the quiet ° phan

ix. reveal

"LOUISE?!"

Louise smiled awkwardly.

"It's me," she said. "May I come in?"

Phil opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, then opened it again. Louise let herself in any way.

"I'm sorry about what Zoe did, Dan. She told me everything and I feel horrible."

Phil walked over from the door to the couch.

"I hope you feel better, Dan," Louise continued. "I made you this."

She held out a gift basket with sweets. She started placing it on the coffee table but Phil snatched the basket from her hands—much to Dan's chagrin, as he was really looking forward to those treats.

"Phil, what's gotten into you?" Louise said.

"You know what you did," Phil replied seethingly.

"But I didn't hurt Dan—"

"Not Dan," Phil said as he ushered Louise out the door.

"Oh. Well, I—"

Phil didn't let her finish because he slammed the door in her face. He slowly returned to the couch and threw the basket in the trash on his way there. Dan slowly signed a very basic message to Phil with his good hand. He struggled to form the words since he couldn't use his other hand to assist him, but this situation was dire.

Don't throw it away, Dan finally managed to sign, albeit a bit late.

"Trust me, you don't want anything from Louise."

Dan gave him a confused look. Phil sat down, rubbed his palms on his jeans, and sighed deeply.

"If I'm gonna have an outburst, I guess I should explain why."

Phil adjusted his fringe and slumped down in his seat. He avoided Dan's gaze and instead studied his fidgeting hands as he commenced his story.

"I moved to Manchester from Lancashire before year 7 because my mum got the job to become the new Dean of this school. Unfortunately for me, Southern Manchester Academy houses years 6-12, so everyone had already gotten to know each other in year 6. This made my transition here pretty difficult. To everyone else, I was the pale, nerdy boy whose mum was the Dean of the school. I didn't fit in with the crowd here. No one else was obsessed with Pokémon or wore thick-framed glasses.

"So, I was bullied for that. My scrawny, prepubescent body couldn't compete with the stronger boys and my pale skin would easily bruise, making it easier for bullies to happily leave their mark. And guess what? Those people you sat with, Zoe's friends—they were bullies too. Caspar and Joe teased me every time I walked by. Zoe laughed at me as her brother taunted me. The only person who seemed less harsh was Louise. She tried to be my friend because she was a nice person—or so I thought.

"When Louise started being friendly towards me, her friends didn't like that. Instead of standing up for me, she decided popularity was more important, so she distanced herself from me. During the short period where Louise acknowledged me, the teasing got worse because she brought me closer to the group of bullies she calls her friends. That didn't make me any happier about her leaving me in the dust. In fact, she basically left me an even more emotional, friendless mess.

"She cut off her relationship slowly, so at one point we had a weird frenemy relationship where she sometimes approached me but just led me into a trap with her friends teasing me by her side. Whether she acknowledged me or ignored me, she made my life miserable.

"It hurts seeing her apologizing on behalf of her wicked friend because...well, Dan...what she did to me is the same thing Zoe did to you. They both played us and led us into a trap where we suffered even more than before. Even if they seemed sincere at first, they hurt us badly.

"Look, Dan. I didn't fit in with that crowd. I was the new kid just like you. I died my ginger-brown hair black just so I could blend in. I was always the happy one, that is until I was bullied and mocked. I thought Louise wanted to be my friend, but all of that was an act. She makes excuses she calls 'reasons' for her backstabbing, but I don't believe one word of that crap. I know her real motives. Those girls shouldn't be trusted, Dan.

"I don't want you to get hurt even more like I did. You're already hurting because of Zoe, and associating with Louise will make it even worse. It was exactly the same for me."

Dan was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It didn't seem right, that sweet Louise could do something like that, but Dan also knew Phil would never lie to him.

Phil was the real one who needed comforting. Dan's pain could be cured with bedrest, strong pills, and distance from Zoe, but Phil's pain went deeper.

Dan placed his right hand on Phil's left bicep and caused the black-haired boy to look at him for the first time since opening up. His eyes were gleaming with tears and his Adam's apple bobbed as he fought to keep everything back.

But the moment Dan's eyes stared at his, Phil couldn't keep it together any longer. Phil let out a loud sob and the waterworks ensued. Dan wrapped his right arm around Phil and pulled him into a comforting embrace. He rubbed his back and soothed him as Phil cried and cried and cried. Dan's shirt had just dried from earlier during the movies, and now it was soaked with even more tears, but that didn't matter. He was helping Phil just as Phil helped him, and in this vulnerable moment, he only felt closer to his friend.

Dan's pain had traveled from his left extremities up into his heart. Phil's story made his heartbreak and ache because it really did remind him of what happened with Zoe. He was starting to think too much about what Phil said and analyze his story, so he put that all aside and focused on Phil. He was hurting and had been longer and more than Dan. They had to heal each other no matter how hard it would be.