(This chapter has a trigger warning... bullying/abusive topics in this chapter)

R Y A N

        THE BELL RINGS as I rush down the corridor to get to my next class, English and even though Mr Hudson likes me, I hate to upset him by interrupting his lesson because I'm late. I would of been on time if I didn't get held up by Mrs Gordon, my history teacher. I wouldn't mind but, I'm seeing her first thing tomorrow morning in first period and asking me about my history paper that's due on Friday could of waited till then.
My white converse squeak on the tile floor of the corridor as I slow my running to a brisk walk, noticing I'm about to pass the office. The last thing I want is to get in trouble for running in the hall, let alone be late as well. Once I've passed the four large windows I then start running again, down the hall and up the stairs only I don't make it up the stairs. As I turn the corner to take the first step a body collides with mine, sending me backwards and my books fly everywhere. Sheets of paper scatter around me in the air and I land on the floor with a thud, hitting the back of my head really hard on the floor. I think I heard a crack?

"Shit, are you alright?" a deep voice says. I notice a dark figure descend down the stairs, crouching down next to me as I try to blink my vision back to normal. I've hit my head pretty hard and I can't seem to focus. "I'm so sorry, I'm late for third period and I didn't see you."

"Urgh," I moan out, my hand moving to the back of my head to see if I'm bleeding.

"Are you alright?" the voice asks again with interest.

"I think... so?" I go to sit up when hands land on my arm, pulling me in a sitting position and then the figure starts touching the back of my head.

"Your not bleeding, but I think I should take you to the nurses office just in case. You banged your head pretty hard," the voice sounds so concerned, but no one other then my teachers or Sophie and Matthew talks to me at school. Jackson does and so do a few of his friends, but no one else is ever this nice to me.

My eyes adjust and the dizziness I feel starts to fade away slowly. My eyes start to focus and I finally see the person I ran into. His tanned skin is flawless, not any evidence of acne anywhere, his dark brown hair is messy, like he's been running his fingers through it all day and his eyes, deep chocolate pools laced with worry. His yellow lettermen jacket with the letter 'C' patched on his chest; telling everyone he is the captain of the swim team and I see his signature custom trainers to match the schools colours.
I know this boy, everyone knows this boy. He's the most popular guy in school and just so happens to be one of the people I try to avoid every single day. His hand gently touches mine and I pull back quickly, shuffling backwards to get away from him. I really don't want him to touch me. Chris Mitchelle along with the rest of his friends have bullied me since I moved here and now I'm alone with him he can do anything to me, and no one will find me till the bell rings for the next period.

"Woah, woah, it's okay Ryan..." he says moving back slightly as he holds his hands up, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Out of all the people who I have been hit by, punched by, bullied by - Chris has never once touched me or called me names. I would say he's the nicer one of my tormentors, but watching people hurt other people and do nothing is worse then doing something. When I got locked in the janitors closet last week by him and his best friend James Ying, it was James that blindfolded me, it's was James that tied me up and shoved me in there, but Chris still watched the whole thing while I cried my eyes out. He's just as much to blame than James because he stood there and watched the whole time.

"Let me take you to the nurse... please?" He says with worry.

I don't trust him, I never have. All of his friends torment me including his girlfriend Natalie. Her and her best friend Billie, plus the rest of their girl group are the worse out of everyone. All of my bruises are from them, all of the bleeding wounds Sophie and Matthew have patched up have been because of them, the rest just call me names.

"Let me help you up," he whispers holding out his hand.

I shake my head no, too vigorously and it only makes my head hurts even more. I hold my head, moaning in discomfort and shut my eyes tight. "Leave me alone, please?" I plead with him in a whisper. I just want him to leave me, let me be so I can grab my stuff and get to my English lesson, but Chris is persistent as he tries to continue to help me.

"I can't do that, I can see your vision is off Ryan. You need to go see Mr Owens, please let me take you?" He says again reaching out for me, but I just pull back. "Okay, okay... I'm sorry. Ummm, here." He starts collecting my stuff, picking up my books and papers that are scattered around us, he picks up my leather rucksack - the one Nate got me for my birthday and he slings it over his shoulder, standing up with the rest of my stuff in his hands. "I'm not leaving you alone Ryan, we need to take you to Mr Owens, you could have a concussion... ... ... c'mon, I'll walk in front of you."

I look to Chris and down the hall, then back to Chris again. We're all alone, not one person in sight. Everyone is either in their third period lesson or in study hall. I know he's right, I really do need to see the school nurse. My head is banging, throbbing with pain and my vision is still kind of blurry, I'm practically seeing double. I give in, nodding at him gently as I try to stand up, my t-shirt all twisted around my body. When I stand up straight I feel my eyes rolling, dizziness setting in and I feel like I'm about to collapse.

"Shit!" Chris yells out as gravity takes over, sucking me to the ground. The sound of my books dropping to the tile floor echo in the hall and strong arms wrap around me, capturing me in their embrace before I hit the floor. I grip on to something, not sure what and hold on tight as Chris tries to steady me on my feet. His musky smell consumes me, but all I want is for him to stop touching me, I hate that he's touching me. "You okay?" he asks gently.

Slowly my eyes open to his orbs of brown, deep puddles of chocolate looking scared, however, I still don't trust him. I look down and my hands are gripped tightly to his shoulders, his jacket scrunched up in my fingers and I shove him hard, trying to get him away from me. "Don't touch m-" but before I finish my sentence I'm falling again and he once again catches me, bringing me tightly to his chest.

"I promise on my mother's life I won't hurt you Ryan." I look up, his eyes are looking at me, pleading to let him help me, but can you really blame me when I only trust the people closest to me. I nod my head slowly and he lets out a breathe I didn't even know he was holding, "I'm going to lean you on this wall while I pick up your stuff and I'll take you to the office," all I do is nod and watch him collect my things from the floor.

▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

A slap claps hard against my face, stinging with pain and I yelp. A hand grips hard around my hair, pulling hard and I cry out in pain again. Harshly I'm shoved into a wall, once again the back of my head hitting a hard surface and with the concussion I had yesterday, this isn't helping me.

"Get her Natalie.. get her!"

"You weirdo, how dare you flirt with my boyfriend. Do you really think he'll ever like a girl like you, with a name like Ryan... are we even sure you are a girl?" She giggles with venom, putting her finger in the rim of my jeans, trying to peak inside.

I move her hand away, trying to shuffle backwards to get away from her. I manage to get a grip on the sink and pull myself up, "I-I-I didn't."

"Don't lie home wrecker, Billie and Megan saw you two in the corridor by the main office yesterday. All hugged up... kissing!" She yells and she grips on to my black t-shirt, pulling me towards her to only then push me to the ground and I fall backwards till I'm laying flat.

It's Wednesday and the only day I'm on my own after school. Sophie and Mathew have after school clubs, while Jackson is at basketball practise, leaving me to walk to my car on my own. I got cornered by Natalie in the girls bathroom and she's now throwing punches and insults at me that I'm trying to steal her boyfriend from her. Her platinum blonde hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail she did when she saw me, her green eyes that match mine are full of anger and hatred. I've never seen her this mad before.

"Natali-" I try to plea, but my words are cut short by her kicking me in my rib.

"Oh shut it whore!" She bellows, kicking me again and I groan out in pain. "Chris will never like you, he's totally in love with me, plus he doesn't do lady boys," she giggles and her two minions laugh along with her.

"Lady boy? I love that," Billie says. Her bright teeth shine as she grins ear to ear looking down at me. If you saw her from afar you'd think she's a saint, but she's the devils twin sister and the devil is Natalie. Her red hair cascades round her face in beach waves and her hazel eyes are are full of evil.

"I'm so getting you a t-shirt printed with that written on it now," Megan giggles, one of Natalie's other minions. She's never touched me, but her words do just as much damage as the physical harm her friends cause me. Her brown hair falls in her face, her milky cheeks covered in tears where she's been crying with laughter, I was never hated this much by people in England and these girls have hated me ever since I got here.

"Don't you even have the decency to say sorry Ryan?" Natalie says and I can't hold the tears back any longer. My head is spinning and my stomach hurts from the kicks. I knew letting Chris help me yesterday was a bad idea, but I didn't know I'd get blamed for something both of us didn't do.

"Oh he's crying, are you finally going to admit what I saw was true?"

"Who knew he was such a baby?"

I curl myself into a ball, trying to wish myself away from this bathroom floor, only I can't when I feel another kick to my side. The sounds of my cries and the slaps to my skin echos in the room. I just want someone to save me. To walk in and tell them to leave me alone, but everyone has either gone home while the rest of the students are locked in classrooms with the teachers for after school club. All I can do is take the beating and the name calling as I cry in front of them, it's all I ever do.

I just let them do this to me.

"Keep crying little boy," Natalie says as she pulls at my arm and twisting it the wrong way. The pain is unbearable and I let out a blood curdling scream, wondering if anyone can hear me.

"Beautiful?"

"Wake up princess, open your eyes for us."

"C'mon beautiful, we're here, just open your eyes."

"Princess?"

"Nate?... ... Nico?... ..."

I look around me confused, but I'm still on the floor of the tiled bathroom, my cheeks stained with tears while Natalie - with my wrist in her hand, while Billie and Megan all hover over me. I hear the worried voices of Nico and Nate all around me, only I can't see them. I only hear them and in a weird way I feel them here, like they are watching me. But it's just me and my three tormentors.

"Ryan wake up?!"

I sit up straight, the tiled bathroom I just saw fading away and the familiar room of the Greyson's living room comes into view. The TV is on low in the background and the hard floor I was just laying on is now the soft grey material of their sofa. The worried eyes of grey and blue orbs stare at me, laced with concern and I know I'm safe. I'm always safe with them. It wasn't real, I wasn't back there, but I still look around confused... it was so real. It felt real.

"Beautiful?" - "Princess?" They both whisper in unison and I jump up from the sofa, wrapping my arm around each of their necks, holding on tight. They both hold me, hands rubbing me softly to sooth my shaking body.

"I wa-...they-" but my words are jumbled as I try to speak between cries.

"Shhh, it's okay, your safe with us princess."

"No ones here, just us... we got you."

I cry between their shoulders, my chin resting on their connected bodies as they sit on the sofa with me. I haven't had a dream like that in months and this is the first time anyone will find out that I'm still haunted by my past. Matthew knew the first night I woke up in tears and climbed into his bed back in New York. I told him I had a nightmare, but never said what it was about. Only, I know now I can't hide it from my boys. It's never the same, always different, but it always features the kids that hated me back then. The kids I thought I'd never see again. Only, I do sometimes when I close my eyes.
My tears start to slow and the Greyson brothers still continue to comfort me in their arms, leaving soft kisses along my skin. I've always felt safe with my friends, but this is where I have felt my safest, like no one can't touch me here. No can destroy me here. No one can break me here, as long as the Greyson brothers have me with them.

"What was your nightmare about beautiful?" Nate mumbles as his lips rest on the crook of my neck.

"It-it wasn't a nightmare," I whisper lowly. I pull back from them and I notice the tangled mess we are on the sofa. I'm sitting on Nate's lap while my legs are tangled around Nico, both of them have have their hands on me still, comforting me like they always do.

"Sure looked like it princess."

"It wasn't... it wa-was a memory, a memory I haven't thought about in a long time," I scoff. I feel a thumb on my cheek and another on the other side. Both of them are wiping away my tears and my insides warm at how caring they are being right now.

"What memory?"

I look down, too ashamed to tell them the truth, but even if I lie they will know I'm lying straight away. "The day they beat me up after school and sprained my wrist," I say barely a whisper, it's so low I don't think they'll hear me, but when Nico's body stiffens it's clear I wasn't speaking that low.

"You have nightmares about stuff like that?" Nico says and he pushes my chin up to look at him.

"Sometimes."

"Have you spoke to anyone about it?"

"No... they're just memories I've tried to hide away."

"Bottling them up isn't good for you princess... believe me," Nico says with worry.

"Your one to talk," Nate scoffs and I see Nico looking at him over my shoulder, doing their eye conversation thing.

"Not now Nat," he warns through gritted teeth.

"How about we get all the junk food we can find and watch a movie," Nate whispers in my ear. I nod my head, a small smile creeping up on my face.

"Ghostbusters?"

"Ghostbusters," I repeat with a smile and a nod.

*word count - 2728*

💙💙💙💙💙
It was so hard to write this chapter but so important that I did
not only for the story but also in the earlier chapters we skip pass the beating
Ryan got the day she got her braces off to the aftermath of what happened.
I wanted a chapter where you got a little more insight into her torment & I think I'm going to
be writing more chapters like this... again, purely for story telling.

I just want to say again...
BULLYING IS NOT OKAY!
Calling someone names, hitting someone & being nasty towards them is not okay & I really
hope that if people see it or it is happening to you
Please tell someone you trust so they can help you.
There is always help out there.

Like I said in my authors note chapter,
because of work I won't be updating as often as I would like but I'm hoping
I can writing a bunch of chapters & upload a few at once like I had today.

I hope you liked this chapter,
please don't forget to vote & leave me a comment.
Sat safe,
CeeCee
💙💙💙💙💙