Chapter 1: Uh hi, I'm Phil

This story is inspired by the lyrics to the song Follow Me by Muse and by a fellow writer's story. NeverlandNat's story made me want to write a similar one of my own. So I'm sorry if any of it is too much like hers' but I'll try and make it as original as possible. This story is in Phil's POV. I Will Always Keep You Safe is the same story but it's in Dan's POV. Be sure to check it out!

I hope that people will be more aware that homophobia is happening all over the world and will try to do something to stop it. I'm not sure how long this story will be. I think it'll be longer than a one shot though. I am still writing It Finally Happened too so don't worry. I just wanted to start this and get it going. I hope you like it and share it. A review is always appreciated

I Will Always Protect You

Muse always calmed me down. I sang along to Hysteria in my head as I walked to my new school. I hated moving schools and I'd done it enough. It's my parent's fault for not settling easily. Hopefully, I would be sticking to this school until the end of the year. No more school after that. Unless you count College.

I turned the corner and saw it. It wasn't massive but it wasn't small either. It was somewhere in the middle. Big enough to have three floors though.

I sighed and walked through the doors. Looking down on myself, I wasn't too sure about this uniform; black trousers, white shirt, tie and blazer. I'd never had to wear a blazer to any of my previous schools. It was an ugly colour too. I wouldn't have minded if it was black, but no, it was navy blue. As I said, ugly. But I suppose that school uniforms aren't meant to be appealing to the eye.

I was already getting funny looks. No idea why. I was wearing the same clothes as everyone else. Maybe it was my hair. I looked out of the corner of my eye at my deep black fringe. Was it unusual to have dyed hair here? Sure, I was a guy. Not many guys dyed their hair I guess. Maybe it was unusual then. I hid behind my fringe and carried on walking. I didn't know where I was going though. I just kept moving forward.

I knew I was early. I had left a bit earlier than I usually would have, but I didn't want to be late and I didn't know how long it would take for me to get here.

I made my way out onto a playground and spotted an empty bench and cautiously sat on it. I was still getting weird looks. I was in the right school, right? I assumed so since everyone else was wearing the same uniform. I sat back and relaxed, going back to listening to Muse. Citizen Erased was playing now. I loved that one. I turned it up to escape the world around me. A few more songs played and I was completely absorbed in the music. The music droned out the meaningless chatter around me but it wasn't too loud and I heard the first bell ring.

Sighing again, I pulled out a small map of the school my mum had managed to get for me. I had to go to my form room. God knows where that was.
I was getting nervous now.
I finally found the room on the map and hurried to it. Fortunately, I was on the right side of the school. I made my way down a corridor and up the stairs.
When I was at the right door, I hesitated before pushing it open and slipping inside.

Half the form was already in there and they all looked at me. Some out of curiosity, some out of disgust. I ignored them and walked up to the front of the classroom, pulling out my headphones.
The woman behind the desk at the front didn't notice me at first. I stood there awkwardly, too embarrassed to say anything. She saw me then and smiled. "You must be Philip!" She beamed.
I nodded, not sure what else to do.
"I'm Mrs Brown. I'm happy to have you in my form!" Her smile got even wider which I didn't think was possible.

Before I could say anything, she stood up and cleared her throat. Everyone was here now and looked up at her expectantly.

"Everyone, this is Philip. He's joining our form and year eleven."

No one said anything. A few whispers were passed around though. One by one, they all slowly went back to whatever they were doing before.

Mrs Brown turned back to me, "You can go sit at the back there."

I nodded again and went to the back of the room.
A couple of people turned around to stare at me as I sat down.

This was weird. We didn't have forms in my old school.

A form is basically where you register at the start of the day and after lunch. You sit there for fifteen minutes doing nothing.

I glanced in front of me. A few people were doing last minute homework.

The forms in this school were made up of people from each year. About four or five from each year that is.

Sitting back, I closed my eyes. I memorised my timetable for the day out of having nothing else to do.
I sat there for what seemed like forever.

I wasn't in a hurry to get to English but I didn't like sitting here. Finally, the bell went for the first lesson.
I knew where I had to go. Staring at the map had paid off. I didn't really want to get lost on my first day.

I arrived at the classroom with seconds to spare. The teacher pointed me to take a seat at the back yet again. I could see that there was a pattern forming here.

Again, more staring occurred as I got out my pencil case. The warning bell sounded and I waited for the lesson to start.

In front of me, a guy turned to me and smiled. "Hi, my name's Matt. Are you new here?"
It was a stupid question but happy to receive some hospitality, I half smiled in return.
"Uh yeah. My name's Phil," I replied.
A few other people looked at me then, having heard me speak.

"Ok, ok!" The teacher started, "You can all gawk at the new kid at break. For now, let's get back to analysing Of Mice And Men."

Even more people looked at me then and I heard my name being whispered around the room. I went red, not used to being the centre of attention.

The teacher snapped again and everyone reluctantly looked at him.

Calling out the names in the register, he occasionally stopped to have a go at someone for talking. He managed to get halfway through:
"Becky?"
"Yessir."
"Matt?"
"Yessir."
"Dan?"
There was no answer.

"Daniel?" He called again.
And again, no reply.

"Has anyone seen Daniel Howell this morning?" He asked, exasperated.

"I saw him," Some guy said, "He is here."

The teacher sighed and decided to give up. This obviously wasn't the first time that this had happened.

He carried on with the rest of the register.

When he came to my name, I didn't hear him the first time so he had to repeat himself, using my full name, "Is Philip Lester here?"

"Uh yes… Sir," I said, unsure. This was greeted by more whispering.

"Enough!" The teacher said. I really needed to learn his name.

As soon as he had finished, the door burst open and a boy came in. He had brown hair and a dark complexion, compared to me anyway. But then again, anything was dark against my sheet white skin. And I suppose the black hair didn't help. It just made me look paler. His skin wasn't that dark, just slightly tanned.

This guy had a fringe like me but more on the side and longer. He had managed to make his smart uniform look scruffy and was instantly greeted with, "Ah Daniel! Thank you for finally gracing us with you presence! You do know that we don't wait just for you to start the lesson. Tuck in your shirt and sort out your tie! You're not in a zoo!"

This Daniel kid rolled his eyes before doing what the teacher asked.
"Sorry I'm late, Mr Griffin," He said.

Ah! That was his name! It suited him if you asked me.

I realised that I was staring at this boy. Something about him intrigued me. I wasn't sure what though.

Mr Griffin muttered something under his breath and turned to the board.

Daniel smiled and made his way to his seat which just happened to be the one next to mine. I managed to see him better the closer he got. I noticed the colour of his eyes. They were brown. Even though brown could be a really boring colour, he made it work. They were a really rich brown too, not a bland colour at all.

He glanced at me casually and grinned as he sat down.

"Hi, I'm Dan," He winked.
My insides melted and I blushed.
"Uh hi…" I said, a lot less confident than him, "I'm Phil."
Dan sensed my nervousness and gave me a comforting smile.
"Welcome to Hell," He said, getting out his things.
"Is it that bad here?" I questioned.
"Nah, it's ok. As long as you don't get involved with the wrong people. You know what Manchester's like."
I nodded. I definitely knew what it was like. I blocked the painful memory.

"So how come you've come here? Did you move house?" He asked.
"Yeah. Third time in three years."
"Seriously?" He looked at me.
"Yeah." I knew I should have been listening to what Mr Griffin was saying but I was far more interested in talking to Dan.

We talked as the lesson went on. I learnt that he had a brother in a couple of years below, his middle name was James and that he didn't really have any friends.

"Really?" I asked when he told me this.
"Yeah. I guess people just don't like me enough to put up with me all the time," Was his reply.

I instantly felt sorry for him.

"I do talk to some people sometimes," He tried to make it sound a bit less depressing, "But I don't have those people who I always hang out with or we constantly live at each other's houses. I used to at Primary school but not anymore."

I gave him a sympathetic smile. That was pretty private. I wonder why he had told me. We had only just met half an hour ago. He must trust me and I trusted him. I told him about my other schools and the bullying. Ok, it wasn't really bullying; just a couple of guys calling me names. It didn't happen for long though because I had moved again.

As soon as the bell went, my face dropped. I didn't want to go to my next lesson. I was enjoying learning about Dan.

He offered to walk me to my next class which I gladly accepted.

All the way to Maths, we didn't stop talking. It was awesome. It was only my first day and I'd already found a friend. I hadn't expected that to happen.

As soon as I told him what set I was in for Maths, his face fell. He was in a class upstairs.

After saying goodbye, I walked in my class and was directed to the back again. Did none of the teachers want to see my face or something? I didn't take it to heart and sat down.

I looked out of the window and immediately started thinking about Dan. He was really nice. I hoped that I'd have more lessons with him.

So, this was chapter one. Obviously Beth. I hope it was up to your standards. Be sure to check out I Will Always Keep You Safe. I will update in a couple of weeks hopefully. If not, I'm sorry. I'll try and write the next chapter as quickly as possible but I do want it be ok so I usually spent more time editing than actually writing. This one took me two days to write and chapter one of I Will Always Keep You Safe took me one day. It's shorter just in case you're wondering. Only a couple of hundred words shorter though. Be sure to review so I know how you feel about this and your thoughts on me writing it twice in both of their POV. See ya soon. New chapter of It Finally Happened up tomorrow ;)

Beth