"Who the hell is that?" Derek rolled down the window to his truck and pointed to Mark. It was after school the next day and he had arrived to pick you up like he had promised.
"That's Mark. I met him the other day. He wanted to hang out with me today but I told him that we were already hanging out but that he could hang out with us. The more the merrier, right?"
Derek sighed. "Yeah, I suppose. Get in you two."
You looked back at Mark. "You can get in the back and I'll sit in the front. By the way, that guy named Derek."

"What is he wearing?" Derek whispered to you after you and Mark had got in and after he had started driving. "And what the hell happened to his face?"
"It's a flower crown." You whispered back. "And I'd rather not get into what happened. Can we not gossip about him when he's sitting right behind us and can more than likely hear everything that we're saying?"
You glanced through the rear view mirror and saw that Mark was looking down at the floor with a sad look on his face.
"Perk up back there pretty boy." Derek happened to glance in the rear view mirror right when you did and also happened to see what Mark was doing. "We aren't saying anything bad about you. I was just asking (Y/N) about your flower crown."
"Pretty boy? Derek, he has a name."
"I know. His name is Mark." He added on to what he was saying after you hadn't replied, "What? Did you think I forgot or something?"
"No. It's just that that sounds like a really degrading nickname."
Actually, I like it. But no one's allowed to call me that for reasons that I'd rather not get into. I just wanted you guys to know that I don't think of it as a degrading nickname.
"You could've just said all of that. You didn't have to write it all down."
You resisted to urge to facepalm right then and there. "Derek, he's mute. And before you ask, mute means that he doesn't talk. In his case, he chooses not to speak rather than being unable to. Is that right Mark?" You hadn't considered that instead of choosing not to speak, he might actually not be able to because of a speech disorder or something along those lines.
Mark nodded.
"Why don't you talk Mark?" Derek asked the pink haired boy.
You didn't resist facepalming this time. However, you did resist punching Derek in the arm.
"Don't ask him that you little shit." You whispered to Derek. "He probably has a personal reason. Are you trying to upset him?"
Derek sighed as he turned into Troy's driveway. "Never mind Mark. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."
Mark only slightly nodded in response.

*****

"Mark, I'm so sorry about Derek." You whispered to the flower crown wearing boy once you, him, and Derek were all inside of Troy's house. "I had no idea he would ask of those questions. I guess I should've told him about you in advance so that he wouldn't have asked anything."
It's okay. You have no need to apologize.
"I feel like I have to though." You continued to whisper. "I don't want any bad memories that you're trying so hard to forget being brought back to you by someone saying something. Trust me when I say that I know how that feels."
(Y/N), stop feeling bad. I'm okay.
"Are you sure?"
Yes, I'm one-hundred percent sure.
"Okay..." You were still reluctant about the whole thing. You really got the feeling that Mark hadn't wanted to tag along with Derek and you to begin with and had only done so because he wanted to spend time with you since you seemed to be the only person who didn't treat him like a punching bag.

"Are you fucking shitting me right now?"
You looked up to see who had just spoken and you saw Tom looking directly at Mark. Mark also looked up and upon seeing Tom, he hid his face with his dry erase board.
"Mark? Little bro, What the hell are you doing here?"
I'm here with (Y/N). Mark's hand shook as he wrote and a nervous look fell across his entire face. What are you doing here?
"What am I doing here?!" Tom snapped as if Mark had asked him the dumbest question a person could ever ask him. "I'm here hanging out with my friends! You aren't supposed to be here! You're supposed to be at home drawing or whatever the hell it is that you do!"
You could see that tears were starting to form in Mark's eyes. I didn't know that you would be here Tom. But if I did know, I can assure you that I wouldn't have shown up.
"Well, now you know that I'm here, it's time for you to go."
That's when you decided to get involved. "Tom, don't be mean to your brother like that. If he wants to stay, let him."
Tom let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "He doesn't need to fall victim to the life that everyone else in this house has fallen victim to."
What do you mean Tom? Mark looked up at his older brother with concern in his eyes. The tears were still there and if he dared to blink even the slightest, they would spill out onto his cheeks.
Tom sighed again but this time, the sigh was one of sadness rather than frustration. "You don't need to know. Well, actually, you don't want to know. You'll tell Mom and then she'll have a breakdown right then and there and then you'll tell Dad and he'll proceed to get super pissed."
Tom, it's so obvious that you need help. Tell me what's wrong. I want to help you.
Tom apparently had been holding back tears along with Mark because he broke down crying at the moment, his knees hitting the floor and his hands folding on top of each other. "I can't little bro. I just can't. You need to go. Don't end up like me. Please, just go."
Fine, if that's what you want. Mark wrote the slowest you've ever seen him write and he stood up even slower than he wrote, making it obvious that he was hesitant to walk on Tom.
"Mark, I'll go with you so you don't have to be alone." You stood up and saw him quickly erasing what he had taken so much time to write.
Thank you.

*****
You can just go back. Derek seemed like he really wanted you there.
"Well, Derek can just suck it up." You shrugged. You and Mark had decided to walk to the library together since the park was too far away from Troy's house to walk there without taking an hour or so. "He'll be fine. Besides, you seem like you need someone to be there for you anyways."
We haven't even known each other for a week and yet you're treating me as if I'm your friend.
"Actually... I'd like to think of you as my friend. As long as that's okay with you, of course."
I don't know... I'm not really one to let people in. I'm scared of getting hurt again. I'll be honest when I said that we should hang out that I immediately regretted it after I said that. It's not because I think you're annoying or anything though. He started quickly erasing and barely gave you any time to read. Oh my God, why did I just tell you that? I'm sorry, that came out of nowhere. You weren't supposed to know that. Nobody was. It was supposed to stay a secret. Why did I let it slip out?
"Mark..." You had no idea what to say. His odd behavior was really scaring you.
No, I'm so sorry. I can't let you in. I can't let anyone in. I shouldn't let anyone in anymore. Mark stood up and put his backpack over his shoulders. I have to go. Please allow myself to fade away from your memory. Forget you ever met me. Forget that day you picked up my books and flower crown. Forget everything. It'll be so much better for you.
Before you could even think of what you should say to him, Mark turned his back and pulled something out of his pocket. He placed it down on the table and pretty much ran out of the library.
"Mark, your brother's not the only one who's hurting." You whispered as you took the piece of paper and slowly unfolded it.
Let this be the last time you see me.
You felt hurt when you read the note. How long had he planned on just shoving you away? He hadn't even known you for very long. You felt like he should've given you more of a chance.
You felt like he was different. You felt like he was nothing like your old group of friends and he was definitely nothing like Julian. Then again, no one should ever be like him.
They should be like the old Julian.

*****

"Where the hell have you been young lady?"
Your father's yelling made you nearly jump out of your skin. Why the hell was he here? He and Mom were still supposed to be at work.
"Dad? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?"
"Well, yes. I would be if I didn't get fired." You saw his hands ball up into fists. "It was bullshit! I didn't even do anything wrong."
"Dad, I'm sorry." You put your head down and stared down at your feet. It was never good when that happened. It usually ended badly. "I hope you can get another job or you can maybe get your old job back."
"I need to vent. Get your ass over here."
"Of course Dad." You nodded slightly and stepped into the living room and in front of the seat he was currently sitting on.
"Look at me. You know I don't like it when you don't make eye contact with me."
You forced yourself to look up at him.
Your father stood up and felt your heart leap down into the pit of your stomach. Not only did his height intimidate you, but his past actions towards you intimidated you even more.
"Go upstairs and into my room. I'll be there in a second."

While you were waiting for your father to come into the room, you resisted the urge to just jump out the window and run to tell someone to avoid what was about to happen and to tell someone what has been going on between you and your father since the seventh grade. Now that he lost his job, you knew that these occurrences were going to become frequent rather than rare because he was actually going to be home for once.
"It's been too long sweetie." You heard the door closing and locking behind your father and you braced yourself for what was about to come. "This is the only good part about being unemployed. Depending on how this goes, I might be unemployed for a very, very long time."
Please let this go badly. I don't want him to be unemployed for a long time.
Your father sat down on the bed and smiled. "Come sit on my lap sweetie."
You did as you were told.
"No, sit on my lap the way I like you to."
You turned around and wrapped your legs around his waist.
"Tell me that you love me." He whispered in a way that a father should never whisper to his daughter.
"I love you Dad."
He smiled. "I'll prove to you once more that I love you."

*****

Derek, get me out of here. Remember how we joked about getting away from this boring place? I think we should.
You found yourself awake at two in the morning with your cheeks stained red, your eyes bloodshot, and tears constantly running down your face. You couldn't sleep. How could you after what had just happened?
Why do you want to run away? Derek's response came almost instantly. What the hell was he doing up? You didn't bother asking him because you felt that that wasn't really that important.
My father. Derek was the only person who knew what your father does to you and you'd like it to stay that way.
You can't run away from your problems (Y/N). You need to tell someone what he does to you so his ass can get arrested and thrown into where he belongs.
You know I can't tell anyone. My mother loves him. She'd be crushed.
You can't continue to let this happen.
So it's no to the whole running away thing? You tried to advert the conversation away from the fact that you should tell someone what's been going on for all of these years.
Don't change the subject on me. You know that telling someone would be the right thing to do.
I'd rather have him hurt me than my mother or anyone else.
I don't like seeing you hurt. I really care about you (Y/N).
Upon seeing the message, you remembered how Julian had told you that Derek had a crush on you. When he first told you, you didn't really think about it all that much. But now that you were laying in bed with your phone screen being your only source of light, it was all that you were thinking about.
Julian told me that you want to have more than just a friendship with me.
It was at least two minutes before Derek actually responded to your text.
Yeah...
I'm sorry Derek. I can't have a relationship right now. I've got enough to worry about. Plus, I'm too young to be with you.
I understand. Just know that I'm always there for you when you need me.
Thank you. Seriously, just... thank you. You're a really great friend.
Same goes for you.
Before you could respond, Derek sent another message.
I'm going to try and get some sleep now but I know that you're probably wondering why I owe Julian since I didn't tell you because you ran off with Mark.
Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that.
You waited for at least ten minutes for Derek to respond but he never did. You assumed he had just fallen asleep and decided that you shouldn't bother waiting any longer and should just try and get some sleep so you wouldn't be too overly tired at school tomorrow.
But sleep never did come to you that night.