Sylvian hated to admit it, he hated to admit it, but he did indeed miss the sound of Akiel's noisy presence. Still, he told himself to deal with it—it had only been three days.
Sylvian sighed quietly as he woke up early for the second consecutive day, and he was hoping that studying for a while would keep him distracted from thinking about that guy.
Akiel, on the other hand, had been in another state, having fun with new people—because he was of course, an ace in the popularity game. But even when things were fine, that little empty space in his heart felt heavier than ever. He just shoved it back down and ignored it.
It was 11 AM where he was located, and thought about heading down to the hotel lobby to get a breakfast since it already seemed late in the morning to him. Then he remembered Sylvian was waking up still the time being 5:30 AM. He paused…. before exhaling loudly and opening the messages.
"Hey, are you awake?"
Sylvian blinked as his phone buzzed halfway through his review of his essay. A stupid little flutter stirred in his chest. He replied quickly—maybe too quickly.
"I'm awake."
They talked for a little while.
It felt dull. Uninteresting. Boring.
But both of them never fully recognized that they were both pretending—both wished they were together more than they'd ever admit to.
Sylvian woke up the next morning and felt a tad lighter. A simple "hey" appeared to relieve something that was stifling him chest. He got ready for school quietly and even though he was obviously quieter than normal, his parents did not bother with him. They assumed he simply required space.
He passed through the school gates, and the sun began to peek out from behind the hazy gray clouds. He walked through the hallway with an empty head, until—he was suddenly seized by his arm from out of nowhere.
It was Julia's friend. Julia was there too, being bored and watching. Well, she was sort of watching.
The girl - Livien, he thought to remember - had a huge grin across her face. "Hey! So, um, are you single? One of my friends thinks you're cute! Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem like a bottom twink nerd - but a cute one! So are you into girls, or boys, or maybe like poly? I don't judge or anything."
Sylvian blinked. He felt his patience snapping in half like glass.
"First off, I'm single. Second, what the hell was that? You just insulted me, you know that? How do I look like anything because I don't make noise? Get a life, girl. And whoever your friend is, no."
He began to leave, but Julia said softly, "Sylvian, can we... talk? Alone?"
Before he could respond Livien interrupted again.
"Wait! You and Akiel are actually super cute together, people are saying you too are even together, and didn't you two like hook up—"
Julia cut in. "Livien! Just stop! They are disgusting rumors started by sickos with nothing better to do!"
Finally, they were alone and Julia looked antsy. Sylvian noticed immediately. "You okay? You look mad... and... nervous."
Julia bit her lip. "Sylvian, please listen to me. I have been trying to fix this since it happened last night. There are some disgusting rumors starting about you and Akiel. I would not even want to repeat them. They are awful and disgusting."
Sylvian frowned. "What is the rumors?"
Julia sighed. "Promise me you will not be mad. It is not the truth, but it came from Akiel's ex--Quinly."
He was taken aback, "What did she say?"
"I... she is telling others that she saw the two of you... together. As in... together. Together together. And she is behind the one who told everyone the scar thing, except Akiel is thinking it was you."
Sylvian felt like all of his blood had been drained.
He stepped back and his voice quivered, "What... the hell?"
Julia extended her hand to comfort him. "Please, please just do not approach her. She is powerful. Yes, her parents are rich but she is the spoiled one. She has people to protect her. Me and Akiel are going to take care of this when he gets back, ok? If you need to, take a day off. You just... please do not act."
He blankly nodded, "Yeah. I might just take the day. I don't think I even want to look anyone in the eyes anyways."
He quietly walked away and Julia, now frantic, ran to her class to get her phone in order to call Akiel.
Sylvian sat by the gate, waiting for his aunt to pick him up, his mind racing. Then, a group of students approached him, smiling and acting friendly.
"Hey, we heard the rumor," one girl said, much too sweetly, "Are you okay? Want to buy us some coffee? I think us drinking coffee would be nice. It would help cool you down."
Sylvian hesitated. But her voice was so calm. So, he did. He texted his aunt to come later.
At the café, things felt almost normal. Until one of the boys took away his phone as he was about to text Julia.
"No texting," he said. "Just hang out with us for one minute."
A warm feeling rose in his chest and he tried to smile.
Thirty minutes later, after leaving the café, something poked him disgustingly in the neck. Suddenly the whole world turned fuzzy.
When he woke up, he was face down, tied to a chair in what looked like the classroom-- dimly lit, like an interrogation room. There were ten people around him.
And then across from him at a desk, sat Quinly like she was the queen of some new kingdom.
"Ah, so you're the new boyfriend of Akiel?" she said, pushing his chin sharply upwards.
Sylvian's voice broke at this. "What the hell are you getting on about? Unbelievable."
Quinly grabbed his hair and yanked it down. "Oh really? You think you could just lie about it? You can just replace me? You loser."
She turned back to her friends. "Someone get his shirt off so we can humiliate him a little. Do whatever you want. I mean, it means if he gets assaulted like this, maybe he'll learn a little lesson."
Sylvian's blood ran cold. He screamed for help, but no one listened. The whole campus was outside for the sports event. He squeaked again but his voice quivered and cracked which made it seem like no one was going to come.
Then—
CRASH.
The entrance had been thrust open, exploding off the hinge and the sound scattering.
A figure had thrust into the entrance, and the stomp of a boot connecting with something heavy ricocheted around the sometimes a sickening thud froze everyone before they could even process what was happening.
Then before anyone could regain any sense of calm composure, a fist emerged from the explosion, smashing a fist into the jaw in a sickening crunch loud enough to be heard over garbled gasps of both pain, shock, and fury contorted inside in less than an instant.
The room began to rip apart with fear, intensity, and bare white-knuckled adrenaline all within the next instant!