Thanks to Jueka1, amiva0402, and brightyeolie for your comments and sticking around.

I'm still writing for you guys D:

Managed to whip up another. I'll upload them as I write them now I suppose...

Sorry if there's typos. Please just leave a comment with an asterisk if you spot one instead of adding emojis to it because it doesn't help my self-doubt when it seems like the comment is in jest... I hate writing a story that I haven't had the chance to thoroughly edit.

ENJOY MORE FLYNN

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When Callie rounded the corner from her maths class to head to our usual lunch spot, the last person I expected to be walking beside her was him.

Curly brown locks even longer than I last saw, eyes still pooling with sadness, he continued to plead with an ever-grumpy, not-so-welcoming Callie who was pushing her chair with such speed towards us.

"For the last time, Flynn," she said, finally in hearing distance.

Sara had paused now too, noticing who had returned to school, watching the pair as intently as me, probably also wondering if we should intrude or let it play out.

"I don't want to talk to you," Callie finished.

"I get that," he said back, "And I get you will take a while to forgive me. But please tell me what happened. I come back and you're in your chair again with your—"

"What happened is absolutely none of your business."

"Of course it's my business! I care about you and I'm worried."

Callie scoffed and continued to push her chair away from him.

But Flynn kept pace.

"Worried about me? So when something is wrong with me, I'm obligated to explain and talk it out with you. But the moment you face struggles, you're permitted to just up and leave?" She came to a pause, hands gripping the wheels. "Please... just disappear again. I don't want to look at you. I don't want to even think for a moment that you're back. Just leave things how they were and... stay out of my life."

He hesitated a moment, wincing at her blows. But the determination kicked right back into his stare as quickly as it left before. "I shouldn't have just... cut you off, Callie. I know that, but—"

"Please, Flynn," my sister said. While she may have been turned towards us and away from him, he didn't need to be looking at her face to hear the tears in her voice. "I really don't want to talk to anyone of the male species right now."

"Why?" he said softly.

"I don't owe you an explanation," she wavered.

And as the tears slowly started to come down my sister's face, Sara started to get to her feet. But before she could come between them, another figure rounding the corner suddenly got in the way.

"Is he bothering you, Cal?" Ashton asked, glancing between Callie's back and Flynn's face slowly contorting for anger.

"Since when do you—" Flynn started, hands balling into fists as though he were ready to punch the guy.

But then Callie said, "Ash... it's fine. Flynn was leaving anyway."

Flynn's hands unclenched immediately the blonde-haired boy becoming forgotten as he turned to face Callie's slumping shoulders. "Ash?" he asked, voice wavering.

Callie didn't say anything back to quell whatever worries he was having. But Ashton's eyes sparked with joy as he took a step closer to Callie, hand coming down on her shoulder. "How about I finish telling you that story from history, Cal?" he asked, glancing back at Flynn as if to rub salt in his wound.

I watched the brunette boy take a slight step back as he kept looking between them, as if he couldn't even believe what he was seeing.

"I'd like that," Callie responded, voice still croaky. Then she wheeled out of his grip and closer to us.

Sara hesitantly sat back in her seat.

Ashton followed not far behind my sister.

But I kept my eyes locked on Flynn as he watched Callie go. As he stood there for the next few minutes, face slowly deflating as Ashton sat obscenely close to my sister and managed to pull a smile back on her face.

Then, in one swift move, he yanked his stare away from her and took off out from my sight.

On Tuesday morning as Flynn and I carried the padding to set up the goalposts—somehow landing this job together—I couldn't help but ask, "Why are you back?"

At first I thought he was ignoring me.

The minutes ticked on as he fastened and refastened the velcro together, seemingly always displeased with the padding's alignment around the pole no matter how straight it looked to me.

But once he heaved a sigh and rested his head against the padding, seeming to admit defeat that he couldn't make things as perfect as he had hoped, he confessed, "It's a really long story. But basically... my aunt has officially forced me to come back to school."

"Oh..." I said, taking a step over to his pole and starting to fix the mess he had made of the padding alignment. "Were you mourning for too long or something?"

"I wasn't... That's not where I was the whole time."

"Where were you?"

"At home... and on the streets. Trying to convince my cousins to go back to school."

I let his words mull over in my head before finally asking, "And what was the outcome? Because I didn't see them return with you."

Flynn's jaw clenched before he turned his head, hiding his expression from me. "I don't want to talk about it." With that, he began to storm across the field towards our class.

But I kept my pace with him. "Hey, don't be mad at me. I'm just trying to get the full picture about your intentions before I decide whose side I'm on."

"Whose... side?" He paused in step, casting me a wary glance.

"No one ever made Callie smile as much as you did. But also... no one ever broke her as much as you did. Not even..." But I caught myself before his name came out of my mouth.

Unfortunately, Flynn noticed this. "Not even who? Ashton?"

I shook my head, unable to stop the laugh barking from my mouth. "He wishes."

"Wishes?" Flynn repeated. "I heard they've been hooking up a lot."

"Not a lot... they made out a couple of times but... I'm giving you way too much information." I started walking again, mentally kicking myself for blabbing so much of Callie's secrets to the very boy we didn't know if we could trust again or not.

Though Flynn's long legs were getting the best of me as he kept pace with my slight jog, barely breaking a sweat. "Why is she back in the chair, Lex? And why is her leg all bandaged like that?" It seemed he realised if he pestered me enough, he might actually get some answers. While Callie was a brick wall to him, I was evidently a leaky bucket, ready to spill gossip if pushed enough.

I tried my best to keep the truth at bay while still not being a complete jerk who ignores someone talking to her. So instead I merely said, "She walked home in the rain. And it caused some blisters."

"Why on earth would she walk home in the rain?"

"Sometimes... situations call for it."

"Like what? Who was she with that they couldn't drive her? Or she couldn't wait for someone to pick her up."

"Oh... nobody."

"Lexi!" Flynn gently grabbed my shoulder for a moment, pulling me to a stop before letting me go.

Begrudgingly, I turned to meet his concerned gaze. "I can't just... tell you about her and let her see you care, Flynn, if you're going to—"

"I'm not leaving again."

"And what makes this time different? What was so important you had to abandon my sister and break her heart like that? I get you lost someone, Flynn. I really get what that pain is like. But why—"

"Most of the kids I was trying to keep off the streets are in foster care and a couple of them are now in juvy, okay?"

"Juv..." But I couldn't even finish that sentence. I was lost for words.

"The few who are left... well, my aunt said she will take care of it now. She said I can't throw my life and future away for our community. That they are only going to be able to do better if they see someone breaking the cycle or whatever." He shoved an angry hand through his hair as he looked away. "If I do any more study at home, I'm likely going to fail. I need help from my teachers if I'm going to pass the external exam."

I opened and closed my mouth several times as I slowly processed everything he had unloaded on me. Finally coming to some form of conclusion, I then asked what needed to be asked, "So if you've come back to make sure you pass school, what does my sister have to do with this?"

His bottom lip jutted out and eyes began to water.

In the distance, our teacher began to call out to us to rejoin the class. But Flynn and I weren't done here.

"I thought about her every single day... I regretted hurting her every single day. But my family was my priority. How could I ask her to sit around and wait for me? I barely had time to do my school work... I figured she deserved better." His watery eyes met mine. "I thought if I just fixed everything... if I got the kids back to school and I could go back to school, if I could prove to myself I could do that, then maybe I could beg for her forgiveness. I felt like a failure returning. And I planned to really just... sit back and leave her alone until she was ready to talk to me again because I knew she'd be mad at me. That's Callie. She doesn't forgive easily. But coming back and seeing she's in her chair again and just as sad as when I left and friends with Luke and Ashton of all people?" He shook his head and a couple of tears made their way unashamedly down his face. "I just messed everything up more. I can't... I just..."

But as the boy started to crumble in front of me, I did all that I could for him.

Taking a step closer, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in for a hug.

He never quite hugged me back.

But his head buried into my shoulder.

His hands gripped at my forearms.

And his body convulsed with sobs that I wondered if he had been holding all these months.

How long had this boy tried to remain strong for all his younger cousins?

How long did he deny his right to cry and hurt?

Our teacher had given up calling out to us, luring the class past us and onto the field, seeming to notice that we needed a moment.

"I don't... I don't expect her to ever take me back romantically, Lex..." he croaked. "I know I burned that bridge. But I miss my best friend. So much... I figured she already had enough on her plate... she didn't need my shit."

Shaking my head, I said, "Flynn... the point of having relationships with people, whether friends or romantic, is to be able to count on them in times of struggle."

He shrugged and looked away. "We don't do that. A man is supposed to be strong."

"Bullshit," I said back. "I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen my dad cry. That doesn't make him less of a man. Or Ashton, who used to be ridiculously toxic. He cried a lot when he realised he had lost my sister. Crying is just one of the body's natural ways to unleash. It's healthier than many other strategies people try. All she wanted was to be there for you, Flynn. She was ready to wait, as much as it hurt."

"I... But..." he opened and closed his mouth several more times as he tried to voice his muddled thoughts. Then eventually said, "How do I get her to forgive me, Lex?"

Taking a deep breath, I replied, "How desperate are you? Because with Callie... you're going to have to play the long game."

"I'll try forever if I must."

"Good. Because it might just take that long."

How will Flynn ever win her forgiveness?

Do you forgive him?

Is Callie being too harsh?

Let me know in the comments!