Author: Skytate17

Title: Pressure

Summary: They say high school changes everyone..

Note: ok from now on the story really begin….. enjoy!

Chapter 6 - Hiding

"Bridge, I'm not going to this 'group' thing. I don't do group," Sky said, throwing the pink flyer at Bridge's face. Bridge picked it up, and stuffed it into his pocket.

"You're coming."

"No," Sky said, "I'm not."

Bridge grabbed onto Sky's arm, and forcefully pulled him down the stairs. "You're coming with me."

Sky rolled his eyes, and pushed Bridge off of him. He walked down the rest of the stairs, as Bridge followed. They walked until they reached the library, where the it would be held. Sky looked inside the library door window. He quickly ran behind Bridge, and ducked "You go in first."

"Why?," Bridge rose an eyebrow.

"Uh.. the principal's in there."

Bridge looked behind him, and laughed. "No, the principal's right there," he pointed.

Sky blushed. "Uh. I just want you to go in first."

"Whatever," Bridge opened the door, and walked into the air-conditioned library. Sky shuffled in behind him, ducking behind his hood once again. He followed Bridge to a table like a puppy, and slammed himself into a chair. He set his head down on a table, and covered his face with his arms.

Bridge soon tapped Sky on the shoulder. "I know why you're hiding. She left, it's okay to come out now," Bridge whispered. Sky immediately lifted his head up, and sighed. "Finally. I can breathe again!"

Bridge snickered. "Look beside you."

Sky wished he hadn't. "Hi Sky!," Syd perkily exclaimed. Sky shot a look over to Bridge. "I hate you," he mouthed. Bridge replied with a huge grin.

"SKY! I can't believe, you're, like here! Why would you come here? You don't need to come here! You're too cool for this," sYD said. Sky internally laughed at Syd, since she talked at the speed of light.

"Bridge dragged me here," he muttered. Bridge playfully slapped Sky. "Shut up. You didn't resist!"

"You pulled me down the stairs!"

Bridge rolled his eyes, and started to walk away. "I gotta go. I'm meeting my girls at the mall."

Sky nearly jumped out of chair. He walked over to Bridge, and pulled him by the shirt. "You're.. you're.. you're leaving?," Sky stuttered.

"Yep! The group thing isn't until tomorrow, and I'm not going anyways!"

"WHAT?," Sky's eyes bulged out of his forehead, "you can't leave me here with .. her!"

"Yes I can," Bridge grinned, ripping Sky's hand off of his shirt. With that, he quickly walked out of the library. Sky stood in the same position, with butterflies forming in his stomach. He felt sweat forming on his forehead, and his heart began to race.

Sky liked Syd. He had never liked a girl this quickly before, but he was sure he did. The moment she tapped him on the shoulder, he knew. Just everything about her made him forget his life at home, his reality. He knew he should be happy about being alone with her, but he wasn't. He'd never been left alone with a girl before that he'd actually liked. His friends back home always used to set him up on dates with girls, but they usually turned out to be lesbians, whores, sluts, etc. Those types of girls turned on his friends; but not him. He liked clean cut girls with personality, that could make him laugh, make him smile.

Like Syd.

He turned around, and decided to face his fears. He shuffled his feet back to the table, and sat down quietly. Syd was currently slouched down in her chair, looking at a magazine.

"Ahem," Sky cleared his throat, taking the magazine out of Syd's hands. "Oh, you came back!," she said, sitting up straight, "you were just standing over there, looking into space. For like 5 minutes."

Sky's breath got caught in his throat. "Uh, I was just looking at a book."

Syd rose an eyebrow. "You read?"

Sky nodded. "Yep."

He really did too. Sky had been into books since he was 3 years old. He used to read books over and over again until he had them memorized. Once he reached the 2nd grade, he realized reading wasn't the in thing, so he didn't tell anyone how interested in books he was. But secretly, at home, he read and read until he fell asleep. When he entered middle school, he got more interested in writing. He wrote deep into the night; sometimes he never even slept. He was engrossed in it. Hidden away in his closet, were thousands of stories he had written.

Writing was a way of getting away from it all, and letting everything out. Instead of talking about stuff to people, he wrote about it on paper. It was his only way of relief from his hectic life.

"Sky, Sky," Syd snapped her fingers in front of his face, "are ya in there?"

Sky rubbed his forehead. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

"About.."

He looked around the room. Several people were around, and he didn't want them listening in on to their conversation. He hated when people did that.

"Wanna go outside?"

"Uh, sure?," Syd smiled.

Sky stood up, and without even thinking first, grabbed Syd's hand. She squeezed it tight before they left the library, and walked out of the school. They walked straight to a bench nearby, and sat down immediately.

Sky looked to Syd, who was looking down at her feet. His eyes fell to where their hands laid on the bench. A knot formed in his stomach. They were still holding hands. Neither of them had even realized it.

That made him smile.

"Syd," he said. She quickly looked up, sending her curly hair into a frenzy. "What?"

"Are you hungry?"

It took Syd a while to answer, but Sky made nothing of that. She fixed her hair a little before finally opening her mouth.

"Yeah, I am!," she grinned.

Sky took a deep breath, and closed his eyes before actually asking. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do it. He'd never asked a girl to go anywhere with him, but for once, he wanted to.

"Wanna go to my house? My dad's ordering pizza tonight," Sky said, which was a total lie. His dad probably wouldn't even be home, and if he was, he'd be drunk. That was the usual thing.

Surprisingly, Syd quickly answered with a "Yes."

----

Sky slowly opened the door of his house, and led Syd in. They walked immediately up to his room, having Sky seen his father in the living room with beer cans scattered across the floor. Syd bounced onto Sky's bed, and nearly fell off onto the other side.

"I'm sorry it's not clean in here. I don't have a mother to tell me to clean it."

Syd sat up on the bed, and patted the space beside her. "Why not?"

"She's dead," Sky sat down, taking his coat off. He laid it down on the floor next to him, and laid down on the bed. Syd went back to her position before, and laid down next to him.

"How'd she die?"

"My dad's never told me."

"Oh," the room became silent. Sky saw Syd staring down at the floor, and he knew exactly what she was staring at. She watched as she extended her arm to the floor, and picked up an object.

The picture of his mom.

"Is this her?," she asked, holding it in front of Sky's face. He nodded, quickly looking away. "She's pretty. You look like her."

"It's better than looking like my dad," he admitting.

"Hey, don't be mean," Syd laughed, setting the picture down on the bed.

"Why don't you tell him that?," he said to himself. The room was quiet again, and Sky could clearly hear his father downstairs. He wasn't sure if Syd could, she was distracted at the moment. She had gotten off the bed, and was now looking through his closet and drawers.

Sky shot up as he heard a loud bang coming from downstairs. He got off the bed, and walked to his door. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"OKAY!," Syd said, with one of Sky's shirts in hand.

He started down the stairs, and unknowingly, Syd curiously follwed him. She wanted to know where he was going. As he walked into his living room, she hid behind a corner, and watched from 3 feet away.

"Dad, what just happened? I heard a loud noise."

"This mother fucking TV happened! It's a piece of shit!," he screamed, throwing the remote across the room once again.

"Want me to fix it?," Sky asked. Sky's father stood up from the couch, and opened up another can of beer. "What do you think?," he said.

Sky nodded, and walked to the television. To him, it looked fine. Nothing was wrong with it. This always happened. When his dad drinks, his vision becomes impaired, and he sees things differently. Sky always tries to fake fix things, but to his dad, it doesn't look fixed.

Leading to more abuse.

Sky shook as he played with the cords behind the TV, knowing what was coming soon. He messed around with the cords for a few minutes, until he was satisfied.

"There," he said, standing up. He tried to get away, but soon enough felt the tight grip of his father's hand around his neck. His father then wrapped his other arm around his waist, and pulled him closer to him.

"You didn't fix it AGAIN! That's nothing new, huh? You're such a worthless piece of shit, that I have to call my son!," his father yelled into his ear. Sky found himself lying face down on the floor, with his father kneeling down next to him. Sky cringed at every hit his father made to his back, with his face lundged down into the floor. He gasped for breath every time his dad took a break, but it just kept going and going.

When he finally got the time to look up, for some odd reasons, his eyes went straight to a corner.

The corner where Syd was.

He could see her clearly, even though she thought she appeared hidden. He could see her, with her hands covering her eyes. Sky's father picked him up with one hand, and stood him up straight.

"Now, you, go up to your room, and don't come out until I leave for work, you hear me?," he gripped onto Sky's shoulders. Sky nodded.

"YOU HEAR ME?"

"I HEAR YOU!," Sky screamed back. His father let go, and pushed him toward the stairs. He watched as Syd sprinted up the stairs, trying to make it seem like she hadn't seen a thing.

Sky walked into his room, to see Syd laying on his bed again. She smiled at him as he walked in.

"Hi!," she said.

Sky sat down next to her. "Hi!," he replied in the same voice.

Syd suddenly wrapped her arms around Sky's neck, and hugged him tightly. "You're a cool guy, Sky, don't forget that okay?," she whispered into his ear.

"I won't."