Loverboy

Oli’s P.O.V.

“Wake up, Oli, we have to go to school today!” my younger brother shook me in my bed.

“Just go without me.” I groaned to my pillow. There’s a lot of things I wasn’t looking forward to in life and school was definitely at the top of the list. Getting up at 07:30 and not coming home until 16:00 every single day was such a nightmare for me. Tom had plenty of friends while I was the loner who was bullied.

After getting myself ready, I waited on the couch in the living room for Tom to come down eventually. I hardly ever ate breakfast so I’m not even going to bother with it. “Are you ready?” I asked Tom after he came back from the kitchen. He nodded and continued making he was to the front door and stepping outside. School was only a mile away from us so we walked to and back everyday. It’s not as bad as it seems, it’s quite enjoyable since the neighborhood we lived in was quiet and small.

Tom was already pretty far ahead since I stayed for a little bit longer to grab some books I forgot upstairs. It didn’t bother me that he wasn’t walking closer since this happened quite a lot. Whatever, there’s no need for me to worry about Tom, he can take care of himself. I preferred to walk alone rather than with someone else anyway.

The school building finally came into view which made me depressed just looking at it. I hated this place, I hated it so much and I wanted to leave more than ever. But abandoning Tom abruptly would be selfish of me so that’s why I’m staying. Believe me, if I had the chance to drop out of school and live on the streets rather than go to school, I would definitely take it. It’s not like people even care about me here.

Physics was my first and only class of the day. I planned on hanging out in the bathroom until school ends. Well, I might sit with Tom and his friends during lunch since he’s the only one who cares about me here. The teachers hardly take attendance here so may as well just skip the day and bullshit all of tomorrow.

---

The bell rang after second hour and lunch class was next. I waited a few moments before I got my books and left the boys bathroom. Pretty sure the biggest reason why I hate this place is because the people who go here are such twats and are really annoying when in between classes. Don’t get me started when it’s lunch because they run around the field playing football or some stupid sport like that. Tom was sitting outside with his friends near the railing. I slowly walked over and sat down next to him, avoiding eye contact with his friends. It was obvious that they didn’t like my company. They’ve told me to stop hanging out with them numerous of times but Tom told them to stop or else he wouldn’t talk to them before. Being around other people scared me so I would normally just get up and leave within the first ten minutes or so. Sometimes I would go back down to my English teacher’s classroom and just sit around until it was time for next class.

After putting away my books into my locker, a sudden shove came on my body and I was slammed into my locker. I slowly balanced my body back out again and turned around to see none other than David, one of the people who bullied me. Thankfully his friend, Kyle, wasn’t here so it was just him and I. “How are you, Oliver?” he asked, giving me a smirk. Whatever you do, Oliver, just don’t give him an answer back and you’ll be fine. “Hello? Anyone home?” David kept raising his voice and eventually slapped me across the face. “When I ask you a question I expect you to fuckin’ answer me back! If only Kyle was here and then we could have more fun.”

It was hard for me to fight back the tears forming in my eyes. I wanted to go home and just lie down in my bed and cry my eyes out. Only 3 ½ hours left until school was over and I could run home. “Do you not listen to me?!” David yelled and shoved me back against the lockers a second time. Just then, Tom came walking down the hallway with a pissed off look on his face. My body was huddled on the floor against the lockers at this point, I just felt worthless and I didn’t matter anymore. Tom didn’t even give David time for him to speak, he clawed the side of his face and kneed him right in the stomach.

“Get the fuck away from my brother if you don’t want me to go worse on you.” he hissed at him. David tried to form words but instead he turned quickly around and ran up the stairs to the second floor in fear. “Oli, you alright?”

I didn’t waste time to wrap my arms around my brother. He honestly was the only person who cared about me and I didn’t want our sibling relationship to crash down anytime soon. “I’m so sick of it all, Tommy. I can’t go another day of bullying and feeling like a waste of space, I just can’t.” I started crying in his right shoulder.

“You’re not a waste of space, Oli, you’re my older brother and I love you for who you are. Please don’t ever leave me, you’ve got so much to live for.” his words were so soothing, but they just couldn’t stop David and Kyle from bullying me. This has been going on since I was twelve and I’m getting sick and tired of it.

“These days I feel like you’re the older brother. You have friends and I’m over here alone getting beaten up everyday and pushed to the point of suicide.” I said, leaning back against the lockers. David didn’t beat me as bad as usual but I was so worn out and tired of it all.

“Go home and get some rest then. Don’t worry about me, you deserve to relax your body from all this drama.” Tom told me and opened my locker back up. “What classes do you have homework in?”

“None, I skipped all classes after first hour because I wasn’t in the mood anymore.” I responded. Sighing, he handed me my backpack and closed my locker.

“Just please go home and rest up. I’ll walk with you down to the office but that’s as far as I’m going. I have a test last hour and I need to study during this class.” he explained as he helped me get up.

After signing myself out, I gave my brother a goodbye hug and headed out the double doors. It felt amazing knowing I wouldn’t have to worry about this place for the rest of the day. Walking back home was my favorite part of the day, honestly. Normally Tom would get there before me but I would sometimes walk slower and just enjoy the moment without any rush. Since we didn’t have a certain time to get home, I’d even go down the park and sit under a tree and just enjoy my day.

Our house wasn’t necessarily in the “friendly” looks. Willow trees hung over the roof and the paint was starting to dull and chip a little bit. Not many people came to our house, not even my own grandparents came down during the holidays. They stopped when I was around ten because my dad got in a huge argument with them so they just didn’t come down, not even for me or Tommy’s birthday.

I slowly turned the knob on the door and opened it with caution. Mum was mostly likely at work but dad didn’t work on Wednesdays or the weekends so I wasn’t safe. The television was blaring noises in the background so that told me he was close by. Well, luckily I’m good at sneaking past him so maybe I can get away this time. I crept through the doorway, looking around the house for any signs of dad. He was most likely outside cutting the grass but I didn’t hear the lawn mower running when I got here so that was off the list. “What’re you doing ‘ere?!” a loud voice boomed from the top of the steps. I didn’t even have to look up to see who it was. “Answer me, boy!”

“I couldn’t stand being at-at school so I came home,” I said, whispering as low as possible. My dad scared me and I hated it when he would abuse me. One time he punched me so hard I got a bruise that lasted a month or so. “B-but if I go to my room, I won’t bother you.”

“You’re already pissing me off!” he screamed and shoved me to the floor. There was no point in fighting back, I was like a bunny- a bunny compared to an alligator. “I don’t get why your mum even decided to keep you in the first place! We should’ve kept Tom and gotten rid of you!”

“Dad, please...”

“Shut up!” he screamed out and slapped me across the face.

My body lunged forward, I was panting and sweating in bed again. “Oli? Oli, what’s wrong?” Josh leaned up next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“Y-Yeah,” of course, my voice was stuttering like always, “It’s getting a little bit hot in here, I’m going to turn the air conditioner on.” I got out of bed, trembling and switched the air conditioner on.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” he asked as I sat down next to him. It was adorable how he worried about me, but I fear one day he’s going to stop.

“No, I think it’s time for you to know the truth.”

--

Twenty five minutes later, I finally finished telling Josh my life story and the dream I just had. It felt good to let out all of my emotions to someone who actually cared about me and they weren’t faking it. “You miss Tom, don’t you?” he asked. I slowly moved my head up and down, looking at the cover sheets. Tears filled in my eyes and before I knew it, I was crying my eyes out. Josh pulled me close to his chest and rubbed my back for comfort.

“I miss him, I miss him so much.” I sobbed.

“But you see him over holidays, right?” he asked me.

“It’s just not the same. We hardly even talk and it just g-gets more awkward each time I stay at the house. He’s found new people to talk to and he’s always out taking photographs or something while I’m stuck in the house being abused all day. Dad told me not to mention him abusing me to Tom or else he’d kill me. I left him, I left and then I lost him. There’s no way for me to get my baby brother back,”

“Sh,” Josh whispered in my ear, “You’ll get him back, don’t worry.”

“What if I don’t?” I choked out. “What if when I graduate, he’ll be completely done with me and move cities while I’m still stuck in Sheffield? Just the thought of never talking to my brother again makes me depressed because I promised to always be there for him when I was six and now look at me. A waste of space, that’s what I am.”

“Oli, you’re not a waste of space. I don’t care who thinks you are, because you’re not. After all of these years of fighting, you’ve made it this far and I don’t want your road to stop right here. There’s so much in life worth living, you just have to give it a chance.” he always was good at giving me a positive look on life. “How about during winter break, you try your absolute best to talk to Tom. No matter how much work it takes, you need to feel comfortable around your baby brother again.”

“But...but how? Tom’s really outgoing and I’m just anti social. He doesn’t know about dad abusing me, remember?” this plan is literally going to be impossible to accomplish since now I can’t even be in the same room as him without it being awkward.

“What goes on when you’re on break and the two of you are at home?” he asked.

“I’m normally up in my room and Tom can be found watching tv but that’s it. We don’t say ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ anymore. In fact, last time I told him good morning was last year during fall break.” I explained.

“That’s what you need to start doing! Small talk him and as the days go by, just talk to him more and more until the two of you have that sibling connection once again. Trust me, it’s happened between me and my sister but we made up eventually.” Sister? He never mentioned having a sibling.

“I never knew you had a sister. What’s her name?” finally, changing the subject.

“Yeah, she moved out and became a singer a year ago. Her name’s Elissa. We don’t talk as much since she’s doing concerts but we still haven’t lost our connection with each other. Just try and talk to him during winter break, I’m positive it’ll go fine.” he said.

“What if he denies talking to me?”

“Trust me, he won’t.” Josh cooed. “Now, try to get some sleep, Love.” he said and kissed my forehead.

Getting Tom back is going to be the hardest thing for me to do.