So, I'm glad you liked the last chapter!

Chapter 8

"Tip!"

He turned seeing his father walk up to him. A new bruise was forming on his cheek from his latest encounter with Troy. He bit his lip and looked up into the face of his father, a pit in his stomach. "Yeah."

Tip tasted blood in his mouth from a tooth Troy's fist had knocked loose. He swallowed, hoping the blood would go away. But just in case, he kept his mouth shut.

Jack lightly touched the bruise on Tip's cheek. "You need to tell me who's doing this to you," Jack said softly, looking into Tip's scared blue eyes.

Tip just shook his head. "I can't."

"I'm worried about you," Jack said, holding on to his son's shoulders. "Who ever is doing this to you has a problem. They need help."

"You wouldn't understand," Tip said. He knew, that even if he did tell the truth, Jack wouldn't believe him. Who would believe Tip? Troy never did anything bad in his life. "You wouldn't believe me."

"I would Tip," Jack said. "I promise you."

"Don't make promises that you can't keep," Tip hissed before breaking loose from his father's grasps and running out of the house.

"Little Tippy mad?" a voice mocked when Tip ran down the stairs. Tip turned around and growled at Troy who was leaning against the house, a smirk on his face.

"Get away from me!" Tip yelled. "I thought brothers were supposed to look out for each other. Not beat each other up!"

"Shut up you brat," Troy said. "Dad's in there!"

"I don't care. I don't care anymore! I hope you die and rot in the ground," Tip hissed. "You don't deserve all the attention you get, you deserve a prison cell!"

"Don't talk to me like that-"

"Don't tell me how to talk!"

Troy's face grew cold and he grabbed Tip's arm, yanking him forward so they were looking into each other's eyes. "I'm your brother!"

"I don't have a brother," Tip spat in Troy's face.

"Good," Troy said with a smile. "You'll be packing your stuff then?"

Tip shook his head and pulled his arm out of Troy's hand before running down the sidewalk. He ran as fast as he could away from the house, sure that Troy was following him. He took various routes, trying to lose Troy, before he stopped in the darkness. He realized Troy wasn't following him, and hadn't been. He cursed under his breath.

Tip had given Troy everything he wanted without even knowing it.

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"Where did he go!"

"Jack," Elaine said, trying to calm him down. Jack just shook his head and turned to Troy.

"What did you say to him?"

"It's my fault now?" Troy yelled. "I didn't say a word to him! He pushed me out of the way and ran down the street. He wants to get killed. If those guys are after him in broad daylight, imagine what they'll do when it's dark."

"Troy," Elaine said in a warning voice.

Jack grabbed his jacket off the hanger on the wall and motioned for Troy to follow him. "Come with me to look for him," Jack said.

"No!" Troy said. "The kid's a brat. Let him go off, he'll come back. Or maybe we'll be lucky and he won't"

Jack sighed and threw Troy his jacket anyway while Elaine looked outraged. "Troy Alexander!" she shrieked.

The door flew open and Tip stormed in. Jack and Elaine gave a sigh of relief, although they were still slightly mad at him for running off. Tip barged by Troy, who was about to say something when Tip cut him off. "Stay away from me!"

"My pleasure!" Troy yelled to Tip's retreating back.

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"Bree," Tip asked seriously during study hall. He knew he needed to tell someone about Troy. He's come into Tip's room the other night and and put a pillow over his face. Tip knew if he wanted to live, he'd need to tell someone, and Bree seemed like the perfect person. "How do you tell your parents if you're in an abusive relationship with someone?"

"Tip, who is it?" Bree asked. "What girl would – or could – hurt you?"

"It's not a girl," Tip said. "It's someone we both know very well."

Bree didn't seem to understand. She gave him a pressing look. Tip looked around, no one seemed to be looking or listening to them. "It's Troy," he whispered.

"You're kidding," she said, although she knew he wasn't.

"I can't tell anyone," Tip said. "No one would believe me. It's my word against Troy's."

"Wow," Bree said. "Tough one."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly."

"How long has he been, you know?" she asked.

"A while," Tip said. "It just recently got worse, like less than a month ago he started hitting me everyday."

"I don't know what to tell you Tippy," she said, sighing. "But I'm glad you told someone. I'll look on the Internet tonight. There's bound to be something on there that will help us."

"Thanks," he whispered, seeing the study hall teacher look over toward them. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Bree smiled, and Tip turned away with an embarrassed smile on his face. He had butterflies in his stomach.

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Tip walked into the gym after school looking for his father. Chad had told him there wasn't any practice for some reason, and Tip wanted to know why. It wasn't like Jack to cancel practice for no reason. He heard a noise in the empty gym and he walked onto the court. "Hello?" he said.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his mouth and a sharp pain in his side. His eyes widened in pain and he heard a hissing voice in his ear, but he couldn't understand what it was saying.

He dropped the to the ground and landing in a puddle. The gym door slammed shut and there was silence. He touched it with his finger and found that it was red. It was his blood. In the distance, he heard the creak of the door, but it seemed so far away.

"Tip!"

His world faded to darkness as Mace ran up to him.

Wow...well, tell me what you think!

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