Speak [ phan ]

chapter seventeen

***

A month passes with no mishaps what so ever, and Dan is starting to realise that maybe the world isn't against him after all.

In fact, the past month has been the best month ever. Quinn and his mother are happy and Dan is becoming closer with Phil - basically to the point where they are inseparable and practically live at each other's houses. Everything is going how Dan wants it to.

"Dan, school, hurry!" Phil says, appearing in Dan's doorway, dressed in jeans and a jumper, his backpack on for school, "we have to leave now!"

Dan nods, grabbing his bag on the way out before running out the door behind Phil, his mother laughing from the kitchen at the two rushing madly out the door. Dan and Phil end up having to run the whole way to school in order to make it on time. They arrive on the bell, red faced and puffing, but proud to have made it in time.

They rush to their first class - mathematics - and take the last two seats left up the back. Mr Hall marks the roll before starting to write up equations for them to solve on the board, much to Phil's dismay as he is not fond of maths.

Phil is sleeping over at his house again tonight, so the day drags on quite slowly for Dan. It's Friday and he really wants the day just to be over so he and Phil can spend more time together. It's weird, even though Phil can be annoying, weird and never stops talking, Dan never gets sick of Phil. There's something about Phil that makes Dan want to spend time with him constantly - he feels happy with Phil.

Period two drags on, and eventually it's first break, but that's over too soon. The next few hours go so slowly Dan wants to cry, but he's soon freed from that hell by lunch time, only to be put back into his last two classes all too soon. School is killing him today.

"Finally, the day is over!" Phil exclaims happily as he walks beside Dan on their route home, "I swap it was longer than average. It probably just felt like it, I mean, I wasn't having fun so time obviously wasn't flying."

Dan rolls his eyes, a wide grin on his face. He can't believe he got so lucky to get Phil as his friend - he's so glad that he ran into Phil that fateful day - he couldn't imagine his life without him now, which actually kind of scared Dan, like, what if he left?

Dan knows it's a petty, common fear, but he's had it happen to him and since then, he's been friendless, sad, bullied and so he has a legitimate reason behind the fear.

"Want to watch a movie?" Phil asks once they arrive home, Dan collapsing on his bed while Phil takes up his usual residence on Dan's desk chair.

Dan nods, watching as Phil spins around on the chair and keeps playing with the height. Dan mouths at Phil 'what movie?', which takes Phil a few moments to figure out what Dan actually means, as he doesn't really lip read that often.

"Hmm, what about... The Longest Ride?" Phil suggests, making Dan raise his eyebrows at him, amused with the boy's choice.

Dan didn't really pin Phil as a romance and drama movie type of guy, but hey, if Phil wants to watch it, that's fine with Dan. Secretly, Dan loves romantic drama, so he's happy with the choice.

To play it cool though, Dan shrugs 'whatever' while nodding. Phil grins, sitting on Dan's bed beside him and opening his laptop, opening Netflix. Phil finds the movie and starts it while Dan flicks the lights off, before joining Phil once again.

While the movie progresses, Dan notices how close they are sitting. Their shoulders are touching, their arms brushing against each other's and he glances over at Phil, to find him fully engaged in the movie, a soft smile on his face.