Chapter Ten

As soon as English was over, I ran out of the classroom and ducked to the floor and started to army crawl. I didn't care that I was getting a lot of weird looks; I just didn't want to be seen by my mates. I wanted to avoid them for a while, long enough to cover my black eye. They ask too many questions sometimes and I didn't' have the energy to answer all of them.

I pressed my back against a row of lockers and peered around the corner. Good, they weren't there. Now all I have to do is run to my next class and I'll be-

"Dougie?"

Damn It! Damn it all!

I turned around and forced a smile as I saw Danny, Tom, and Harry walking towards me. "Hey guys, what's new?"

"That facelift that you got, apparently," Harry replied as he saw the black eye that I had. "What happened?"

"Oh, I just walked into a pole, stupid me, I was watching this fit girl down the street-"I stopped and shrugged, the smile still on my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Danny nodding slowly. He definitely didn't believe me; he walked home with me last night. I was just surprised that he wasn't giving me away.

"Dougie, are you ok? You're acting kind of weird." Tom said in concern.

"Weird how?" I asked, turning to look at him. Yeah, he definitely was concerned; he had that parenting look on his face. The one he always gets when he's trying to help someone with their problems. We always go to Tom if there's something that's bothering us. Me and Danny mostly, because we talked to him about our fathers.

But there was no way that I could talk to him about what was going on now.

"I can't put my finger on it, but you're not acting like the normal Dougie." He replied.

"I'm just tired." I replied easily and then looked up at the ceiling as the bell rang. "We're going to be late, c'mon Danny."

"Coming," Danny replied and gave the others a little wave before hurrying after me. "So, exactly what did happen last night with that bird?"

"She came back to my place and we shagged all night long." I replied with a straight face, knowing that Danny was joking. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, mate."

"I walked into a door."

"Then why would you hide it?" Danny sounded confused. I looked at my feet to keep from looking at his face.

Right then, I actually considered telling Danny what happened. But I decided not to, I didn't need him to worry about me when he already had his fair share of problems. I wasn't that kind of friend, to dump everything that bothered me onto him.

"I didn't want them to think that I was a loser by walking into doors and stuff, stupid really." I replied and hurried into the classroom and into my seat. History class. That's perfect; it was the only class that could actually put me to sleep. And the fact that I was so tired from crying myself to sleep didn't help matters much.

I soon found myself drifting off.

"Douglas?" I heard my name being called and a loud bang went along with it. I jumped, looking around, blinking, wondering where I was.

"Huh?" I asked in confusion. "What, sorry?"

"Perhaps you'd like to share with the class what kept you up sp late?" The history teacher, Miss. Martin said coolly. It didn't faze me, I knew it wasn't a question, it was an order. I thought of saying something sarcastic, but I knew that it would get me in a lot of trouble. Most likely with my dad.

"Um... studying?"

"If you did so much studying, why haven't you finished your homework?"

"I...um..."

The bell rang and I sighed in annoyance as I held out my hand. Great, another detention. Now what was I going to do to explain myself. Say that I cried myself to sleep because my daddy hit me? Somehow I didn't think that was going to go over well.

I looked at the detention slip that she slapped into my hand and shook my head before looking up at her. "Miss. Martin, I can't do detention after school today, I have to pick up my sister."

"Well, you should have thought of that before disrespecting my classroom."

"Disrespecting your classroom?! I was only sleeping!"

"You're dismissed Douglas."

"This is bull-"

"Come on Dougie!" Danny interrupted, grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the classroom and into the hall. I sighed in frustration and started to pace back and forth, clenching and unclenching my hands as I breathed heavily. "Luckily I saved you from her wrath, huh?" he asked and poked me in the side.

Danny had a startled look on his face as I let out a loud cry of pain and held into my side. He had poked me in my bruised spot and it hurt like hell.

"YOU IDIOT!" I shouted at him, still reeling with pain. "YOU STUPID, STPID IDIOT! DON'T YOU EVER THINK BEFORE YOU DO THINGS?"

Danny stood where he was and the pain slowly subsided, my anger subsiding too. I was left with regret. I stood up straight and looked over at Danny, who was looking back at me, a mixture of hurt and confusion on his face.

I sighed heavily and slumped my shoulders.

"Sorry for snapping at you, dude." I muttered. "I'm just really pissed off with what happened and when I ran into the door I hit my side too and you kind of hit it. Really. I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

A grin bloomed over Danny's face, taking me by surprise.

"As long as you buy my lunch."

"Deal"