaimed angrily and I rolled my eyes.
"What? You can't handle the truth? I did not know that you were such a baby. What are you going to do next? Go tell your parents that Joshua doesn't want to suck your dick anymore?" I asked him, using the words that Joshua told me earlier.
"That never happened!" Greg protested, furious.
"You would have liked it to happen," I said.
"Declan, don't push it too much," I heard Joshua say behind me but I ignored him.
"You're just a joke," I told Greg, "Be honest, you feel something for Joshua, you want him to chase after you but as he is not doing so, you're going to beat him because you don't know how else to express your feelings."
"Shut up, damn it!" He exclaimed, jumping on me to punch me in the face but I was fast enough to step back and avoid his punch. Though as I moved backwards , I bumped into Joshua's chest and nearly fell down on top of him but he succeeded to support both himself and me.
"Thanks," I told him, looking back at him and he came to stand beside me.
"Don't try to fall on me next time," he said and then glanced at Greg who seemed to be more furious than before.
"That's the type of guy that you like, seriously?" I asked Joshua, pointing at Greg, "You can surely find better than him. I wonder how you were even best friend with that guy. And corcerning your other friends, are they going to continue to stand here without saying or doing anything productive for the story?"
"I-I don't know," Joshua seemed to not know what else to say and I hummed.
"Well, guys, not that I don't like your company but I need to go so I will nicely ask you to leave Joshua alone and not to come near him again," I told them but they did not look like they wanted to listen to me.
"Get them," Greg ordered his four little dogs, glaring at both Joshua and me. His gaze lasted on Joshua, "I did not know that you couldn't defend yourself. You need your little boyfriend to protect you." He paused and then let out a laugh, "But I'm not surprised, you always acted like a little bitch."
Joshua lowered his gaze, a sad smile coming on his face. The boy looked hurt but he was still smiling. This made me ask myself questions about him. I was now curious to learn more about him.
"Apologize," I ordered Greg immediately and he huffed.
"No way," he said, "Josh has always been a little bitch. He hides behind others because he's scared to do shit. I always wonder when he would man up and actually do something for himself but I should have guessed that he was a pussy from the start, he-"
I did not want to be the one to start the fight but Greg was basically searching for it so I raised my fist in the air and punched him right in the nose, cutting him in his sentence. His head turned to the side and I heard his nose crack. He fell down, yelling in pain. A gasp escaped Joshua at my unexpected action while Greg's friends seemed to be in shock.
"What are you waiting for, damn it?!" Greg shouted at his friends, covering his nose which was now giving out blood in his hands. "Get them!"
And in a matter of seconds, they were all jumping on Joshua and I.
***
So here's chapter 14 ^^
I was going to post it yesterday but I couldn't finish it, I was too tired. But now I'm in school and I have seriously nothing to do so I decided to complete it. Sorry for the possible errors, I wrote part of this chapter using my phone and that thing is kinda crazy.
I hope that you all like it. Also, this chapter is dedicated to Blaahhh123 for voting. Thank you very much, it makes me really happy ^^
Vote, comment and I hope that you all have a fantastic day!