After Phil finishes getting changed into his regular clothes, he begins to pack away his things. "Hey, Phil, you almost done?" Andrew asks him. Phil looks up to see Andrew standing by his locker, waiting for him. "Oh, yeah, one sec.." Phil zips up his football bag and shoves it into his locker, along with his uniform, then slings his schoolbag over his shoulders and stands. The two walk together across the room in silence. "Bye, guys," Phil mutters with a half-hearted wave to the rest of the team, who were not even halfway done changing, as he and Andrew leave.

"So.. how are you?" Andrew asks awkwardly. Phil looks at him warily. "Why do you sound so weird?" Andrew sighs. "Sorry. Just.. what I said in the locker room. The guys put me up to it, I'm sorry." "It's fine. I wasn't expecting everyone to just be alright with it, it was my fault for getting so worked up today. I just want this whole thing to be over with. It's been a long day," Phil says. "Yeah, I can imagine.." The two walk through the halls in a comfortable silence. It never ceased to amaze Phil after these practices how, in just a couple hours, the school went from holding thousands of noisy kids and restless teachers, to having empty halls. Quiet classrooms. It seemed the school needed to unwind after a busy day, and take a long bubble bath, only to be disturbed by the footsteps of a couple football players.

"Hey, Andrew? Can I talk to you about something?" Phil starts. "Shoot." "How did this whole thing with Dan start?" "Oh. Well, man, I can't really remember.." Andrew thinks for a couple moments. "Well, it all started last year, when we were all sophomores. Well, most of us. The seniors on our team aren't really involved with Dan. It's just us juniors. Cause last year, when we were sophomores, we were all on the sophomore team together, and now we're all on varsity. Anyway.. this school is pretty small for a high school. Everyone knows, or at least knows of, everyone. Dan.. kept to himself. He had his little group of friends - still does, I think - I didn't know him that well. No one on our team did. A couple months into the year, it just kinda spread around that he was gay. I don't even remember who told me; it wasn't a big deal. Everyone was fine with it.

"Then a couple weeks later or so, I think.. I think it was Jack who started saying rude things about Dan. Not directly, just kind of offhand comments in the locker room. Homophobic shit, you know? No one on the team said anything. We just kind of went along with it. He was the quarterback, and we all liked him. Nobody wanted to be the one to speak against him. Eventually.. it just kind of snowballed. We repeated what Jack had said in the locker room, and other people at school started spreading the same shit. I remember the first time Jack said those things to Dan in front of us. Then we all just accepted that was how things were."

After a couple seconds of silence, Phil looks up and realizes Andrew isn't next to him anymore. He turns around in the hallway and sees Andrew stopped a few feet back, staring at the floor. "Andrew?" Phil prompts, full of concern. Then Andrew looks up, eyes glistening. "Woah, Andrew? You alright?" Phil closes the gap between them. "No, not really." Andrew's voice cracks. "Why did I ever think that was okay? I didn't know Dan - I still don't! We probably would've kept doing it if you hadn't moved here. I'm not even homophobic!" He yells, almost panicked. "Hey, it's okay, man." Phil lightly nudges Andrew's shoulder, very unsure of what to do in this situation. "I know you're not. And I'm sure the rest of the team isn't either."

"And yet we still.. bullied Dan. You're right about that. I was there," Andrew says. "Speaking of which, what did you guys do?" Phil asks, and now that Andrew's relatively calm again, they keep walking through the school. "Not awful stuff. We called him names - 'Homo Howell', teased him about being gay. For being different. I know people would push him around in the halls. On the team, at least. Other students would leave him alone. But it was still bullying. And I'm sure it was awful for him." The two reach the front doors, and push through them into the parking lot.

"Does Dan know about this?" Phil asks as they walk to their cars in the student section of the lot. "About what?" "That you never meant any of it - it was essentially Jack who started everything, and you all went along with it." "I don't think so.. Do you think I could talk to him? Apologize?" Andrew looks to Phil as they come to a stop in front of their cars. "I mean, I guess so. Whatever you want to do. Do you have any classes with him?" "Damn, no, I don't. Well.. we have lunch together."

Phil sighs. "Alright. I don't really want to sit with the team tomorrow, anyway. Do you want me to see if we can sit at his table tomorrow?" Suddenly Andrew starts to fidget. "I.. I mean.." Phil sighs again. "This was your idea. But if you don't want to, I'll just sit with him by myself." "No, I want to apologize. Really. And get to know him. See what all the fuss is about," Andrew says with a smirk. Phil gapes at him. "What is that supposed to mean?!" "Nothing, nothing. See you tomorrow, Philly," Andrew says as he pulls out his keys and unlocks his car, a Toyota Minivan. Phil takes a deep breath before turning and unlocking his pickup truck.

'See what all the fuss is about', Phil thinks in annoyance. It's not like Phil ever talked about Dan to Andrew. Was it that noticeable how much Phil liked the brunette? As a friend, Phil thinks forcefully. Nothing more. It can't be anything more.. And Phil drives home with thoughts of Dan still turning in his head.

After a short car ride, only about 10 minutes, filled with Phil jamming out to his car radio, he pulls into the driveway of his house. The house was medium sized, made of brick, and about as normal as any other house was. Phil opens the garage door and parks the car inside, next to his mom's minivan. After gathering up his things, Phil enters the house. He kicks his shoes off and walks into the kitchen. "Mom!" He calls. A small woman, surprisingly short for the height of her child, comes around the corner. "Phil! How was practice? How was school?" She inquires. "Fine, and fine," Phil sighs, tossing his bag on the kitchen counter.

Phil's mom furrows her brow. "Are you sure? What did you do today?" She shoots a look at Phil while moving to check on a simmering pot on the stove. "Stuff, mom! And yes, I'm fine!" He raises his voice and yanks off his jacket. Mrs. Lester turns and raises her eyebrows at him. "Sorry. I'm just tired. Dinner almost ready?" "Just about."

A few minutes later, the pair are sitting at the kitchen table, two steaming bowls of soup set in front of them. "So, what did you do today?" "Stuff, mom, like I told you," Phil sighs and takes a large mouthful of soup. "Nothing interesting? Nothing at all? How was lunch? How's your football team?" Phil's mom leans closer towards him. Phil gulps. "Everything was fine..." He trails off suspiciously. "Really? Well, I got an interesting phone call from a certain Mr. Stuart. He seems to have a different take on how your day went."

Phil groans. "He called you? Really?" "Yes, Phillip, he called me," Mrs. Lester snaps. "Seriously? You were yelling at your teammates, and you swore in front of the Dean? I know it's hard getting adjusted to a new school, but this is over the line! You've never done anything like this before. Why all the fuss?" She suddenly softens. "I don't want to talk about it," Phil mumbles. "Is it something I need to know about?" She asks gently, reaching out a hand to touch Phil's arm. "No, mom. Everything's fine." He repeats firmly. Then suddenly, he stands up. "I'm going to my room." Phil's mom sighs. He's a teenager. They get emotional sometimes, but she knew Phil would talk to her if he really needed to. "Alright," she says quietly. "Don't forget to do your homework." Phil nods, then heads up to his room, grabbing his backpack on the way. His bowl of soup lays, barely touched, on the table.

Phil shuts his bedroom door loudly, not slamming it, but not just closing it, either. Phil had had enough of this. Just.. the entire day. He just wanted it to be over. Phil lets his backpack slide off his shoulder onto the floor, and he flops onto his bed, pulling out his phone and checking it for the first time since school ended. About a million notifications pop up on his lockscreen - snapchats, texts from his groupchats, notifications for school.. Phil sighs and starts going through them.

First he checks his friend/football team group chat. After scanning the chat, Phil checks all his other messages and then opens snapchat. He goes through about 30-something snaps, mostly just streaks and stupid selfies his friends sent him. He saves Dan's message for last.

Dan: sup philly. how was your practice?

Phil grins, and quickly types out a response:

Phil: first off, dont call me that DANNY. second, it was boring af

A few moments after Phil hits 'send' and exits the chat, his phone buzzes and another notification from Dan pops up.

Dan: sorry, phillip. / i would imagine football practices are boring. what do you even do the entire time?

Phil: it's ok, daniel. and we warmup, do exercises, then basically run plays the rest of the time. supa boring. and coach gave me a hard time for being late, so..

Dan: ooh, sorry about that. hope it wasn't my fault you were late... anyone else give you a hard time :/

Phil: no, definitely not your fault. all on me. and no, no one else gave me a hard time.. speaking of which, i really don't want to sit with the team tomorrow. mind if i join you guys at lunch?

Dan: ofc i dont mind. i'm sure my friends will be cool with it too.

Phil: ok, thanks.. one more thing.

Dan: yeah?

Phil: don't be mad.

Dan: ...

Phil: andrew wants to sit with you guys too.

Dan: andrew. one of the guys on the football team.

Phil: ..yeah.

Dan: why

Phil: he wants to apologize. for last year, and everything. and get to know you.

Dan: tf?

Phil: that's what he said. i was talking to him after practice and he seemed sincere. really.

Dan: i mean, it's fine i guess. just a bit weird. though now that i think about it he wasn't really part of the problem.

Phil: yeah. it seems like jack and his friends were the main problem. andrew was never friends with him. also, what the hell happened between you and jack?

Dan: that's between me and him

Phil: ..alright

Dan: listen, i have to go eat dinner.

Phil: aight, i have hw to do too.

Dan: bye

Phil: see ya.

Phil sighs, sends Andrew a message that Dan was okay with it, and closes the app. At least Dan agreed for him and Andrew to sit with him. But there was definitely something Dan wasn't telling him about Jack. Something important. What happened between the two weeks the team found out Dan was gay and Jack started spreading rude things about Dan? Phil shakes it off. Dan would tell him eventually.. wouldn't he? I hope so. I really like him, and I want him to be able to trust me, Phil thinks. Then he realizes what he just said. No, I just want to know more about what happened, he resolves firmly. Phil takes a deep breath, and rolls off his bed. He sits at his desk, then reluctantly begins to do homework.

A/N: Hey guys! hope you enjoyed this chapter. don't forget to review, follow, and favorite if you want to! it really means a lot to me whenever you do, so thank you if you've already done any of those things. xoxo, ~l