To say I was speechless would be an understatement. What goes beyond speechless however? Felix had punched me and it hurt like hell. It wasn't so much because of the hard fist that landed on my right eye. Instead, it was how he had been crying when he aimed that fist right at me, hit me hard like a freaking bullet train and left me...beyond speechless.

Though, I couldn't be sure if he was crying. For all I know, he had tears in his eyes from that bruise he got on his left eye.

"Fucking shut up!" I yelled, frustrated with myself and that damn dog that couldn't keep his barking madness to himself. I glared around at everyone before kicking some non-existent pebble on the pavement and just stomping wildly.

It took me a long while to calm down, but at least the dog found his own silence. Eventually, I had to walk home.

A few blocks down toward our house, I noticed someone walking behind. He didn't care to keep his footsteps light. Instead, he made it sound like he was coming closer, but kept his distance from me.

"What do you want?" I asked, stopping but not even turning around to look at him.

"Boy, you screwed up," he said after a few seconds, perhaps noticing how I wouldn't walk further with him tailing me around.

I sighed and said, "Just leave me alone, okay?"

"But I thought you agreed to meet me?"

It was then that I turned around and saw who I was talking to. It was the same boy who splashed OJ at my face and who managed to read Felix's mind with just a fleeting glance between the two of them.

"Stop following me," I told him, not bothering with whatever agreement I had earlier with Felix to meet the boy.

"Chase, right? Chase Logan."

I eyed him suspiciously as he approached.

"William," he said, offering a handshake. "William Harrington. Friend to Felix Corbel."

I looked at his hand with...astonishment, maybe. He just sounded so...formal with everything despite how informal his OJ aggression was toward me during lunch hour.

"Nice to meet you, Chase."

"How do you even know me? And what makes you think you're Felix's friend?"

He sighed when I refused to shake his hand, withdrawing it completely and stuffing both hands in his pocket.

"What makes you think I'm not his friend?" he asked back. "And you're not that hard to miss around school. With all the bullshit you and your friends give almost everyone."

"I'm not friends with them anymore," I whispered mostly to myself. "I don't even think I have any more friends."

"You have Felix, don't you?"

I just stared at him and he kept this sort of expression as if he was stating the obvious.

"You saw how I screwed up," I almost yelled. "For all I know, I lost all my chances of being friends with Felix again!"

"God, Chase," he exasperatedly said. "What the fuck is your problem? Why give up so easily? Is that all you can do? C'mon man, you know you're so much better than that."

"Don't talk to me like you know me."

"I don't need to know you very well to understand that much. You're a freaking coward."

`I'm just holding back, you moron,' I thought to myself, failing to put it in words.

"What do they usually say?" he asked, sounding pretty much rhetorical. "It takes courage to give up? Well fuck that. Everyone knows it's easy to quit."

"Easy for you to say," I argued. "You don't know how I feel."

He kept silent, looking at me. I didn't want to keep staring at him so I turned around once more and started walking home.

"Do you mind if I follow you?"

"Whatever."

With William trailing indiscreetly behind me, I soon found myself turning the last corner to our house. A few houses down, I made it to our front yard and saw just who was waiting for me on our porch with his head resting on his arms, face completely hidden from anyone who saw his sulking figure.

"See?" William spoke up from behind me. "Even Felix doesn't want to give up yet. And I doubt you know exactly how he feels."

Felix may have heard our approaching footsteps long before we got to the front yard, but he didn't seem bothered. However, when William spoke up, he lifted his head and looked at both of us. I confirmed one thing at that instant.

Felix had been crying and still was.

I slowly made my way to him, his eyes glued to mine as I approached. When, finally, I stood in front of him, I was reminded of how almost exactly the same our position was when I found him at the school's playground on that same day I gave my playlist to him. The only difference was the look in our eyes. We both had bruises on each eye and we both surely looked miserable.

"Hey," I mumbled.

"Hi," he sniffled.

"Want to come inside and..."

"Sure," he answered, wiped some tears and smiled. Like I said before, no matter how Felix looked at me, he was adorable.

I looked over to William and he just shrugged. I sighed and also gestured for him to come inside. Besides, it felt like he knew something about Felix that I didn't know.

Once inside, we were greeted by my mom who always had a habit of fussing over worrisome things. I guess, to her, two boys who had large black eyes needed some medical attention before anything else. We made up some excuse, more like how we fought with each other and eventually made up just to avoid her prying about anything that might have happened in school. With some ice pressed to our cheeks, we were finally ready to sit down and talk.

We stayed outside since I didn't want William to see the grid I had on my bedroom wall and Felix didn't appear to be comfortable enough to go up to my room.

"Good going guys," William said, nudging both of our shoulders. "Keep up the silence. It isn't awkward at all. Honest."

I glared at him. He sat on the highest step leading to our porch while Felix and I sat at the bottom. There was almost a foot of distance between us and, as William pointed out, silence.

"Did I do well?" Felix finally spoke.

"Huh?"

"You think...I did great back there? I looked like an id--..."

"I'm sorry," I blurted out. "I shouldn't have let you do that. I just...I'm..."

"Hn," Felix grunted. "So you think your plan worked? You just dumped your friends, basically told them you were gay...over me and..."

"And?" I asked. "And...do you like me back now?"

Felix pressed the ice harder on the side of his face, biting his bottom lip in the process. I, on the other hand, was making my own ice harder with how cold my hands were feeling. Even my sweat felt awfully cold.

"No," Felix said conclusively. He looked at me intently and added, "I didn't ask for you to be a hero, Chase. I didn't want you to just go shouting at them and even spilling juice on my shirt. I just wanted you to..."

"To what?" I asked seeing how he trailed off.

He closed his eyes tightly and I couldn't be sure if it was the dripping cold ice or his tears that wet his cheeks.

"I can't do this anymore," he mumbled and slowly got up. "I'm not going back there. Not again."

"Back where?" I hurriedly asked.

He gulped and he sort of looked pale. I wanted so much to put some colour on his cheeks and lips.

"See ya, Chase," he said. "Good luck with those three. And thanks to you, I have to put up with more shit from them."

"I said I was sorry!" I argued as I stood up. "I'm going to make it up to you. I promise!"

"God you're so dense! Don't you see I don't like you? Stop all of this, okay? You're just being stupid."

"But..."

"Not buts. Not this time," he told me. "I don't like you. Period."

With that, Felix stormed off and walked toward their house. As always with him, he left me with more questions than answers.

"Okaaaay," William chanted and I once again glared at him. "That went well."

"Will you just leave?"

"Listen, Chase," he said as he stood up and sounded more serious. "I don't know exactly how messed up you are, but I know how fucked up Felix is. I may not seem like someone you should listen to, but I hate seeing Felix so...confused."

"What do you mean?"

"You caused all this, you know. Felix was waaaay better before you started doing shit. He keeps to himself, yeah, but he wasn't confused. He knew who he was till you messed up with his freaking head."

"I don't get it. Hell, I don't even know you so why should I be listening to you?"

He stepped down, placed both hands on my shoulders and inched his face closer to mine. Then, in a whisper, he said, "I was there when he got himself cured, Chase. I was there with him."

"Cured? Of what?"

"He didn't believe he was gay. Got himself into reparative therapy and now, well...he ends up not liking you anymore."

"You...you knew about all this?"

"Yep. We were best buds in the city. Just moved here last week and found out where he went to school. So yeah, we're best buds again."

"Uhm...so..."

"Oh don't get the wrong idea man," he said and giggled. "I'm not gay and I didn't go into therapy. I just...you know, gave him moral support?"

"To be cured of being gay?"

"He wanted to. I was all behind him."

"But still...that's fucked up."

William sighed and released his grip on my shoulders. "The only fucked up thing now is you messing with his head. So please..."

"You want me to stop bothering him, don't you?"

He slightly shook his head and answered, "I want you to bring him back, Chase. The old Felix I met in the city. The one who couldn't stop talking about you and all the awesome shit you both did. I want that Felix. Not this one who doesn't even know who he is. I want you to knock some sense into that head of his and make him see just how much he means to you. You get what I'm saying."

"Uhh...yeah...I think."

"Cool," he uttered and smiled. "Let's do this again," he continued and offered his hand once more, "William Harrington. Friend to Felix Corbel. Your new wingman."

I couldn't hold back my smile so I just had to curve my lips a little when I took his hand and shook it.

"Chase Logan. Obviously messed up, but not gonna give up on Felix Corbel. Ever."

And there it was, my own wingman and some light on what Felix went through.

"Oh just one advice," William said, "Stop taking baby steps. If I were you, I'd take the leap but don't be a hero."