The group was at the eat-and-play place. Preston was busy wasting his time at a slot machine for tickets which was rigged, Joe was playing whatever first person shooter game he could find with Charles and Martin was wasting his time at a machine trying to hit a mark at the right time to win as many tickets as possible.

Joe checked his wrist watch, "Oh my god, it's almost four o clock." Charles put the play gun down,

"Already?" he looked around to see his younger siblings had already gotten their prizes, Jen was waiting for them, annoyed, "I guess we're gonna leave soon anyway. Thanks for coming."

Joe began to walk out, "See ya-" Charles suddenly remembered, grabbing his shoulder,

"Oh hey wait! Did Cary ever walk in? I didn't see him."

"No. I don't think so."

He shrugged, "Family stuff I guess."

Joe nodded in agreement, "Yeah, his cousins here…" he suddenly got the thought, he raised an eyebrow, "Hey…did he sound ok when you called him?"

Charles was confused, "He sounded fine. Why?"

Joe was still bugged by his last visit, "I met his cousin and the three of us came here yesterday and…something about the two…they seemed really intense with each other all the sudden like…something happened."

Charles raised a confused brow, "Huh…"

"Yeah." he had an idea, "Maybe I should stop by and check in on him."

"Joe, you know Cary hates it when people go 'watch dog' on him." and Charles knew it. Cary always wanted to believe he could handle things on his own and that no one had to be hunched over his shoulder all the time.

"Well he doesn't have to know that." Joe smirked before heading out, "Bye Charles."

He biked over to Cary's, he hopped off when he got to his front driveway but wondered if anyone was home when he noticed the car wasn't there. He shrugged it off and threw his bike down, running over to the side where Cary's bedroom window was. He did his usual routine of slamming his face onto the window but noticed he wasn't even in there.

"Cary?" he called out. He then decided to do the 'polite' thing and knock on the door. "Is anyone home?" he called.

Cary was back in the bathroom, rubbing his fingers on his teeth to make sure he didn't feel any more blood, "Joe?" he called to ensure he could hear him.

"Hey, can you let me in?"

Cary quickly brushed a little blood stain on his tooth, "Yeah, just hold on!" he swished and spit with water one last time. He smiled and made other various movements with his mouth into the mirror to make sure everything was gone. He wasn't sure if the cut had healed but as long as it wasn't visible. He ran over to the front door,

"Hey." Joe greeted warmly.

"Hey uh…" Why did he have to come now? "Tell Charles I'm sorry I couldn't come-"

"Oh no, he's cool…Can I come in?"

"Yeah come." he replied waving a hand…although he really didn't want anyone over. Especially with Caleb in the other room. What the hell had he been doing for so long Cary wondered. Definitely not feeling guilty he bet.

They stood at the entrance awkwardly,

"So…" Joe exclaimed playing with his pants pockets.

"So…" Cary copied. He may as well ask, "Why did you come? It's kind of late."

"Oh uh, I just thought I'd stop by to see…" he glanced deeply at Cary's lip, "Why you didn't…Cary…"

"What?"

"Cary! Your bleeding!"

Cary suddenly felt it drooling out, he slapped his hand over his mouth, "SHIT!" he yelled. The cut did not heal. He ran back into the bathroom slamming the door behind him. Joe wasn't fast enough and he was standing outside the door, he could hear the sink running.

"Rinse with salt water! That heals the wound!" Joe yelled, having had his own experience with braces. Cary cracked open the door, poking his head though,

"Bring me the salt shaker will you?" he mocked, somewhat embarrassed that he didn't think of that.

Cary was done, the wound couldn't have stung more once he swished the salt water in his mouth, but because of that he had finally found exactly where the cut was and was holding a piece of tissue paper against it, still bleeding out a bit. The two sat in the kitchen at the table,

"I cut myself so many times when I had braces don't worry." Joe tried to reassure.

"I know…two more months." he said changing sides of the paper.

Joe sat upright, "But…it shouldn't bleed that much."

Cary kept a straight face although he felt his heart jump a bit, he shrugged, Joe knew something was up…he always knew when Cary was hiding something,

"Did something happen?"

Cary couldn't keep his eyes from widening in fear.

"You seemed really intense with Caleb yesterday-"

"I fell." he stood up. "I was on my bike earlier and I lost control. Fell, landed on concrete, you happy now?" The best lie he could come up with.

Joe seemed to believe it, and at the same time, he knew Cary was lying, "Where are your other bruises from falling then?"

Damn it…Cary rolled his sleeve up on his left arm, the green blotches were still there (barley) "See?" he held his arm out to Joe,

He still didn't believe it, he laughed a little, "Cary, I know you're hiding something."

Cary could feel his cheeks get hot, most likely out of anger that Joe wouldn't drop it…but it wasn't really Joe interrogating him getting on his nerves, it was the one who caused him to interrogate him that was.

"If you don't want me to tell anyone I wont."

Cary trusted Joe, and knew he did in return. Which bothered him that he wasn't even telling the truth in any way, shape or form right then. Suddenly he heard a lock from the hallway click.

Oh shit, Caleb!

"So, can you tell me? As a friend-"

"Go home." Cary couldn't let him get hurt. He wasn't going to.

"What?"

"GET OUT!" he started to push him to the backdoor, Joe relentlessly tried to fight him.

"Cary what the hell is wrong with you-"

"Leave! Go!"

"Your acting like a fool!" he couldn't fight him off as Cary wanted Joe out. He was able to push him out of the back,

"Go home!" he slammed the door shut and locked it. He then slammed his body back to the door, relieved. Joe was infuriated.

"What the hell?"

He tried to drop his anger as he proceeded to walk around the house and grab his bike. Cary watched him pedal down the street, happy…and upset. He wanted to tell Joe so badly. But he wouldn't swallow his pride just yet. The first week was almost over. If he can make this, he could make the other week smoothly. He sighed to himself, he knew Joe would get over it. Joe could forgive anything.

"Who was that?" he jumped, turning around. It was Caleb.

"No one. A door to door salesmen." he lied.

"What were they selling?"

"My fucking GOD!" the irritation just wouldn't end for him, "A-sp-vacuum cleaner." He had almost said spoons, his mind running back and forth from one thought to the other. A habit he has had since…birth. As he got older however, his mind only did it when he had high anxiety…which especially let Cary's thoughts spiral out of control.

"Ok…" he had his arms folded.

Cary awkwardly glanced to the side of Caleb, staring at the wall…not in the mood for talking. To him especially. Suddenly Caleb lifted Cary's chin up observing his lip,

"Is it ok?"

Cary smacked his hand away, "It's fine. No thanks to you." he wasn't afraid he told himself. If he wasn't scared of an alien, this was like a spider to him. Helpless, and could be easily crushed.

"Hey, who do you think your talking to?"

"My cousin!" Cary brought himself up to him, "My cousin who has absolutely no power over me!" He tried to size up to him, his face a perfect war mask, showing him the fury in his eyes that he would not back down.

"Our parents are back."

Cary turned around to see the car pull up. He turned back to Caleb to give him his look some more, he rolled up his sleeve, "When they see this and after I show them my blood stained tissue, we'll see who wins." Cary still had the tissue shoved in his pocket. Suddenly Caleb squeezed Cary's face in his hand,

"I don't think so…little cousin. Because for all they know, you could've just 'fallen off your bike'." He let go.

He had been listening to him and Joe's conversation…Cary had to think…who were they going to believe, their 14 year old son…or their 22 year old, mature, older and 'wiser' nephew…Cary hated the fact that he even doubted his own family. The door opened behind them, hitting Cary on the back,

"Woah! Sorry, didn't see you there." his aunt Sherri replied, face bright red from the Lillian sun. The rest crowded through, Nathan carrying everything and not happy about it.

"My god…" he dumped everything onto the couch, "I hate crowded beaches…and jellyfish. Jellyfish especially." he complained. Their mother was untying her hair,

"Will you calm down? We'll go back another time."

"Oh yeah, terrific." Nope, Nathan was not in a good mood.

"And how are you?" she asked cheerfully.

Cary was still angry, hatefully glaring at Caleb waiting for him to charm his mother even more.

"We're good." Caleb noted, he suddenly elbowed Cary, "Cary here kept things exciting for me."

"Just shut up!" he wanted to say so badly, "Stop it." It just slipped out.

His mother got surprised, "What's with you?"

Cary didn't respond. A little too angry to think before he spoke. His mother folded her arms,

"I asked you a question, young man." Whenever she used 'young man' she meant business. Cary looked up at her, "What's with this attitude you've been having?" She hardly had to use a stern tone, that was his dad's job, and Cary just couldn't take her seriously when she used it. In this case he was just too angry.

"Answer me." she sounded so nasty, Cary had to say something. Anything just to satisfy her.

"…I don't know." he answered. Plain and simple. He forcefully swallowed the shame, anger and loathing he had within him, feeling heat up in his head.

She held her head up high, their was casual chatter in the kitchen, Caleb just stared between the two, she tried to get back to being 'sweet' again, "If we need to have a talk, you can ju-"

Cary walked towards his room, cutting her off completely, he had an idea within his spiraling mind.

"Hey! Look at me!" her voice silenced everyone in the kitchen. Cary turned around, "Do I need to punish you just to talk to you?"

"Oh god yes…please!" Anything to get to stay in his room he thought. He didn't care if it was in front of his relatives. Being in trouble would lead him out of trouble. He stayed quiet, looking at Caleb in the eyes. He didn't like the fact he had to make his mother angry however,

"Cary…go to room and wait for your father." Cary nodded, turning around, closing his eyes and smirking to himself. So relieved.

-X-

Cary sat in his room, looking through the different cherry bombs he kept in his drawer, shuffling them in his hands to keep himself entertained. He heard the knob turn, he jumped up to his feet.

"Cary?"

…It was his Nathan, he had hoped it was his father…ready to give him a punishment that would keep him busy and away from Caleb. He walked in,

"Wha…I thought dad was coming in."

"I just had to spend the last ten minutes talking them into getting you out of trouble."

…Cary's mind went blank, "Thanks a lot…"

"What's with you? You've been acting nothing like yourself." he swiped a hand, emphasizing 'nothing'.

"I told you nothing's wrong." he said bouncing onto his bed, still holding a cherry bomb in his hand.

"Something." he responded, not giving up without a fight.

"I just…" he shut his eyes, unable to think of anything else to say, "I don't know. Didn't you ever go through a phase like this?"

He laughed, "Not that I remember…do you?"

Cary rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Look, they said they just want to know what's wrong. So if you don't want to tell them, can you tell me?"

Cary licked his lips, nodding, "No."

"..no?" he was confused.

"That's what I said." he started rolling the cherry bomb around in his hand, trying to distract himself from all the anger that was left.

"Hey listen." he started to get serious, his tone was enough to get Cary's attention, "I don't know what's wrong with you. But when you figure out come tell me."

He started to walk out, Cary had to let the anger out…unfortunately the only thought he had was all wrong, he breathed heavily,

"I told you…NOTHING IS WRONG!" he shouted, Nathan turned around. Some of the heat in his head was gone…but he couldn't let it all out without more yelling,

"SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Nathan looked at him, anger and fury in his eyes, "You know something Cary?" he asked violently, "You are psycho!" he grabbed the handle of the door, "YOU HEAR ME? PSYCHO!" he slammed his bedroom door. Cary couldn't handle it, he locked his door then opened up his drawer (almost having it fall out of its set) and snatched out the lighter shoving it into his pocket. He climbed out of his bedroom window running as far away from his home as possible.

All his anger and rage seemed lodged in his chest, head and stomach. Like he couldn't get it out. He went to a small, open area that no one seemed to visit. He took the cherry bomb, lighting it with the match. He looked at it as it slowly sparked, getting faster and faster,

Cary threw it, letting out a loud outcry, verbally telling the world how angry he was. It landed pretty far…it decimated taking the hatred and anger with it. Leaving nothing but ash behind.

Cary breathed out…shit…fuck! He felt tears in his eyes. He kept inhaling through his nose to keep them down, he only struggled even farther as he shoved them away with his fingers. He stood there and breathed until the sun had fallen completely.