*about two weeks later*

Alex's POV:

The morning sun shone through my curtains as I opened my eyes. I groaned and rolled over. Another Monday, another horrible day in the hell of a place called high school. I was tempted to just turn off the alarm, skip school and live under my blankets for the rest of my life. I sighed as I unwillingly got out of bed. I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes as I looked for clean clothes. My room was even messier than usual, with clothing scattered all around the floor. I found a clean pair of black jeans and put them on. I picked up a black t-shirt, smelling up to make sure it was clean (enough) before putting it on. I dragged a hand through my hair a few times to style it. It still looked messy but it was good enough for school.

I walked downstairs to an empty house. As usual my father was already gone. It was fine with me though, I was actually kind of glad he wasn't here. I hadn't talked to him since the drunk-fight-thing episode and I didn't want to either. What was it to talk about? I wasn't going to apologize for being gay nor telling him I had ran away to stay at my English teacher's house.

Speaking of Joe, I hadn't talked to him much since that night. He had been teaching a couple of my classes the past weeks, but we hadn't really talked much. It was weird, seeing him up there, teaching. I always had a hard time focusing because I often started to think about how soft his hair was or what a beautiful colour of blue his eyes was. To be fair, he was actually a pretty good teacher, it wasn't his fault I was a horny teenager who easily got distracted. Sometimes, he would give me a quick glance, smiling before looking away again. His eyes glittered like he knew a secret no one else knew about, which was kinda the case. It was a dangerous game we were playing and the stakes were high. If anyone found out... no, I won't even think about what would happened then.

—— time skips to school——

I opened my locker to get the books I needed for next period. My next class was English, which I had mixed feelings about. I'd always loved English, but it also meant having to face Joe, or Mr. Solace, as I had to call him in class. As I got my books out of my locker I tried to mentally prepare myself. I'm not going to lie, it is hard to sit there watching him teach. It is nearly impossible. And worse of all, it's not that long since the school year started either and this is already messed up.

I was ripped out of my thoughts as my locker door was slammed shut right in front of my face. I turned around to see the face that made me want to dig a hole, jump in it and be buried alive. If you haven't guessed, I'm talking about Davide. He was smiling evilly down at me. I gulped and looked past him to find his two minions Oscar and Daisy standing right behind him as always. I could feel my heart starting to beat faster but I tried to keep a steady face, not wanting to give Luke the satisfaction of seeing me scared.

"The bell can't save you this time, fag," David said with a sadistic grin on his face. I swallow to get the taste of blood in my mouth to disappear, to no avail. I tried to calculate the chance I had of surviving, which at this point were almost none. I could either try to run or talk to distract them. I was doubting that talking would stop them, and running would probably make it even worse. However, it didn't seem like I had much of a choice, so I turned around and ran.

I heard them yells after me and three pair of footsteps starting to run after me. I had gotten a small head start, but they were already starting to catch up. My legs felt like jelly. I turned to see how close they were, but stumbled and fell. This was it, his was how I would die, I thought as I felt the first kicks. I was kicked in the stomach, then my arm and face. I could feel my consciousness starting to fade, and I was barely conscious when the kicking finally stopped. My whole body ached and I heard muffled voices, like someone had put cotton in my ears.

The last thing I saw before I fell into unconsciousness was David, Oscar and Daisy running away. I felt someone bending over me, probably a teacher, trying to talk to me but I was too far gone to answer. Everything hurt so bad.