Sunlight poured into my bedroom, half past eight. Something was poking my side, something that felt like the end of a stick you'd find outside in your backyard.

I rolled around in bed, rubbing my groggy eyes. I shielded myself from the bright sun beams pouring through my blinds, focusing on the blackish blurb sitting on the edge of my bed below me.

"Wake up, loser. We're doing something tonight and I don't care if you got other-"

I cut him off, my vision still jaded and blurry from just waking up. I sat up on my elbows and my eyes soon adjusted to the light in my room.

"Start over, I'm awake now," I said with a sleepy tone.

"We're doing something tonight, and I don't care if you got other plans because you're coming with me, alright?"

Caspian poked me with his cigarette lighter one more time before flipping it around in his hand, lighting the cigarette that was hanging in his mouth. He glanced at me, his face and eyebrows narrowed and somewhat glaring.

"Okay, I didn't have any plans to begin with. Where are you taking me? The Hawaiian islands?"

I smiled playfully and sat up some more, criss crossing my legs under the covers. I looked at him with such admiration, I was hoping it didn't show in my eyes. I admired the way he did everything.

"No, retard. I'd have to have money to do that." He took a long draw of his cigarette, exhaling the smoke into my bedroom. I didn't yell at him this time, a little smoke wouldn't kill us.

"Then where are we going?" I reached out and grabbed his arm, hugging it close to my chest as I watched him smoke his cigarette, my room beginning to smell of the smoke. He didn't try to tug his arm away, but instead gave me a smirk.

While he sat on my bed, I looked at his features some more from the side. I never noticed how long his eyelashes were.

"It's none of your business, okay? You'll find out when we get there."

Casp tugged his arm away, bending down in front of my bed while he reached for something beneath the mattress.

I peeked over the side of my bed, watching him pull out an ash tray from underneath.

"Bet you didn't know this was under here," he smiled up at me, putting his cigarette out, smashing it down into almost nothing.

He was right, I had no idea why that was sitting under my bed but the fact he found it was cute.

After I rolled out of bed, I didn't bother getting dressed, since I knew I'd be just getting ready to go with Caspian in a few short hours anyway. It may have only been 9:00 am, but knowing Caspian, you hit the bars six hours earlier than normal people do.

Downstairs, Levi already had breakfast out for everyone. Gina was sitting on the counter in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal, and everyone else was around the table, quickly scarfing down scrambled eggs and toaster waffles.

"Why aren't you guys at school today?"

I got blank stares in return. Caspian was sitting at the table with the rest of my cousins and he was the first to start laughing.

"It's Sunday," He exclaimed through his laughter, obviously getting a kick out of my confusion.

"Get your bitch in line," Gina directed her eye contact towards Caspian, a glare present in her stare as he laughed.

Levi quickly rushed over to Gina, whispering something about keeping her mouth quiet around him.

I shook my head, grabbing a plate of scrambled eggs before taking a seat beside Caspian at the table. I was stunned he didn't catch Gina's comment, because he never misses a beat. Maybe he just chose to ignore it and I was changing him for the better.

"I'm gonna crash for a little while, wake me up before five," Caspian nudged my arm while he stood up from the table, heading straight into our family room, "I"m gonna do my crashing in here, nobody bother me unless you want a broken septum and a few gunshot wounds."

I shrugged at his comment, thinking that those consequences could possibly happen if someone tried to wake him.

"He can't control a gun while he's asleep, silly boy," Gina mumbled to herself, an evil smile on her lips.

Once again, Levi grabbed her shoulders and mumbled some more inaudible words in her direction.

"What would happen if he actually shot someone... while inside our house?" Danny cocked his head in wonder, looking directly at me for the answer.

"Well, he would go to jail, and you would probably get placed in a nice foster home, away from me."

I furrowed my eyebrows, studying Danny's expression which was still as emotionless and confused as before he started talking.

"Idiot, that's common sense," Melanie looked at Danny with disapproval and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, no need for your sassy comments," Levi pushed her shoulder, causing her to flop forward and back again like a balloon waving to you at a car dealership.

"You should also start taking some defense classes," Levi said through clenched teeth, his eyes wide at her swaying. He looked at me, and I shrugged.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to shower and get ready." I stood up from the table, my chair squeaking as it pushed back.

"What do you have to get ready for? Killing people?" Danny asked with no hesitation, looking straight at me again.

"No, no, I'm just going somewhere fun tonight."

"Like the strip club?" Danny smiled and rubbed his fingers together to symbolize cash.

"I wish I had a different family," Melanie sighed and dramatically stood up while pulling Joyce with her, the two of them heading out the back kitchen door.

"Mall," one of them exclaimed once outside.

"You don't even have money though?" Levi ran up to the door, as if that would stop them from leaving.

"They have bathrooms," Melanie screamed back from the front of the house.

Levi shut the door and raised his eyebrow, "What the fuck does that mean?"

Gina started laughing, almost as hysterically as Caspian did when I thought it was a weekday. "They suck boy's dicks for cash."

Levi's face twisted in disgust and disbelief, his hand grabbing his hair. "Fourteen and sixteen, what is this world coming to?"

"Oh please, you weren't innocent at that age either," Gina said while rolling her eyes.

Gina was right, none of us were innocent at that age. In our household, you're born guilty.

At five, Caspian and I were ready to head out to our secret location.

"Bring your fake ID, I hope you still got one," Caspian paced around my room, holding his box of cigarettes in one hand, the other holding out fingers to mentally check things off his list.

"Don't dress too gay," he said as he turned to face me.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I rose my arms in question, watching his expressions.

His eyes shifted over my body, nodding before continuing his pace and check list. "You look good."

He watched me fumble through my wallet, finding my fake ID several expired gift cards later. I turned around to tell him I was ready, but he was already directly behind me. When I turned around, his nose was almost touching mine, his warm breath cascading over my features.

"You look good," he mumbled again.

"Thank you," I mumbled back.

He searched my eyes for a few seconds, turning his head before the rest of his body followed.

"Let's go," He motioned with his head for me to follow.

After walking a few blocks, we ended up at a small corner bar. I've passed the place plenty of times, but never even tried to get inside because most of the patrons were old men or men who only went inside to utilize the prostitutes in the basement, according to Missy.

Caspian held the door for me, and nobody checked my ID like at the other places around here.

A familiar face poked up from the bar, his angry stare becoming more and more familiar as I noticed Caspian had stopped dead in his tracks. I heard him gulp.

"Hey, what's going on here?" I mumbled to Caspian, but I got no response.

"Why did you bring this boy here with you, faggot?"

I widened my eyes at the comment, and I could tell Caspian was getting more and more heated by the second.

We were stopped two feet in from the door. The man was approaching us now, the other men in the bar watching and whispering, some even laughing. I now realized that this man was Caspian's dad.

He created a fist and suddenly punched Caspian in the chest, causing him to hit the door we just entered.

His dad's face was veiny and cherry red. "I wanted you to bring your wife. This isn't a wife, is it?"

Caspian's dad let go of him, pushing him through the doors and back outside onto the pavement where I heard him hit the ground.

"Hey, what the fuck," I rushed through the other door, standing next to Caspian's dad as I tried to bend down and help Caspian up, my heartbeat racing out of chest and head, my body acting too quick to process anything.

Before I could even grab an arm, a big fist plummeted into the side of my face. My nose immediately started bleeding before I hit the pavement next to Caspian, another wound bleeding from my cheek.

I sat up again, only to be knocked down by the same fist, the pain excruciating as I realized Casp's dad had brass knuckles.

I soon noticed people were crowding us, chanting homophobic phrases and words that I could barely understand from the taste of blood in my mouth and the confused daze my head felt.

I realized that I was bent over Caspian, some of my blood dripping onto his forehead. He was clutching his side, his dad circling the crowd in the background to make the group around us louder.

"Lay down, just do it," Caspian breathlessly mumbled and I did exactly what he told me.

Laying flat against the cement made my head feel better, the spinning and swirling seemed to die down a bit. As I rested against the cement, I felt something heavy press down onto my body. I opened my eyes but that didn't do much, my sight was slowly fading.

I felt something wet and warm against my lips, realizing it was Caspian's lips against my own.

"Look, dad," I heard him mumble against my lips.

I heard sirens off in the distance.

**
All of this was unedited! Thanks for reading! Comments, votes, etc. are appreciated!