Image: Mary, played by @aymorr on ig

When I woke up the next day at Daxx's, I was in a much perkier mood. I had a little pep in my step all morning, giving Connor a quick hug before leaving the house. I grooved in the car, jumping straight out and walking inside after I pulled up. I saw Angel chilling with a few girls and Mary and walked on up to her.

"Hey, what's up?" Angel grinned, giving me a hug as I walked over, "You seem perky this morning. Anything to do with wherever you were last night? Mum said you were at Daxx's."

"I was with a friend." I shrugged with a cheeky smile, "Your hair looks good, Mary."

"Oh! Thank you." She beamed at me, "You seem really happy today... Why's the principle storming this way?"

I paled. I forgot about that. Well then.

"Gotta run!" I waved goodbye, dashing down the corridor.

I couldn't let Angel and Mary know what I did. Not after I went through all of the trouble of covering up my bruised hand with makeup. I got to the end of the corridor and spotted the goons stood around their lockers. I swivelled to go back the way I came, coming straight into contact with the principle. Busted, I guess.

"My office. Now." The principle shook his head.

I slumped into one of the leather chairs in his office, his desk facing me. He sat down and I glanced at the chair next to me.

"Why isn't he here too?" I asked, confused by the empty chair.

"He was attacked by you, why would he be punished?"

I barked a laugh. Ironic.

"He attacked me first. Admittedly, I went too far, but he kicked me first!" I protested.

"That's not what I've been told. All witness accounts say you attacked him, unprovoked, from behind." He shook his head, "You've got incredible grades. You're fantastic at sports. If you just tried a little harder to fit in, you could really be an asset to this school."

It took all my self control to not roll my eyes. I could feel anger bubbling up again. I can't believe I was being punished, lectured, for simply protecting myself. I broke under ten years worth of bullying and pressure but sure, I was unprovoked.

"With exams coming up, it's not wise to suspend you. Valuable class time can't be missed this late in your final year. However, this can't go unpunished. So, you must report to detention every day after school for an hour over the next two weeks. Also, Coach doesn't think it's the best decision for you to return to the football team." He finished up my list of punishments, making my hands ball up in anger, "We'll have to contact your parents. Considering your brother is employed as a therapist, I would have thought your anger problems would be dealt with."

I rolled my eyes, grabbing my bag and storming out of there. That was entirely unfair, but at least I wasn't suspended- my mum and Daxx would have killed me if I was. I had a new anger bubbling inside of me, one that made me march down the corridors fear-free. I'm sick of it.

I slipped into my class, taking my usual seat and ignoring the looks. I could feel my face burning red from anger. I felt a buzz in my pocket and my clenched fists relaxed, fishing it out and checking.

Felix: Good Morning :)

A smile played on my lips and I quickly sent off a quick 'good morning' in response before pulling out my textbook. Time to study to go off to Uni as soon as possible, as far away from everyone here as possible.

By the time the end of the day bell rang, I was exhausted. It felt like the end of the day was never going to come, so I was beyond relieved. I walked into the detention room, dropping into a random seat and taking out my phone.

Felix: Busy today?

I smiled at that, did he want to hang out already? I replied telling him I was in detention for what happened, but that I was free in about an hour. I was so engrossed in my phone that I didn't even notice other people walking in. Felix didn't reply though, so I tucked it away with a shrug, looking around the room. I noticed the teacher was one who clearly didn't want to be here and there were only three of us students in the room.

I put my head down on the desk, head facing the door. I was counting sheep to pass the time, on sheep number one hundred and fifty when I saw somebody walk in late. I groaned internally and moved my head to face the other way. Jimmy Wellot. I can't wait to go to uni to get away from guys like him. I could feel his eyes burn into me from the second he walked in and I didn't feel them leave me. I glanced over and my suspicion was confirmed- his eyes were trained on me.

As our eyes met, his hardened and he mouthed 'fuck off freak' to me. I laughed, shaking my head. Insults meant nothing coming from his mouth. His face turned into a scowl at that, glaring at me now. At least I'm authentic. I stared out the window for the rest of the hour, ignoring the seething beast, Jimmy Wellot.

The second the bell rang, I scooped up my bag and left the detention room before Jimmy could stop me. I checked my phone, seeing no notifications. I frowned slightly, but carried on walking. He's probably busy. I rushed through the corridors and out of the main doors. I was pleasantly surprised to see Felix leaning against the wall outside school.

I skipped down the steps, calling his name. He was wearing his Uni jumper once again, looking effortlessly cool. Once he saw me, his face lit up and he jogged over to give me a tight hug as a greeting. I laughed as I spun us around, making him yelp. I smiled down at him, him grinning up at me.

"Surprise!" Felix grinned, "I thought I'd come see how your day was."

"It's great to see you." I beamed back, my tummy flipping at the kind gesture, "Wanna go to my car?"

"Sure... Who's that?" Felix frowned, looking past my shoulder over at the school.

I swivelled around to see Jimmy Wellot at the top of the stairs, staring down at us. I glared right back at him, feeling uncomfortable with the way he was looking at me. What the hell did he want? His face was void of all emotion, literally just staring straight at us.

"I don't know him." I said to Felix, loud enough for Jimmy to hear, "He seems creepy."

"Definitely. Well, let's go." Felix smiled, taking my hand and pulling me along to the carpark.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Jimmy Wellot still stood in the same place as before, his eyes still trained on us. I shivered. He was strange. I shrugged it off and focused on Felix, both of us climbing into my car.

"What do you wanna do today?" I asked, pulling out of the carpark.

"Wanna come back to my dorm?" Felix asked casually, making my tummy flip once again, "We could watch a movie or something."

I nodded, going in the direction of his dorms. What would other people think? Would it reflect badly on him? Did people even care? From what Felix's told me, I doubt it. Besides we're just guy friends hanging out together. I parked outside the dorms, following Felix through the accommodation block.

People were hanging out in common rooms and several yelled a 'hello' to Felix as we walked past, offering me a smile as we went. That made me furrow my eyebrows. Felix seemed quite popular, which wasn't a surprise considering how friendly he is, but if he's so popular why is he bothering with me? I shook the thought from my head.

"MTV, welcome to my crib." Felix joked, unlocking a stray door.

I entered his room and the first thing I thought about was how it smelt exactly like Felix: flowers. The standard uni furniture somehow seemed cosy with how Felix had decorated. It was neat. I smiled at Felix and he took me through a dramatic room tour of the very small room.

"Finally, the bed. Where the magic happens. Sleep and snacking." Felix joked, collapsing on his bed. It looked super comfy.

"And other 'S' words?" I joked, falling down next to him.

Felix barked out a laugh and smiled over at me. He reached for the remote and switched on his tv, turning on Netflix. I kicked off my shoes and got comfortable. The bed was super comfy. Felix slipped off his jumper and got comfortable under the duvet, watching some Studio Ghibli film he put on.

"Want to turn this into a sleepover? It's getting pretty late." Felix suggested, sitting up to see me from the other end of the bed.

A sleepover? I'd never been to a sleepover before. What if I snored? Would he mind? I might ruin our friendship. One look at Felix's sleepy, but hopeful face made me cave, reaching for my phone. I dialled my mum and waited for her to pick up.

"Hi, can I stay over at a friends tonight? It's too late to drive back by myself." I asked hopefully, even though it was a school night I thought she would lenient. I am eighteen, after all. She doesn't usually have a problem with Angel staying out on a school night as long as she receives updates.

"A friend? Who?" She asked curiously.

"His name's Felix." I told her, sending Felix a little smile- he was waiting eagerly at the other end of the bed, bouncing slightly in excitement.

"As long as you get to school on time tomorrow. I'll be getting Angel to check. Stay safe and don't go out. Stay in." Mum lectured me, sounding confused. I usually never went out.

"Okay. Love you, bye." I hung up, "I can stay."

Felix cheered and tackled me in a hug. I laughed, falling back onto the bed with him. We ended up not moving, staying in that position for a while. We both stared up at the ceiling and spoke about family- I found out Felix's dad had also left them. It felt really good to talk to somebody and after years of being touch starved, casual friendly physical contact was making me on cloud nine.

"Andy?" Felix asked curiously, turning onto his side to face me.

"Yes, Felix?" I answered, laughing a bit. I could feel his breath fanning over my face, we were so close.

"You said they were homophobic," He started cautiously, "Are you gay?"

I thought about it for a second. That was the first time anyone had actually asked me if I was gay or not. Most people just assumed I was because bullies said I was. It was refreshing to be asked first hand, for once.

"I mean, I guess? I don't really care about gender. I'm just attracted to who I'm attracted to." I shrugged, "What about you?"

"I'm gay. Idea of a vagina is a no go." He joked, pretending to gag.

I smiled at his banter and pushed him off the bed jokingly. He dramatically slid to the floor, picking up my phone from where I had dropped it on the floor. He jumped back onto the bed, back to laying next to me. He swiped to the camera setting and smiled up at the camera. Startled, I tried to cover my face. He whined in response, pulling my hands down to take the pic. I sighed and accepted it, allowing him to take photos of us.

"Awee! You look adorable." Felix cooed, moving to his knees over me so he could squeeze my cheeks, despite my protests, "I'm starving. Food?"

I nodded and he jumped up from the bed, heading to the door. He paused when he saw I wasn't following and waved me over. I jumped up and followed him down the corridor to the kitchen. It was pretty late now so only one guy was in the kitchen.

"Andy, this is Will. Will, this is Andy." Felix introduced us quickly, rummaging through a freezer.

Will smiled at me and jokingly rolled his eyes at Felix's dramatic nature. He stuck a hand out for me to shake and my heart thudded, Will was out of this world hot. I tried not to seem as flustered as I truly was as I shook it.

"Lovely to meet you, Andy." My entire being melted at the way he said my name.

"Nice to meet you too, Will." I managed to squeak out, taking a seat next to him at the kitchen table.

"Andy's my new best friend, Will. So you'll be seeing a lot of him." Felix grinned, sending me a bright smile.

"That's good news." Will murmured, his eyes meeting mine with a slight head tilt.

I think I was truly malfunctioning. I had very little social skills as it is, let alone while talking to such a greek God. Felix was doing something over by the oven to do with food, but I was too busy looking at Will.

"Do you go to this college?" Will asked me, his eyes not breaking eye contact. Help me.

"He's only eighteen, still finishing school. Going to uni in September, right Andy?" Felix bounded over, dropping into the chair across from us, "We're having a sleepover today. It's a sort of spur of the moment thing... Do you even have clothes?"

"Oh no, I forgot about that." I frowned, scratching my head. I doubt Felix's clothes would fit me. All the football meant I had a moderately sporty frame.

"You can borrow an old jumper if you like?" Will offered, scanning my frame, "Might be a bit baggy on you though."

"Perfect!" Felix clapped his hands together, "While I cook, you should go with Will to grab a change of clothes and then back to my room to talk about boys and eat junk food!"

I blushed and Will laughed, beckoning me to follow him down the corridor. Considering how late it was, it seemed as if quite a few people were still up and milling around. My tummy was doing acrobatics at the moment, following behind a greek God to his room.

His room was significantly less neat than Felix's, clothes strewn across the room. It seemed to match him. It was effortless, but cool. I awkwardly stood by the door as he ventured into the room, unsure if I should go in or not. He glanced over his shoulder at me.

"I don't bite." He chuckled, shaking his head before pulling a jumper out of the bottom of his wardrobe, "Here."

I walked further into his room to grab it from where he stood. After I took it, I stilled as he looked down at me. I felt like I could cut the sexual tension in the room with a knife. I could have sworn his head was lowering towards mine and my breath got hitched in the back of my throat, a little gasp sound coming out.

He smiled softly and stepped back as if nothing had happened.

"Goodnight, Andy."