Oh Boy! (BL)

13 - Pain (3/3)

!! Trigger Warning: Trauma, Mentions of Violence !!

"Are you sure?" Matt's fingers drummed restlessly against his steering wheel. "I could take you home instead. Yeah, that's what I should do. Lisa gave me loads of food for you and she said..."

"Lisa allowed me to leave the hospital." I forced a smile. "That means I can go wherever I wanna go." And since Hayden was behind bars now, I only had to watch out for Drake. I was safer than ever before...I guessed.

He snorted. "And you wanna go to school? Kiddo, weird doesn't even begin to describe you." With a hesitant look on his face, Matt put his car into park in front of the school.

After taking a deep breath, I got out of his truck.

"Hey, kiddo!" He called after me through the open window on the passenger side. "Don't you dare show up for work this weekend!"

I saluted with my left arm and watched Matt take off before heading inside the building.

Until PE no one seemed to wonder why my right arm was hidden below the layers of the far too large sweater Matt had brought to the hospital for me. Only when Mr. Spencer gave a big speech about the reason why I would not be able to participate in today's lesson, the other students began whispering behind my back.

Despite the pain in my shoulder, it was the most relaxed PE session I'd ever attended. Afterward, it even helped me escape the hell called changing room. In less than five seconds I managed to grab my backpack and headed for the exit.

It was a massive relief when I left the sports hall and rushed back into the main building. Yet, I was also nervous because the editorial meeting would begin soon. How would Cooper react to my injury?

But my feet stopped before I could find an answer to that question. Clay, Kenner, and Evans were waiting for me in front of the editorial office. While his teammates leaned against the lockers and appeared to be a bit bored, Clay was pacing back and forth in front of the closed door like a hungry lion in his cage.

"Um...hi?"

Evans raised his fair eyebrows when he took in my appearance. "Kenji-boy, when I said I'd get you to wear a bright yellow sweater, I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

I looked down at my upper body. Yep, Matt's knitted sweater was, indeed, bright yellow. Something I would've never chosen myself. "Yeah...not my style, is it?" I cleared my throat. "Sooo, what're you guys doing here?"

"What...we're doing here?" Kenner stared at me as if he had never seen me before. "Alvarez texted me that you're injured!"

Oh.

Alvarez...yeah, we were in the same PE class after all...

"Yeah...I'm fine." I mumbled but didn't elaborate on the matter.

"C'mon, tell Uncle Evans why you're hiding your arm." Evans made a step towards me and began tugging at the sleeve that hung loosely down my side.

I took a deep breath and lowered my gaze. "Hayden."

The atmosphere changed immediately. Evans let go of my sleeve, Kenner straightened his spine, and the freezing cold coming from Clay's posture was making me shiver.

"What did he do?" growled Clay.

Hsss.

Clck.

I whirled around with a pounding heart, but there was just a student opening the lock on his locker. Goddammit!

"Ken?"