Phil walked towards the two boys, that were sitting on one of the yellow benches, listening to the other peoples rumors, as usual.
It was a pretty warm day for late April, but Phil still wore a sweater. He ran out of not too weird button ups, not too nerdy shirts and he wore the denim jacket already. So he chose a grey sweater and black skinny jeans, which he had like ten pairs of.
"Hey" he greeted them, running his fingers through his quiff.
"Hey did you ask your mum?" Pj asked putting on his glasses, which he never wore. "Yeah she said yes, no contacts today?" Phil giggled, not actually laughing about Pjs appearance, the glasses suited him, he just always refused to wear them at all costs.
"Yeah, and unfortunately I forgot to ask you if you could bring me a pair."
"Oh I have backups" the tallest one said, already unzipping his backpack. "No no no" Chris chimed in "please wear glasses today."
Phil turned towards Chris, just then noticing the bruised jaw and the sore corner of his friends lips. Pity filled Phils mind, the urge of hugging him spread through his body, knowing what Chris had to go through the evening before.
Not by experience, but by assumption, as always.
He probably begged Pj to wear glasses, so he wasn't the focal point of the group.
"Yeah I think I'll stick with the glasses for one day, I mean this beauty should be presented at least once" Pj smirked ironically and shook his head. "Agree."
Phils gaze wandered, eyeing the people around him, until he caught the sight of Daniel Howell, limping towards the schools entrance.
There were less eyes on him by now, but his were glued onto the ground. Phil knew what it felt like when everyone was aware of your personal life and when they even talked about it.
The time he had to go through that himself, he had felt even lonelier than before.
Everyone talks about, but nobody with you.
Phil decided quickly that he didn't want Dan to feel like that, he didn't really know the boy with the fringe but he somehow felt connected to him.
"I'll go over to Dan okay?" he asked, even though he didn't need his friends approval, which he definitely wouldn't get.
"Why? I thought we'd talked about that" Chris sounded like his mother and it annoyed the black haired boy enormously.
"Because he's lonely and nobody seems to care about that."
Pj looked at him weirdly, almost sad.
"But you don't know him, I don't think that he wants the company of a stranger" Chris said, but Phil kept keeping eye contact with Pj instead. Doubting more and more that they had told him the full truth.
"You should go" Pj said lowering his head and avoiding the aghast glare of Chris.
"Yeah, we'll see us later" Phil said quickly turning around and walking towards the school entrance, which Dan still hadn't reached.
"Hey" Phil greeted him with a soft smile on his lips, trying to look genuine.
Dan looked up, his fringe covering his left eye. He wore a black sweater with black jeans, but his same colored shoes had a white sole. "Oh, hey" he said seemingly surprised about talking to Phil a second time. A light smile appeared on his lips as well, but it was less real than Phils, he could tell, his mum had the same one almost everyday.
"Did you go home yesterday?" he asked.
"Yeah it was exhausting to walk" Dan answered a little annoyed by himself and his disability to walk like everyone else could.
"That's shit I guess, but it won't last forever."
Dan nodded, looking at the ground again, the smile on his lips was already gone. Phil stopped smiling as well, trying to figure out what was going on in the others mind.
"Who are you friends with?" the black haired one asked, breaking the silence that was about to swallow them both.
"Not really anyone, as you can see" Dan said, trying to cover up the sadness in his voice that with a joke.
"Y-you?" he quickly asked when he saw that the older one didn't laugh about it.
"Chris and Pj, don't know if you know them" Phil answered, looking back at the yellow bench, where the two weren't sitting anymore. There was actually nobody on the schoolyard except for the two boys and a few other students.
"I do, somehow."
"We should go inside" Phil said, overhearing Dans answer and wondering why they hadn't heard the bell.
"Oh yeah probably."
"What do you have first?" he asked while holding the glass door open for Dan, who slowly limped inside.
"History."
"Oh me too, well you can sit with me and Pj" Phil said relieved about the possibility that he could talk with someone during history, which was one of the most boring subjects, he thought.
Pj didn't talk much during lessons, he was way too focused on listening and making notes, however he managed to do that without falling asleep.
Dan didn't respond though and just walked next to Phil, trying to be as fast as he was. It was pretty impossible though, his right leg was almost unmovable and he just kinda dragged it with him like a useless weight.
Sometimes he wished that they would've just amputated it, but his doctor kept saying that he'd be able to gain the control back if he just kept going.
But Dan didn't want to keep fighting for something that he decided to give up on a long time ago.
They entered the classroom as the last ones, but Mrs Kelly didn't complain about that, maybe because of Dan.
She gave him a genuine and reassuring smile, which the brown haired returned less truthfully. Phil watched the scenario for a second, then turned towards Pj, who was sitting there not looking up.
"There's an empty seat next to me if you want to -" Phil began, but Dan already limped towards a table in the furthest corner of the room.
Phil swallowed heavily, feeling the insecurity build up in his chest. But he thought that it would've been wrong to follow and convince him now to sit next to him, when he obviously didn't want to.
So he just sat down next to Pj, who now lifted his head so he could meet Phils slightly darker blue eyes.
But all he could see was raven black hair, while Phil could only see the lonely brown eyes of Daniel James Howell.
