a strange friendship

this school is 75% jocks and the rest are either nerds or weirdos. if you're not a jock, you get beat up nearly daily. im not a jock. im Georgie, a goth and the shortest one of them.  and thats why right now im hiding in the bathroom stale, trying to get someone to answer my texts. i know that they're standing outside the bathroom door waiting from me to come out. but im not moving till someone's at my side.
i hear they talking to someone. no, yelling and laughing. the door to the bath is slammed against the wall and then slams closed. my first thought is that they've come in to get me. instead i hear Mike freaking Makowski. he doesnt seem to know im in here.
i peek through the crack in the stall and watch him stand, bent over at the sink. he muttering to himself but i dont really know what he's saying. not that i really care. he's the leader vamp-fags. that makes him hated by us goths. they stole our style and made everyone think we were vampire wannabes. though, when you really think about it its kind of a stupid reason to hate someone.
Mike stands up straight and i can finally see his face in the mirror. its covered in running black eyeliner. his hair sticks to his cheeks, glued down by the tears. normally i would have thought this was funny, but i dont know. its just not. he looks really upset. i unlatch the door and slip out. im done being a creep.
"Mike?...you..okay?" he turns suddenly, eyes a bit wide. he starts fidgeting, probably trying to think of how to react to this. truthfully, i dont know how to react. i guess i expected him to make a joke out of this but he's clearly too upset for that. which is hard to believe. Mike always has something snarky to say back.
"how long have you been in here?"
"since before you came in...." he raises an eye brow at that, looking back at the door. i cant see it slowly clicking with him as to why they were just standing out there. a look that is somewhat hard to read crosses his face and he turns back to the sink, wiping his face off. Mike reaches out and grabs my arm and drags me towards the door.
"hey! the fuck! let me go!" he doesnt say anything, just continues on with me in tow. what is he planning? is he tried to get us both killed? shit, why wont anyone answer my texts? he stops at the door, finally letting go of my arm. he pushes it open and steps back out, leaving me completely confused.
i stand there for a few minuets, listening to Mike yell at the football jerks. something (more like someone) is slammed into the wall and i jump back a bit. i can hear the jocks leave, laughing and high fiving. i quickly scramble out to find Mike sitting on the floor in front of the wall, face in his hands. i consider just leaving, but he is the reason i know have the ability to leave.
instead i drop down next to him and shake his shoulder a little. "Mike? hey, Mike, you okay?" he nods a little, lifting his head. his nose is a bit bloody but other than that he looks fine.
"shit...why did you do that?" he shrugs a little, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. "they had you locked in there for awhile right?...they did that to me a few times." he slowly stands up, leaning against the wall. i hop up and grab his arm, worried he's going to fall over. "...let me...uh help you.." he smiles a little at me and we walk out the door. "you have a car?" he nods and points the way to his decent looking forest green car. we stop and stare awkwardly at the other.
"um...you want a ride home?" he gives another small smile. a ride would be nice. i dont want to risk running into those assholes on the way home. i nod and rush over to the passenger side, climbing in and buckling up. he slides in on the other side and starts up the car. he clicks on the heat and the radio before pulling out of the school parking lot.
the ride is mostly quiet, other than the radio of course. i dont say anything till we get close to my house. i climb out and walk over to the driver side as he rolls down the window. "um..thanks for the help. it means a lot." he nods and smiles a little. "no problem." i nod and hurry up to my front door as he pulls away.

i dont mention Mike helping me to the other goths. it just doesnt seem all the important. when they ask about the texts i simply tell them that one of the teachers made them leave. they buy it and continue on with a mostly normal day.
i wait till lunch to try and find Mike. i search the whole lunch room and then all of the hallways and boys rooms, but come up empty handed. im about to walk back to the lunch room when i spot him out the window, sitting on the old swing set on the playground. i walk over and plop down on the swing next to him. he looks up at me, a bit confused.
"just...wanted to thank you again. for yesterday...."
"dont worry about it....i couldnt just leave you there...wont have been right..." he rocks a little, digging his boots into the dirt. i shift a little on my swing. "y-yeah...but you didnt have to. i...i mean we hate each other so....." he shrugs, chewing his lip.
"can i...tell you something, and you like swear never to tell because i helped you out and all" i nod, glancing over at him. his face is a bit red as he swallows before speaking again. "um i did it...cause i  truth is...well um...uh..."
i make a face. "whoa, dude. are you trying to tell me you like me? thats creepy!"
he snorts, shaking his head. "no. i just...i've kinda always wanted to be friends with you and the other goths. i thought...maybe if i did that..you wanna be friends." he shrugs. "stupid huh?"
"yeah....but i guess we can...you know...but you cant like tell anyone cause you're like the biggest loser in school and i dont need to be known as the friend of the biggest loser." i joke. he smirks a bit and nods.
"fine by me. though this is kinda a small town..." he gives a smirk and i punch him in the arm. "i swear if you tell ill cut your throat." he laughs, standing just as the bell rings. "okay, okay. i wont. see you later." i nod to him as he walks off, still laughing some what.
the next few days continue on like this, i sneak away from the other goths to come and hang out with Mike on the play ground during lunch. sometimes we talk about homework or bullies or home. sometimes we sit completely quiet just enjoying the fact that we're not alone. its nice. we talk about a lot of things, even things i dont talk to the others about. we keep it to ourselves of course. but its nice.
we continue our secret friendship into his senior year and my sophomore year. by this point, im pretty sure i know everything about Mike. like everything about him. of course, i guess i always figured he was keeping something from me. but this...this is big!