Don't say a word (TomTord Highschool AU)

32. ...Jon?

Tord's POV:

We were walking to school. Patryck gave me painkillers so the pain in my eye wasn't so bad as before. It still hurt though. Soon, we saw Edd and Matt. I waved at them. They both smiled when they noticed us and they went up to us.

"Good morning, guys!" Edd said. Matt looked at my injured eye. "Nice eyepatch, Tord! It looks cool!" He said. Edd raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, looks nice. Why do you have it though?" He asked. I sighed and took the eyepatch off.

I slowly opened my eye. It didn't hurt that much as before, but it wasn't comfortable either. They both gasped. I didn't want my eye to get infected or something so I quickly closed it and put the eyepatch back on.

"D-did your... real parents do that to you?" Edd asked. I nodded slowly. Tom was about to say something when suddenly... "G-guys!" We heard a familiar voice... We all turned around... It was...Jon..?

Tom's face went from worried to mad. He wrapped his arms around me, glaring at Jon. "What do you want!?" He asked. Jon panted. "S-sorry to bother you...but...Eduardo and Mark are planning on...hurting Tord...again..." He said.

I raised an eyebrow confusingly and took out my phone. 'Why are you telling us this? Aren't you with them?' I typed and showed it to him. He looked down. Tom still looked mad, but also confused.

He unwrapped his arms around me, watching Jon's every move. Jon still stayed silent until I heard quiet sobbing. At this point, I was getting worried. Something was wrong with him... But what?

He covered his face, sobbing quietly. Even though he did hurt me sometimes, that didn't mean I couldn't worry about him... I went up to him. "T-Tord, what are you doing?" Edd asked me. Jon looked at me with tears.

I placed my hand on his shoulder and tilted my head as if I was asking him what happened. He sighed. "I-I'm sorry for bothering you, but...I just... I don't want to attack and hurt anybody... I don't want to be a bully, but..." He paused and wiped away his tears.

I felt kinda bad for him... I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a hug. He was suprised. "W-what are you doing? I hurt you and your friends so many times..." He said. I pulled him even closer.

"W-why? Why are you so nice to me?" He asked. I smiled at him softly. He just looked down. "I-it's just that Eduardo and Mark...they still want me to be a bully... They said that otherwise, they would hurt me as well and..." He cried harder as he hugged me back.

"I don't want to leave them... I still want to be friends with them, but I also don't want to be a bully OR getting bullied... I don't know what to do!" He said. 'So that's what it is...' I thought to myself as I rubbed his back.

I looked at my friends as if I was asking them to help me over here. They understood and hugged Jon too. "Why are you all s-so nice to me? I don't understand!" He said. "Hey, it's okay! We'll try to help you, okay?" Matt said.

We all nodded in agreement. "S-so you forgive me?" Jon asked. I answered him by hugging him even tighter, smiling. He smiled too. "Thank you... You're really nice..." He said. We all pulled away from the hug and started walking to school together.

I was glad that Jon didn't want to bully us... But if he was doing it only for Eduardo and Mark... And they said that if he would stop bullying people, they would bully him... They were just...not real friends... They were just using him...

We reached our school and went in. We arrived just in time. The bell rang. I sighed quietly. School again... Life could be so cruel... (I feel you, Tord.) We went to our classroom and sat down.

I saw Eduardo and Mark there... When Jon walked up to them, Eduardo started yelling at him... Jon looked down, clearly upset. I felt really bad for him... I didn't want him to be unhappy... But they were just...not real friends... Jon didn't deserve this... I needed to help him... If I could help Tom, I could help him too. And that was what I was going to do.

*time skip*

We were about to go to lunch when...Eduardo, Mark and...Jon came up to us. Eduardo smirked. "Oh look! The mute idiot has an eyepatch! Come on, you look like a freak, take it off!" He said. I glared at him.

"Jon, try and take his eyepatch off." Mark said, grinning at Jon. Jon just looked down. "Jon! Take. His eyepatch. Off!" Eduardo yelled at him. Jon looked up at me, panicking. He didn't know what to do. I sighed and just nodded, motioning him to take it off.

He gulped and went up to me. He grabbed my eyepatch and took it off. My friends were just standing there. They knew what I was doing...but I wasn't sure if I knew what I was doing. I still had my eye closed.

"Hey, you weirdos! Did you stop caring about that freak? You aren't doing anything to help him! Oh! Did you finally stop protecting him!?" Eduardo asked. I glared at him. 'Never call my friends weirdos... The only one weird here is.......me...' I thought.

Jon was about to walk away, but I stopped him. He looked at me, I could see he was scared. "S-should I say it...?" He whispered to me. I nodded and smiled softly. He handed me my eyepatch back and I took it on.

"J-Jon! What are you doing!?" Mark asked, clearly mad. Jon sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "U-uhh, guys... I just...wanted to say that... I really don't want to be a bully anymore... But I also don't want to lose you! I know you want me to be a bully, but I just agreed, because I wanted to be with my friends!" He said. I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him, nodding. He smiled at me and looked back at Mark and Eduardo.

Tom's POV:

"Jon! Stop it! You know you want to be a bully!" Mark said. Jon shook his head. I sighed. "Eduardo... Stop it. He just wants to be friends with you, but if he makes his own decision, why won't you just respect that?" I asked.

"Shut up, you eyeless freak." He said. "Eduardo, tell us. Are you really friends with Jon?" Edd asked. "O-of course! Why wouldn't I?" He asked. "Well, it doesn't seem like it... Any real friend would just respect his friend's decisions..." Matt said. Eduardo stayed silent.

"... Eduardo... Look at Jon...and just try it... Try to tell him... That you don't respect his decision... That you can't understand... Tell him what you really think, Eduardo..." I said.

Eduardo looked at Jon who was now crying quietly in Tord's arms. Jon looked at him as well. After a while of silence, Eduardo sighed. "L-listen, Jon... I-I just don't... I don't want to be fr-" He cut himself off. Just as I thought. He couldn't say it.

"Eduardo, I care about you a-and Mark... But if you really don't want to be friends, then I respect that...as a real friend..." Jon said, looking down. "J-Jon, I..." Eduardo sighed. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't understand..." He said.

I smiled and looked at Edd and Matt. They were smiling as well. "It's okay... But I want to ask you and Mark... Do you still want to be friends even if I won't be a bully..?" Jon asked. Eduardo and Mark looked at each other and back at Jon.

"Yes. Yes, we do."