Simon's pov

Nightmares kept me up all night. Horrible scenes playing out right in front of me over and over again. I woke up ever hour it seemed, in a panic, my heart hammering in my rib cage. A few of the nightmares sent me bolting upright in bed which caused me even more pain. It felt like ages until the sun came up, casting its weak rays through the blankets I had over the window as a curtain. I turned my alarm off and rolled over, closing my eyes again so I could maybe get a few more hours of sleep.

I wasn't lucky enough and I was soon jerked awake with a loud slam. I sat up slowly in confusion, hearing stomping through the house and more slamming and then two people yelling. My heart dropping as I shakily got out of bed and wandered over to the door, listening.

"You don't even look at me anymore! You don't treat me with any respect! You make me seem like a horrible person in front of my friends! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Mom yelled making me wince.

"You're a fuckin' bitch most of the time! What do you want from me?! An apology?! I'm not giving you shit!" A man yelled.

The yelling continued for a very long time. Mom yelling at the guy then he would yell back. They sounded upset, mom started crying soon after they got here. Things getting thrown and broken, at some point a glass broke. I was too scared to even move from my spot near the door. Even as my legs shook and my heart rate increased anxiously I couldn't bring myself to move.

"Get out of my house! Get out!"

"Fine, I didn't like you anyways!"

They fought for two hours straight and all they had to do was leave each other alone. The house falling into silence again as I held my breath and waited for something to happen. My heart rate increasing even more as I waited.

Finally there were footsteps coming closer to my room and then silence. I could hear my mom crying in the hallway, standing outside of my door. After a few moments I could hear her retreating footsteps and then the door opening and closing. Tilting my head in confusion I slowly ventured out of my room and into the kitchen. On the counter was a handful of coins and some more money.

That's odd, mom doesn't just leave money here for me unless it's the day she comes over. I ignored the money for now and looked at the empty beer cans everywhere, a box of pizza that was half eaten, a few cigarettes in the ashtray in the living room, mud on the floor in the kitchen, a new hole in the wall and some broken glass.

Sighing I began cleaning everything up, putting the pizza in the fridge and carefully picked up the glass and cleaned the floor. The trash can was full with more beer cans so I separated them from the rest of the trash so I could take them to the store and get money for them. I could get a few dollars out of them at least. The rest of the cleaning was slow, I couldn't do anything for the hole in the wall but I got the pieces of wall into the bin. The slight headache I was forming earlier was gone when I was finished.

"All done." I mumbled, washing my hands before counting the money on the table. $34.27, that's enough money to last me awhile without having to spend any money from my stash.

I need to go grocery shopping soon but $20 should be enough for food. I was good on shampoo and soap, maybe I could spare a dollar to play one of those games in the store, that could be fun. I smiled slightly at the thought before wandering to the bathroom and stripped out of my cloths and got into the shower. Scrubbing myself clean and making sure my bruises were healing, they didn't hurt as bad anyone. I'll have to go back to school tomorrow, the teachers will definitely give me a hard time for missing so many days.

Once I was clean I got out, drying myself off and hurried into my room. I shakily got my cloths on, standing close to the space heater for warmth. It was so cold in the house I pulled my gloves on and pulled the space heater closer to my bed, curling up under all my blankets. I turned on some music, relaxing as I felt myself begin to drift off into sleep.
~~~~~

"Hey, Simon, wake up, you weren't at school again." Someone said making me squeak and bolt up, looking around in panic. Charlie sat next to me with a sheepish grin.

"You s-scared me..." I mumbled, looking down with a blush of embarrassment.

"Sorry, man, I was worried, you wouldn't answer your phone or door. It was unlocked so I kinda let myself in." He said with a smile making me sigh and rub my eyes with my sleeve. "There's a hole in your wall in the living room." He said absentmindedly.

"Mom and her... friend this morning got into a fight." I shrugged, eyeing the cups Charlie had on the floor next to my bed along with two paper bags. It smelled really good and caused my empty stomach to rumble hungrily.

"I got us food, I hope you like burgers and fries because that's what's on the menu along with two milkshakes." Charlie said, getting everything on my bed. I moved over so he could sit next to me. He also pulled a laptop out of his bag along with a stack of papers. "We can watch movies and I got you the work you've missed."

"Oh wow, thank you, Charlie." I said wholeheartedly making him smile happily at me.

"No problem, Simon, eat up before it gets cold. What milkshake do you want? Chocolate or strawberry?"

"Strawberry." I said, taking the cup he gave me. I took a few sips and unwrapped the burger he gave me which looked really good and wasn't from a fast food place.

Some movie I've never seen before began to play as we sat and ate. It was really nice and Charlie is so nice to me without asking for anything in return. He didn't have to do anything of this but he did and he was worried about me. No one is ever worried about me or even cares enough to look at me let alone call me and come to my house.

I got half way through the burger and fries before I had to push them away. My stomach was too full to eat anymore and I still had way more than half of a milkshake left. If this is what being full and content is like I never want it to end. Charlie put all of our left overs in the fridge and we finished the movie. I was in another world of happiness as Charlie began to talk about stuff that happened at a party he went to last week. It was nice to have someone else around for once. It made me feel less alone and Charlie didn't seem to mind my house and how cold it was. The space heater did work it's magic and made my room way warmer than the rest of the house.

"Are you coming to school tomorrow?" Charlie asked half way through our second movie. I shrugged at this, not wanting to even think about school right now. "I could pick you up and give you a ride home if you want. We could pick up some breakfast downtown or something."

"Uh... sure." I finally agreed making him smile and turn back to the movie.

"I'll introduce you to my friends, they're really nice."

My heart jumped as I began to get anxious at just the thought of meeting new people. What if they don't like me? What if they think I'm weird and they made Charlie stop being friends with me? What if they hurt me?

"Don't worry, they'll love you." He chucked, ruffling my hair. I nodded and sighed, laying down so I could get more comfortable.

A small yawn left my lips as time went on, one movie after the other played and I got more tired. Even though I slept for a very long time today my body still needed the rest to heal. The sun was going down by the time Charlie was plugging in his laptop so it wouldn't die.

"Hey, can I crash here for the night? Mom has her annoying friends over and I don't wanna deal with them."

"Yeah, l-like a sleepover?" I asked hopefully. I've never had a sleepover before.

"Hell yeah, Simon, we can tell ghost stories and watch scary movies." He laughed, flopping next to me on his back as he watched whatever was playing on the screen. I giggled, excitedly waiting for the time that he would tell ghost stories, I don't think I could stay up to watch another movie thought but I'll try if it meant hanging out with Charlie.
~~~~~

"I l-liked that..." I mumbled sleepily, our laughter had just died down.

"I'm glad, we can hang out more often if you want. It's gonna be fun tomorrow too, you'll love my friends." Charlie said, yawning into his sleeve. "Time flies when you're having fun. Sleepy time now."

"Sleepy time?" I giggled, making him laugh too.

"I'm such a looser." He sighed, ruffling my hair. I giggled again and got under the blankets, watching Charlie got comfortable. "Goodnight, Si."

"Goodnight, Charlie."

I fell asleep smiling happily to myself because I had my first sleepover ever. It was the most fun I've ever had. I hope Charlie and I stay friends and I hope his friends like me too. I'm actually excited for tomorrow, that's never happened before.

||-//
I love my children so much
Simon is making friends and Charlie is being sweet like always