The day continued slowly, and finally last period finished. Darryl thought he was able to talk with Zak since they had private lessons, and he was terrified but totally settled to resolve that question.

Waiting in the library, he took his phone out of his Jean's pocket, unblocking it for rereading the messages without reply he sent to him, blocking his phone after doing so.
Anxiously bouncing his leg, he looked around, searching for him.

An unexpected notification made the phone vibrate in his hand, it was a message. He unblocked his phone, hoping with all himself it was from Zak, and surprisingly, it was.
Darryl automatically smiled reading the little boy's name on the screen, and opened the chat as fast as possible.

Zak please can we talk? >
I'm sorry please >
Zak >
I'll wait for you in the library, ok? >

< i hvae baseball pratcice. laeve me alone. sotp texting me, ill aks for a new hepler. bye.

His smile disappeared faster than it appered.

Zak please don't > !
Not delivered.

Zak... > !
Not delivered.

Darryl let his head fall into his arm that was resting on the table, tightening the grab on the phone.
In his head full of thoughts, he was searching desperately for a solution.

Minutes passed.
He rotated his head on his side, now staring at his bandaged palm. Not moving from that position, he thought about the hours passed with Zak. His smile, was it real? What about his laugh? And those strange glances? What were those for?

Suddenly, he got up, packing his belongings in hurry and putting his backpack on his shoulders.

'I won't let him go this easily.'

×××

Putting his phone back in the backpack, that was lying on the ground, after blocking Darryl's number, Zak leaned his back against the door of the small bathroom.
He fought against himself, trying not to let those tears to fall down his face. But it was already too late.
Sliding down the door, he crouched on himself, hugging his legs.

"What did I do to deserve this shit...?" whispered to himself, clenching his teeth.

That day was exhausting.
All eyes were aimed at him.
Vincent distanced and ignored him.
Last but not least, he ended up arguing with Dave, since he was insisting way too much on him talking about that situation with the principal.

He couldn't.
Police would get involved. Again.
More questions about the bruises.
Proofs he was at home when he got them.
That awful nightmare he lived only two years before, would repeat itself.

He needed to wait just five more months.
His freedom was only five months apart.

"Only„.

After conceding himself a pair of minutes of crying, he wiped his tears away with his palms covered by the sleeves, then got up grabbing the backpack and laying it back down on the closed toilet.
He pulled out is uniform and stood there, looking at it, asking himself if he was doing the right thing.

'Bet there's gonna be other freaks ready to throw more shit at me...' he tightened the grab on the clothes in his hands. 'This is fucked up.'

Laying the uniform on the backpack, he got undressed.
The bandages were still on his body as an additional reminder to not go, but still got ignored.

After changing himself and putting away the hoodie and jeans in the backpack, he got out of the stall and washed his face.
Avoiding his reflection on the mirror, he headed to the door and opened it, finding an unpleasant surprise.
The familiar tall figure of Darryl was in front of him, and he didn't even needed to look up at his face to confirm.
Zak immediately tried to walk away from him, getting blocked as soon as he moved by Darryl's arms, both pinned against the door's jamb, blocking both ways.

"I told you to leave me the fuck alone, Darryl." growled the little boy, without looking at him.

"Language." murmured before the actual reply. "Can you please let me-"

"No. Now let me go to practice, I'm already late." cut off, furrowing his eyebrows as his anger was increasing.

"I won't let you go this easily Zak, I care a lot about you and-"

"You what?" questioned amused finally raising his head, watching him in the eyes. "Can you even hear yourself when you talk?"

"Look, I know i messed up, ok? But... I literally got accused to be the cause of this..." murmured, carefully cupping Zak's bruised cheek.

The Junior stood there in silence.
He wanted to hate Darryl.
He wanted to hate his perfect grades, his perfect attitude, his perfect body, is perfect flaws; his perfection.

Yet, he loved how nice it was to be around him.
And he loved the casual and spontaneous smiles and glances he would give him while studying.

Most importantly, in that moment, he loved the comfortable warmth of his hand on his face. He wished that moment could last forever.

Wait, what?

'What the fuck? Am I retarded or something?'

Slapping Darryl's hand away from his face, he walked away slipping through the hole the lack of his arm created.

"Zak."

The blonde boy managed to grab his arm, stopping Zak and making him turn toward him.

"Please, don't go."

Staring at him whittling his eyes, the Junior roughly snapped his arm away, shaking his head and resuming his walk towards the locker room, alone, leaving Darryl behind.

'I'm not worth it, Darryl. Why are you trying this hard?'

×××

The next morning, everyone's eyes were still on Zak.
Walking in the hallway towards his locker, he hated hearing and seeing everyone looking at him to then whisper something to their friends they were walking with.
He knew that sooner or later, the principal would call him herself if he wouldn't go by his own choice.
Still, he wouldn't change idea.

Once in front of his locker, he let his backpack slip off his shoulder, laying it on his shoes as he unlocked the padlock with the other hand.
Opening the closet door while taking out two books from the backpack, he found a surprise as soon as he looked inside.
There was a letter.

Confused, Zak put in the two books and took the letter, flipping it around in search of a name, in vain.

"What the...?" murmured to himself, furrowing his eyebrows.

Inhaling sharply, he slipped the letter in his hoodie's pocket while closing the door and walking towards the bathroom.
He had some minutes before the start of the first period, so he decided to read it away from unwanted looks.

Once in the bathroom stall, he took out the letter from the pocket, starting at it before actually opening it.
A folded sheet was in it, once unfolded he started reading.

«Hi Zak,
since you don't want to talk to me and you blocked my number, I decided to write this letter.
I know how dumb this sounds, but even if I know you since only Tuesday, you're really important to me.
We passed only a few hours together, and I want to be completely honest with you, I never been so happy.
I'm a very lonely person, and just being able to help you with your studies made me feel less alone.
I understand and don't understand at the same time why are you so angry at me, Zak... I excused myself multiple times for something anyone would do and say in that kind of situation.
Just... I don't want to lose you already.
Please, let's meet under the stadium stairs during lunchtime.
I'll wait for you.

Stay safe from those muffins.
- Darryl »

Zak leaned against the wall, folding the letter and laying it against his chest, getting lost in his thoughts about it.

He was happy, yet scared.
The last person he wanted to disappoint was him, but ye felt like he already did.
His feeling towards Darryl were strange and confused.
When he thought about him he genuinely smiled out of nowhere.
He even found himself so lonely at home that he wished the Senior was there with him. Hugging him. On everyone he knew, he thought of him. No one else.

'What is this feeling...?'

After a pair of minutes, the bell rang, brining him back from his daydreaming. He put the letter away in his pocket and took the backpack that wa laying on the ground, heading out to class.

He took his decision.

[unedited, 1430 words.]