Vic's POV

I stood there a minute, staring at where Kellin stood before he ran off. My thoughts were interrupted when Mikey, followed by Tony and Jaime, caught sight of me in the hallway.

"Hey, we've been looking all over for you! You're my ride home." Tony complained as the group approached me.

"Yeah dude, what are you doing down the English hallway anyways? We parked by History." Jaime asked as we all turned towards the door.

"I was talking to a friend." I answered with a shrug. The cold air outside hit me like a car, and I inwardly reminded myself to bring a jacket tomorrow.

"You have friends other than us? Impossible!" Mikey teased playfully as we approached my car.

"I think he was talking to a giiirl." Jaime sung as I closed my door and started up the engine. They must have noticed the upset frown on my face as we pulled out of the student lot.

"You okay bro? We were just teasing, we didn't mean anything by it. Right guys?" Mikey said apologetically. The other two agreed immediately, flooding the vehicle with apologies.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tony asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Not really." I sighed shortly. "Want to go to the beach?"

Everyone voiced their consensus, so I turned onto the road that would lead us to the water.

"Hey, do any of you guys know anything about that Kellin kid that just moved here?" I found myself asking unsurely.

"Is that the kid with the black hair and flannel shirts?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah. He's in my US History class, and he had a huge black eye today." I answered back carefully. I didn't want to tell Kellin's secret, since he was obviously embarrassed and tried to hide it, but I know the guys wouldn't tell anyone else.

"Is that why you were in the English hallway?" Tony inquired.

"Yeah. I tried to catch up with him after class, but he just blew me off. He looked very uncomfortable too." I mentioned as I pulled up to the sand that led to the rocks before the water.

"I don't think he really has any friends. I always see him eating alone at lunch." Jaime inputted. "Maybe we should invite him over to eat with us tomorrow."

We all got out of the car and started walking over to the rocks. A couple years back, we found a cave that was perfect for us to hang in when it's cold. A bonus was that it was hard to find, so there was no one to bother us.

"I just hope he's okay." I said quietly.

Kellin's POV

My encounter with Vic had made me miss the bus, so I started the fifteen minute walk home. I plugged in my headphones and put on Iris by the GooGoo Dolls. When I reached my driveway, I noticed my stepfather's car haphazardly parked in the grass. He's probably drunk...again. To avoid a possibly unpleasant encounter, I snuck around to the back door and silently unlocked it. I crept up the stairs carefully, but I had forgotten about the step that made a loud creaking noise when pressure was applied. Suddenly, I heard his loud voice fill the small house.

"KELLIN YOU BETTER NOT BE JUST COMING IN NOW!" I heard his footsteps coming towards me as I rushed to my room and jumped on my bed. I was just opening up my laptop when he came barging in my room.

"What was that noise?" He asked with a slurred voice. I could smell the cheap beer and smoke from the doorway.

"Oh, I dropped m-my shoe on the ground. I-I'm sorry." I stuttered while looking intently at my bedroom floor.

"Stop whispering. Makes you look like a girl. And clean this shit up!" My stepfather said as he kicked my small piles of cd's over and stepped on one. He laughed when he saw my eyes widen, and then shut the door and left. I could still hear his bellowing cackle as he moved back to the living room.

I lept off my bed and down to my cd's. The one that was stepped on had no chance in being saved, but other other one's injuries were minor. I gathered up all the music and set it in my bookcase.

********************CONTENT MAY BE TRIGGERING-SKIP IF NEEDED***********************

My eyes started to fill up with tears as overwhelming thoughts flooded over me. I needed release from my thoughts, from my stepfather, from the world. I opened up my bedside table and felt around till my hand grasped the familiar blade. I placed it against my skin and closed my eyes. I instantly felt better as I opened my eyes and watched the blood flow from multiple wounds. After a few minutes, the blood still hadn't stopped. I went into the bathroom connected to my room and started cleaning it with water, but it was obviously very deep. I wrapped my arm in a towel and put pressure on my arm. Fifteen minutes later, the blood had started to slow, so I put seven bandaids on it.

***************************TRIGGERING CONTENT IS OVER************************************

After my arm was clean and bandaged, I sat on my bed with my head leaning on the wall. And once again, I wished I could just lay down and go to sleep forever.

Hey everyone! Thank you for reading this far. Chapter three is up and posted.-Kitty