Chapter Thirteen:

Ever since Arron was taken out of suspension, my life had become a living hell. Everyday, Arron made sure to find me off school grounds just so he could taunt me. It didn't matter where I went, he always found me. He had spies everywhere.

Today, however, I had managed to sneak out of school a little early out of hope that I could make it home before Arron and his gang set out for me. I walked as quickly as I could without drawing attention to myself, however my paranoid mindset kept me constantly turning my head, afraid Arron would pop up behind me.

As I made it home, I took note that both my parents were home. Seeing this made my heart sink considering that I typically had a couple hours of freedom before they returned home. Gritting my teeth, I threw my backpack next to a tree and scampered away, thinking of a place I could go to hide away from Arron until I could safely enter my home.

I began heading back towards the city. It was a highly populated area so Arron may hold off a bit. I looped my way down alley's, feeling my heart skip a beat when I heard the giggles of schoolchildren walking home.

Eventually however, my luck ran out.

As I looped down another alley, I spotted Arron at the end of it, walking past with a group of his friends. I felt my breath catch in my throat as Arron turned his head towards me and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Well, looks like Mr. Faggot Jones came looking for us for his daily beating," Arron sneered, his eyes glinting menacingly. His friends wheeled up next to him and began slowly strapping their backpacks tighter against their bodies.

Arron and I stared each other down. He gave an evil smirk before taking a step forward, making me sprint down the way I came.

I heard the clamorous pound of running feet as Arron and his gang took chase. I sprinted faster, trying to make a mental map of possible hiding spots. I heard the jabs Arron and his friends made at me, making me feel all the more inferior to them.

As I rounded a corner to sprint down a street, I watched as a car drove by. Thinking fast, I stopped, letting Arron's gang catch up. Maybe if they beat me in front of a car, the person will get out and help. It was futile, yes, but I couldn't outrun them forever.

Arron and his gang finally caught up and grabbed me. One of his friends grabbed my arms and held them behind my back while Arron and his other friends removed their backpacks. They began cracking there knuckles, arguing about who got first punch.

Come on... come on...

Finally the first punch came. Arron clocked me across the jaw, allowing fresh white hot pain to soar through it. I looked over at the car seeing it at a stop sign. Just a couple more punches and I might be able to get away.

The next punch was to my stomach. I doubled over, feeling my insides gurgle at the sudden impact. I forced myself to stand up straight again, despite the growing feeling of vomiting becoming stronger.

The last punch collided with my eye, no doubt bruising it. The boy holding my arms back let me fall to the ground. All four boys laughed as I struggled to get up. I felt a couple kicks hit my abdomen, as well as the wet feeling of saliva on my skin as they spit on me.

However, all of a sudden it all stopped. I looked up seeing that the driver of the car had gotten out to aid me. Thanking whatever higher being there was for this person, I slowing started to stand up. I look back seeing the person round up on Arron and his gang, looming over them with his bigger size. Arron and his friends looked at him in fear, realizing they were in trouble now. Arron locked eyes with me, gave me a nasty glare, and mouthed 'this isn't over.' They then turned heels and ran back the way they came, leaving the man to glare after them.

"Michael?" I heard a familiar British voice call.

Both I and the man turned around, staring at Gavin who had gotten out of the car and was hobbling his way over. The man quickly ran to his side, aiding him and scolding him for getting out of the car when he told him not to. Gavin simply pushed him away and made his way over to me.

"Jesus, are you alright. It looks like they got you pretty good in the eye," Gavin said. I sighed and nodded, rubbing my sore eye.

"Hey, George, can we give Michael a ride home. No doubt Arron and his troops are hiding around waiting for him," Gavin asked the man.

"No, that's fine. I'll be fine," I muttered. I started to back away before I felt two hands grip my shoulders, steering me to the car.

"No, it's not fine. It's really not a problem," George said, leading me to the backseat. Gavin hobbled back to the car, sitting in the front seat while George persuaded me to get in the car.

Eventually I gave in and sat down. George got in as well and began speeding his way home. I watched him drive, wondering if this was how everyone in England drove.

Once we made it to our street, I immediately looked to see if my parents were still home. Seeing that they were, I gritted my teeth, wondering what excuse I'll use this time.

George pulled into his driveway, nearly jumping out so he could hand Gavin his crutches. Gavin rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be helped. I simply climbed out of the car and went around to thank George properly.

However, Gavin caught eye that I wasn't going to go straight home so he immediately grabbed my hand and dragged me inside his home. I bit back a snappy retort as I caught sight of a woman standing in the living room. I presumed her to be Gavin and George's mother.

"Gavin? Who's this?" She asked, smiling at me.

"Mum, this is Michael. Arron and his friends were chasing him so George and I gave him a ride home. And knowing him, he isn't going to go home so I thought he could hang out here for a little while," Gavin said, giving me a pointed look.

"Oh... why's that, sweetie?" She asked, turning to me now and giving me a sympathetic smile.

She knew. She knew of the horrors I endured at that home.

I didn't answer and she seemed to get the point. She turned back to Gavin and smiled, nodding her head.

"That's fine, love. Anything to keep your brother from staying home when he should be working," Gavin's mother said, easing her voice at the last three words.

"Alright, I'm going. I'll see you later," George said, kissing his mum's cheek and ruffling Gavin's hair.

"You boys can do as you please. I'll be down here cleaning up and making dinner so just holler if you need anything," Gavin's mother said, smiling as she slinked away to the living room.

"Come on, my rooms upstairs," Gavin said, hobbling across the floor.

I raised my eyebrows at him, wondering how he was going to manage going up the stairs with a broken ankle. However, he surprised me when he started hopping up each step. I held back a chuckle as he did this. He looked like a rabbit.

Once at the top of the steps, Gavin huffed for breath and continued making his way to his room. I followed slowly behind him, taking in my surroundings.

Gavin's house was fairly nice. A decent size for three people, mostly updated, clean. If my house was half this nice, maybe I'd be a little happier at home.

Gavin opened the door to his room and walked inside, immediately falling on top of his bed and heavily breathing. He looked at me and smiled, gesturing to the room around him.

"Make yourself at home. It probably isn't as nice as your room," Gavin said, sitting up at watching me.

I let out a laugh at his statement. My room? Nice? Those three words have never been in the same sentence before.

Except when Brandon was still around.

When I suddenly stopped laughing and got a solemn look on my face, Gavin looked at me worriedly. I looked up, meeting his jade eyes with my own before gulping back my grief.

He thinks you're crazy. Just like everyone else.

I disregarded the voice, even as it continued to repeat in my head. Sitting next to Gavin, I picked up an Xbox controller on the floor and held it up to him.

"You play?" I asked.

"Are you kidding? (AN: Anyone who gets this stupid reference will get a shoutout in my next chapter XD) Who doesn't these days?" Gavin said, grabbing another controller on his nightstand.

He quickly turned his Xbox on and began scrolling through his games. He had a lot more than I had, that was for sure.

He stopped at Minecraft and looked at me, wiggling his eyebrows and smirking. I smirked back at him and he launched the game.

Oh, this was gonna be good.

...

"God dammit. Gavin, what the fuck are you doing?" I asked, looking down at his screen.

"Picking flowers! We have to make our base look decent!" Gavin squealed as I hit him in game.

"This isn't going to be 'our' base if you keep fucking around!" I yelled back, listening to his sweet laughter.

"Ah! Creeper!" Gavin screamed, watching as both our screens turned red.

"Now look what you've done! Our base is destroyed!" I yelled, tackling Gavin onto the ground. He yelped again, starting to giggle as I pinned his arms down.

However, something suddenly came over me as I held him down. Something that I had forbid myself from feeling out of fear of rejection. And strangely enough, I had the idea that Gavin may be feeling the same thing.

Gavin's giggles disappeared into the air while his smile dissipated. A strange look appeared in his eyes and he didn't look away from my eyes.

I felt my heart pound against my chest as I realized what I was feeling.

Now look what you've done. Fallen for someone you can never have. Idiot.

I quickly got off Gavin and let him get back up. We looked away from each other for some time, not wanting to bring up what just happened.

My eyes flicked towards his window, seeing that darkness streamed through the window rather than sunlight. I got up, seeing if my parents had went about their usual nightly routines. I felt my heart drop when I saw they were both still at home.

"Fuck," I breathed, alerting Gavin.

"What? What's wrong?" Gavin asked. Gritting my teeth, I turned around and faced Gavin.

"Well, I suppose you can already guess," I told him, rubbing my neck.

"Why won't you go home? What's going on there?" Gavin asked. He didn't say it in a pushy, get out of my house manner surprisingly.

I looked away. I had never told anyone about my home situation. It wasn't something I liked bringing up. Besides, I didn't have a horrible life there. Just insanely dangerous.

"Michael. Tell me," Gavin pushed, struggling to stand up.

"Do you remember anything from the night you got stoned?" I asked him.

"Um... not really. I remember a couple things but mostly just after I started coming out of my high," Gavin told me.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, sleeping in your bed for one. And yelling. A lot of yelling," Gavin said, looking up at me with embarrassment in his eyes.

I tried to hide my blush at the bed part, remembering his back being pressed against mine and the warmth he emitted. It was one of the only moments when I could say I felt safe with someone in my bed.

Gavin brought me back to reality with a quick accented call of my name. Looking back up to him, I sat back down on his bed, watching as he followed.

"My parents don't exactly feel what I would call love. They didn't love my brother. They don't love me. As far as they're concerned, we were their drunken mistakes," I told him. Gavin's mouth dropped slightly and he gave me a sympathetic look.

"Some nights, my dad will try to attack me. A couple times my mom even tried to. I've begun to learn how to keep myself safe but it's hard sometimes," I told him.

"That's... awful. I'm so sorry, Michael. I... we never knew it was that bad. We knew there was something going on but never like that. Why don't you call the cops or something?" Gavin asked.

"I've considered it many times. But if I did that, I'd have no where to go. And there's no way in hell I'm going to a home," I told him.

Gavin was silent for a moment. He seemed to be pondering what I just told him, giving me quick glances every now and then. Suddenly, however, he stood up and went to his door.

"Mum!" Gavin screamed.

"What are you doing?!" I whisper yelled, preparing myself to grab his neck.

He held up his hand as his mother raced up the steps, fear in her eyes. As she realized Gavin was fine she calmed slightly, slowing her pace.

"What's wrong honey?" His mother asked.

"Can Michael spend the night?" Gavin asked sweetly.

"But... it's a school night," His mother muttered, looking at me with confusion in her eyes.

"Please mum. Please?" Gavin asked.

Gavin's mother sighed and rubbed her temples. She gave a gentle nod of her head and turned to me.

"Come with me and I'll get you some stuff you can use for tonight," His mother said.

I nodded immediately and followed her down the hall. She entered a room and began collecting things like blankets and pillows. However, she didn't give them to me immediately.

"I want to thank you Michael for taking Gavin in. He's... he's been through a lot and I feel his other friends wouldn't understand what he's seen or been put through. With you... it's different. I feel as though you might understand. Maybe not through personal experience but empathetically," His mother told me.

"What happened?" I asked, concern present in my voice.

"I wish I could tell you but George, Gavin and I promised never to speak of it, or at least without Gavin around. Besides it would be better if he told you," She told me. She handed me the blankets and turned to the entrance of the room. However before leaving, she said one last thing.

"All I can say is that it involves his father," She said before turning around and leaving the room. This caused question upon question to buzz in my head.

What happened to Gavin?
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WOOHOO LONG CHAPTER!

Anyway, I'm currently in the car heading to Boston. I'll be spending a few days at the beach and I plan on spending some time writing so look forward to some chapters coming out to your favorite stories by me.

So yeah, I didn't proofread (oops) so bear with me through the errors. Remember to vote and comment your opinions on my writing!

Thanks for reading!