"You're going back to school, Nicholas," Nick's mom says the day after he and Joe get back from California.
Nick frowns at her. "What? No–"
"Yes," his mom says, cutting him off. "You've missed too much school as it is. You cannot miss anymore."
"But—but...you can, like...home school me, or something." Nick stops and looks at his mom, nearly pleading with her. "Please?"
But his mom shakes her head, much to Nick's dismay. "You know I can't do that, honey. I'm barely home as it is. And I can't just stop working. We need the money, Nicholas."
"Please don't make me go back there!" Nick cries. Then he looks at Joe. "Help me out here, man!"
Joe shakes his head, running his hand through his hair, as he watches them. "Sorry, bro," he says sympathetically. "But she's right. She can't quit her job, and you need to go back to school." He gets up from where he's sitting, walking over to his little brother, putting a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Don't worry, okay?" he tells him. "I will be right there with you. If you need anything, if anyone gives you a hard time, if Taylor even looks at you the wrong way, you call me, and I will be there. All right? I promise."
Nick looks down for a second before looking back at his big brother. "I'm scared," he admits, fear clear in his voice.
Joe sighs softly, pulling Nick into a hug. He rests his head against Nick's, rubbing his back in slow circles. "I know you are, buddy," he whispers quietly. "I know you're scared, and—and it's okay to be scared. But no one is going to touch you ever again while I'm around. I'll kick their asses before they even get the chance."
"Language, Joseph," their mother warns.
Joe sighs again but flashes her a smile, not entirely apologetic, before pulling away from Nick and looking straight into his eyes.
"You trust me, right?" he asks. "You trust me to protect you?"
Nick nods almost instantly. "I trust you," he answers without hesitant.
Joe smiles at that, keeping his hands on his shoulders. "Good. Now, come on. Let's go get food, or something. Blow off some steam. Because you go back to school tomorrow."
Nick sighs heavily but nods his head after a few minutes. "Okay," he finally says.
Joe smiles once more. "That's my boy." He ruffles Nick's hair and laughs when Nick rolls his eyes, trying to get away from his brother.
"You ready for this, bud?" Joe asks the next day as he pulls into a spot in the school's parking lot.
Nick swallows and then takes a deep breath. He shakes his head. "No," he says.
Joe gives him an encouraging smile. "You'll be fine. My phone will be on all day, so if you need me for anything—and I do mean anything—don't hesitate to call me, okay?"
Nick looks over at Joe, biting his lip slightly. Then he nods ever-so-slightly. "Okay," he says quietly.
Joe turns off the car and grabs his backpack from the backseat. He pushes open the door and gets out of his Mustang. He turns around to wait for Nick to get out, too, and then he locks the car. He walks over to Nick, slinging an arm around his shoulders, as Nick shifts his backpack to his other shoulder. Nick looks up at his big brother.
"I wish we were in the same classes," he says with a sigh, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets, "and not just lunch."
"Tell me the word, man, and I can switch all of my classes to yours."
Nick looks up at Joe once more, his eyes lighting up, but then his face crumples and he shakes his head.
"You can't do that," he insists. "You already got left back once—you can't get left back again. I'll be—I'll be okay."
Joe cocks his head to the side, trying to gauge if Nick was telling the truth or not. In the end, he just sighs, his arm still slung over his baby brother's shoulders.
"I'll be okay," Nick says again, more forcefully this time. "Don't worry about me, okay? You've missed a lot of school, too, so you need to focus on that and not me."
"Telling me not to worry about you doesn't mean that I actually won't worry about you," Joe retorted, finally letting his arm drop from Nick's shoulders.
"I know," Nick sighs, "but at least try not to, okay? It's only a few hours, and then I'll see you at lunch, and then it's another few hours, and then I'm home. I'll be okay." He tries to smile, but Joe can tell that it's just for his benefit, not Nick's own.
"Okay," Joe says reluctantly. "If you say so."
They walk into the school together and then Joe turns to Nick, hesitating. He opens his mouth to say something but Nick beats him to it.
"Go," he says. "The bell's about to ring, and if we don't head to our classes, we're both going to be late." He can tell that Joe's still reluctant to leave him alone so he tries to smile again. "See you at lunch?"
Joe nods slowly. "Yeah," he agrees. "See you at lunch." He hesitates again before sighing and walking away in a huff.
Nick watches his brother leave. Once he's out of sight, the fake smile falls off of Nick's face and he swallows down his fear. He doesn't have any friends. Taylor wants to severely hurt him for getting Zac sent to jail. He's definitely not looking forward to school today at all. He had needed to make Joe think that he was okay so that he wouldn't worry about him. But the hard truth of the matter is that Nick isn't okay. Not at all.
He walks slowly to his classroom and opens the door just as the final bell rings. He takes one more deep breath before walking into the room. He stops short as he's met with stares from everyone, including the teacher and minus Taylor. He's glaring at Nick, his hands balled into fists on top of his desk.
"Nick," the teacher finally says. "Welcome back." She offers him a smile but it turns out more like a grimace.
"Thanks," Nick mumbles as he makes his way over to his desk, sliding into his chair. He drops his backpack down onto the floor and stares straight ahead, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"Hi, Nick."
Nick jumps slightly and turns his head, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. "AJ," he says. "I totally forgot you were in this class."
"Yeah, I bet," AJ says. "Last time I saw you here, you acted like you were the greatest thing ever. You and Zac and Taylor. I'm surprised you noticed I was in this class at all."
Nick sighs. "AJ–" he starts.
But AJ shakes her head, cutting him off. "It's okay," she assures him. "Joe told me what happened, that you've changed. And I'm glad. The Nick he talked to me about...I like him a hell of a lot better than the Nick I used to know."
Nick smiles, a real, genuine smile. "Joe talks about me?" he wonders.
AJ nods. "All the time," she tells him. "You're seriously the one thing I can't get him to stop talking about." She giggles a little, and Nick smiles again. "He loves you."
"He love you," Nick corrects her.
AJ smiles that time, a hand on her tiny baby bump. "He does?"
"Yes," Nick replies. "He loves you so much, and he loves that baby, too—even if it's not here yet. He's really excited to be a dad—even if the baby isn't technically his. And I'm excited to be an uncle." He smiles more.
Just then, the teacher clears her throat. Loudly. Nick immediately faces forward with one last smile at AJ. He casts one glance at Taylor and swallows hard when he sees him still glaring in his direction. He settles back in his seat and tries to focus on what the teacher is saying.
"Hey, Nick," AJ says, catching up to him after first period ends.
"Oh, hey. You going this way, too?"
AJ nods her head, struggling with the books in her arms. "I have the next class with you, too, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," Nick says softly. "I forgot that you're a junior, not a senior like Joe."
"Not surprising," she murmurs quietly, and struggles with her books again.
Nick notices and reaches over, taking the books from AJ's arms. "Let me," he says, and she smiles gratefully at him.
"So how's your girlfriend doing?" AJ wonders after a few seconds, looking over at Nick.
He stops walking and turns to look at her. "What do people think happened to her?" he wonders curiously.
AJ shrugs a little, a sheepish look on her face. "Not much, really. She wasn't exactly popular, so I don't think many people care. I just know because Joe told me. That's why you were in California, right? To see her?"
Nick nods. "Yeah. She's okay. Getting better every day."
"You really miss her?"
Nick nods again. "Yeah, I do. But she's working on getting better so she can come back home, so we can see each other a lot more. We're going to get an apartment together after she turns eighteen."
AJ raises an eyebrow. "Whoa, really?"
"Yeah," Nick replies. "She's really excited about it. I–" He's cut off by the bell ringing, and his eyes widen. "Oh, shit. We gotta go, or we're gonna be late."
AJ quickly nods and they hurry to second period.
"Nick!" Joe cries, hurrying over to where his brother sat in the lunch room. "Nick!"
Nick looks up at Joe and frowns a little. "What's wrong?" he wonders, instantly alert.
"Did you hear?!" Joe says, plopping down across from Nick. He's breathing heavy, having just sprinted there from his last class. Nick looks at his brother, waiting for him to go on. "Zac's out of jail!"
