Everything Will Be Okay (Phan)

Chapter 2: It felt...right.

"Nice to meet you. Can I call you Dan?" I said, politely, while in my head I was asking a bundle of other questions. Why is this kid writing rather than talking? Can he talk? Is he dumb? I suddenly became aware of how rude all these questions were so I kept my mouth shut.

The boy scribbled something in his notebook again, before showing it to me. It read:
"You can call me Dan if you want. I've never really had a nickname before, though. And I know you're wondering why I'm not just speaking my words like a normal person."

I nodded, shamefully.

"It's okay. Everyone wonders that. They give me weird looks because I don't talk. They think I'm dumb, so stupid that I don't know how to talk. But they're wrong. I can talk perfectly well, but I choose not to." Dan wrote.
"I don't think you're dumb," I replied, "but if you can talk, why don't you? Its easier than writing everything down." As soon as the question left my mouth, I instantly regretted it. There must be a deep, personal reason why Dan chooses not to talk. But I'd only just met this kid and already I was sticking my huge nose into his personal life. Stupid Phil.

I could see Dan's face drop as the words came out of my mouth. It almost seemed as if his eyes started watering. He wrote one word in his book: "Reasons."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that. God, I'm so stupid. It's none of my business why you choose not to talk."

Dan's expression softened slightly as he wrote: "It's fine. You're curious. I get that. But curiosity can sometimes be your enemy."

I was a little puzzled by Dan's response but decided to move on. Glancing at my watch, I gasped as I realised we'd already missed half of second period. When I mentioned this information to Dan, he looked terrified. He scribbled something in his notebook and flashed it to me before darting off down the corridor.
It read:
"Shit. I should go. Can't miss my lessons. Talk to you later."

"Okay, see you later." I replied to Dan's departing form. I decided to skip the rest of second period in order to avoid telling my teacher and a room full of students that I'd got locked in my own locker or some other stupid excuse. I started wandering in a random direction, wondering where I could go that meant I wouldn't get found by a teacher.

After a few minutes of walking with my head in the clouds, I found myself outside the library. I quickly hurried in and made my way to one of the tables at the back. I got put some homework that was already late but after 10 minutes of algebra, I found myself doodling.

I got a clean piece of paper out and started drawing properly. The pencil seemed to make its way across the page of its own accord. The movement was satisfying as a figure appeared on the page. A tallish figure, with a brown fringe sweeping across his forehead, a few strands falling over his chocolate brown eyes. I coloured his skin a caramel tan. Next to him, I drew another figure. Slightly taller with a matching fringe sweeping in the opposite direction, jet-black. I gave him blue eyes and didn't bother colouring in his flesh it was so pale.

As I drew the pair's bodies, I found my sub-conscious linking their hands together. It looked...right.

I was brought out of my art induced daydream by the bell that signalled an hour of loneliness and avoiding bullies. Lunch. Yay.

Usually at lunch I would go outside or hide in an abandoned classroom. Anything to avoid Vince. But that day, I decided to head to the cafeteria, somewhere I usually avoided at all costs.

As I approached the caff, my heart started beating ten times faster. What if Vince sees me? Would he beat me up in front of the whole school?

Standing in the doorway, I could see Vince and his cronies sitting with the other popular kids. On the other side of the room, I could see Daniel, consumed in his thoughts. He was alone.

Head down, I made my way across the room towards Dan's table, sliding into a seat opposite him.
"Um... hi. Is it okay if I sit here?" I asked. Dan nodded, smiling, and took a bite of his sandwich.
"Are you not eating anything?" he wrote in reply.
I shook my head, "Not hungry."

We sat and chatted (well, I chatted, Dan wrote) for the rest of lunch, and I was pleased to find out that we had very similar interests: we shared a love of video games; we both watched animes; and we had similar taste in music.

We were walking down the corridors when the bell rang and I was pleasantly surprised when Dan threw his arms around my neck. I immediately wrapped my arms tightly around his waist in return, burying my face in his soft brown locks, a sweet scent of coconut shampoo wafting up my nostrils. It felt...right.

As Dan pulled out of the hug, he pressed a small piece of paper into the palm of my hand and rushed off in the opposite direction. I carefully unfolded the paper, smoothing out the creases with my fingers.

In small, neat writing was the words: "I've never had a real friend before."
Below this was a string of numbers. I punched the numbers into my phone, labelling Dan's contact with a smiley face, as I made my way to my period 3 class.

*

Yay, an update. Finally! I don't know why it took so long but it's here now.

So I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone for reading, commenting and voting because it means a lot to me that some people actually like something I've come up with.

Anyway, stay awesome, my lions.

xx