You used to be really close with Ollie until he started getting bullied. Seeing him in that state with new scratches and bruises somewhere on him almost every day made you feel awful and you didn’t know how to help him. You knew it was selfish and wrong but you started to distance yourself from him. Avoiding hangouts and texts. One day you noticed that he stopped trying to reach you completely, no notifications from him, and avoiding eye contact with you (and everyone else really) in the halls. It hurt you, but you knew it was your fault.

You were walking home when you noticed Ollie walking a bit in front of you, his steps slow but also anxious. Your guilt was eating you alive so you decided to try and talk to him. When you call out to him he tenses up and faces you, a new black eye was on his face that wasn’t there this morning, he must’ve just gotten away from his bullies. His expression was dark. You try to talk to him and apologize, but he was in no mood to talk. You both end up arguing, you try to get him to tell you why he stopped talking to you and he was already overwhelmed, he couldn’t deal with you at the moment. When you don’t let it go he finally snaps.

“Stop! You push everyone away and then wonder why they all leave you!” He yells.