Alan's POV

"Alan, are you OK?" Phil asks, waving a hand in front of my face.
My eyes focus on him and my ears suddenly begin to pick up sound again.
"Oh, yeah." I mutter. "I'm fine."
"What's gotten into you?" He asks, looking concerned.
"N-nothing." I whisper, shaking my head slowly and pulling the sleeves of my hoodie over my hands.
Austin reaches across the table and takes my hand in his, slowly rubbing his thumb against the back of my hand.
I look up at him and he smiles weakly, looking equally, if not more, concerned than Phil.
I try to smile back but my mouth just won't move. I'm exhausted and all effort to control my body is not so successful today. I've barely managed to walk in a straight line without tripping or falling into something. I don't want to admit to Austin what I did because I know he'd be completely disgusted and would probably never talk to me again. Just the thought of loosing him made my stomach churn.
I let go of my boyfriends hand and rest my head on the table. The loud noise of the school's dining hall fading out once again.

I'm sat in math class. I can see the teacher scribbling an algebraic equation vigorously on the board at the front of the class and I can see his mouth move as he explains to the class what each part of it means. I can see a small boy with glasses raise his hand. I can see the teacher point to him and say his name. I can see the boy asking a question. But I can't hear anything. I feel goosebumps rise up on my arms and a drop of sweat roll down the back of my neck. My vision starts to become blurred and a cold shiver rushes down my spine as I black out again.

"Alan." I hear a familiar voice say. "Alan, honey, can you hear me?"
I slowly open my eyes, adjusting to the bright light. My head is throbbing and I feel extremely cold. In front of me stands the school nurse and my mum.
"Oh Alan!" My mum cries and bends down beside me and brushes my hair back from out of my eyes.
"W-what happened?" I asked, my voice croaky.
"You fainted and hit your head on your desk." The nurse spoke calmly. "You were passed out for at least forty minutes so I called your mum over."
I nodded and hissed as my head continued to throb with pain.
"You have a small bump on your head." The nurse continued. "It should take a few days to go down."
"Come on Alan. I think it's best I took you home." My mum said.
I stood up slowly, having to lean on my mum for support as I was still unable of standing up properly, and followed my mum to the car.

"I'm worried about you, you know." My mum whispered once we got in the car.
I looked at her to find a sad expression covering her face.
"I thought you were better. I thought the therapy had helped. I don't want you to fall back into bad habits." She continued, tightening her grip on the steering wheel.

In a way, I was pleased my mum had found me the other night. If she hadn't then I probably would have choked in my passed out state and probably ended up dead. But I was also disappointed that my mum had found me. I knew my mum worried about me and seeing me like that probably didn't help. I hear her crying sometimes when she thinks I can't hear her and I know it's because of me. I don't mean to make her upset. I don't mean to be such a failure.

"I'm sorry I disappoint you so much mum." I mutter as she stops the car outside of our house.
"Alan, dear. You've never disappointed me. I just want to make sure you're OK because I hate seeing you like this." She smiles sympathetically at me.
I get out of the car and go up to my room, my mum promising me that she'll come and check on me every half an hour. I climb into bed, still fully clothed and pull the duvet up to my chin. I hear the ringtone of my phone ringing from my back pocket but I neither care, nor have the effort to check who it is.

Austin's POV

I turn around and pace the kitchen for what seemed like the millionth time this afternoon. I continued to bite down on my fingernails and felt them sting as they became too short. I was worried about Alan. He wasn't picking up his phone and I heard people in the corridor saying he had passed out in class. I knew something was wrong earlier today and I should have said something. I should have asked him if he was OK. Now he could be hurt or upset and it's all my fault.
"I'm going to go round and check if Alan's OK." I announce looking over to my mum, who sat watching me anxiously from the kitchen table.
My dad scoffs and rolls his eyes, shaking his head slightly as he takes another sip from his beer can but right now I couldn't care less what he thinks.
"Alright sweetie." My mum answers, probably glad that I'd stopped pacing.

I nod before grabbing my keys and sprinting out of the house. The usual fifteen minute drive to his house only taking five. I pulled up outside and ran to the door, knocking loud and repeatedly. His mum answered, her usual bright face looked dark and pale.
"Austin, how lovely to see you. Alan's in bed but you can go and see him if you'd like." She says, her voice quiet and sounding tired.

I thank her and make my way quietly up to his room, opening the door slowly. I spot him curled up in bed. The duvet pulled up to his chin and his ginger curls sprawled out on the pillow behind him. He looked adorable, as always. I walked silently up to his bed and lent over him to check if he was asleep. His eyes were closed, his long lashes fanned out against his cheeks and his mouth was parted slightly, a quiet snore coming from his lips. I smiled at him and how peaceful he looked. I didn't want to leave him but I also didn't want to wake him so I pulled back the duvet and climbed in next to him, pushing my body against his back and wrapping my arms around his waist. He stirred a little and murmured something under his breath before he turned over so that he was facing me. But instead of opening his eyes, he wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck. I placed a soft kiss to the top of his head and inhaled the scent of his shampoo. I tightened my hold of him and smiled against his hair. I could get used to laying like this. I felt complete with him in my arms.
"Austin." Alan muttered into my neck.
"Yes baby?" I replied.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to see if you're OK, silly." I laugh before placing another kiss on his head.
"I'm fine." He whispers.
"Alan." I say quietly, letting go of him.
He soon notices that my arms are gone from around him and sits up, staring at me.
"You're obviously not OK." I tell him.
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.
"I'm just tired Austin."
I raise an eyebrow at him and he puts his head in his hands.
"Please just drop it." He says.
"No because I want to know what's going on." I say, getting inpatient and even more worried.
Alan sighs again, as if he's been defeated and looks away from me. "Aaron won't speak to me and my dad won't even look at me."
I stare at him a moment before deciding to speak. "What's happened with you and Aaron?"
"I was supposed to go round to his the other night but then my parents saw us and we had to wait for your parents and then we were talking for ages and I just forgot and now he won't talk to me and I'm such a pathetic peice of shit." He was talking fast and tears soon started spilling out of his eyes.
"Hey." I soothe, pulling him into an embrace. He rests his head against my chest and I run my hand through his hair, moving it away from his face. "It's going to be OK Alan. I promise you."
He puts his arms back around me and holds on tightly, as if I would disappear at any moment. He remains quiet but his body shakes every now and then as he lets out a sob.
"I'm not going anywhere." I reassure him. "I would never leave you, Alan."

Notes

Chapter 11 is here! Ahhh, I can't believe how far we are already. 9 chapters to go!
If you want to ask questions about updates and stuff like that, follow me on twitter or tumblr and I will answer you on there.
Thank you so much for the comments and the votes and the subscriptions. You are all so amazing and I love each and every one of you!

- Georgia x