Love You Regardless

18

CW's:
-Muscle disease
TW's:
-Bruises (mentions abuse)
-Bullying

George's POV

The PE class started and the first thing we had to do was test our stamina. We would have to run around for as long as we could and the one who went the longest, would obviously be the winner of the class. I was already sure I would be the first one stopping out of everyone, since I couldn't even run.

We had to stand on a line on the ground and wait for the sign to start running. The sign went off just a few seconds later and everyone slowly sprinted away. I tried my best to run, but I ended up falling over immediately. I fell in front of someone and he started swearing at me.

'Asshole, get out of the way. That you can't run isn't my problem.'

I managed to crawl back up and started running again, but I collapsed again. I had to hold back my tears and the teacher lifted me up, pointing at the bench. 'You're the first one to stop.'

I nodded and let myself fall down on the bench as I breathed heavily. The teacher looked at me with concern in his eyes now.

'Are you alright?'

I nodded slowly and stared at my feet as I felt my muscles hurting and my head pounding again. I was exhausted and felt really bad.

'Why do you have all those bruises, George?'

'I fell down the stairs and hit my head.'

The teacher said nothing and I saw him look at my arms. 'But you also have bruises on your wrists and arms. It seems like someone squeezed your arm.'

I shrugged. 'I fell.'

'George, is everything alright at home?'

I nodded and faked a smile. 'Everything is fine! I just moved houses and the bruises might come from that too.'

'But these bruises seem more like you've been hit.'

'Don't worry,' I smiled. 'I haven't been hit. Look, someone stopped. You have to tell them their time.'

The teacher looked away at the girl who stopped running. He pointed to the bench and she sat down next to me. She smiled at me. 'Are you alright?'

'I'm ready to be made fun off,' I muttered.

'I won't make fun of you, it's fine that you stopped early. I'm also not the best at PE.'

I smiled. 'Thanks.'

'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. Just moved houses and fell down the stairs, but I'm good.'

'Oh gosh, are you alright?' she whispered. She spoke really quietly and I saw she was a little bit nervous.

'I'm alright, are you? You seem to be a little bit nervous.'

'I don't uh- speak with boys very often.'

I grinned. 'I'm not scary or anything.'

'No, but you're pretty handsome and I'm not used to people like you talking to me.'

'That's sweet, thank you.'

'It's not like I'm in love with you, I'm sorry if I made it very awkward now.'

I shrugged. 'I'm not into girls, I'm sorry.'

'That's fine,' she smiled. 'I'm bi so I like girls as well.'

'Oh really? That's cool,' I smiled. 'I don't really know my sexuality. There's this boy I kind of like, I think I might be gay. Please, don't tell this to anyone, because I will get bullied even more than I already get.'

'I won't, you also know that I'm bi, you could easily out me too.'

I smiled. 'I won't though. I just don't know what I am.'

'What makes you doubt your sexuality?'

'I have firstly thought that I was aromantic, I don't feel anything for girls. But now I'm starting to doubt that, because I felt butterflies for a boy.'

'Yeah, you might be gay then.'

I nodded and sat back as I saw someone come closer. A few people stopped running now and I stopped talking to the girl so no one would hear our conversation. The mean guy sat down next to me on the other side and grinned.

'You're such a pussy. Even all the girls went on longer than you.'

'Okay, so?'

'You're actually dumb, you can't even run a minute.' He started laughing at me and I stared at my feet as I stood up to sit somewhere else.

I shouldn't have let this hurt me, but it still did. I wasn't a pussy, I just couldn't run. I wasn't okay in the slightest, knowing I needed help.

I relaxed a little as I thought about Clay, but a while later, everyone stopped running. We had to do a strength test now and I walked to the teacher. 'I'm not doing this, I don't want to get laughed at.'

'You have to, you will get a grade for this.'

I sighed. 'Just give me the lowest grade, I can't do this.'

'You have to try. We will be doing push-ups first and see who does the most.'

I rolled my eyes and walked to the others who were already standing on the tip of their toes and hands in a plank. I tried doing the same, but my shoulders and arms were so weak that I fell down immediately.

The whole class started laughing at me and I tried crawling up, but I couldn't anymore. The sweet girl ended up helping me and I walked to the changing room as everyone was still laughing at me.

I ignored the teacher who was calling out my name and started crying as soon as I closed the door behind me. I didn't know where to go, so I changed clothes with a lot of trouble. I never really managed to get my shirt off normally, but after a few minutes I did it.

I started walking away from the changing rooms, away from the school and got away without anyone seeing me. My only option was to go to the farm and look for Clay. I could ask him to come to my house now both my parents were working till the evening.

I smiled as I thought about Clay again and quickly went home.

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