Home didn't really feel like home anymore.
It felt like you were arriving at a friend's house for the first time rather than at the house you have lived in for your entire teenage life.
But you knew that you couldn't stay away forever.
Your mother had called you several times over the past month and you had declined her calls every single time. You didn't sit there while the phone was ringing wondering if it was a good idea to answer the call and talk to her to let her know that you were doing okay at Troy's house. You would just see that she was calling and decline the call, sighing and shrugging as you did so. There weren't any texts from her, which didn't surprise you in the slightest because you knew that she had always preferred calling someone rather than texting him. She always stated her reason for preferring phone calls over text messages as being that "it means so much more if you hear what someone has to say rather than read it. Hearing the voice of someone that you care about can be enough to make a bad day just a little bit, if not a lot, better." You swore up and down that if you had a dollar for every time that that woman has told you that over the course of your entire life, you would have enough to pay for a top college in the United States.
Well, maybe that was exaggerating just a little bit, but it sure felt like you've heard that statement a million times.

You wished that you could just stall going inside but you knew that it was past curfew and if you got busted by the cops for being outside right now, you would face serious consequences from your mother and father respectively. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath before heading up to the front door. You didn't bother knocking because you knew that it would be a dumb move if you did. Instead, you reached down into your pocket and pulled out your house key, something that you always made sure was in your pocket at all times because of situations such as these.

After unlocking the door, you opened the door as slowly as you possibly could so that it wouldn't creak. You knew that at this time, your mother had just gotten home from work and you were really hoping that your father was sleeping so that you could just sneak up to your room without having to get yelled at by either one of them. If you got caught, the reprimand would be worse due to the fact that you had been staying at Troy's house for the last month and hadn't told either one of them where you had gone, especially your father. Unlike your mother, he had never tried to get ahold of you and you didn't know whether to feel relieved or scared by that fact. Nonetheless, you pushed all of those thoughts to the back of your head and carefully walked over to the stairs, going up them one at a time. You glanced around the dark hallway and could faintly see the pictures that were hung up on the wall. Although they were very outdated, having been taken six years prior, you always liked looking at the pictures because it showed that at one point in time, you lived in a happy family.
That all crumbled to pieces when financial hardship fell on your family and your father expressed his anger and stress by abusing you.
That all started in seventh grade, a year you wished you could forget ever even happened.

You managed to sneak into your room successfully without waking your parents. You had no idea how you had managed to do this, seeing as they both were pretty light sleepers. But you shrugged off this fact and considered yourself lucky that you weren't caught as you sat down on your bed before crawling underneath your covers, feeling too lazy to put in the effort of getting changed into your pajamas. You sat up with the covers covering you and proceeded to pull your phone out from your pocket. You turned on the flashlight before you pulled the piece of paper that Mark had slipped into your other pocket while he had been hugging you. When you pulled it out, you saw that it was unfolded and put your phone down on the bed so that you could unfold it. Once it was unfolded, you picked your phone back up and shined the flashlight over the piece of paper so that you could see what Mark had written.
It's been forever since I've actually done this but who knows when I'll actually get the courage to do this (If that ever even happens in the first place)? This is my number. You can text me pretty much whenever.
Listed below the little note Mark had written was a number that you figured was his phone number and oddly enough, he had put the date he had actually written the note on.
The date showed that the note was written just yesterday, meaning that it was written while Mark was still doing Julian's dirty work at the time it was written.
You smiled as you went into your contacts and pressed the little white plus button on the top. You glanced back and forth between the note and your phone as you entered his phone number into your phone. Once you done entering it, you got up from underneath the covers and placed the note on your dresser, right next to you the first note he had written you. You really didn't know why you felt like keeping either one of the notes but you did. After you got back underneath the covers, you just stared at your phone screen at the place where you were supposed to enter the name of the contact you were adding. You thought that just putting "Mark" was boring because you had come up with a name to put for Julian and you had also done the same for Derek and Troy.

"Perk up back there pretty boy."
"Pretty boy? Derek, he has a name."
"I know. His name is Mark. What? Did you think I forgot or something?"
"No. It's just that it sounds like a degrading nickname."
Actually, I like it. But no one's allowed to call me that for reasons I'd rather not get into. I just wanted you guys to know that I don't think of it as a degrading nickname.

The moment that you and Mark were in Derek's truck on your way to Troy's house suddenly played out in your mind. When it did so, you thought of the perfect thing to enter his name as.
"Pretty Boy"
Even though Mark didn't want to be called that "for reasons he'd rather not get into," you thought it was both a cute and a perfect nickname for him. You didn't really know why you did but you went along with it anyways. You just hoped that Mark didn't find out that you had entered that as his name into your phone because you felt like he would get mad at you even though he seemed like he was the type of person that rarely ever got mad at anything or anyone.

You stared blankly at your messages, wondering if you should actually send Mark a text. It was likely that he was asleep by now because he looked extremely tired before he went inside of his house. But you decided that it didn't matter whether or not he was asleep because he would see the text at some point.
I'm bored and I don't feel like going to sleep. Sorry if I woke you up by texting you. You can go back asleep and just text me in the morning when you wake up if I did.
You were surprised to see the three little gray dots pop up, indicating that Mark was currently typing. A moment later, he had responded to you.
No, you didn't wake me up. I can't sleep. I tried to fall asleep for at least half an hour and just now gave up.
That sucks.
I'm used to it. I didn't sleep much while I was stuck at Julian's house and I also didn't sleep much before then.
That also sucks.
It's a way of life for me. You should go to sleep though. It's pretty late.
I'm only going to sleep if you're going to sleep.
You don't have to do that.
I want to though. Besides, you're the only other friend that I have.
You're only friends are Derek and I?
Derek and I aren't friends anymore. He's an asshole.
If you don't mind me asking, why?
You proceeded to explain to Mark how Derek had confessed to getting steroids from Julian and had said that he had done it to be just like him. You then explained everything else that happened, from Derek saying that he thought you would be impressed if he became more muscular to him saying that he couldn't be friends with you because you didn't feel the way about him that he felt about you.

What a piece of shit.
You were taken aback by Mark's response to all of this. He didn't seem like he was the type to curse and seeing him doing so was like reading something that a young child had written a curse word on. Mark was by no means a child, but he seemed to have the innocence of one.
Yeah, it really hurt losing his friendship.
You don't need douchebags like him that only want to use you for sex.
We were really close though. We met when we were both going through hard times in our lives.
(Y/N), there are three types of people that you will meet over the course of your lifetime. You'll meet the ones who helped you through difficult times, the ones who left you during difficult times, and the ones who put you through or into those difficult times. Now, based on all of that, what type of person is Derek?
The second one because I'm going through a pretty difficult time right now and he just left.
Do you want to talk about it?
No, not on here. I'd rather talk about it in person.
Yeah, I understand that.
Feeling tears forming in your eyes, you decided that you just wanted to try and get to sleep and wanted Mark to try and get to sleep too.
Hey, I'm gonna go and try to sleep now. It was really nice talking to you.
The same goes for you. Hey, are you doing anything tomorrow?
I don't think so.
I'm not doing anything. Do you maybe wanna go and hang out? It's okay if you don't want to. I would totally understand.
No, I would love to hang out with you tomorrow. I'll see what my plans are and text you tomorrow.
Okay. Good night (Y/N).
Good night Mark.
You saw the three little gray dots pop up and you stopped in the middle of plugging your phone into the charger. A moment later, the gray dots had disappeared and you waited for a few more moments. When they didn't reappear, you wondered what Mark had been typing but then had decided that he didn't want you to see. Deciding not to let it bother you that much, you went back to putting your phone on the charger before placing your phone down on the floor next to your bed. After doing so, you placed your head down on your pillow and closed your eyes, surprised to feel yourself drifting off to sleep at that moment. You had expected a lengthy battle with obtaining sleep, but you weren't complaining that both your body and mind decided that you needed rest.

*****

"(Y/N)?"
You were awakened the next morning to your mother's voice. It sounded as if she was standing in the doorway. You opened your eyes and let out a yawn as you rubbed sleep out of them. You then sat up and looked in the direction that you heard your mother's voice coming from. You saw that you were right in your guess of saying she was in the doorway.
"Where have you been? I've been trying to text and call you for the last month."
You shrugged. "I know you have. I was staying with a friend."
Your mother crossed her arms at that moment. "Who is this friend?"
You shrugged again. "His name's Troy."
"His? You were staying with a boy again? Didn't you learn from your mistake in eighth grade when you went to stay with that Julian kid?"
"Julian was way different back then." You muttured. "Something caused him to turn into the person he is today."
"You know that I don't like it when you mutter." Your mother raised her voice and was clearly annoyed.
You sighed and rolled your eyes. "I just said that Julian was way different back then and that something caused him to turn into the person he is today."
"We weren't even talking about Julian. We were talking about this Troy that you ran off to stay with for the last month. Who is he? Is he your boyfriend?"
"No Mom, he's not my boyfriend. I don't even like him that way. We haven't even known each other for that long because I met him just last month through another friend of mine who used to be be friends with before he turned out to just want me so we could be in a relationship."
"I don't think I like any of your friends."
"You've never even met them!"
"I met those group of girls that you always hung out with since first grade. Whatever happened to them?"
You crossed your arms. "They aren't my friends anymore."
"And why not? Did you do something wrong?"
"Okay, what the serious fuck Mom?" You couldn't believe what you were hearing. "I get rejected by people I thought were my friends and you have the nerve to accuse me of causing them to reject me."
"I'd reject you if you weren't my daughter and was required by law to take care of you. Also, don't use curse words. You know I don't like it when you do that."
The words that had just escaped your mother felt like someone had just punched you in the stomach and kicked you hard in your side afterwards. "How could you say something like that to your own child?" You whispered, not caring that you would probably get scolded for not keeping your voice at a normal level. "Isn't a mother supposed to love her children?"
"Yeah, supposed to (Y/N). Supposed isn't the same as having to do it."
"You know what? Get out of my room!"
"What did you just say to me young lady?" The way your mother asked the question made it seem like she had asked it as a rhetorical question, but you were going to answer it anyways because you longer cared about getting reprimanded by her.
"I told you to get out of my room."
"This is my house and I will go into your room whenever I want. Maybe you should get out of this house."
"Don't give me any of that shit!" You finally snapped and stood up. "You're standing here telling me that it's my fault that my old group of friends left me and that you wouldn't even take care of me if I was your daughter! I'm finally starting to realize what a bitch you are! One day you'll act like you'll love me and treat me the way a good mother would treat her daughter and the next you'll act like you hate me and want nothing to do with me like you are right now. It's been like this for my entire life and I'm so fucking sick of it! I'm sick of you changing your emotions towards me at the drop of a hat and I'm sick of Dad treating me as if I'm his little sex object. I'm a human being and I want you two to treat me like one! Is that really too much to fucking ask?"
An emotionless look fell on your mother's face after you had finished letting out all of the emotions that you had kept locked up for years on end until this very moment. She opened her mouth to say something and you prepared to hear more bullshit escape it, but she immediately closed it. She stood there in silence for a few more moments before turning her back and exiting the doorway, closing the door behind her.
"I regret ever coming back!" Even though you had finally gotten the last word in a conversation between your mother and you, you wanted to add that comment because not only was it the truth, but it was also adding insult to more than likely nonexistent injury. It was clear the deep down, your mother really didn't care about you.

While on the verge of tears, you unplugged your phone from the charger with the intention to text Mark. Even seeing "Pretty Boy" being displayed in your contacts wasn't enough to make you smile, unlike last night.
Can we pretty please meet somewhere? The last thing I need right now is to be all alone.
You sighed with relief when you saw that Mark already about to respond.
Yeah, of course we can meet somewhere. Where do you want to meet?
It doesn't matter. I just don't want to be alone.
How about we go to the beach? It's going to be winter soon and I've been wanting to go before it gets too cold.
Yeah, that sounds perfect.
Okay, I'll see you there in a little bit then.

*****

Ten minutes after you had arrived at the beach, Mark still hadn't shown you. You started to grow worried that he wasn't going to show up and you pulled out your phone in order to text him to ask him where he was and if he was even going to come at all. You looked up for a brief moment and instinctively smiled when you saw the unmistakable flower crown and pink hair combination walking towards you. You smiled brightly and waved at him. Once he saw you doing so, he ran towards you with a big smile on his face.
"You big goofball. You need to stop making smile. Everytime I see you smile, I just have to smile because it's so contagious."
No way, that's not true. Mark sat down in the sand and you sat down next to him.
"Yeah it is. You shouldn't be so down on yourself."
I really can't help it.
"I mean, I guess it's kinda hard for you when Julian treats you the way that he does and when everyone else treats you like you're invisible." You sighed. "I really don't get why people feel the need to do that to you. You don't do anything to deserve it and you're one of the nicest people I've met in my entire life."
You really don't have to say all of these nice things about me.
"Well, friends are supposed to bring each other up and point out the good qualities about the other person."
I suppose. Mark shrugged. I guess I'll point out the good qualities about you then. He erased what he had already written before starting to write again. You're a really good friend. You also seem like you've been through a lot and have been through quite a lot of bullshit in your life. I always like the people with an interesting story to tell.
"I mean, I don't know if I would call it interesting." You shrugged a bit. "This morning was interesting, that's for sure."
What do you mean by "interesting?"
"Well, um, you see... It's a really long story."
I've got time. I've always got time to listen.
You sighed. "Thank you so much Mark. You're such a great friend. What did I do to ever deserve to become your friend?"
I ask myself the very same question on a daily basis (Y/N).
You didn't know what to say so you just pulled him into a hug. He hugged back and you immediately noted that he didn't feel as weak as he did yesterday, meaning that he was eating in order to slowly gain back the strength and weight he had lost while being Julian's errand boy. You moved your head slightly upwards and noticed that more white lilacs had fallen off of Mark's flower crown.
"You keep losing flowers." You whispered as you ran your fingers over one of the flowers. When you did so, you moved the flower only slightly and it had almost fallen off.
Yeah, they're very fragile.
"Aren't you going to fix them?"
Mark shook his head. They don't need to be fixed. They're beautiful just the way they are.
"But what happens when they all fall off?"
He shrugged. Then they all fall off. There's really nothing else to it. I'll get a new flower crown and move on with my life.
"Why do the flowers fall off so easily?"
He shrugged again and began messing with his flower crown. This thing's a few years old so I guess the flowers are falling off because of how old it is.
"Yeah, maybe that's the case."
What's wrong? You sound so sad.
You sighed quietly and spoke even quieter. "I am sad."
Why are you sad?
"It's not important."
Of course it's important. You're my friend and I want you to be happy.
You blinked and felt tears you hadn't known formed escape from your eyes and roll down your cheeks. "I only want you to do one thing."
Mark nodded in understandment as he wiped the tears from your cheeks.
"I want you to listen. I don't want you to stop me at any point while I'm talking. I just want you to listen."
I can do that.
You hugged him tightly and rested your head on his shoulder. "Okay, so-"
"Oh my God! Are you serious right now? Guys, look over there!"
"No, no, it can't be." You recognized that voice almost as soon as you heard it. When you looked up to confirm your suspicions, your heart sank because you were hoping to be wrong.
When you looked up, you saw the group of "friends" that had turned their backs on you two months prior.