The weekend came and gone, and I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about it. My mother never did apologize or at least acknowledge the issues between us. She didn't yell or scream at me once I got home Friday, so I guess I should be happy for that, but she acted as if nothing happened at all! When I came home after school she asked me how my day was, as if she didn't just see me a couple hours prior and witnessed that train wreck of an intervention.

She knew how at least a big part of my day went. Were we just going to pretend it never happened?

"What do you mean? You were at the office, how do you think it went?" I asked leaning against the doorway. She hummed as she bustled about the room, dusting every surface she could. This was a rare moment where I walked in on my mom not cooking nor even in the kitchen! She was in the living room with a duster.

"That's behind us dear, I meant the rest of your day." She said, reaching up to run her duster across the top of a lamp. Ah yes, we are just pretending like nothing ever happened. Forget whatever damage it does to our relationship, whenever things get uncomfortable, we just sweep it under the rug, no big deal. I rolled my eyes, at this new form of handling she adopted, but muttered a "fine." Referring to how my day went and moved on to a different part of the house.

I'd rather not talk at all, than have a fake conversation where we pretend to care what the other is saying. That was something Mom and her husband did often at the table, and it drove me absolutely nuts. One would ask how their day went and no matter what the other said, the first would answer back, "That's great dear".

I have tested this theory any chance I got, Whenever I am asked "How was your day?", and they weren't even looking at me while they asked, I'd know they weren't really listening. There were a multitude of answers I came up with.

"I dyed my hair purple."

"I killed a man today."

"I was offered a drink in a paper bag from some homeless guy, it tasted kind of funny."

"I eloped with a donkey, plan to move into his barn come morning."

Anything that seemed so clearly ridiculous that it might catch their attention. Not one of them worked though; they were all met with, "That's nice hun". I like to imagine for the day to come where I tell them something like that and it's true.

I always wondered how their relationship worked so well though when they didn't actually talk to each other. I mean how did they even notice one another? Did he just see a pretty face and decide, "Yup that's the one"? What were they going to do when they were both old, and retired and had nothing else but each other to entertain themselves?

By then the looks will have faded, and they weren't working now to add some substance to their union. Would they have to learn about each other then? Or will they just turn into two strangers living in the same big house, because it was easier to just cohabitate then start over at that point?

I don't know, maybe there was something else keeping them together that I just don't understand right now. I mean it isn't EVERYTIME they talk to each other that neither is really paying attention, sometimes my mom will hang on every word. I remember nights where I'd hear them talking late at night while I was trying to sleep. Most of this talk was about their future, nicer house, nicer lawn, finer clothes, going to fancy dinners, and having house parties.

Granted all these things were materialistic, but they were actually talking to each other, listening to each other, and giving genuine replies. Maybe to them this was the "love" they wanted. They both benefited by the high maintenance way of life, mom never had to worry about money and working ever again, and Tom never had to worry about keeping up with the home, and cooking any of his meals.

I couldn't help but think this just felt really… sad. Was that all they really wanted out of eachother? I mean it was a comfortable living, but it can only last and feel great for so long. Years from now, all you have is the person you decided to spend you life with. Gone will be the career, gone will be all the money, sometimes you don't even get to keep the house or furnishings if retirement can't cover it.

You just sit in your house with the person you are married to. And if you don't love, care or even know much about the person, won't that make it a miserable last few years? Maybe it was better than just being alone during that time, that is always a strong possibility.

Well I was determined that this wasn't going to be my future. I don't need a big house, I don't need an always green lawn, with nicely trimmed hedges. I certainly don't need uncomfortable high end furniture that you can't even sit in or stand on for very long, in fear that you might misshape it or sweat upon it.

That wasn't a life for me, I was going to keep a hold of what was important, and that was the people in it. I thought of a house just big enough to fit the family I obtained, we may have to shift things around, but we'd make it work. A loving husband, Me, and a couple kids. I think what was most important in a kid's life was simply having TWO loving parents.

So if I wanted a family of my own, that was going to be what I strived for. That was going to be a bit later down the line though, first I just wanted to focus on keeping some good friends around. I think I was doing really well for myself in that department; Beverly has so far been a great friend, she kind of reminds me of my old friends back in Nebraska.

Eyeball or Richard has been great too, he on more than one occasion has consoled or comforted me while Ace was being a bit of a jerk. And I felt comfortable enough with him to tell him about Will and Steve and he wouldn't make the situation worse for me, by retaliating against them.

He was perfectly fine just lending an ear, much like how Beverly doesn't mind lending her ear, and that was something I really appreciated them both for. Ace kept popping into my mind this weekend every time I thought about friends, and even worse, when I would think about my future life. I knew I wouldn't turn my back on him if he ever did want to get back to being friends, but I didn't want to give up hope on something that might not even happen.

Especially when it comes to thinking of him as a possible future husband, that was way to far in the future to be thinking about. We weren't even on friendly terms at the moment, so why did his face have to pop up everytime I thought of a perfect husband.

I hated my brain sometimes; I wish it would just cooperate once in a while. Over the weekend I did think about whether Ace has ever had to apologize for his behavior before or felt guilty over his actions before. Maybe expecting him to just say sorry was too much, and maybe he needed someone to let him know when it was time to give up the pride.

I really wanted him to take that first step, but now that I really thought about it, he probably didn't know how to do that. I was going to have to invite him to make amends, otherwise we might honestly just sit in silence for the rest of this year out of stubbornness alone.

I set my mind on this as a mission for Monday. I was so dead set on it, that I skipped breakfast completely, In a hurry to get to school and find the blonde. When I arrived at the building I didn't see his vehicle there, but that wasn't too odd. Many times he will pull up even after the first bell rings, giving himself just enough time to pull into homeroom as the 2nd bell tolls.

I didn't want to corner him in front of his buddies anyway, it was better to get the real Ace when he felt like it was just Him and I. So if I wanted to talk to him, it would have to be in homeroom anyway. I got everything I needed pretty quickly and headed to Mrs. Bullara's classroom.

I sat straight in my chair for the first few seconds staring at the door expectantly, but when I realized how crazy that seemed, I pulled up a book to make my waiting less obvious. As the seconds, and then minutes ticked by I became more and more nervous about the inevitable talk we needed to have.

However when the final bell rang and the seat next to me remained empty, I became worried. Ace despite popular belief I am sure has never been late to class this year. He knew he was on every teacher's list, so any chance they can have to get him in enough trouble to eventually kick him out, they'd take.

Ace who just wanted to pass high school well enough to get the hell out of this town, knew this, and acted accordingly. He may have been cutting it close a few times, but he was never truly late to a class. He was no longer with Holly as well, so there was no way he could be in her homeroom like he was a few times last week. I stared at the door to the classroom for many minutes before I finally accepted that he wasn't coming.

I grew worried soon enough, unable to think of absolutely nothing else but Ace the entire 30 minutes. So many reasons for his absence, passed through my mind. Was he sick? Did something happen that I wasn't aware of and he dropped out again, dashing his own hopes and dreams to get out of this stupid place? Was he hurt? I knew his dad was an abusive alcoholic, maybe the two had such a big fight that he couldn't make it in today.

The worry, and fear ate at my stomach so much that I felt like I could have hurled. My whole body was itching to get out of my seat and just go find some answers. Eyeball was his best friend surely he knew where Ace was, I just hoped that Whatever the reason Eyeball wasn't involved and gone too.

The bell rang after what felt like an eternity, and I shot out of the class like a speeding bullet, running straight to the hall where our lockers were. I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted his curly brown hair exiting a classroom just a short few feet away from where I stood. He caught my eye contact, and seemed to know exactly what I was doing by his locker.

He started to rub the back of his neck awkwardly as he approached.

"Hey short stuff, how was your weekend?" He asked ruffling my hair as he walked by.

"Cut the crap Eyeball, where is Ace?" I asked, pulling his large hand off my head, and following him further to his locker.

"And here I thought you didn't care anymore." He teased.

"Oh please you know that isn't true, he was a jerk, that doesn't mean I don't worry." I huffed, pushing the hair back out of my face nervously.

"I know, I know. Just trying to lighten the mood." He mumbled.

"Please Richard, where is he?" I pleaded, laying my head against the unoccupied locker beside him. His eyes shifted between my own and his locker a couple times, before sticking to something inside his locker.

"He got suspended early this morning."

That was not one of my possible reasons for absence this morning, this was one of the worst possible reasons it could have been though.

"What?! For how long? What did he do?"

"I don't know how long, I just know he was here early this morning and then left, haven't had the chance to talk to him since." He said. He sounded a bit cold, but I knew he was just as worried about his friend as I was.

"What did he do?" I asked. He only had one other class after English, what could he have possibly done so late in the day to deserve that kind of punishment. Eyeball groaned shutting his locker and leaning against it. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, probably contemplating whether to actually tell me or not, but soon his sighed heavily and spoke up.

"Well you will find out sooner or later. Sometime this weekend Will Baker, and Steve Mitchell both ended up getting this shit beat out of them."

My eyes widened at this news, I was so focused on where Ace was this morning I didn't even notice whether Will came into class today or not.

"Will got it Friday night, someone found him beaten and bloody outside the drive in, and Steve was found by a buddy of his outside a house party they were having." Eyeball explained.

"Oh my God, And Ace was caught?" I asked. I was still a little confused though how something on the weekend was being punished at school.

"Not technically, he was not seen by any bystanders, not even Will or Steve saw their attacker, they just both swear it was him. They had previous beef with him, so it was an easy pin." He said quietly, eyes shifting around the seas of people around us to make sure no one else was eavesdropping.

"Was it really him?" I asked.

"You know it was."

Yeah that was a dumb question, no doubt in my mind it was Ace, but why. It was too much of a coincidence for it to not revolve around my two incidents with the boys.

"How did he even know? I didn't tell him anything that actually happened." I asked mostly to myself, trying to think about a time I let anything slip. He knew I had a bad night with Will but I never even gave a hint as to how or why it was so bad. I then looked up at Eyeball to see him rubbing the back of his head again nervously.

"It was you and Beverly wasn't it? Please tell me you guys didn't go and tell him." I said, disappointed. They knew I didn't want Ace to know, and this was one of the reasons I didn't want him to know. I didn't need him going and messing up all his hard work over me.

"He cornered us, he knew something happened, he knew that we would know. I'm not going to lie to my friend Robin." Eyeball said defensively, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm your friend too Eyeball aren't I? And it wasn't like it was a lie to hurt him, it was to keep him in the dark, to prevent something like this from happening!"

"I know." He said, closing his eyes leaning his back now against his locker. I leaned back as well against the locker beside him, trying to find a way to help Ace out. Until I started piecing a few things together.

"What are you thinking about?" Eyeball asked from my side.

"He wasn't actually seen by anyone, not even Will or Steve right?" I asked looking over at him.

"Yeah that's what everyone is saying." He confirmed.

"And this happened on the weekend, not on school grounds." I asked again.

Eyeball nodded, "Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?" He asked even more confused.

I gave him a small smile.

"It means that they can't throw the book at him based on a hunch. Even if Ace looks a little battered, he always looks like he was recently in a fight, so it can't be held against him." I explained.

I leaned off the locker and turned to face Eyeball head on.

"Both are off school grounds, so that means police should have been involved first. However, they can't do anything without absolute proof. I am sure that's why it was brought here, his parents wanted Ace Punished." I continued, tapping a finger to my jaw in thought, as I pieced this puzzle together.

"No matter how much they want "Justice" though, The principal really can't do much about it." I finished with a grin.

"So you think he will come back?" Eyeball asked, pushing his body forward off his own locker.

"I would sure hope so, He really shouldn't be punished at all, but I am sure with such rich influential parents, Mr. Jensen would have to give in to them at least a little." I said, thinking back to the kind man.

"Thanks for letting me know what happened, we better start running though if we don't want to be late for our classes."

Eyeball grunted in agreeance and we both went our separate ways for our first period. In this school, it seemed that most of the core classes, we all had, so every class I was in, I made sure to copy down what the homework was, or in some cases asked the teacher for an extra sheet they handed out so I could give it to Ace. Those teachers gave me a rather suspicious eye as they did so, but I ignored it for the most part. I didn't want Ace to eventually get back here and be weeks behind the rest of the class and get no help from these small-minded people.

The day was mostly quiet, and after a while I stated to notice no one dared to even look me in the eye. I had a feeling this had something to do with what everyone assumes Ace did to the two boys. These kids were dumb, but I feel like they are smart enough to at least know that whatever the rumors were between Will, Steve and I, are related to them both getting hurt.

I did enjoy the peace, now that I was fully being left alone. More like avoided like the plague but beggars can't be choosers.

I was practically vibrating with energy by the time school finally ended and I was able to execute my plan. It would be a bit of a walk, but I knew better than to ask one of Ace's buddies for a ride to his house. Some of his other friends were a bit too handsy for my taste, and they would only give him shit if they knew I was heading over there to hand him homework. We'd also never have some time to talk.

So I decided to hoof it out to his place; even with it being a little ways out of town, it still wasn't any more than an hour away on foot. I remembered the way thankfully from the last few times we drove by and the one time I sat with him in his back yard while he worked on his racer.

The skies were clear today, making it perfect for such a walk, with papers in my hands. The air was a little crisp, but I was wearing a red sweater top with a warm brown knitted cardigan over it with a long skirt. This kept the full chill from entering my entire body, though it didn't keep the slight cold winds from biting my nose, cheeks, and fingers.

By the time I actually came upon his yard, my fingers were starting to feel a little numb, and I was sure my nose and cheeks were bright red. I faltered halfway down the little gravel driveway thinking about what I would do if his father answered the door. I didn't want to meet the mean SOB that made Ace as cold and mean as he could be, but I didn't stop.

I wanted to see Ace, and if his dad happened to be there so be it. However, I did cling to the comfort that Ace mentioned last time I was here that his dad was hardly ever around during the day. I marched up the few steps on the painted porch and went straight up to the door. The paint on the wood of the porch was faded and chipped horribly, there was some bullet holes seen in some of the boards as well.

The screen door of Ace's home had its screen torn and hanging off in shreds, while the door itself didn't exactly latch as it shut. The true door at least latched but it had chips and cracks where it looks like it may have been punched one too many times.

I raised a closed fist to the door and wrapped a few knocks to its surface, then stood back behind the two doors once more, waiting nervously. I was tapping my fingers against the books and papers I held in my hands rapidly, waiting and hoping that Ace opened up the door. I walked by his car on the way up to the porch, so I knew at the very least he was home.

After the longest minute of my life, I thought about stepping forward and knocking one more time, but before I could move, the inside door finally opened. I looked up and was relieved that it was in fact the younger Merrill standing behind the broken screen; he looked confused, and a little caught off guard, by my presence.

We stood there awkwardly looking at each other for a few seconds before I finally bucked up, clearing my throat.

"I brought your homework, so you wouldn't get set too far behind." I said lifting out the papers and two hard covered books, that I held in my hands.

he ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head at me before pushing a hand out to open the screen door.

"Get in before you freeze." He said gruffly, holding the door open, and letting me pass him by. I Couldn't help but notice the state of his hands as I passed by. The one holding the door had bruising along the knuckles and a few scratches on the back of his hand.

"It's not as bad as it looks." He said closing the door behind us.

" I sure hope not." I said softly looking around the house. It was mostly empty, but that was to be expected with just two guys, who both rarely seem to want to be here. From here I could see the living room which held an old brown leather couch, with a radio sitting on a scratched up side table right beside it.

There was a small coffee table, that had a few cup rings on it's surface, with a little pile of beer cans sitting on top. From what I could see into the kitchen through a large doorway was the small wooden table with 4 mismatched chairs. There was a pack of cigarettes laying near one of the chairs that was set out, with a deck of cards by it's side, and another smaller radio sitting in the middle of the table spewing off the announcements of a game.

If I had to guess it was a football game, since that was the season right now, and that was where Ace was previously while I knocked.

"If I expected company I would have clean up a bit." Ace said as he came up behind me to walk into the living room and started picking up the pile of empty cans, crushing them in his arms, and walking them into the kitchen where the trash can must be.

"It's alright, I came unannounced, honestly it's not that bad either." I said.

Besides the beer cans that could have been either from his father or Ace having a bad night last night, the house wasn't dirty. It was bare, old, with some obvious signs of rageful residence, but there wasn't a pile of dishes in the sink, the floor wasn't mucked up with mud, dirt, and debris, or crumbs.

In all honesty it looked decently kept up, and I doubted Mr. Merrill was doing any of this upkeep, which means this must be the work of Ace.

"It's actually much cleaner than I thought it would be." I admitted, looking around in the kitchen, taking note of the bare counters, and a few of the cupboards had cracks that were obviously to me caused by a fist going through them.

"You thought I'd live in a pig stye?" He asked, walking over to the fridge opening it up, and grabbing two bottles of coke. I laughed nervously, setting the books and papers on top of the table.

"Not that bad, but I didn't picture you to care or have an eye for cleanliness." I said, taking the bottle he handed me. We both sat at the table, him in the spot he was taking up before I arrived and me in a chair on one side of him. I inspected his hands closer this time, seeing both of them looked pretty busted. Ace's hands always had some cuts and bruises, either due to a small fight or as injuries he receives working on those vehicles, but I can tell they were at a much worse state right now.

"How long are you out?" I asked, avoiding the question I really wanted to ask, which was along the lines of why he did it in the first place. I didn't think he'd answer that honestly though, so I opted for something simpler.

"Just three days." Ace said, taking a cigarette out of the pack on the table and lighting it up. I raised my eyebrows at him. I knew that technically he didn't deserve a punishment from the school period, but I thought for sure with the parents he pissed off it would be a little worse than that.

Ace knew what I was thinking and gave a shrug as he took a drag from his little cancer stick.

"Jensen has a big soft spot for me. Says he sees a bit of himself in me, and wants to see me do well. Those old biddies did try to get me expelled though." Ace said with a grin. I smiled back at him aand smacked him lightly on the shoulder as I stood.

"You got a first aid kit?" I asked looking around the kitchen. Ace pulled a face at me.

"You think this is the kind of house with a first aid kit?"

I shook my head, "You're right dumb question, where's your bathroom, I will see what you have." I said, walking towards the old doorway in the kitchen.

"You saw the hallway when you came in right across from the front door. First door on the left." He explained shuffling his deck of card setting up for some unknown game.

I followed his directions easily, with it being such a small house I could have guessed and been correct, but just incase I didn't want to enter a bedroom without permission. Once inside I turned on the light and went straight to the medicine cabinet. I found a few rouge bandaids scatted amongst the shelves in there.

Looking below the sink I was happy to see they had a simple bottle of alcohol there. With those few things in hand I opened what I assumed was the towel closet, and picked up the only folded and clean washcloth there was sitting on the top shelf.

With all the items in hand I made my way back in the kitchen and spotted Ace looked like he was simply spotting matches amongst the cards. I pulled my chair over to sit closer to the blonde, setting all my goods out on the table and pushing the schoolwork up further to get it out of the way.

I snatch one of Ace's hands placing it on the table while I poured some alcohol on the cloth. Once there was a good soaked spot on the rag I brought it up to some of the more red cuts and started dabbing it on as gently as I could. Since it was pure alcohol I knew it must have stung, but he his hands didn't flinch even a little.

"So you really just come here to drop off some homework and patch me up?" He asked. I looked up at his stoic face, as he stared down at his cards, a cigarette hanging loosely between his lips, as he used one hand to flip over the cards.

I thought of just staying quiet or asking him what else would I have been here for, but decided against it. No point in acting cold and angry with him now.

"I was a little worried when you didn't show up for class. And after I heard what happened I wanted to make sure you were okay." I said, trying to make it sound as simple as possible, so he wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

"Had to make sure you didn't ruin everything you worked so hard for the past few months." I scolded lightly.

"Aw you do care." He teased sarcastically. I would have barked right back, but at that moment I happened to put some fresh alcohol on a rather gruesome cut, might have been a scrape of one of the boy's teeth against his skin. His hands didn't move but I could see his eye give a twitch and his jaw clench for a split second, telling me it did hurt him.

So I kept myself in control.

"You already know I do." I said now looking down at my work. After I felt I cleaned the one gnarly cut well enough I took a bandage to put over it, then continued on a few smaller cuts else where on the hand.

"Could have fooled me the last time we talked." He said, flipping a few cards in a row with matches in rapid session.

"You hurt me."

There was a quiet pause in the room after that, I didn't look at him, and continued my work on his hand, his other hand was paused over another card unmoving for a few seconds before slowly laying against it and turning it over. We sat in silence for a few minutes, while I finished up his right hand. Once I was satisfied with the work on it, I placed it closer to him, took hold of the hand was using to play and gently brought it over to me.

"I'm sorry."

My head snapped up to look at him, Not sure if I heard him correctly or not. I met his gaze, but his face was set in an unreadable expression, and it didn't look like he would be repeating himself any time soon.

I smiled at him, wiggling in my chair a bit.

"I forgive you." I said pouring some alcohol onto the rag once more to start cleaning the next hand.

"Just like that?"

I nodded, looking at him with a smile for a second before moving back to the task at hand.

"Well yeah. You're my friend Ace, I'm not going to hold a grudge."

I then held up his hand towards him delicately.

"Besides you did just beat the crap out of people for me." I giggled, placing the hand back on the table and finishing up my task.