Chapter 1: Shattered

Ding.

Nick knew exactly who the message was from. He opened it with a smile, and read the message from Charlie.

C- Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?

N- Of course! You ok?

Read

Nick stared at his phone, eagerly waiting for the bubble to show up. Nothing. He sighed, feeling the knot in his stomach get worse. He knew something was wrong with Charlie, and it's been hard for him to open up. He opened his messages again, fingers hovering over his keyboard….but he couldn't get himself to type anything to Charlie. He plugged his phone in placed it on his bedside table and crawled into his covers. He quickly fell asleep with the rapid thoughts swirling through his mind of why Charlie would want to have lunch in such an open space together.

Nick didn't see Charlie in the morning at all. Is he mad about the fight with Harry? His eyes were eagerly glancing at the door hoping to see Charlie stroll right through and sit down next to him, just like he's done all year now. He took out his phone to check the notifications, but there weren't any worth looking at….if they weren't from Charlie. He put his head down on his desk, trying to calm his whirlwind of emotions and thoughts but ended up accidentally falling asleep. He didn't get the best sleep last night. He felt a hand on his arm slowly shaking him to try to wake him up and a soft voice "Nick…Nick….are you alright?"

Nick slowly turned his head towards the voice, still thinking he was dreaming about Charlie. "Just a…little longer Char…" He muttered under his breath with a big grin on his face. He felt the hand become a little more aggressive and the voice sound a little more stern. He raised his head off of his forearms and abruptly remembered where he was. He snapped his head towards the person who was kneeling beside him, Mr. Lange.

"You need to get to your first class, Nick. You're going to be late" Mr. Lange was stern but there was a hint of worry in his voice. He's never seen Nick fall asleep like that during form.

"Sorry, Mr. Lange" Nick rubbed his face to try to fully wake him up. " I didn't mean to fall asleep-"

"Nick, it's alright. It happens, hey?" Mr. Lange patted his back as he stood up and walked back to his desk.

Nick grabbed his bag and practically ran to his first class which he made just in time for the bell. He sat down in his seat and started chatting with his friends around him trying to distract him from thinking about Charlie. The day was going to feel so long until he got to talk to Charlie.

RRRIIIIINGGGGGG

Finally, it's lunchtime. He can't wait to see Charlie again, he truly misses him every second they are apart. He catches himself blushing as he's getting his lunchbox out from his locker. He cares about Charlie…more than he thought could be possible. If anything were to ever happen to him…..

Slam

He jumps back at the slam of his locker door. He looks to his right and sees Harry and the gang laughing at how they scared him.

"I got you good, Nick! Why'd you get so scared, mate?" He continues to laugh.

Nick rolled his eyes and reopened his locker to continue grabbing what he needed.

"Piss off, Harry…" He feels his anger build up, still angry about how he called Charlie that disgusting slur.

"So you still in a sour mood with me, huh?" he tuts and walks away in a strut that always screams RICH. The rest of the group follows him like his personal entourage. He looks towards them, looking to see where they'll go. Thankfully they look like they're going to go play rugby so he's off the hook. Nick wants to avoid those pricks for the rest of the school year. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold back his anger if Harry decided to utter yet another homophobic comment in front of him. He grabs his lunch and slowly walks towards the lunch room, trying to contain his bubbling excitement about seeing Charlie again. He noticed whenever he was going to go see Charlie there was almost a spring in his step, but he didn't mind. He reaches the doors of the Cafeteria and walks through them, immediately scanning the whole room for his curly-haired dork of a boyfriend. He spots him sitting by himself on a very empty table, staring down at his phone with a melancholic expression. Did Ben try messaging him again? Did he not get the point the first two times Charlie has said to fuck off? He shook off his thoughts and walked towards him, but the worry started to settle into his stomach again.

He reached the table and slowly started sitting down, Charlie still looking down at his phone.

"Hey!" Nick gleamed. Charlie looked up at him, and quickly put his phone down on the table. Charlie's eyes dart around not quite meeting Nick's. That's something that he does when he's upset or nervous about something. Nick pauses to hopefully hear the usual Hi back from Charlie, but he sits silently.

"You okay?" Nick finally breaks the silence. Why does he seem so nervous and sad?

"So..uhm…I was thinking, about me and you?"

Nick's stomach dropped…He's seen this type of scenario play out before in movies and they always ended up in a breakup. Nick can feel his heart pounding in his chest, and it feels like the room is slowly fading away to just focus on Charlie.

"Okay?" Nick hesitantly replies, trying to hide the fear deep in his throat, and hoping on a star that Charlie doesn't go in the direction he thinks he will. Charlie still won't meet Nick's eyes, and just stares at the table in front of them as he is struggling to get the next part out. He seems like he doesn't quite believe what he wants to say, but needs to say it.

"And I just think…..I mean the fight with Harry was my fault-" Charlie looks like he is trying to hold back tears.

"It wasn't though." Nick was surprised at the anger behind his words. Not that he was angry at Charlie for the fight, but he thinks that it was his fault. Nick was the one who punched Harry in the first place. He met Charlie's eyes for the first time, and he could see how much pain he was in. Nick wishes he could take Charlie somewhere private and just hug him and reassure him that what happened wasn't his fault. His heart dropped into his stomach.

"It was. It was my fault. Becoming friends with you and, you know, everything that's happened." Charlie's voice was very monotone and sad. "I've been making your life very difficult." His head bowed down, and his demeanour changed. Nick's face dropped and became very heavy. He could feel his tears start to come up, but he pushed them down waiting for Charlie to finish. He didn't want to hear the ending of what Charlie wanted to say. He didn't want things to end.

"So I was thinking…. Maybe it would be better if.."

Don't you say it, Charlie….I swear if you say it…

"…we aren't together anymore." Charlie looked up at Nick with tears rolling down his face, quickly wiping them away to avoid anyone else in the room seeing them. Nick was speechless and intensely stared at Charlie, hoping to hear that he was joking and would take all of it back. Tears started to swell and he had no strength to hold them back anymore. All of a sudden someone ran into the cafeteria.

"Come on! Harry's fighting a Year 10 by the picnic tables!"

They both look at each other, knowing exactly who Harry was fighting. Everyone jumped from their seats to go witness the fight between Harry and the Year 10, and they did as well. They sprinted to the fight and their suspicions were correct. On the floor fighting, Harry and Tao were wrestling each other with arms swinging in any and every direction to try to land a blow. Nick pushed to the front of the crowd knowing he was the only one who would have to break up this fight. Nick saw Tao pinned to the ground with Harry on top. He saw Harry's hand wind up to punch Tao, but he quickly ran in there pulled Harry off of him and pushed him as far away as he could from Tao. Charlie then swept in to grab Tao out of the fight to stop it once and for all. Harry didn't have enough of the fight and ended up turning onto Nick, pushing him and trying to egg him on.

Harry yelled at Nick, "What's your problem, huh? You still want to fight for your little fag of a friend?" Nick saw red and started pushing him back and fighting him as well. Harry grabbed a hold of Nick and pulled him down onto the floor, successfully pinning him and started throwing blows right to his face. At that moment, Nick didn't care. He felt numb and heartbroken. Two teachers who walked by and witnessed this ran over pulled Harry off of Nick, and pulled him out of the fight circle and straight into the principal's office. Nick lay on the floor for a second, trying to figure out what to do. He just got pinned and beaten up by the school's notorious bully. A teacher ran up to Nick and started to ask him if he was alright, and started checking him for any serious injuries.

"Yeah….I'm okay. I just…..need a second." He said with a shaky voice. He needed to get himself in order before standing up in front of everyone. He was very close to just letting everything spill out at once.

"C'mon. I'm taking you to the nurse's office. You have a bleeding nose, and frankly, you might have broken it." The teacher gets another student to help pick him up and hoist him to the nurse's office, which thankfully isn't too far away from the picnic tables.

Nick feels the adrenaline still going through his body, and can't seem to calm himself down, so he reluctantly accepts the help of the teacher and the year 10 student who was nearby. He wasn't sure what he would have done if he had left to his own devices, but he probably would have gone to find Charlie apologized profusely and asked for a second chance.

Charlie….

As he was taken to the nurse's office, he overheard Tao and Charlie argue. Nick knew they were having some issues but Charlie never told me they were that bad. Then he heard Tao say, "I thought we were friends but you've forgotten about me. This is all your fault! Just…leave me alone!"

Nick tried to wiggle his way out of the grasp of two who were holding me but he didn't have the strength at the moment to. He wanted to go to Charlie and make this all better, tell him how sorry he was for everything. For the fights, for us being a secret couple because he's too scared to come out…but all he could do was cry.

I deserved this...

They practically kicked the nurse's door open simply because they didn't have the extra hands to open the door properly. The nurse, Mr. Vinenza immediately jumped up from his chair a little startled at the sudden noise, but saw what was happening and started to come help with Nick. He quickly drew back the curtains for one of the beds they had and propped Nick up on the bed. He turned to the teacher and student and started to quickly try to get as many details as he could about what happened. The student told Mr. Vinenza what happened, but all Nick could hear were mumbled words and whispers. He felt disconnected and numb. That scene kept repeating in his head, like a shitty pop song that's just overplayed because it's familiar. Nick felt something on his face, and suddenly he was snapped back to reality.

"Nick, I'm going to just do some small tests to make sure you don't have a concussion and a broken nose." He said it with such compassion and tenderness. Nick just nodded and sat there. Mr. Vinenza turned and grabbed some gauze for his gushing nosebleed that he just realized was ruining his nice white shirt.

Great, I'll have to explain this to my mother later….

Mr. Vinenza quickly did the checks and determined that he didn't have a concussion, but might have fractured his nose.

"I do need you to stay here until the bleeding stops. If it doesn't you will have to go to A&E." He snaps his gloves off of his hands and pats Nick on the shoulder.

He sighs, "I will have to call your mother due to the severity and circumstance of the injuries, unfortunately…" The nurse looks at Nick with sympathetic eyes, knowing this will land him in big trouble with his mother again.

"Do you have to? She's already upset with me about a different fight" Nick protested.

"Unfortunately, it's school policy Nick maybe-"

"Don't lecture me about getting into fights, I know already." Nick snapped back. God, why did he do this? He knew the consequences.

"Hey, you have no reason to talk to me like that, Nicholas Nelson!" Mr. Vinenza said in a stern and unwavering voice. He let out a sigh, picked up the school phone and called the principal. Whispers were coming from the phone, but Nick couldn't hear anything. He took out his phone to see what time it was, but he just sat staring at his phone. Maybe he should message his mother himself, it might look a bit better if she hears it from Nick rather than his Principal. He pulls up his text messages between them and slowly starts texting her, given he only has one hand available when he gets a phone call from his mother.

Fuck, she already knows….