𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐆 ➪ 𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑵𝑬, 𝑴𝑬𝑴𝑬𝑼𝑳𝑶𝑼𝑺, & 𝑰𝑴𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑿𝑿 | ✔︎

2.4

Friday

Alex's POV

I walk out of the art room, satisfied with the piece I have been working on for days. The piece was inspired by Charlie, though I doubt she knew that. 

(original artist Hélène Delmaire)

I've been working on my painting skills a lot lately, so when I finished the piece, I was astonished. 

I wave goodbye to my art teacher and walk down the hallway, painting in hand. My mind races with thoughts of Charlie and how she's impacting me a lot. I smile simply at the thought of her. My happy moments are shattered, however, when I run into someone,
"Oh, sorry-" they start, but grow quiet.
I look up, and my stomach turns. I feel the blood drain from my face as the tall figure of Jayden looms over me.

He scowls at me, "oh, it's fucking you." he seethes.

Now I don't like confrontations, but what the fuck did this guy want? Who did he think he was? I could see the bruises Will had left him and I smirk at little.

But Jayden didn't like that.

"What the fuck are you smirking at, huh?" Jayden hisses, stepping close to me threateningly.

Instinctively, I step back. "Fuck off you prick! Leave me and my friends and Charlie alone!" I yell. It's the end of the day, and both Jayden and I are alone in the hallway.

I could feel myself trembling. What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm weak. He's strong. I swallow the lump in my throat.

He glares daggers into me and I feel myself being picked up and pushed onto a wall by my collar. I panic slightly and let my painting go.

"Shut the fuck up you stupid bitch! You don't deserve Charlie! You're just some dumb queer who can go fuck your other two friends!" he angrily shouts.

I try to push him away from me, but the grip he has on my collar is too strong. He lets me down and I pant.

I see my painting be picked up, and Jayden scoffs at it. "Pathetic." he laughs and proceeds to damage my painting.

I feel my blood boil, and I stand up. "Charlie doesn't fucking deserve someone like you!" I cry and go at him.

But my efforts were futile. There's only so much I can do.

My cheek starts stinging from where Jayden had punched me. He pulls me up, using my hair and growls quietly, "Don't you fucking dare to intervene between Charlie and I. Don't even bother telling anyone what happened here. If you do any of those, I swear, I will beat the living shit out of you."

He lets go and walks away, hands in his pocket. I feel tears in my eyes but I quickly wipe them away and throw my demolished painting in the bin.

I come home and I see everyone already there, sitting on the couch. "Alex, jesus, there you are!" Charlie sighs in relief.

Both George and Will don't look at me, however. I put my bag down and stare at the floor.

"You alright, mate?" George asks, finally looking up from his phone when I hadn't talked to any of them.

I didn't want to talk. I start walking to my room, but am stopped by Will blocking my way.

"Alex, what the fuck happened to your face?" Will asks.

I couldn't tell them. Or I'll get hurt more.
"Someone kicked a football in my face by accident." I lie, practically choking it out.

They go quiet but Will lets me go to my room. I lock the door behind me. 

Will's POV 

"What the fuck happened to him?" George panics, pacing around the apartment. Charlie looks equally as worried and looks around. 

"Did you see his cheek? It was bruised, mad purple." I sigh, "No football does that." 

"No shit! Someone fucking socked him." George growls, squeezing a can of beer he grabbed from the fridge. I haven't seen George this angry before. Over Alex. But neither of us could blame him. Alex is still young and is like the little bird of the family. 

Even though we're fighting over Charlie, we're still friends. George groans in frustration, about to blow up when Charlie tells everyone to shut up. We all fall quiet, and hear slight sobbing coming from Alex's room. George punches the wall, leaving a dent and walks to his room, leaving Charlie and I shocked.

*****

Monday

Charlie's POV

I walk to school with the lads, Will and George in front talking while Alex and I talk behind them. Alex smiles gently, talking softly to me and laughing. I spot Jayden in the distance and wave to him. I see him happily wave back and start to come over. 

I stop walking to wait for Jayden. But I notice Alex had fallen deathly quiet. I look over to him and his face is pale and he's trembling, looking over to Jayden's direction. I go to rest my hand on his shoulder but when he notices, he steps back.

"Alex? what's wrong?" I ask. 

Alex shakes his head and when Jayden comes closer, he grips onto my hand and stands behind me. 

Was he scared of Jayden? Why?

 Did..something happen? 

Was...Jayden the one who hit him?

No! It..can't be.

I shake those thoughts off and smile up at Jayden. "Hey!" I cheerily greet. 

"Hi." he smiles. His eyes then move to Alex, and for a split second, I thought I saw anger in Jayden's eyes. 

Alex grips onto my hand tighter and I look over to him. He looks terrified.

I quietly tell Alex to go ahead of me and to walk with George and Will. He nods and runs to them. I smile at Jayden and he slightly smiles back and walks with me. 

The lads stop walking when Alex comes up to them, and I see them turn to look at us, then turn around and keep walking. I continue to talk to Jayden when my phone starts going off.

I unlock it and see I have 3 new messages.

George: Charlie. Come here to us.

Will: Stay away from him, Charlie.

Alex: Charlie..please come here..

*****

✩Yay! It's midterm!! I hope we can push some chapters out! Though I have midterm homework so. I ALSO WANTED TO STATE THAT IN THE PART WHERE ALEX IS CALLED A "dumb queer" NEITHER EMMY OR I THINK THAT WAY ABOUT ANYONE PART OF THE LGBTQA+ COMMUNITY!! We support everyone and love them, anyone who refers to people of that community like that, go suck a tree ✩

☀︎I'll see you in the next one! - Val☀︎