As Long As You Love Me

Chapter 12

Matt's PoV

"Hey, fag, Had a nice holiday? Hope you haven't got AIDS now,"  Dave snarled at me.

I had been making my way to my locker when I, quite literally, bumped into Dave.

It was the first day of school and I had been dreading it all summer.

I had come out as gay to my class a few weeks before summer holiday started. I had felt like I needed to tell them.

Well, it was the worst mistake of my life.

Dave and his cronies didn't really like my sexuality and this added up with my quietness, resulted in them bullying me.

They usually called me names and at least once a week I would get beaten up.

No one came to my aid. Because of that, I became even more quiet and scared of my surroundings. I never talked to anyone and was even afraid of answering teachers's questions.

When I entered the classroom of my first period subject, English, I noticed there was a boy sitting there.

He's pretty cute, was my first thought, before shaking my head. He won't even talk to you, Matt. You're too weird for that.

I sat down in the far back of the classroom, covering my hands with my sleeves. I didn't want anyone to notice my scars.

My class teacher, Mr Robberts, walked in. "Good morning, class. I hope you all had a nice summer. I would like to start off by introducing a new student to our class. His name is Oliver Jackson. I hope you will all treat him like a good friend, like you would any other student."

"Of course we will, sir!" Dave said, smiling sickly sweet. Mr Robberts smiled back at him, but when he directed his attention to another student, Dave turned around en looked at me evilly.

I gulped.

It was later in the bathrooms, when I was being beaten up (I skipped lunch, like I usually did, I didn't want to eat anyway), that I saw Oliver again.

"You shouldn't have come back," Dave said, punching me in the stomach. "You should've gone to a different school. Nobody wants you here."

"P-Please... S-Stop..." I stammered. I wanted to die. I was in so much pain. Sure, I was quite used to it by now, but it still hurt.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" I heard a voice yell from behind Dave.

The boy reached over and pulled Dave back by his shoulder. "Leave him alone! If you want someone to punch, take me, if you dare." He stood upright and made himself look big.

Dave backed up. "I'm warning you, Jackson. Don't hang out with him. He's disgusting." He gave me one last glare and then walked out of the bathroom. I whimpered.

"Hey, are you okay? It's a good thing I'm tall. I have no physical strength at all. If he were to punch me, I'd be out in a minute." He got a paper towel, wet it and put it to my bleeding lip.

"I'm Oliver, by the way. We haven't met personally, have we?"

I just said there, wide-eyed. Unable to say anything.

He laughed. "It's okay, I don't bite."

"I-I'm just surprised..." I stammered out.

"Why?"

"Because no one ever talks to me. I have, like, no friends. Everyone hates me. I'm surprised you saved me from Dave, let alone you talking to me."

"You seem like a nice kid, so why not? I don't judge people easily. I'll be your friend. Don't worry about Dave anymore. I'm here now." He smiled.

I smiled back weakly.

We grew very close after that. He always had my back and protected me from Dave, who seemed to be afraid of Oliver for some reason.

I never dared telling him about my self-harm and depression, though.

Not until he asked me to go swimming with him.

"Why won't you come with me?" he whined.

"Because... I don't like swimming," I said, a little unsure.

"I don't believe you. There's something you're not telling me, Matt. You know you can trust me, right?"

"I-I know... It's just...  I don't want you to think anything of me..."

"I won't. Not at all."

"Okay... Here goes... I-I'm... I cut myself..." I said, tears filling my eyes.

Oliver's eyes widened. "Oh, Matt! I never knew. I'm so sorry." He enveloped me in a tight hug. "I know it's hard, but please try to stop..."

I smiled. "It'll be hard, but I'll try my hardest for you."

After that, we had relatively easy between us.

Until I had a mental breakdown.

I was shaking, crying, cutting, throwing up... I couldn't handle anything anymore. I had received so much hate from Vine and school and I just couldn't handle it anymore.

I called Oliver.

"Hey Ol..."

"Matt? You okay? Have you been crying? Need me to come over?"

"No, no... I just wanted to say goodbye. I didn't want to write a letter, so I called... Thanks for everything, Ol... I love you."

"Matt? Matt?! Okay, stay strong. I'm heading over!"

I hung up and picked up my bottle of sleeping pills. I swallowed almost all of them.

I was almost gone, when Oliver came barging in. He dragged my body to the bathroom and pushed his finger down my throat, making me throw up.

Somehow, it had worked, as I woke up next morning with my head on Oliver's shoulder.

He had made me promise him to never do something like this again and to always call him when I was on the edge.

I kept my promise... For about a week.

I decided I would stop calling him, so that he wouldn't have to worry about me again.

He never found out I wasn't getting better. I guess I'm just that good of an actor.

When I was invited to join Magcon, Oliver was so happy for me, even though it would mean he would see me less.

I didn't want to join at first, scared that the other people would judge me, but Oliver convinced me.

I joined and I met the most wonderful people imaginable.

Oliver was my glue.

The glue that held me together.

And now he's gone...

Sorry guys, I didn't beta this... Too tired to... XD