Dancing in the Rain

Chapter 17

Will's POV

School is boring. I know that everyone thinks that but I honestly can't focus on anything and schoolwork is not helping. I haven't seen Sophie since the movie on Saturday. I think that Henry talked to her at the pool that day but I didn't even notice that she was there. In fact there could have been a flying unicorn there and I still wouldn't have noticed.

I haven't seen David for a few days. I am currently standing outside Izzy's school because I promised her that I would still see her and so far I haven't. She came out with about four other girls and then she noticed me. I had this little seven year old girl hugging me and I scooped her up.

"I haven't seen you forever, are you coming home?" she asked.

"No, but I can take you for ice cream," I said even though it is winter.

"ICE CREAM," she yelled and she headed off.

"Daddy isn't happy with you," she informed me as she walked.

"Is he looking after you?"

"No, he doesn't take me to school like you and he is never home."

"What about Mommy?"

"She is always working or crying," she said plainly.

We sat at the ice cream shop for an hour. I helped her with her homework and she told me all about her friends and her teacher. It's nice to know that someone likes school in this family and it's not me. I missed spending time with Izzy but I didn't want to risk running into David. His car wasn't in the driveway when I dropped Izzy home so I came inside.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, they always leave me alone," she said.

"I'll try and visit more often," I said and she gave me one last hug before I left.

I wanted to go to the pool but I couldn't be bothered so I just headed to Henry's house. His Mother was surprised to see me as I was usually later than this. Thomas and Sam were already at the dinner table and Henry was just coming down the stairs.

"I'm surprised to see you Will," Kathy said.

"Yeah, I was with Izzy so I didn't go to the pool," I said as Henry's Father Rob came in.

"It's nice to see you," he said.

The rest of the dinner was pleasantly quiet. I usually came in later and would steal leftovers and heat them up. The twins had to go do homework so I left the table as well. Henry stayed downstairs and I disappeared into my room and locked the door. I heard a knock five minutes later but I didn't answer it so the person disappeared.

I didn't have any homework to do so I just grabbed a blank piece of paper and started to sketch. No one has ever seen the drawings that I do. They are all in pencil and they are very raw. They are stuck in a book and shoved in a corner of my room. At my house they were hidden behind the bed and at Henry's I have hidden them behind the mirror.

I have never taken art and I have no desire to. I have no idea if anything thinks that they are good and I don't care. They are for me to pour emotion onto a page and they are a good outlet. For some people they use a sport, music, photography. I often go swimming to clear my head but I can't do that all the time.

I start to draw and I don't even know what it is until I am halfway through. It is a pair of shoes that are left on the side of the road. The name is worn of so that you can only see the letter h. They are a bit worn but still useable. I hear another knock at the door and I shove the art supplies away and open it.

Kathy is standing there.

"Do you want anything else to eat dear?" she asked.

"I'm fine thanks," I said.

She looked like she was going to say something else but she turned and walked away so I headed back inside the room and started another picture.

I walked to school with Henry and we separated once we got to school. He had to go talk to a teacher so I headed to my locker. I was halfway there when I ran into someone. Neither one of us fell over but we both looked up.

"Watch where you are going," he snapped.

It was Sophie's friend Austin and he wasn't pleased at all.

"Maybe you should," I smirked.

He is quite a bit bigger than I am so I probably shouldn't have wound him up but I managed to get around him and get to my locker. Sophie wasn't talking to me in English again but that wasn't new. Neither of us mentioned our conversation that we had at the movies the other day and I was glad. I most certainly wasn't going to bring it up and I didn't want to have to explain myself to her.

Austin was standing outside my locker when I got there at the beginning of lunch.

"So you are the guy that made Sophie cry," he said.

"Can you get out of my way?" I said calmly.

"No, you are going to talk to me," he said like I was going to.

"No, so move out of the way."

"You think that you are so great but you hurt her."

"You think that I don't know that. I don't want to talk to you about it and I'm not going."

Instead of responding he shoved me backwards. I stumbled but didn't fall over.

"I'm not going to ask you again. Why did you hurt Sophie?" he snapped.

"She hurt me. She kissed another guy, what was I supposed to do?" I asked.

"Forgive her, that's what a real guy would do."

"I'm not the type of guy that wants to be cheated on. She should have realised that I was going to break up with her."

He shoved me again and this time my back hit the lockers.

"I guess that I'm going to have to teach you a lesson," I snapped.

I blocked the first punch that was coming to my shoulder. The second one missed me and Austin punched the locker next to me. The third punch though hit me in the stomach. I bent over, gasping for air and he hit me again, this time in the shoulder.

"I'm not going to give in to you," I said, spitting blood onto the ground.

"I know you will," he laughed.

He kept punching me again and again. My head hit the locker behind me and I slid onto the floor. The people that had gathered around us stepped backwards as someone came through but I couldn't see who it was as my vision was blurring.

"Austin, stop it," they said as Austin kicked me again.

I closed my eyes for a second to try and clear them but it didn't help. Blood was dripping onto me and the floor from when he hit me in the nose. I saw that Austin said something but I couldn't hear it as all I heard was a ringing noise.

"Fuck off Austin," the same voice said.

Austin kicked me once more before stalking off followed by most of the crowd except for the person that saved me. They knelt down next to me but I couldn't see who it was. They sat down beside me and I couldn't say anything.

"You will be alright," they said.

I wanted to say something but my throat was dry and I couldn't form the words.

"You will be alright," they repeated.

That was the last thing I heard before I blacked out on the floor.

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Who do you think it was?

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The Wise One