Something about Us

Beauty In The Eyes Of All

--Arthur-- (Again)
•This chapter is going to be super longs sorry🌚•

Our classroom was oddly quiet. People sat in their usual groups of three or four, chatting quietly and smiling to one another. Flirting and laughing and conversing, everyone was totally oblivious. Oliver sat in his seat, head over his desk, scribbling away at some new temporary masterpiece in pencil. He kept drilling me on the way to school for the second surprise, but I wouldn't budge. I had only told him that today would be "Monumental." He laughed at me. Well, he was in for quite a shock once class started.
Which should be any minute now...
The clock on the wall ticked down, it's slow mechanical rhythm keeping time with my heartbeat. Alfred and I made eye contact after we both had taken a glimpse of the clock, and he smiled at me, throwing me a thumbs up. I nodded in return, glad for his reassurance. Just as he did that, our teacher walked into the room.
"Good Morning class! I have very big lesson planned for you this morning-"
"Actually," Alfred interrupted, standing up. All heads in the room swiveled towards him, including Oliver's, and I forced down a smile. "I've got an announcement I have to make for you guys,"
Oliver looked at me, a question of "What's going on?" On his face. I smiled at him, and simply turned back to face Alfred.
Our teacher spoke again. "Alfred, can you wait until-"
"Absolutely not, Miss. This has to be said now. It'll only take a minute, I promise,"
Giving up, she sat down in her seat.
Alfred coughed, the entire room silent as he walked to the front of the room to address us. I could see his hands were shaking, but I'm not sure if anyone else did.
Mathias and Gilbert nudged one another, smirking, thinking that this was some sort of elaborate joke their friend must be planning.
If only they knew.
"Well dudes, I have a confession to make," The air in the room thickened noticeably with that statement.
"When I was 9 years old, my brother died," He took a deep breath. "At the time when he died, our family was taking care of a kid in foster care,"
At that, I could feel Oliver stiffen next to me, his body shaking lightly.
"That foster kid was Oliver," He paused and pointed back to him, every head in the room turning to him. Oliver was frozen with fear, and he glanced at me nervously. I took his hand and squeezed it, trying to tell him this was all planned and everything was okay.
Oliver took a deep breath as Alfred continued.
"So anyway, in our backyard there used to be this old swing set thing, and Matthew would always swing way too high. I remember he said that he felt like... That he felt like if he swung high enough he'd escape into the stars..." Alfred paused, looking at his feet as a small smile played on his lips with the memory. "But, one time, we were swinging, and Oliver was sitting in the grass, and Mattie was swinging really high. I kept telling him not to go so high, but he wouldn't stop. Then he tried to jump off the swings,"
The whole room was dead silent, even our teacher was locked into his storytelling. Oliver couldn't take his eyes off of Alfred. He seemed to be crying. I squeezed his hand again, running my thumb over his.
"When Mattie fell, he broke his neck," There was a collective gasp and a couple muttered apologies.
"Oliver and I rushed over to him, and he was just on the ground, dead instantly. My parents came out and when they saw what happened... They blamed Oliver. They said he pushed Mattie off of the swing, that he killed him. But I knew that wasn't true. I knew Mattie swung too high, but I couldn't make myself tell the truth because I was scared. Yknow, when you're little, the whole world is terrifying," Oliver was shedding heavy, silent tears at this point, and the whole class shifted in their seats.
"Obviously you've all heard that rumor that Oliver killed my brother, and I'm here to tell you it's not true. He never did anything wrong to him. Or to anyone, for that matter. Oliver's a nice guy, and he doesn't deserve to be treated the way you all treat him. I've sat back and watched him forced into isolation for too long, and that's why I'm coming clean. Because I've seen enough of people being cruel and mean to this sweet person for no good goddamn reason. Because of a lie. So you don't have to be afraid of him anymore, or avoid him, or be mean to him, because here's the truth: Oliver hasn't killed anyone, and he is a sweet, nice, good person who deserves friendships," Alfred finally finished, shooting a million-dollar smile at Oliver, who shook his head, crying happy tears. The whole class was dead silent. The way Alfred delivered his words, the way he told his story, it was hard for people not to believe him, or like him. I could see why he was so popular.
Then there was a voice that cut into the silence.
"I'm sorry," Oliver poked his head up.
"I'm so sorry amigo," Antonio said.
Antonio? As in the first person to tell me about that rumor and warn me not to even associate myself with Oliver, Antonio?
Oliver shook his head, smiling. "It's perfectly alright now," He said. "Everything's alright,"
Then following Antonio's lead, there were apologies erupting from every corner of the room, voices in different pitches and volumes, all offering sincerity and "I'm sorry"-s.
The teacher finally quieted down the class as she stood up, urging Alfred to walk back to his seat. As he did, he met my eyes and smiled widely, and I couldn't help but return his grin. Alfred then mouthed something to Oliver, who froze immediately. Looking to my right, He was smiling through his tears, and then he looked at me and whispered.
"You did this?"
I shrugged. "I didn't do much. I just helped Alfred realize that he should do it," He shook his head again and then hugged me as best he could while sitting in a desk. "Thank you,"
I hugged him back and whispered. "Happy Birthday,"