There's only one chapter left and then the epilogue D:

TW: Suicidal thoughts!

Dan was sat in the library again, isolated away from his friends and classmates. He sat right at the back of the room, his head buried in his notebook, writing about his nightmare that kind of seemed to regularly occur. He had just finished a sentence when someone walked over to him, towering over his frail figure. At first, Dan thought it was Phil so he excitedly looked up. The excitement, however, faded to nothing but dust when he realised exactly who it was.

"Marcus..." Dan's voice was barely above a whisper. Marcus seemed to find that quite amusing as his lips formed a mischievous smirk.

"Daniel." Marcus simply replied, holding out his hand.

"What?" Dan managed to question, his hand subconsciously closing his notebook and pulling it against his chest.

"May I have your notebook?"

"No?"

"I tried to ask nicely." Marcus then lunged forward, making Dan fall off the chair in alarm. Marcus' long arms grabbed the notebook and forced it open to a random page in the middle.

"Marc-"

"Shut up, otherwise I'll hurt you so bad that you won't see tomorrow."

Marcus began to walk away, the notebook still held firmly in his hands. Dan wanted to shout out but he was too afraid of being hurt. He just watched the other boy leave, tears rolling down his face as he lost his most prized possession.

The librarian hadn't even looked up during the whole situation either and, if anything, that made it all hurt more. She could have stopped Marcus. But she didn't.

-

Dan walked into his next class and everyone immediately turned to look at him, laughing loudly. Dan furrowed his eyebrows as they kept laughing. "Dan," A small voice said and a warm hand was placed on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Dan turned, facing PJ who looked very concerned. "Why is everyone laughing at me?"

PJ's mouth formed an 'o' and his eyes widened. He must have realised how Dan was unknowing of what all the other students knew. "Your notebook, someone made copies of a lot of the pages and stuck them up around school."

"W-What do you mean?" Dan jerked his head round as he heard a group of whispers and the words "Dan", "therapist" and "pathetic".

"Don't listen to them."

"I-I have to go."

Dan abruptly stood up, his chair making a loud scraping noise which caused the whole class to focus their attention on him.

"Dan, wait!" PJ yelled. "Don't run away again."

Dan knew he wouldn't run away. He knew something much worse that he was going to do.

-

Phil noticed a piece of paper stuck to his classroom door so he ripped it off, reading the words. He was shocked to say the least. It was all in Dan's handwriting and it was obviously Dan's words. Phil's eyes widened as he realised there were many other pieces of paper stuck on the walls. He ran over to each one, tearing them down until there were none left in the hall. He then took off into a sprint towards Dan's room, his heart beating fast.

-

I can't do this anymore.

My armour has finally been destroyed and I am nothing now. I have nothing left. What is even the point in carrying on?

This isn't in my notebook but I guess you could say that this is my last diary entry. Ever. Because I am done trying. I am done with my life.

Everything always goes wrong.

If I leave, I can be with my parents and my aunt. I can be with them forever.

That is where I need to be.

So, I guess you could say that this is my final goodbye.

There was a loud knock on Dan's door and Dan's head jerked up like a frightened meerkat. "Dan? Please open the door." It was Phil and it sounded like he had been crying.

"We're so worried." Another voice said. This time it was Chris.

"PJ has a key, you know." Phil simply said and Dan nodded to himself. They had no idea that, as well as the door being locked, there was also a barrier blocking them from coming in. As soon as Dan had got to the room, he had pushed his chest of drawers in front of the door to prevent anyone from coming in.

The sound of a key in the lock filled Dan's ears and it almost made him smile in sadistic way.

"Is there something blocking it?" PJ muttered, attempting to push the door open but to no avail.

"Dan, please!" Phil cried out, banging his fist on the door in a harsh way.

"We care about you and we're petrified of what you are doing!" Dan folded the piece of paper he was writing on and left it on his desk. "Don't hurt yourself or.. I don't know.. do anything worse. If you died we'd die too. Obviously not literally but emotionally we would. I know you joined our group late and all but it feels like you have been here forever. I cannot even imagine the group without you." Chris said and, although he wasn't the type to cry, a small tear was making its way down his cheek.

"Yeah, I reinforce everything Chris just said. Dan, you're my best friend and I have shared a room with you for most of this year! Whoever put your diary entries up around the school is a huge jerk and, if you tell me who it was, I will literally beat them up and make them regret ever messing with you."

Dan furiously wiped at his eyes, standing still as he listened to the wise words of his best friends. It went silent for a moment and Dan had almost believed that they had given up on him when Phil finally spoke up.

"I-I love you Dan. I know we never actually dated but I have feelings for you. I originally thought I was straight but then you came along and I think you like.. turned me bisexual?? You must be pretty great if you altered my sexuality. If you come out, we can go on another date, if you want. We could totally be boyfriends... unless you don't want that. If that's the case then we don't have to." (I'm pretty sure you can't 'turn' people bi but Dan helped Phil realise he was bi)

Dan silently began to push the chest of drawers out of the way at the door. He did it so silently that none of the boys noticed. He laid down on his bed, pressing his head against the soft pillow. He closed his eyes and listened to his friends.

-

Once again Dan was stood inside a cube of glass. His three best friends were the other side of the glass, their eyes fixed on the boy who was standing in the centre. Dan wasn't crying; he felt numb, like he was nothing but a single soul lingering in the room.

"Dan," Dan's head jolted up, turning to face Chris who was smiling in encouragement. "You can do it!"

Dan furrowed his thin eyebrows, not understanding what he 'could do'.

"Go on! We believe in you!" PJ yelled, making Dan turn in his direction.

"Come on! You'll be alright! I love you!"

Dan found himself smiling slightly but he wasn't entirely sure why. He woke up before he could figure out what he had to do.

"Dan, finally!" Chris said, grinning at the fact that his friend was awake and okay. Dan didn't say anything- or, at least he didn't get the chance to as someone's lips touched his. Dan was, at first, taken aback but he soon adjusted to the kiss and responded.

"Get a room!" Chris yelled, making all of the boys laugh loudly.

"Whilst you were asleep, we talked to Mr Quinn and he said that he will try and find who put your diary entries up around the school and he will get them expelled. That way you won't ever be targeted again and you will be okay." PJ said with a small smile.

"Marcus." Dan muttered, swallowing thickly as he sat up and leaned against the headboard of his bed.

"Again?" Phil said, his eyes widening in sympathy. Dan just nodded, barely meeting his eye.

"We'll go talk to Mr Quinn for you!" Chris replied and both him and PJ walked out the room, hands connected.

"Did you hear what I said when you were locked in here?" Phil muttered after a moment in silence. Dan couldn't help but notice how his cheeks were slightly tinted with red (it was pretty adorable in Dan's opinion).

"Yeah.." He replied, blushing an equal amount.

"How do you feel about the date?"

"Sounds awesome."

And how do you feel about being my boyfriend?"

"Sounds equally awesome."

"Really?" The way Phil's face lit up was the best thing in the world. It made him look like an angel.

"Yes, really."