Steve sat against the headboard to his new gigantic queen sized bed, trying to get lost in his drawing. He's been drawing ever since he got that sketch pad on his 6th birthday. Steve would draw everything. His favorite was drawing pictures of little Mary, who happened to be sitting right in front of Steve. Mary was as still as a statue. Steve would tell her to not move and she literally didn't move. It was pretty amazing for a 9 year old girl who is ALWAYS moving and talking people's heads off.
"Stevie?" Mary asked, remaining still.
Steve stopped drawing the outlines of Mary's eyes and looked up at his little sister. "What's up, kiddo?"
He waited for a couple of seconds and was about to ask what was wrong until she spoke up. "I don't like school." Mary whispered, hanging her head, so quietly that Steve almost didn't hear her.
"What? You said you love school! Remember? All the cool things you get to learn, playing with kids your own age. Isn't that fun?" Steve poked her arm, trying to cheer the little one up. Only Mary wasn't cheering up at all. Steve saw the tears gather around her bright blue eyes.
"No Stevie. I don't like it here. I miss mommy and daddy."
Steve moved to put the sketch book and pencil on his night stand and took the little girl in his arms. Mary automatically wrapped her skinny arms around Steve's neck and sniffled into his shoulder.
"I miss mommy and daddy to, kiddo. I wish I could do something about it but I can't. You know I'd do anything for you, mare. I love you so much. Don't you ever forget that, okay?" Steve laid his cheek on top of Mary's head. She smelled like vanilla. Steve's favorite scent.
"Why did daddy send us here?" Mary mumbled as she buried her face into her brother's neck.
"Daddy was having a hard time, Mare. He loved mommy so much and just couldn't take care of us like he wanted to. He did what he thought was best."
They were both silent for a couple of minutes before Mary spoke up again.
"I heard daddy crying one night. I was thirsty and went into the kitchen to get some water and daddy was just standing there crying. I wanted to hug daddy but he told me to go to bed."
Steve stayed silent as he heard his little sister's confession. Their dad had a lot of rough nights. Steve did his best to make sure Mary never found out about dad drinking himself into a stupor, and silently crying over their dead mother. Letting out a big sigh, Steve just held on tighter until Mary's tears started to subside. About ten minutes later Mary's tummy growled really loudly causing them both to burst into a fit of giggles.
"Whoa that was loud!" Mary exclaimed, backing out of Steve's embrace. She had a smile on her face now and that was all that mattered.
"We better go see if Aunt May can whip us up some dinner, huh?" Steve kissed Mary's nose, gently wiping away the tears, bringing out yet another giggle from the tiny body.
"I'll race ya!" Mary was already up and out of the room before Steve could catch her. Shaking his head, man he his loved his sister, he slowly got out of bed and padded into the kitchen to find Mary sitting on the counter while Aunt May was stirring something in a big huge pot. It smelled amazing.
"Stevie! She's making Spaghetti!" Mary had always an odd obsession with food. Unlike other little kids, she loved everything. It was quite entertaining how excited she would get.
"Oh yeah?" Steve walked up to them and peered over Aunt May's shoulder. "Wow, Aunt May….it smells amazing."
"It's one of your grandma's recipes. It's been in the family for years, and years." Steve grinned. How could he not? Aunt May's smile was contagious.
"Really?" Mary was swinging her long skinny legs back and forth, bumping into the counter every now and then.
"Yep! You want to help stir?" Aunt May handed the spoon over to Mary who took it in her hands excitedly and started to stir.
"So what were you guys doing up there?" Aunt May asked as she supervised Mary.
"I was drawing this little one. She wanted yet another portrait, even though she's got 40 already!" Steve poked Mary's sides causing her to giggle and trying and squirms away from his hands. Aunt May looked thoughtfully at the brother and sister duo.
"You're a good brother to her, Steve." Aunt May had whispered after Steve had put Mary to bed later that evening.
He leaned against the closed door. Closing his eyes, Steve sighed quietly letting the day wash over him. "She's all I have left. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her, too." He finished quietly. He forced himself to hold the tears back.
"You want to tell me what happened at school today?"
Steve's eyes shot open at that. "What do you mean?"
Aunt May gently guided Steve into the living room and urged him to sit down on the leather sectional. She sat down right next to him and looked him in the eye.
"I saw how anxious you were to get home, today." Steve mentally flinched at the word home. Hawaii was home, not New Jersey. "You know you can tell me anything, Steve. I'm here to love and support you. I promise I'll listen."
"Thanks Aunt May but I...I think I'm going to just go to bed. I'm tired." Steve stood up and walked back into his bedroom. Aunt May watched him leave and sighed. She had to get Steve to talk to her some way. He was holding all his feelings inside and eventually he's just going to burst. That's what she was afraid of.
Steve quickly stripped out of all his clothes except for his boxers, not caring where they dropped, and climbed under the covers. They were cold against his skin causing a little shiver to break out of the young boy's body. He punched the pillow a few times, letting out his frustration of the day and buried himself under the blankets, hoping he wouldn't wake up in the morning. It took a while until sleep finally claimed him, images of Danny playing in his mind as he slowly drifted away.
The rest of the week was very uneventful. Jimmy still acted like a jerk and Steve did his best to ignore it but to be honest it was starting to get on his last nerve. What did Steve ever do Jimmy? Exactly. He did absolutely nothing. Steve didn't see much of Alexis that week, except for 1st period and he had tried avoiding Danny so he wouldn't make a complete idiot of himself. Yes. Steve had the gayest, gigantic crush on Danny and it was stupid. Danny was obviously straight. All the girls like Danny because he's got this bad boy edge to him. Every time the boy had even talked to Steve, or even acknowledged his existence, Steve would blush like a little school girl. More and more Steve would catch himself staring and fantasizing about the blonde haired boy. It was beginning to get ridiculous.
While replaying the week in his head Steve put his sweaty gym clothes in a plastic bag, shoving them into his backpack. The locker room was empty. The bell had already rung and everyone was gone. Shutting his locker and closing the lock over it Steve made his way to the door when he ran into somebody, of course, none other than the one and only Jimmy Estrada.
Steve tried to make his way around the older boy but was pushed back against the wall. He raised his head to find two other guys standing on either side of Jimmy.
"Jimmy, seriously let me through." Steve tried to make his way past again but was pushed even harder back against the wall.
"Eh, it's going to cost ya." Jimmy smirked and next thing Steve knew his vision was blurred and he was spitting blood onto the rusty old looking tiled floors, clutching his stomach. He tried to stand but there was a weight pushing him down. Pain erupted into his knee causing Steve to let out a loud groan. "You little faggot! We saw you checking out Williams." Steve coughed, choking on his own saliva. Shit! Jimmy knew. "What? You think we didn't know?" Jimmy laughed coldly as did the two other guys that Steve couldn't put a name to the face.
"Fuck off." Steve spat out, silently begging for them to just leave him alone. He needed to start to learn to stand up for himself. Steve felt a hand yank his hair back and he bit his lip, fighting back a whimper.
"What did you just say to me?" Jimmy growled into Steve's ear. Steve stayed silent, looking anywhere but at Jimmy. He felt his head yanked back again. Steve bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut hoping for the intense nausea to go away. "What did you just say to me!?" Jimmy yelled the anger apparent in his voice.
"I….Nothing. N-nothing." Steve sputtered. He slumped forward, barely catching himself on his hands and knees when Jimmy let's his grip loose on Steve's hair.
"That's what I thought." With one last shove Jimmy and his two friends exited the locker room leaving Steve lying helplessly on the floor, groaning in pain.