LANCE POV

I wake up to the sound of yelling. I sit up with a jolt, worried about what was going on. Quickly I throw on pants and a hoodie and creep down the stairs and peek into the kitchen. I can see my grandmother and dad in each others faces angrily making accusations. Both faces are flushed and filled with so much hatred that any other person would walk away. But I wasn't any other person, I was so done with their fighting. I straighten up and stalk into the kitchen heading towards the pantry. Once I enter they both immediately stop and just stare at me. Glaring, I open the pantry, pull out a box of Poptarts and walk out. As I leave I can hear my grandma accuse dad of yelling to loudly and pretty soon, they are whisper-shouting at each other. Sighing I run upstairs and fling open my sister's bedroom door. Veronica jumps 100 feet in the air at the sudden burst of noise.

"LANCE! You can't just do that bro!" She screeches.

"Oops?" I reply walking over to her bed. I plop down and open up my box. Veronica just rolls her eyes at me and finishes getting dressed. She walks over to me and steals one of the packets.

"Hey!" I shout, annoyed.

Veronica sticks her tongue out and bites into one of her pop tarts. "What? Were you going to eat them all fatty?" She says jokingly.

The word fatty echos around me, consuming my breath like the plague. Play it off Lance, no one can know you're hurting. Pretend it's like any other time."Maybe I was hoe!" I jab back discreetly setting my uneaten pop tart aside, ignoring the rumbles of hunger gnawing at my gut. She and I glare at each other for a few moments, but eventually, we bust out into laughter.

"You know I'm going to college tonight right?" Veronica says.

I look down, hiding the pain etched across my face. I slowly nod. Veronica sighs and envelopes me in a hug.

"I'm only a couple of hours away, you can visit anytime," she mumbles into my hair. I only nod again, not trusting my voice. After staying like that for a few minutes we pull apart. I give her a small smile and stand up.

"See you after school Ronnie," I murmur.

"Yeah," she says smiling.

I walk back to my room, abandoning the Poptarts. I put on pants and a t-shirt. I walk over to my full body mirror and gaze at all of the scars and cuts marring my arms. Sighing sadly I rub my fingers over the most recent ones. I do a 360 and finger gun my reflection casting a fake smile on my face. Shaking my head I pull on a jacket and leave my room. Once downstairs, I realize that my grandma and dad weren't yelling at each other anymore. Instead, my grandma is at the door with my younger siblings, helping them put on their shoes.

"Nana?" I walk up to her.

"Ah, Lance," my grandma looks up with a sad look in her eyes.

"Where are you guys going? It's not time for school yet," I question.

"Well Lance, I'm… I'm taking your siblings to live with me," she replies quietly.

"W-what? Why? What about me?" I blurt.

"Lance," she starts sternly. "Don't be so selfish, you know I don't have enough money for all of you guys. Besides, you're almost an adult, and your father needs someone to look after him."

The word selfish gnaws at my chest. "Ye-yeah, you're right," I mumble, giving a small fake smile.

My grandma smiles at me and pats my head before turning and walking outside. I watch as she grabs my siblings and helps them into her car. Not long after, the car is started and she drives away. I just stare at the vacant spot outside where her car just was for a few minutes, I'm broken from my trance when I hear a loud bang from behind me. I jump and turn quickly. My father staggers into the foyer, already drunk and swishing a bottle of beer around.

"Finally-hic- the old hag is-hic-gone!" He hiccups.

I just nod and look at his bottle in disgust.

"What's that look-hic-for boy? You worthless-hic-son."

"Sorry Papa, I'm just going to go to school now," I murmur miserably.

"-hic-whatever, just get out-hic-of my sight-hic-you scum."

I scurry out the door, grabbing my backpack on my way out. I run the three miles it takes to get to my best friend's house and wait outside. After 15 minutes he finally comes outside, ready to catch the bus. He notices me picking at the grass on his front lawn.

"Lance? You're here earlier than usual," Hunk, my friend, says raising a dark thick eyebrow.

When I don't reply, he approaches me and puts a dark, gentle hand on my shoulder. He's a bit of gentle giant due to his large stature but cinnamon roll personality.

"Buddy? Is everything okay?" He pushes gently, concern lacing his words.

I turn to him with a huge fake smile plastered on my face. "Yeah! I'm doing great, just peachy!" Hunk just narrows his eyes at me, not buying my act. I sigh and go to explain when the bus pulls up. Talk about cliche. I give him another smile and run onto the bus and sit next to someone I've never met, anything to avoid confrontation. Now all I have to do is keep a smile on my face, and pretend to be this happy go, lucky guy, everyone expects me to be. No need to burden anyone with my trivial problems anyway. Plenty of people have it worse, I'm just being ridiculous anyway. The bus arrives at school and I walk off with a huge smile, waving to everyone I see. Jacket covering my cuts, and smile covering my pain.