"Life is not how it is supposed to be. It is the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference." -- Unknown

++ C H A P T E R | T W E N T Y ++

Elliott could feel his heart pounding as he pulled at his uniform uncomfortably. It was the first scrimmage of the season, and Elliott had those pregame jitters. Brent seemed comfortable, but Elliott could tell his was upset. And Elliott couldn't blame him.

Elliott was amazed Brent was being so nice to him. He was sure that Brent would go back to bullying him once Natasha wasn't there to put him in his place. Elliott was also amazed Brent wasn't bringing anything up from last night. Elliott wasn't stupid - he knew Brent was curious. He also knew that he'd put Brent in an awkward position last night. However, Brent didn't say a thing. Just like Wes hadn't

Elliott had never been more thankful for his friends. If they were even that.

"You ready to win?" Brent looked over at Elliott, a smile on his face. It was forced, but he had to move on from Natasha. This was the first scrimmage, and Brent wasn't about to let his emotions ruin the game and how he played.

Elliott only nodded. Brent had learned too much last night. Seeing Elliott so messed up was something Brent should have never seen, but it had happened anyway. And Elliott hated it. He needed to do more to push Brent away, but he didn't want to. God, he didn't want to.

"Look at the fresh meat. They look so uncomfortable it's almost funny." Brent couldn't help but snicker as he watched the new boys look frightened at the sight of the other team. Brent and Elliott knew they had this game in the bag, but the new boys had no clue.

"Coach won't be pleased if they mess up." Elliott grumbled. Last year, coach took it out on the entire team when the new boys messed up. Sure, Elliott was new last year, but he wasn't like the others. No, he was undeniably skilled for reasons unknown. Elliott was never good at anything, but the moment he was handed his first soccer ball - a gift from Anna - he was a natural. And when Adrian and Mat pushed him to try out, he had no choice but to do just that.

"Okay, team. It's no surprise that Elliott will be center. Brent, you're left field.' Elliott tuned out after that. He could care less about the others on the team. He wanted to say he could care less about Brent too, but he didn't. He cared too much about Brent, and it was unhealthy. It wasn't natural. Elliott knew he didn't deserve happiness, but he wanted it so badly. He wanted it as much as he needed air to breathe.

"Knew we'd be starting. Let's show these boys just who's boss." Brent smiled wickedly at Elliott before jogging onto the field. Elliott followed shortly, wishing he felt as carefree as Brent.

Brent was in his element. Elliott was almost jealous at how carefree Brent looked as he rocked back on forth, nearly buzzing with energy. It was almost as if Brent wasn't upset about last night, which Elliott was amazed at. Elliott was even more amazed that Brent continued to be friendly to him.

Brent looked over and sent a smile to Elliott. He knew the pretty boy was worried and nervous, probably for more than just one reason. And while Brent was upset with Natasha and how she'd broken up with him for Elliott, Brent knew he couldn't stay mad. After all, it wasn't Elliott's fault.

The game didn't even last an hour, and coach was satisfied, for once. Elliott knew they would win without a doubt, but just seeing the score had brightened his day and it wasn't even noon.

Brent slung his arm around Elliott's shoulders. "Can you believe we've won? This is like the best day ever!"

Elliott knocked his head against Brent's accidentally, and let out a curse. "Yeah, I guess."

Brent looked at Elliott, flabbergasted. "You guess? We just won!" Then, after closer inspection, Brent leaned closer. "Are you alright?"

Elliott wanted to tell him no, he wasn't alright, but Brent had already seen enough. Last night, Brent had seen more than he was supposed to.

Elliott pulled away. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Is it about what happened last night?" Brent turned Elliott to face him, and was nearly shocked at the tears in the pretty boy's eyes. "Elliott, you can talk to me, you know."

For a moment, Elliott wanted to believe that he could trust Brent, but there was the voices in the back of his mind that were telling him to back away before Brent got too close. Mother was already breathing down Elliott's neck, and she already knew about Brent.

If Brent knew anymore than he already did, then he would be as good as dead. Elliott couldn't let that happen.

"I'm fine, I said. Back off." Elliott pushed Brent away, and then felt instantly sorry. He regretted it, but if pushing Brent away meant protecting him, then so be it. Elliott would continue to push.

Brent stumbled back, confused. He knew Elliott didn't like him in a friendly way, yet. After all, Brent had bullied him at one point, and he knew that had probably scarred Elliott. But still, Brent wanted to make up for it. He wanted to be Elliott's friend. He wanted to figure Elliott out.

Instead, he turned away and looked towards the rest of the team, ignoring Elliott. The pretty boy needed space, and Brent was going to grant his wish for a little while. As much as Brent wanted to shake Elliott and demand answers from him, Brent knew better. And he knew Elliott would open up when the time was right.

"Who wants to get pizza?" Brent asked, but Elliott tuned him out. He had plans for the rest of the day.

* * *

Elliott was nervous to go over Wes's house. He didn't really hang out with others, and now the thought of passing around a ball with Wes made his head spin. He had to act normal, as if nothing was wrong, but he didn't know how to do that. He wasn't sure how to make his mouth form a smile without breaking down in tears at the thought of his own father.

Anna came in late last night with Wes's father, and Elliott scrambled to his room, unable to hide his tears. Wes's father looked too much like his own, and it burned him. It completely threw him off guard. Of course there were other blonde haired men in the world, but Elliott couldn't stomach this.

And now he was going over Wes's house, where he was sure to see his father. Elliott wasn't sure he could keep it in then if he was tearing up at the thought of tearing up.

Adrian wasn't talking to him, and that was also weighing heavily on his shoulders. After the fight the two had last night, Adrian had gone mute. And Elliott wasn't about to apologize for trying to protect his brother. That was all he wanted to do, but of course Adrian wasn't seeing it that way. He was too hot headed and independent, and Elliott knew Adrian was holding grudges. And how could he not? Elliott was horrible at protecting his brothers.

Adrian was sitting on the couch, watching the television with Mat mindlessly. He looked tired, probably from partying all night. Elliott knew protecting and taking away Adrian's punishments was the right thing to do, but now, with Adrian not listening to him, he wished Adrian had been tortured more. Just to understand where Elliott was coming from.

Adrian was never beaten up about running away and partying, so Elliott could understand why Adrian wasn't afraid. But, Elliott knew Adrian should have felt more afraid and more cautious.

He's a reckless teen. What will happen once I leave?

Elliott couldn't think that way. He slung his backpack over his shoulders and passed the living room. Mat jumped to his feet and raced towards Elliott with a smile on his face. "Ellie! Are you going to hang out with Brent?"

Adrian whipped his head around. "What?"

Elliott's face turned red. "No, I'm not. I'm going to work."

Mat didn't pick up on the lie, but Adrian did. He narrowed his eyes at Elliott, wondering if he was really going to hang out with Brent.

"I'm going to be with Wes." Elliott added, halfheartedly. "We have things to go over."

Mat was still smiling. "You're making friends, Ellie! Anna will be so glad to hear about this! She's always so worried about you, you know. I keep telling her that you're going to be fine, but she never listens. Maybe this will help ease her troubled mind!"

Elliott looked at Mat with wide eyes. Was Mat actually talking in complete sentences? He usually stuck to his baby talk, but this was different.

Before Elliott could ask about it, Mat was already running back to the couch where he launched himself onto the cushions. "Adrian! Start back the show!"

Adrian stared at Elliott with hooded eyes, not believing him for a second. He knew Elliott was only trying to protect them, but he wasn't sure how lying about his whereabouts was going to help. If he was lying.

Adrian wouldn't be surprised. He was basically mother, after all.

Before Adrian could say anything more, Elliott spun around and left them, moving towards the front door with his nerves practically eating him alive. How could he pretend to be fine when he could barely keep it together in his kitchen?

Because he couldn't get off so easy, he ran right into Anna. She was all smiles, clearly happy about something. When she looked at Elliott, her expression faltered, and Elliott caught that. It made his stomach turn, just thinking about how she disapproved of him. Just like mother had.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" She asked rather playfully, like she was trying not to be stern.

"I'm going to Wes's house." Was all he said, dropping the lying act. They were bound to find out, anyway. Might as well be honest.

"Have fun, honey!" She said with almost too much enthusiasm. "Tell Mark I say hello, will you? If he's there, of course."

Elliott bristled when she called him honey. The term of endearment had him trying to understand what Anna was playing at. She obviously didn't like him like she liked Mat and Adrian. But Elliott didn't have time to figure out what game she was playing.

"Mark?"

"Oh. Wes's dad." She smiled again, probably reliving the date the two went on the previous night. Elliott was going to be sick if he stuck around any longer, so he excused himself and ran out the front door, only to run head first into Wes.

"Woah. Where are you running to so fast, dude?" Wes smiled once Elliott regained his balance. He enjoyed watching Elliott look so flustered over something like hanging out. He too had been feeling nervous - he didn't hang around others at all, except for at work. But, it was obvious Elliott was feeling even worse about this.

"Out of there." Elliott threw his thumb over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" Wes asked as he climbed into his truck. Elliott followed suit and slid into the passenger seat.

Elliott shook his head. "Nothing. Well, not nothing, I guess. Adrian is pissed at me. Anna is in love with your father, or something. And, to top it all off-"

A loud beep cut off whatever Elliott was about to say. There was a new car parked behind Wes's truck, and Natasha jumped out. Elliott wanted to groan - he was now just remembering how she broke up with Brent. For him.

"Who is that?" Wes squinted his eyes at the red head who was making her way to the truck. She was walking with determination in her eyes and a smile on her lips. The sight made Elliott uncomfortable, wishing he was anywhere but in her path. He didn't know what to say to her, and it made him even more nervous.

Natasha tapped on Elliott's window. Elliott looked at Wes before rolling it down and poking his head out, looking down at Natasha.

"Hey, Elliott!" She greeted cheerfully.

Elliott said nothing, but that didn't stop her. She leaned up, almost close enough to kiss him. "Where are you going?" She looked at Wes and narrowed her eyes in confusion. "And who is that?"

Wes smiled and stuck his hand out of the window. "I'm Wes. Nice to meet you, darlin'."

Natasha giggled when Wes winked at her. She couldn't deny that Wes was all sorts of hot. He was the type of boy that people wrote romance novels about. He was even hotter than Brent, and that, in Natasha's book, was incredibly hard to do. Brent was every high school girl's fantasy, but Wes, no he was more. He was more of a man.

Elliott was confused as to why Natasha was staring at Wes the way she was. For a moment, he felt irritated that she was paying him so much attention - wasn't she there to talk to him? But he quickly dismissed the thought and leaned further into the seat.

"I'm Natasha. And the pleasure is all mine." She smiled and batted her eyes. Then, she focused on Elliott who was looking very uncomfortable, and she remembered why she was there in the first place.

"Elliott, I was thinking we could hang out, but you're leaving." She pouted, and Elliott was quickly hating this side of her. What happened to the Natasha from the lunch table? The one that was down to earth and not so brainless?

Wes came immediately to the rescue. "You can hang with us, if you'd like. Elliott and I are going to just hang out and pass the ball around."

Elliott felt irritation creep up his neck. He didn't want to hang out with Natasha, and he didn't really want to spend an afternoon with the two lovebirds staring each other down.

"I don't really play soccer." She smiled. "But thanks for the invite anyway." She tossed her red hair over her shoulder and began to walk away.

"Wait! We can do something else, right Elliott?"

Elliott was furious and still very irritated. "How about the two of you just hang out? I'm leaving." He opened the truck door and jumped down, not bothering to say goodbye as he stalked past them and into the house. How had that even happened? One moment, he was nervous about looking fine, and the next moment he was the only sane one there.

"Elliott!" He heard Natasha whine, but ignored her completely as he slammed the front door shut.

Wes and Natasha looked at each other. Natasha couldn't believe what just happened. She'd only wanted to hang out with Elliott - that was why she came over. But, she knew all too well his running tendencies, and realized she probably should have seen that coming.

Wes was just as confused. Looking at Natasha, he realized that maybe Elliott wasn't fond of the red head. If that was the case, Wes felt horrible for even inviting her. He'd just wanted to spend time getting to know Elliott, and he had ruined that chance before they even made it out of the driveway. All because he thought Natasha was beautiful and worth getting to know.

Wes couldn't help it - he was woman deprived. Sure, he knew what he looked like, but not many women came around the farm. He'd had the occasional girlfriend in high school, but this was different. He had just wanted to spend some time with a girl, but maybe this wasn't the right time.

Maybe Wes had it all wrong - maybe Elliott liked Natasha, and seeing Wes flirt with her had made him so furious he didn't want to hang out. That explanation made so much more sense, and Wes immediately felt like the world's biggest asshole.

He jumped from his truck. "Sorry, Natasha. We'll have to hang another day. I'm going to see what's up with Elliott. Make sure he's fine."

Natasha could only nod numbly. She was so confused, but she didn't want to bother Elliott. If Wes was his friend, she knew she had to back out. She knew enough to know that Elliott didn't really have friends, and if Wes was the closest thing he had, she didn't want to come between that friendship.

Besides, she liked Elliott, not Wes. Wes was hot, sure, but Elliott was the one she actually wanted to meet with. And if this was what made Elliott happy, she needed to back out and allow him space. The space he deserved.

She nodded towards Wes and walked back to her car, leaving Wes alone to pull Elliott out of the house.

He had only knocked once before the door swung open, showing a very pissed off Adrian and a very excited Mat.

"Hi! You're back!" Mat said cheerfully. "I hope you don't make Ellie faint this time."

Wes just looked blankly at the youngest. Then, at Adrian. He didn't know the two brothers very well, but he knew immediately that Elliott wasn't joking when he said Adrian was pissed.

"I'm looking for Elliott."

"He doesn't want to talk to you." Adrian said harshly, looking about ready to slam the door in his face.

"Can I talk to him?"

"No." Adrian said without hesitation. He stepped out of the house, closing the door on Mat and jabbed his finger in Wes's chest. "You listen here. Elliott is messed up. He's damaged beyond belief, and you hanging around him is a bad idea. If I were you, I would just leave before you make it worse."

Wes couldn't believe his ears. He only wanted to be friends with Elliott.

"I'm not going to hurt him, okay? He's upset about this thing with that girl Natasha."

Adrian narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but the door opened and out stepped Elliott with Mat on his heels.

"Adrian, leave him alone." Elliott hissed, and Adrian pulled back almost immediately. Mat looked up at Wes and smiled, leaving the safety of Elliott's legs.

Elliott looked at Wes and sighed. "Fine. If you want to hang out so badly, let's go hang out."

Wes didn't really know what to say. Elliott was the most confusing person he had ever met. "Dude, we don't have to hang if you don't want to. I'm not pressuring you or anything."

Elliott was frustrated. He would rather hang out with Wes than have his brothers thinking he couldn't make friends. And, it looked like Natasha left, which made Elliott blow out a sigh of relief. He was angry that she was so flirty with Wes, and he couldn't fathom why. It wasn't like he was dating Natasha - there was no need to feel any ounce of jealousy. But, that didn't stop his feelings from blowing up in his face.

"I'm fine. Let's just go." Elliott urged, walking back towards the truck. He felt embarrassed and awkward, but the sight of Mat's beaming smile made everything better. If Mat thought he was improving, that was all that mattered. Elliott knew he needed to appear put together for his youngest brother's sake.

Wes followed suit and pulled the truck out of the driveway, staying silent. He was confused, but he didn't dare ask about anything involving what had just happened. Adrian made it obvious something was very wrong with Elliott, and he was beginning to second guess all of his motives.

When they arrived at the farm, Elliott was still bristling with annoyance. He followed Wes into the house and was relieved when his father wasn't there. Elliott wasn't sure he could handle seeing the man again.

"So, want to play some ball?" Wes held up his soccer ball, smiling at Elliott. Elliott felt awkward, and wished he could just start over, but there was nothing he could do. So, he nodded and took the ball from Wes's hands before he could react. He didn't really need to be Wes's friend, but for Mat and Adrian's sake, he would try his best.

* * *

Follow my twitter: https://twitter.com/UWbooks

Follow my blog: https://wickedpromisesblog.wordpress.com/