(A/N: uh oh, domesticity and Depression™ warning)

The last thing Jeremy wanted to hear was bad news, but he let his dad continue anyway.

"I lost my job." Mr. Heere said shortly. 

"Oh." was all Jeremy managed to say. Mr. Heere worked from home on divorce cases. His mom was a divorce lawyer too, except she worked in a building. Mr. Heere used to work in a building too but decided to do from home work after their divorce. There was almost something funny about both his divorce lawyer parents getting a divorce. Not funny, just ironic more than anything.

Jeremy stared at his dad, as if wanting him to give him the details. He didn't.

"We don't really have a lot of money you know."

Jeremy knit his brows together as he suddenly remember when they went to the mall and his dad reassured him several times they had plenty of money. "You said we did."

Mr. Heere averted his eyes from Jeremy. "I thought we did, it's just..." he sighed. "You're almost seventeen now, there will be quite a few places hiring around here-"

"Wait, what?" He looked at his dad questionably and with a bit of annoyance. "Lemme get this straight, you lied and said we had money when we didn't, and now that you don't have a job I have to get one?"

"Jeremy..." Mr. Heere looked strained. 

"What? Now you're a jobless deadbeat too?" That almost sounded like something the Squip would have prompted him to say. He immediately regretted it.

"Jeremy..." Mr. Heere repeated, a bit sterner this time.

"You want me to get a job to support the both of us. Don't you think I already have enough to handle?"

"Like what?" Mr. Heere said, frowning.

"...school." Jeremy said, it was the only thing he could really think of as a response. Sure the whole Squip incident, Rich and Michael were heaving him down, too, but it wasn't the time to mention all that now.

"I had to get a job at your age..." Mr. Heere mumbled. 

"Just find another job now then."

"It's not that easy, kid." Mr. Heere said quietly. 

Jeremy knew it wasn't, but he was annoyed and couldn't think of a better argument. He always felt as though he had to be independent, and just as his dad was finally getting his life back on track, this happens. 

Neither spoke for a moment, before Mr. Heere spoke up again, "So will you at least consider-"

"No." Jeremy cut him off and stormed off towards his room, not looking back to see his dad's reaction. He locked his door, and rushed into his desk chair and lifted his laptop screen up. He hovered his fingers above the keys to type something in but let them just fall down, spamming several keys at once.

His dad has had it rough. Jeremy should have helped him as his dad helped him before that one time. Kinda.
But that's what parents are supposed to do anyway, right? Was Jeremy being unnecessarily mean? He flinched and cringed, thinking back to what he just said to his dad.

"What? Now you're a jobless deadbeat too?"   

It easily reminded him of when he had talked back to him back when he still had the Squip. This was a completely different case but, he couldn't help but feel a bit terrible about it. This didn't mean he was a bad person, right?

He acted bad back then because of the Squip. But now he had no excuse. Was he just a genuinely bad person? Or had he been a good person before and was now corrupted because of the Squip?

Maybe the Squip was right. Maybe all his friends did hate him since the beginning, and felt bad for him or something. Did he even have any real friends to begin with? He thought back to what Rich said about Michael, about treating him like shit after the upgrade. 

But that wasn't his fault...or was it? It was his choice after all, maybe he wasn't a good friend. Or a good person. Maybe he was terrible even before the Squip. He didn't think he was, but the little voice in his head continued to overwhelm him with intrusive and bothersome thoughts.

Even with the Squip gone, he could still hear his voice throwing different insults at him, it was almost too much to handle as he pulled his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arm around them, still in his desk chair and staring at a blank screen in the dark room. Tears filled his eyes as the bright laptop screen began to go more out of focus and blurred by his teary eyed vision.

He slowly closed the screen and wiped a tear away, before hearing a knock on the door out of nowhere.

"Jeremy?" 

It was his dad. He sounded sad and spoke very softly. Jeremy wasn't quite sure how to feel or what to do now. He dragged himself towards the door and unlocked it, looking up at his dad.

"Uh, why don't we sit down?" Mr. Heere suggested, sitting on Jeremy's small bed and patting the area next to him. Jeremy climbed onto the bed and sat beside him. He knew what was gonna happen. His dad wanted to have a domestic family moment, Full House style. Jeremy cringed. He hated that show.

"You okay...?" Mr. Heere asked sympathetically, placing a hand on Jeremy's back. He tried to scoot closer but Jeremy just shifted farther away.

"I'm fine." Jeremy said, sniffing.

"You know...you know that you can tell me anything." Mr. Heere said, smiling weakly.
Parents always say stuff like that; "You can tell me anything" "I'll listen" "I'll understand" and yet they never really did. 

There was too much and yet nothing really bothering him. Everything that was weighing him down was more or less his own mind messing him up and trying to see things that aren't actually there.

Whatever. What did he have to lose by telling the truth?

"You lost your job," He said with a shaky breath. "And Rich hates me, and him and Michael are best friends now and Michael probably doesn't even like me anymore and I treated him like crap and-"

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, kiddo." Mr. Heere said. "Michael doesn't hate you."

"But he should," Jeremy said. "And I did so many things wrong. And I was mean to you and I didn't mean to be and I know I'm a bad person but-"

"You're not a bad person." Mr. Heere interrupted, rubbing Jeremy's back soothingly. "We all do bad things sometimes and, Jeremy, you're just a teenager." He smiled softly. "You're still growing up and just cause you say  or did some dumb things as a kid doesn't make you a terrible person. 

And furthermore, maybe Rich is Michael's best friend as well. You and Rich can be friends too." 

That's where Jeremy knew his dad wouldn't understand. He didn't know much about Rich, and he definitely didn't know Rich was the one who influenced him towards the Squip and bullied him. Hell, he barley knew much about the Squip situation either.

"We can't." Jeremy frowned. "He doesn't like me."

"Did he say that?" 

Jeremy thought for a moment. There wasn't an exact moment where Rich recently said he hated him, but he did get angry at him on the walk home but...most of Rich's hatred towards Jeremy as of recently had just come from his imagination.

"I...guess not, but..." He trailed off without continuing.

Mr. Heere came closer (this time without Jeremy distancing himself) and wrapped his arms around his son lovingly. "I know I'm not always here for you or the best dad ever but...I do love you. You're the best thing that's ever happened in my life."

Jeremy was taken aback. "Really...?"

"You can be a little shit sometimes," Mr. Heere laughed. "But you're a good kid, and I love you. Please don't think otherwise."

Jeremy looked down at the carpet. Was his dad telling the truth or just saying what every parent says to make their kid feel better?

"I'll look for a job tomorrow," Mr. Heere said. "It would help if you did too, and it might be good for you too. But if not..." he bit his lip. "don't worry about it."

Jeremy nodded, still feeling a bit unsure and guilty. But if he were to vent again it would just be a repeat of what he already said. "Okay..."

Mr. Heere stood up and patted Jeremy's shoulder before making his way to the door. "Get some sleep, okay? It's a school night." with that, he closed the door and left.

Jeremy laid his head down on the pillow but couldn't fall asleep and really didn't want to be left with his thoughts again, so he carried his laptop to his bed and hid under the covers. He didn't really watch porn much anymore, still having this paranoid feeling that he would be shocked with electricity if he did.

Instead he opened YouTube and decided to watch Vine compilations until he eventually fell asleep, not knowing what time it was.

***

The morning was rushed as he woke up later than intended, with only fifteen minutes to spare before getting on the bus. His dad was out looking for hiring businesses and left a note on the refrigerator door, telling Jeremy where he was and that there was eggs and toast he had made earlier, although it was burnt and not very good.

Jeremy ran to catch up with the bus with a slice of toast still in his mouth (like an anime girl, not that he watched anime. Definitely not) and quickly climbed onto the bus as quick as he could, the driver rolling their eyes at him.

He took a seat in the back, not bothering to see who he was sitting next to. He drowsily started falling asleep, leaning his head unintentionally on the person next to him.

"Ugh! Do you mind?"

He quickly sat up straight and shook his head. Great. He somehow snatched a seat with Jenna Rolan, and she looked beyond pissed.
Jeremy never imagined sitting with her, as she usually would try and sit with anyone even remotely popular. Why she was sitting by herself and didn't immediately move once she saw Jeremy was astonishing to him.

"Sorry..." He apologized sleepily.

"Just stay away from me." She said with disgust before gazing out at the window. Jeez. What was her problem? 

Jeremy glanced around the bus, some others also looked kind of annoyed (including the bus driver, maybe they were still mad about him coming on so late) and Jeremy couldn't help but wonder why.

"D-Did something happen?" He asked Jenna cautiously.

She shrugged. "We're all having a shitty day I guess."

"That...sucks?"

"Yeah," She replied, not looking at him and keeping her eyes glued to the passing scenery. 

Jeremy couldn't help but feel a bit of tension between them and tried to redirect the subject somewhere else so he didn't feel super awkward for the rest of the ride. "Is that a new shirt? It's pretty cool-"

"What do you want, Jeremy?" She snapped.

"Nothing, I was just...pointing it out...sorry..." There goes that conversation.

The rest of the bus ride lasted in that awkward tension before finally arriving at the school, the kids all jumbled out, some knocking each other over, playing more rough than they usually did.

The school day went along as it normally did. Boring, studying, middle-aged teachers painfully trying to relate to students and make learning fun etc. By the time Jeremy got to his locker beside Michael, they both watched as Rich passed by them. Michael opened his mouth, most likely to greet Rich, but he stormed off before he could get a word out.

Huh. Come to think of it, Jeremy hadn't seen Rich all day except for now. And he seemed in a pretty bad mood right now.

"What's his deal?" Jeremy asked, leaning against his locker casually.

Michael shrugged, raising an eyebrow. "I dunno, he was being really weird. Kept texting me last night saying some stuff that didn't even make any sense. And now he's been avoiding everyone and skipping class. I thought he had detention or something but I can't think of what for."

"Maybe he's just in a bad mood." Jeremy suggested.

"Yeah...maybe..." Michael replied, sounding a bit unsure, but not pushing the matter any further. 

"Do you wanna come over my house later?" Jeremy asked out of nowhere. "We can rent a movie or something."

"Sorry dude," Michael frowned. "Can't. I said I'd hang out with Rich later...dunno if he still wants to though. Um, if plans change, I'll text you." 

"Oh, alright." Jeremy said, a bit disappointed. The final bell rang and everyone else rushed out of the building. Jeremy and Michael, both a little bit startled and unprepared, quickly started to fill their backpacks and go out before they both felt a firm large hand latch onto both of their shoulders.

"Principal Reyes?" They turned around and said in sync. 

Principal Reyes, not to be confused with his cousin and ex-drama teacher Mr. Reyes who got fired last year, was pretty new to the job after their old one, Principal Gowan quit during the summer for whatever reason.

Principal Reyes cleared his throat. "I need both of you boys in my office now. You're not in trouble, I'll explain it there." He released his sweaty grip off their shoulders and strutted towards his office.

 (A/N: whats gonna happen?? >;3c)