Chapter 12
"Are you going to end up telling me what happened during the weekend?" Ella persisted, pushing a sandwich in front of Kylan, who thanked her quietly. He shook his head, tearing the plastic from the sandwich and beginning to munch on it. Ella frowned, "But you tell me everything, Ky, that's not like you."
"Can you stop talking about it?" he murmured, not meeting her gaze as he lowered his head, staring at his hands on the table as they trembled.
Ella's lips clamped shut for a moment before grimacing. "No, tell me what happened."
Kylan was growing irritated, "I will when I'm ready."
"It'll help if you speak about it."
"Can you drop it?"
She frowned, "But I'm-"
"I'm leaving," he breathed in annoyance, standing from his seat against Ella's protest. "Thank you for the food though," he pushed the sandwich in her direction, which she caught. Before she could say anything else, he winced as he stood and marched away towards the exit. He was not exactly paying attention to the door, and before he could open it, someone pushed it open, and it slammed against his forehead. He stumbled backward, his back falling first against the floor, and he cried in pain, feeling his wounds tear. They were not even near healing, and he grunted, the thought of committing twirling around his stomach, the pain unbearable. As he attempted to stand up, a foot slammed into his chest and knocked him back against the ground, his head hitting the floor. He choked on his own saliva, feeling a sudden pounding headache begin as he breathed heavily.
Laughter surrounded him, and Bradley stepped forward, "That'll teach ya'," he chuckled before marching past him. Behind him followed Jonah, who glanced downwards at Kylan for a quick second before sharply turning elsewhere. However, when he walked past him with his friend group, he could not help but glance backward at Kylan, who was still on the floor but sitting upwards. A girl approached him to ask if he was alright, and Jonah bit his bottom lip angrily, scoffing as he realized it was the girl from P.E class when he dumped water on his head and from this morning as well. She was extremely persistent, but the manner he leaned into her was evident that he clearly liked the attention from her as well. However, Jonah's focus was taken elsewhere when a girl came and blocked their path.
Ella narrowed her gaze at them, but primarily Bradley, who gulped but behaved as if he was not fazed. She pointed a finger in his direction, "I will crush you for doing that."
"What are you going to do?"
Suddenly, Ella leaned forward, and her fist was terribly fast that Bradley could not even catch it in time. Her knuckles connected with the side of his jaw, and shockingly, her punch had been strong, causing Bradley to stumble backward and almost lose his balance. She was near giving him another one when Jonah immediately reacted, placing himself in front of her and stopping her momentum.
"Calm down," he murmured in her ear, and she listened, but her narrowed eyes remained on Bradley, who spat some blood from his mouth onto the floor, feeling a cut in his inner cheek.
"You're lucky you're a girl," Bradley snarled, and Ella's shoulders broadened.
"So what if I'm a girl? Even if I were a boy, you wouldn't do shit," she retorted angrily, "and don't ever disrespect my friend like that again."
However, all of them turned when they heard the girl yelp, and their eyes widened in shock. "He's bleeding from his back!" Ashely screamed, and the ones near enough to hear also turned to observe that scandal.
Kylan was attempting to calm her down as he whispered, "It's no big deal. It happened earlier. Please stop yelling."
"You're bleeding a lot," she cried, the blood staining the entire back of his shirt.
"I'm not bleeding that much," he stressed uneasily, noticing that a bunch of people were now turning to stare at the scene, and he was attempting to calm Ashley down in order to leave without needing to explain why his back was bleeding so much from such a regular everyday fall.
Ella pushed past Jonah, whose eyes were widened in shock as he stared at the blood gushing from Kylan's back. It was so bad that it was dripping down to his pants. He gulped, resisting the urge to run to his side and help him to the nurse's office. "I got you, Kylan," Ella whispered tenderly as she placed his arm over her shoulders and gently grabbed his waist. He lethargically marched outside the cafeteria, and the people around stared until they disappeared behind the doors. Bradley was massaging his cheek as he said, "She was feisty." The other boys around chuckled, commenting their own words, but Bradley realized that Jonah was not paying any attention to them, rather staring at the door Kylan had exited from. Bradley placed his palm on Jonah's shoulder, and his worried features instantly returned to normal. Bradley raised an eyebrow, "Why do you look so worried?" Jonah shrugged his shoulders, "That was lots of blood."
"He'll be fine. He's just being a sissy," Bradley condescended with a scoff.
Jonah's jaw tightened, wishing he could tackle Bradley down and give him a taste of his own medicine. However, instead, he followed his crowd and marched along to their habitual table.
They were in the janitor's room since Kylan refused to have the nurse see his wounds on his back. When they reached the room, Ella hurried to the nurse's office and stole a few packs of bandages and medicine before hurrying back to Kylan. She had ordered him to take off his shirt and felt her stomach flow with nausea the instance the wounds showed. They were long lines along his back with blotches that were bleeding, and some of those wounds had depth; those were bleeding much more.
Ella did not gasp since she knew Kylan would become uncomfortable and immediately put his shirt back on and leave. Instead, she began disinfecting the wound, for which he grunted, and placed heavy bandages around his entire back. "You might need stitches," she informed calmly, and he instantly shook his head.
"I'll be fine."
"Why don't you go home for the day?"
"I need to go to class; I can't miss it just because I'm bleeding," he chuckled uneasily, but he was only attempting to hide the gloom, "I have an extra shirt in my locker."
She slowly nodded her head with a pause before letting a long sigh escape her lips. The worry was eating her insides, and she wanted to know what was happening and if he needed to stay with her for a few days. She wanted to make sure he was safe, but he wasn't letting her in this time, which was frustrating her, but she could not simply walk away and abandon him with his issues. She needed to help him, hence which she cleared her throat and said, "Tell me what's going on." He sighed in distress, scratching the side of his face. It had been a long journey between him and his father, which Ella certainly knew about. It was not exactly the fact that he didn't want to tell Ella. It was unfortunate that it hurt his own soul merely thinking about what occurred. He wished that he was wanted at least somewhere, but those sharp and harsh words spoken by his father were being repeated over again and again as he woke up, wrote his notes, put his shoes on, and did the bare minimum of the day. Not only that, but as he had told his dad that he could do anything to him in hopes to make him forgiven, his father did not take a second to hesitate.
He lowered his head, feeling a sudden clenching of his heart, and the itching hole was there, making him want to reach in his heart and pull it from his body. As his lips began quivering, Kylan whispered, "Dad did this."
Ella had known this already, and Kylan slowly explained to her the story of what occurred. When he was done with it, she pulled him towards her, letting him lean against her chest as she massaged his arm, calming him as he quietly sobbed, his hands gripping her for dear life, as if she was the one that could help her escape this harsh reality. She was not exactly angry towards Jonah since he had not done anything wrong, but his presence was merely detrimental to Kylan's livelihood.
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When Kylan was able to return to his composure, Ella cleared her throat, "Let's talk about this after school. Come back to mine? We'll make you dinner, and we can cuddle." Kylan nodded his head and chuckled, wiping the tears that were left on his cheek. They both stood to their feet and exited the janitor's room, marching tightly behind one another because she wanted to hide the blood from his back. Apparently, his wound hurt, but the bandages were able to stop the bleeding. He was able to find a spare shirt in his locker, and when he seemed fairly well, she waved a hand and began walking to her own class.
It was not until after school that he saw Ella again, but before he did, he was forced to speak to Ashley, who approached him casually. She tapped his shoulder, and he had his heart jump all the way to his throat before finally realizing it was her. He was unsure who he thought it could be, but it did startle him. He gulped, slowing his breathing as he said, "You scared me."
"I didn't mean to," she replied uneasily, raising her eyebrows with a small grin. "I just wanted to see if you were alright."
"Yes, I'm fine," he said coolly. He felt bad for being dry to her in the morning and decided to at least give her attention at the moment. He was not exactly attracted to her but rather liked the attention he was receiving, which was always nice. "What are you up to right now?"
"I have my volleyball practice. What about you?"
"I'm headed to my cousin's house," he said, "just waiting for her to get here."
"Ella, right," she breathed quietly, "well, I hope everything is alright with you. Do your wounds still hurt?"
"No, no," he replied casually, "they're fine."
As per usual, the familiar voice began laughing down the hall, and Jonah was on his path to cross him. He had not seen Jonah ever since lunch and did his best to make it seem as if it did not faze him that Jonah was not talking to him and completely avoiding him. However, it did, and he really wished he had apologized properly. He himself did not glance in the direction of his crush as he marched by them without bearing any minds to them, but when they walked past, he glanced backward and made eye contact with the girl he was talking to. He wanted to crush her and bit his bottom lip furiously, scoffing before returning his eyes in front of him. He had told himself to ignore this phase, ignore all the cravings and the sudden desires that latched onto Kylan, and attempted to make himself grossed out by them. However, at lunch today, it had worried him, but showing concern was also another act he needed to stop. "Also," she seemed a bit stressed as she began this sentence, her cheeks becoming a pale pink as she started, "I was wondering if you would like to grab lunch together tomorrow, or anything you're free." Kylan shrugged his shoulders; his usual partner was Ella, but she could miss him for one day. There would not be any issues there. He nodded his head, "I'd love to."
"Okay," she beamed, attempting to keep her excitement in check, "I can meet you here tomorrow." "Okay, I'll be here."
"Alright, well, I have to go to my practice," she said, "I'll see you tomorrow."
Kylan nodded his head with a smile, and she was on her way, skipping across the hall and glancing backward to observe him once more. He was way nicer than this morning, which was great to see. Kylan had been waiting for Ella, but when Ella did not show up after a few minutes, he needed to catch some outside air and marched outside to the exit. He felt the dry air from within the hall escape his lungs and in cane the fresh breeze of September that made him feel relaxed and calm. However, his eyes suddenly caught the jet black hair of Jonah at the benches near the parking lot, and Kylan stopped in his tracks. He had not spoken to Jonah at all, and he did deserve an apology. He needed to man up and speak to him since nobody else was going to apologize.
As he approached the benches Jonah was sitting on, it was not until the last step that Jonah realized someone was approaching and raised his eyes to meet Kylan's. It took him by surprise since he knew Kylan did not do confrontations well, but seeing him there did make his heart flutter a bit. However, he remembered that he was mad, and the memories of what happened the day he tried to help him and what he was told caused his blood to slowly boil.
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Kylan gulped - he did not seem happy. "Jonah," he breathed quietly. When Jonah did not answer, rather returned his attention to his phone, Kylan scratched the side of his face. It was taking a lot for him to be here, completely out of his comfort zone. Therefore, he needed to get his apology across. "Mind if I sit here too?"
Jonah scoffed, turning away from him before saying, "Do what you want." It was a cold response, and Kylan felt it sting a little bit.
Nonetheless, he sat down and let a silence fall between them. He was unsure where to start since he was never placed in situations like these before, but Jonah was not the one that was going to start a conversation this time. This time, he needed to do that all on his own. Kylan cleared his throat, and Jonah could feel the uneasiness from him; however, he held back his tongue as he scrolled through his social media feed. "Hey..." and that was all that came out.
Jonah's thumb stopped scrolling, and he lifted his head, finally eyeing Kylan as he spat, "That's why you came to sit next to me? To say hey?" His eyes were dark, not filled with the content and smug play that he usually had, which were frightening to Kylan.
He cleared his throat again and scratched the back of his neck, "Of course not—"
"Then spit it out. I don't want to be seen next to you."
That caused his heart to skip a beat, and the hole from his father widened. It was worse than the pain he felt from the wounds on his back since it made him feel as if Jonah was ashamed of being associated with him. However, he forced himself to keep his composure, squeezing his fingers tightly against his palms.
"I just...I-I wanted to let you know that I'm sorry," he murmured.
It was not the reaction he expected Jonah to have; Jonah stood to his feet with a scoff, shaking his head before turning around to face Kylan. "I don't need your apology," he hissed.
Kylan raised his eyebrows desperately, "You were trying to help me, and I responded badly. I'm sorry, I don't know what to—"
"I was trying to protect you," he said in a low growl, his voice tightening. "That house was not safe for you, hence why I wanted you to come stay with me for the night after you talked to your dad so that you wouldn't end up with those wounds on your back." Kylan gulped, a gloom screening his eyes, but Jonah continued, "For you to sit there and tell me that you never liked me, that you don't even know me, that I've been ruining your life lately? Where was that coming from? Since those weren't thoughts that came out of nowhere, they were in there already."
Kylan frowned, slowly shaking his head, "That's not true, I didn't mean them—"
"Did you mean when you said that you don't want to see me anymore? At all?" It was evident everything he had said upset Jonah, who bit his bottom lip angrily. "No, I didn't."
"Well, you should've, since the feeling is mutual," he snarled, taking a step away from him. Kylan watched as he began backing away before saying, "Stay the hell away from me. You were right, I'm not fucking gay, and you were the worst mistake I've ever made."