So, heres the next chapter. I'd like to thank everyone who's telling me what they like and any errors I may be making. Those will help me become a better writer.

Chapter 4

As the week went on, Tip steadily became afraid of Troy. Afraid to the point that when Troy walked into the room, Tip would book it as fast as he could into another room without it looking suspicious. It wasn't so much that Troy hurt him, it was the look in his eyes. His blue eyes held an icy glare when ever they met with Tip's.

So Tip kept to his bedroom, the one place Troy didn't wander. He sat down at his desk, looking at his math homework. His door creaked open, and thinking it was the wind, he ignored it. "Why are you ignoring me?"

His eyes widened and he turned his head slowly to the doorway. Troy was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and he didn't look happy. "Why are you ignoring me?" Troy hissed.

Tip's lower lip began to quiver and his body started to shake. He tried telling himself that it was just Troy, but that just made him more scared. "Answer me when I'm talking to you," Troy said, shutting the door and walking over. Tip tried to get away, and ended up falling out of his chair, pinned under Troy.

"I've been piled with homework and practice-"

"Practice?" Troy's voice seemed filled with venom. "Do you like practicing with my team?"

Tip didn't know how to answer, and Troy twisted the skin on his forearm. He whimpered, something that upset Troy even more. "Whimpering? You've got to be strong!"

Troy lowered his knee into his younger brother's stomach and Tip let out a yelp. "Tip?" Jack's voice said through the closed door. "Are you okay in there?"

Tip looked up at Troy to see what to say, or if he should say anything at all. Troy nodded his head, not removing his knee from Tip's stomach. "I'm fine," Tip said, struggling to make it sound as if he wasn't in pain. "I just fell off the bed."

Once they heard Jack's steps going down the stairs, Troy glared at Tip. "That's the best excuse you could come up with?" he asked. Tip nodded. "Pathetic."

Then Troy stood, relieving Tip of the pain in his stomach. "I'm not done with you," Troy said, grabbing the door handle. "Oh, and Mom said dinner's ready."

The door shut with a silent click and Tip picked his head up off the ground. He looked at his arms, with were both covered in fresh bruises. He bit his lip before pulling up his shirt. His stomach was starting to swell and a monstrous bruise covered his abdomen. But what was he expecting. Troy had put all his weight on Tip's tiny stomach.

He lifted himself off the ground and went to his closet, pulling out a sweatshirt. It was an East High Basketball sweatshirt, and even though he didn't like sweatshirts, he knew it'd be better to wear one. He didn't know how swelled his stomach was going to get, and the last thing he needed was to get questioned about it.

"Tip are you cold?" Elaine asked when he walked in. He shook his head and sat at his seat. For most of dinner, he played around with his food, trying to make it seem as if he'd eaten it. Suddenly he felt a hand on his forehead.

"Nope, no fever," Jack said, withdrawing his hand.

"I'm not sick," Tip said.

"We were just making sure," Elaine said, taking everyone's plates but his. "Now eat."

Tip took as little as he could on his fork at one time. It hurt to eat. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Jack asked worriedly, as he watched Tip wince.

"Yeah, I'm just not hungry," Tip answered.

"Well, when you're done, Troy and I are doing some conditioning and basics outside. You should probably come," Jack said grabbing a basketball off the floor. Tip nodded and looked at his stomach. Doing push-ups and curl ups was not going to be fun.

"You coming Tip?" Troy asked, a smirk on his face.

Tip stood and put on his sneakers. "Yep," he said taking a deep breath. "I can't wait."

"Good," Troy said, although Tip could tell he was disappointed. Tip knew Troy was ready and excited to have a one on one practice with Jack. And the only thing that was giving Tip the strength to fight off the pain was the fact that Troy was upset.

hsmhsmhsmhsm

"Tip, what happened to your stomach?"

He inwardly winced. He had tried to hide his stomach from the other kids in his gym class. "Um..." he said. "I was...um...practicing with my dad and Troy, when um...I tripped and fell on the ball."

"What about your arms?" asked Chad's younger brother Mace. Unlike Chad and Troy, Tip and Mace were merely acquaintances, only really friends with each other because they used to be on the same basketball team. They were from different crowds. Mace was a jock like his brother, while Tip was...well...Tip was Tip.

"I don't know," Tip lied, making it sound as if he truly didn't know. "Maybe it happened when I fell."

He grabbed his long sleeved shirt off the ground and put it in his locker. Some of his classmates had thought it was weird that he had worn long sleeves to gym class, now they all knew. Tip bit his lip. If it got out that Tip had bruises, like he knew it was, he was going to be in trouble.

He slipped on his practice jersey with the shirt he'd worn to school under it. He walked out and sat on the bleachers pulling out a bottle of Tylenol from his backpack. The medicine he had taken that morning had started to wear off.

"You have practice tonight?" Bree asked walking over. Tip nodded his head and swallowed the Tylenol with a gulp from his water bottle. "Headache?"

"Stomach ache," Tip told her. He looked over to where the Mace was standing. If Mace let it slip to Chad, it would get to Troy. He couldn't let that happen. "I'll be right back."

He stood and walked over to Mace. He looked over. "Hey Tip."

"Could you not tell anyone," Tip said, hoping he'd catch on.

"About what? Your bruises?" Mace asked. "Why not? It looks like it hurts."

"If you tell someone it will just hurt worse," Tip told him, a pleading look in his eyes. "Please just don't tell anyone."

"Is someone doing this to you?" Mace asked worriedly. "Is that why you don't want me to tell anyone?"

"No," Tip said, too quickly to be taken seriously. "No, just...please, don't tell Chad. Please. I don't want Troy to find out about this," he added, hoping Mace would think he didn't want Troy to find out because Troy wanted him to be strong. Everyone knew that.

"Oh," Mace said. "Sure, but who's doing this to you?"

"I don't know," Tip said as the bell rang. "Remember, this is our little secret."

"Alright, I'll tell the guys."

Tip let out a sigh of relief and walked back over to the bleachers to wait for the varsity team to come. Personally, he didn't care what team he was on, but Troy hated the fact that he was on varsity. Everyone picked that up after the first practice, where Troy made Tip run suicides because he missed a three point shot (which the team thought was unfair because Zeke had missed it right before Tip and didn't have to run.)

He heard laughter and he turned his head. Troy was leading a group of boys into the locker room, their bags slung over their shoulders. Sighing, he leaned back. Troy was in charge of practice because Jack had a meeting. And Tip just couldn't wait.

So, what do you think their practice is going to be like?

Anyway, tell me what you think!

Review!