Wow I got such good reviews for the first chapter I'll see if I can keep the hype up. Thanks everyone for the lovely words :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the poem used in this chapter I found it online and its by The Optimist Creed from The Optimist International.
Warnings: Violence and swear words used in this chapter.
"I see you're back again." Wufei said lightly as Quatre sat beside him at lunch the next day.
Quatre smiled. "Yeah I'm back. Duo's my English partner anyway so I kind of have to be around him."
Heero rolled his eyes. "You're going to be doing that project by yourself. Duo sucks at English."
"I do not!" Duo cried out.
"Your version of reading a book is skimming the chapter summaries online." Wufei stated dryly.
"You guys are just mad because you can't do things like me." Duo said, sticking his tongue out.
Trowa snorted. "Yeah, that must be it."
"Besides I read that one short story from last year." Duo retorted.
"The only reason you read that is because it was about a gay couple in love and we all know how that's right up your alley."
Quatre began choking on his soda at Heero's comment and Wufei had to pat Quatre on the back.
"Are you okay?"
Quatre coughed a little more, but nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. The soda just went down the wrong way."
The group went back to talking, but Quatre couldn't take his mind off of what Heero said. Did that mean that Duo was gay or that he just liked to read stories about gay people? If Duo was gay then that meant he would have a potential chance at being with Duo.
Quatre stuck a chip in his mouth. There was only one way to know and that was to ask, but he wanted to be discreet about it. He would have to wait until later.
When Quatre looked up and saw Duo looking at him. Quatre felt butterflies in his stomach and he knew he was blushing so he broke eye contact first and focused on the instrument case on the lunch table.
"You play, Duo?" Quatre asked softly.
Duo shook his head. "No, that's Trowa's. He plays flute in the jazz band." Duo kind of wished he played something because then he could impress Quatre with it. Maybe could learn how to play the harmonica. That was considered a legit instrument right? "Do you play anything, Quatre?"
Quatre shrugged. "I used to play the violin, but its been years."
"You should try out for the band, Quatre." Trowa said. "I need another musically inclined person in the group. These guys know nothing. Wufei's good at martial arts, Heero's good at computers, and the only thing Duo is good at is eating."
"Could you be any meaner to me?" Asked Duo, pouting.
Quatre couldn't help but focus on Duo's lips in the pout. "I don't have my violin anymore." Quatre answered distractedly. He wanted to kiss those lips so bad.
"Thats fine, Mr. Johnson has some spare instruments. You should try." Trowa insisted.
"So are you going to?" Asked Duo. "I think you should."
Quatre found it weird that Duo thought he should be in the band. Especially when Duo himself wasn't in it. "Why do you think I should join?" Questioned Quatre.
"Because I think you'll be good at it." Answered Duo, smiling brightly.
Quatre blushed. Duo was quite the charmer it seemed. "You don't know that."
Duo shrugged. "Call it intuition."
"The only thing you have is stupidity." Laughed Trowa.
Duo threw some chips at Trowa. "You guys are the worst today."
"So does Duo really not like to read?" Quatre asked Heero as they were walking to history class.
Heero shrugged. "I don't know, but I know he doesn't do it for fun."
"But he did read that one story from last year right?" Quatre questioned.
"Yeah. It was a romance story and Duo has a soft spot for sappy tales."
"Oh...So it has nothing to do with the couple in the story?" Quatre asked disappointingly.
"You want to know if Duo is gay?" Heero asked flatly.
Quatre blushed. Was he being that obvious? "I'm just curious is all. I'm sorry." He apologized. "I didn't mean to be rude."
"Doesn't matter to me. Most people know Duo is gay, but its just because he was dating someone that went to this school. Usually Duo doesn't flaunt it." Heero studied Quatre. "Do you care if he is?"
Quatre immediately shook his head. "No, no. Its fine with me."
Heero nodded in agreement as they entered their classroom.
"Are you okay today, hun? You seem a little distracted." Quatre's mother asked as she placed a plate of food in front him at the dining table.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking about school." Quatre answered. And a certain sexy guy in my class, he thought to himself. "How is your new job going?"
Quatrina smiled. "Just great. It really is a blessing that everything is working out so far." She sat across from Quatre at the table. "I'm sorry, Quatre. That it took so long for us to get away from your father and get settled someplace new."
Quatre shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Mom. I'm just glad it's just me and you now."
She smiled. "Me too. You know you're the best son a mom could ask for."
"No mom, not really. I just want you to be happy." Quatre forced a smile but keep his real thoughts to himself. If you knew the things I've done, you wouldn't think so highly of me.
Quatre sat in his room ready for bed, but knowing it wasn't going to come easy. He always had trouble sleeping and it had been going on for years it seemed. If he couldn't fall asleep, then when he finally did he was plagued with nightmares. The only way he made it though the days was with lots of caffeine.
Quatre sighed as he picked up his notebook lying on the bed. Every night before attempting to sleep he read the same poem. He always hoped it would help quell the never ending fear he had, but since it didn't he just it for stability. It was really the only consistence thing he had in his life, besides his mother.
Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb you peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel like there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living person you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, and too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
Quatre read the poem twice before placing the notebook on his bedside table. He lied down and stared at the ceiling. He always kept the light on at night and he was grateful his mother never asked him about the habit. He wasn't scared of the dark per say, just wanted to be able to spot trouble at all times. Quatre didn't know how much time he spent looking at the ceiling before he finally drifted off to sleep, but it seemed like hours.
Quatre sat up in his bed, woken up by loud noises from the kitchen. He walked down the steps slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, until he reached downstairs.
"You stupid, bitch. Why can't you do anything I ask of you? Why is it so hard for you, Quatrina?"
"Kadar, let me go please."
Quatre saw his dad holding his mom by the arm next to the kitchen table that beer cans all over it.
"I ask simple things of you, and you go and screw everything up." Kadar continued yelling.
"Please Kadar, you've been drinking."
"Damn right I've been drinking!" Quatre's father shouted out. "It's the only thing that makes me happy since I have to go out and feed you and that little brat of yours."
"Quatre's not a brat, he's your son."
"He's a piece of shit, that's what he is."
"Don't say that about him. You don't mean that."
"Shut up." Quatre's father raised his hand and brought it down across her face.
She instantly cried out and held her face.
"Mommy?" Quatre said stepping into the kitchen.
Quatrina looked over surprised, but put on a smile on her face and tried to talk calmy. "Hey sweetie, everything is okay you can go back in your room now."
Quatre shook his head. "But..." He knew something was wrong, everything wasn't okay.
"Do what she said and get your ass to bed boy!"
Quatre flinched as his father yelled at him, but he didn't make a move to go back upstairs.
His father rushed at him and yanked him up by the shirt. "To your room boy!"
Tears started falling down Quatre's face as he started to shake from the fear.
"Kadar let him go, please." Quatrina pleaded with Quatre's father.
"You're a bitch just like your mother." Kadar spat as he raised his hand to hit Quatre.
Quatre sat up in his bed with a start, instantly feeling his left cheek. It didn't hurt, considering it was only a nightmare, but he swore he could smell his father's alcoholic breath in his room. He ran his hand through his disheveled hair and sighed. He was just a little boy when his dad lost his job and started drinking and taking it out on him and his mom and even though his father was no where around, he still haunted Quatre.
Why couldn't he forgot about his father? Why couldn't he just live a normal teenage life like he was supposed to?
"Am I every going to forget?" Quatre asked the silent room, but he received no answer.
An abusive father is not the only thing Quatre has to deal with. More drama soon to come. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.