Darkshines

Chapter Twenty-two

Dan's POV

Dan hadn't noticed Phil had left the classroom at first, too bothered with the actual schoolwork and Chris being an asshole next to him. It wasn't until Chris actually left and the silence made him look over to Phil's seat, only - there was no Phil to be seen.

He didn't think too much of it for the first minutes, but soon realised Chris might've gone after Phil. That couldn't end well, especially not in Chris' mood right now.

Dan strongly considered to go looking for Phil. It wasn't because he was worried or anything. Just, looking out for his (hopefully soon to be) friend.

As he was deciding on if he should go, the door opened and Phil walked inside again, unharmed yet looking rather distressed and out of breath. Dan wondered if he encountered Chris after all. He made eye contact with Phil as he made a beeline over to his seat beside PJ, and there was no trace of his usual cheery self.

Chris, however, didn't return for the rest of the class, which Dan was completely fine with, wanting to focus on his essay in peace.

Speaking of said essay, writing it was a disaster. He felt stupid, shouldn't writing about themselves supposed to be easy? Maybe for average people with normal ambitions and passions, but not Dan. He struggled with it, he wasn't sure why he wanted to finish it when he knew the outcome was going to be rubbish, a big fail for sure. Perhaps the essay he tried to write was just a metaphor of his life, ironic right? But he just wanted  to prove for himself he was able to do it.

The bell rang and school was over for today. Everyone in the classroom hurried away and left, well yeah, almost everyone except PJ and Phil as usual who was staying behind talking to Mr. Ketch. Phil stood beside while PJ was speaking, not seemingly a part of the conversation so Dan went over to him.

"Hey", he said awkwardly, in lack of anything to say.

"Hi Dan, how's your essay going? I saw you tried to work hard back there, I hope it went well?" Phil pulled half a smile and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Well, it's not..great?" Dan admitted and sighed thinking of it.

"I'm sure it's going good, Danny" he chuckled and made Dan pout annoyed and lightly punch Phil's upper arm jokingly.

"Hey don't ever call me that again!" Dan warned. "And hell no, I'm going to fail anyway so I don't know why I try."
"Sure, Daniel. And don't worry about the essay, you're underestimating yourself. We could study together at the school library if you want some help?" Phil offered.

Dan opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out at first. Phil was barely his friend and he'd already helped him out so much already!

"You.. you can? Like now?" he replied dumbfounded and internally cringed of how stupid he sounded, but pushed the thought away. Phil just nodded.

"Sure."

"But, it will be so much extra work for you! I'm rubbish at this!" Dan argued.

"I'm fine with it, and also I'm done with my essay so there's no extra work for me. I'll help you out."

"Okay.. thank you" Dan agreed with a puzzled expression, he was still not used to having someone supportive and kind and each time Phil did kind things like this (already lots of it, contrary to the very few kind gestures Dan had returned), he was reminded of that.

He wished he had become friends with Phil instead of going for the popular douchebags in this school back when he started here. But thinking back to the time when he started this school, after moving here, it was what he had wanted back then. To be in the top of the hierarchy. Phil hadn't been that, so he avoided students like him. Victims.