A/N:

Blondie: Yep, it's short, but read, read, read.

Claw: Ah, the infamous Samuel returns. Blondie: ONWARDS!

While I was alone in his room, I studied it. Mainly cause I had noting else to do. Also, I wanted to drown out the sounds of Roger and his dad's yelling. Before walking in the room I had noticed that there was two deadbolt locks on the outside of his door. God, I would hate to live in a place like this. It seems so awful. I kept studying the room. There was clutter everywhere.

I looked on his desk and found a ton of papers. Most of them were music sheets. Under some of the papers I found a pack of condoms. Oh gross. Oh god, it makes me sick to think that he actually uses those with Megan (And several other girls that he barely knows, I might add). My Megan. Oh, not mine. Man, life can be a bitch sometimes. At least my home is better than this.

"SAM! NO!" I heard Roger shout. Maybe I should help him. Then I heard a thud and a shout from Roger. "FUCK!" He shouted. I had heard and learned about child abuse, but I never really thought it would effect me. Should I go up? No, he wants me to stay down here.

I kept looking through the stuff, then I found something that caught my eye. And no, it wasn't the Playboy magazine thrown carelessly on his dresser. It was some papers from a judge. They were child custody papers. It said something about a Eleanor Watson. It said she was his mother. I read it further and realized that his dad and his mom both have custody to Roger. If Roger can live with his mom then my doesn't he? Maybe she's as bad as his dad.

I almost shit my pants when the door opened. Roger walked (well, hobbled) in. His left eye was barely open, it was developing a gross black bruise. His arms were also speckled with black and blue. His nose was dripping with blood. He coughed out a bit of blood. Wow, his life at home must suck. I mean suck. A lot.

He didn't even acknowledge me, he just ran to his keyboard that was shoved in the corner. He took off the top of it (or something like that) and pulled out some bandages and gauze. He began to wrap the bandages around what looked like cigarette burns. "Roger…uh, you okay?" I asked. I feel like a douche right now, cause I'm the little fucker that forced him to let me come.

"Yeah, just god damn peachy." Roger growled. His eye was now puffed up like someone had thrown a baseball at it. Not pretty.

This explains all those cuts and bruises Roger comes to school with. Whenever I asked him about them he would say he tripped or he accidentally dropped glass, or he would get really defensive and tell me to butt out of his business.

"What are you reading?" He asked, pointing to the papers that were still in my hand.

Damn. Now I really look like a busy body. Looking through people's shit. "Uh. This thing about your mom and dad. Why do you live with your dad?" I said.

Roger looked as if he was in big need of a group hug. Maybe this explains why Zeus is around. Everyone needs a penguin hug.

"Well, I lived with Eleanor for three months when I was fourteen, but she doesn't want me, so she told me to get the fuck out. That left me with Samuel and his new fucking wife Jessica , who also don't want me, but they have to keep me because of the law. It's a long story. Trust me, I would move back to Eleanor, but she hates me ever since I got expelled for drinking and smoking on campus. And yeah, a ton of shit happened, so now none of my parents want me, and I don't want to go to a foster home, so I haven't told anybody. Plus if I tell, Samuel will get pissed. Mark. I'm…I'm…I don't know…I'm scared." Roger said. I know Roger. And I know he hates to admit being afraid, and he is very rarely afraid.

Wow, this whole talk has made me feel a shit-load more appreciative of my family.

"Mark?" Roger asked looking scared . "Don't tell anybody, okay?"

What have I gotten myself into? I'm going to keep a secret that I know I should tell people, but I can't because he trusts me.

"Okay." I assure him. I guess sometimes best friends have to keep secrets, but hey, I'm a newbie to the whole best friends thing.

A/N: Samuel really appear will come into the story in the next chapter.

You know what's nice? REVIEWS! Pretty please. We want to know how we are doing. Tell us if you like the plot. Tell us if you think it sucks. Tell us if you think that we keep it in or out of character. Tell us if you think that Samuel should go die under a rock in a desert.