Nate

You sigh as you walk up the stupid, pointless, familiar pathway to your house. You can't bare to think of it as your home. Home is where the heart is. All that there is at this house is angst. Heart ache. Drama. Shit. Just shit. Home is supposed to be the place that you go to to feel safe. Not to be afraid.

Which is what you were at this very moment. You bite your lip rather roughly before grabbing the door knob. The instant you do, the door opens swiftly to reveal your father, angry and most likely drunk. You feel your mouth shut tightly, almost painfully, trying your hardest not to show you are afraid. "H-hey." you try to say casually. "Inside. Now." he hisses, pulling you in and slamming the door shut. You get that familiar feeling traveling through your stomach and your legs, understanding what was about to happen. Your eyes widen slightly when you see Shane sitting on the couch, his bottom lip busted. You glare at your father, only to be smacked back into looking away.

"Where the hell were you Nate?" he shouts, almost accusingly. You narrow your eyes slightly, looking back at him, trying your hardest not to show the pain surging through your cheek. "I told you-" you choke slightly, spitting up small drops of blood. You see Shane look away wincing. You make sure not to look at him either. "I was at Mitchie's! She's my-friend!" just before you finished your sentence, he gripped tightly on the collar of your shirt, pulling you up off the ground, slightly choking you. You cough slightly, looking into his smoldering, glaring, bloodshot eyes. "Don't try to pull that shit on me." he hisses, letting you smell the vodka on his breath, causing your nose to crinkle slightly. "Where the hell were you? Huh? Who did you tell? Who did you go crying to?! HUH?! The cops?!" he screams, making you flinch back. You see Shane itching to get up and help you but you frantically shake your head at him. "No!" you yell frantically, instantly as he finishes talking.

Suddenly, he throws you against the ground, looking at you disgusted. You gasp slightly, holding your side that you landed on. "You are such a fucking wimp." he hisses at you, kicking you hard. You clamp your teeth shut to silence the desperate scream of pain.

As soon as you hear the front door slam shut, informing you that he was gone, you let out a deep ragged breath as tears stream down your face. Shane instantly comes to you, helping you up slowly. "I'm sorry." he repeats over and over again, helping you to the couch. You shake your head for two reasons. Firstly, waving off his apology, knowing that absolutely none of this was his fault. Second, misunderstanding of why you are constantly in this situation.

3 Weeks Later (Regular POV)

Mitchie narrowed her eyes at Nate as he faked a smile at her, after just telling her that he broke his rib after falling off of his skate board. "Jesus Nate!" she said quietly, considering they were in class. "This is like the fourth time this month that you have come back to school after a night in the hospital! Stop hurting yourself!" she cried jokingly, grabbing his shoulders. He felt a strange feeling surge through his chest as she did so. They were partnered up for another project in theater. They had to memorize a stanza and act it out in front of the class, as well as everyone else. They were just talking now, considering they already had theirs memorized.

Mitchie gave Nate a sympathetic grimace, gently pressing a finger to his rib. "How does it feel now?" she asked, giving a small smile. He feigned another smile and shrugged. "They got me on a ton of pain killers at the moment. So I can barely feel it." he lied.

Of course he could feel it. Physically. Emotionally.

His own father did this to him. And here he was, lying to his best friend about it. And for some strange reason, he could see in her eyes that she didn't believe his story one bit.

Maybe it was the sad desperate attempt at lying to the one person that meant something to him. Sad and desperate because he didn't even own a skateboard. An attempt because of the look in her eyes, letting him know that he was a terrible liar.

To her at least.

"Nate..." she said softly, shaking her head. She knew by now, that Nate's dad hit him "occasionally." That's what he told her. He sighed. "He swore it wouldn't happen again." he assured her, looking into her eyes. "Just don't tell anyone." he pleaded. Her eyes narrowed and widened. "Nate!" she whispered. "He broke your rib!" Nate just shook his head. "He promised. He swore." he muttered, looking away.

"Nate, I swear to fucking Christ, if it happens again..." she left her threat open, unsure of her feelings at the moment. He just nodded. "OK. OK." he agreed in a small lie. Next time, he would just have to keep it from her the best he could.

2 Weeks Later

Nate

You laugh along with her, as if you were still just her friend. Which, you were. At first, you tried to make it seem as if you didn't like her as more than a friend. Then, you finally told her you did, and she didn't feel the same.

She said she didn't feel the same.

So here you are now, trying to act as if you don't love her. Because if she didn't even like you, then you know that there is no way in hell that she will ever be in love with you. As if she could go from just wanting to be your friend to miraculously falling in love with you in just a matter of months.

"Nate?" she countered you from your thoughts. "Huh? What?" you ask stupidly, shaking your head. "Sorry." you mutter. "Zoned out." She shakes her head and gives a small laugh. "I said do you want to go see a movie or something tomorrow? I mean, it is Friday.." she asked. You smile instantly and nod. "Sure. Sounds great. I got nothing better to do on a Friday." you say, almost a little breathless, only you understanding the double meaning in those words. Because Fridays were the worst. "When do you want me to come and get you?" you ask, grabbing your back pack as the bell rang. She smiled and shrugged. "We live like three streets from each other. I can just walk to your-" she starts, but you interrupt her. "Cool. So I'll pick you up at 6?" you decide, walking her to her bus. She laughs and nods. "See you later Nate." she mumbles, giving you a tight hug.

:::*:::*:::*:::*:::

Hey readers let me just start off by saying, (AND DON"T READ IF YOU HAVEN"T SEEN THE NEW EPISODE OF JONAS. SPOILER ALERT) That I am so fricking HAPPY that Joe and Stella finally kissed! TWICE!!! They are finally together! Frick yes! Haha. She is so lucky.

Well, here you have it. The new chapter of WMCBU. I really hope you liked it! I decided to leak some drama and background into this one. R&R? Yes? No?

Love always always always

:::*Kristen*:::