***DISCLAIMER***

Adam: (sitting with me agian, proudly tossing Tommy's ear muffs back and forth in his hands.)

Tommy: (glaring at Adam, pouting like a five year old.)

Me: (To Adam) You know, he's really cute when he throws tantrums.

Tommy: (gets up and starts walking away.)

Me and Adam: (look at eachother confused.)

Adam: (shouting) Hey! Where are you going!

Tommy: (shouting back) Away!

Me: (frowns) But you can't just get up and walk out of my disclaimer!

Tommy: Sure I can! Watch me!

Adam: Tommy! You'd better get your ass back here!

Tommy: NO!

Me: (grumbles and folds arms) . . .Baby. . .

Adam: Aww he'll be back. He can't resist us that long.

Me: (Laughs) So true. . . (to the readers) Okay while we wait for Groucho Marks to get back, read on my wonderful Glamberts and GlitterKitties!

~Chapter Three~

"Wish I could just find a way

To have all your memories erased

Cause constantly they're haunting me"

-Can't Let You Go

Monte's house was in a better part of town, but not nearly as luxurious as others. I didn't even set foot on that part of town cause quite simply it made me feel like shit. Everything was so perfect in those kinds of neighborhoods that it made me sick. In my opinion they were too wealthy for their own good.

His home though was simple, but extravagant in its own little ways. Sure it was no million dollar mansion with a swimming pool and too many bathrooms. It was just a home, quaint and quite; nestled in suburbia. That was what I loved about it the most about it. The sidewalks weren't nearly in as bad shape as mine, but they weren't perfect. Only a few of the houses stood empty, while the others had children playing happily out front. That was something you never seen where I lived. People were starting to fear for their safety where I lived.

Monte pulled into the driveway, and shut off the engine. We sat silently in the dark vehicle for a few moments, until, with a sigh, he got out. I was too numb to move right away and he had to come help me out. Slowly I was regaining my senses so he didn't have to put to much effort into the deed. My sluggish feet followed Monte into his house and we weren't in the door longer then five seconds when his little sister came running around the cornner.

She was smiling ear to ear, and wrapped her tiny arms around my weak legs; almost causing me to fall.

Chloe was eight years old, with dark hair and shining eyes. I remember when she was born; I was the same age as her then. God that seemed like so long ago; and for some reason she attached herself to me. Everytime I came over, she greeted me the same way. I had never really been that big on kids, but Chloe was too adorable to ignore.

"Tommy!" she chirped.

"Hey kiddo." I murmured lifelessly patting her head.

Monte removed her grip from my legs and told her to back to wherever she was playing. I really didn't mind Chloe's presence, in fact I almost smiled seeing her happy face. Her carefree and bubbly persona was something I didn't get very much.

She bounded off without any question, her pig tails swinging behind her, and Monte and I retreated to his room.

Like the rest of his home, his room was simple. I had practically grown up in this room and not once had it changed all that much. Everyday when I was a kid my parents would drop me off while they were at work, for Monte's mom to watch me. Lately though, life's' unsettling schedule had kept us apart. The scenery now was slightly altered from all those years passed. The old wooden trunk Monte used to put his toys in was gone; replaced by a couple of bean bag chairs. In the corner where another pile of toys used to set, was now were new toys were. Two shinning guitars sat untouched in the place of the old toys. The black and white Fender had been a Christmas gift from his family, and the other was a Gibson he bought himself.

Monte went over to the closet on the right side of the room, grabbed a rolled up blue sleeping bag from the top shelf and tossed it my way.

Why he thought that throwing me anything at this moment was a good idea was beyond me. Right now I had the reflexes of a dead cat.

The huge wad of synthetic material hit me in the shoulder, bounced off and knocked two pictures sitting on Monte's desk. The one that stayed on the wooded surface didn't have a scratch on it, while the one that caught the edge of the chair on its way to the floor shattered.

I picked it up, carefully avoiding any form of injury the broken shards my cause. When my eyes landed on the image the frame held, I stopped to stare at it.

We just kids, ten or eleven. Monte and I were both laughing and smiling, carefree on the beach. In the background sat the vast blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean as well as smiling figures of my mother and father. The picture seemed so surreal. Life had been slowly slopping down ward for so long that it almost felt like there had never been a time in my life that was happy.

I sat the picture back down on the desk, and resumed cleaning the broken fragments from the floor; placing them in the waste basket sitting close by.

"I remember that day." Monte said lightly. "Chloe just turned two."

He handed me the sleeping bag.

"That was the last summer things were good. . ." My voice trailed off.

Monte didn't say anything as he threw a couple of pillows from his bed, to the floor for me.

I glanced at the photo again. "Did my dad smile a lot?" I asked unfolding the sleeping bag.

Monte raised an eyebrow. "Don't you remember?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I only remember him being angry and depressed all the time."

The room was silent a moment, then I spoke again. "I wish I could remember."

I knelt down and smoothed the sleeping bag over the floor, and laid down. Laying on his stomach, Monte peeked over the side of the bed and down at me.

"He was gone a lot though." Monte said.

"Even when he was home I don't remember him smiling." I confessed.

I couldn't help but feel bitterness. There was very few times when I felt that my father was actually part of my life. Monte was right, he worked all the time, and when he was home, he was never happy. That picture on Monte's desk was the only hard evidence that my father really did have the ability to smile. Of course now, he couldn't smile at all.

As time stretched farther away from the shock of my fathers little stunt, and the more I thought about it, I realized how much losing him made me hate him.

"Why did he have to do this?" I asked feeling sad and angry tears beginning to well up in my eyes.

"Why would anyone do it?" he shrugged.

I really hated it when he answered a question with another question, it didn't help what-so-ever.

"I don't know." I mumbled, trying to blink the water out of my eyes. "I guess I don't understand. Maybe somehow in that fucked up mind of his, shooting himself seemed like a good idea."

I rolled over on my side, away from Monte; but he still spoke.

"Tommy, your dad was sick. So sick he was beyond help."

"I guess." I sighed tired of dwelling on it any longer. "Look, I'm going to try and sleep this all off."

"I'm here if you need to talk." Monte offered.

"Thank you."

The lights went out and the room was blanketed with dull blues and blacks. School was going to be a bitch tomorrow. If any of this made it into the paper I was screwed. It was bad enough that my stereotype was in between slacker and druggie, when in reality I hadn't touched, let alone seen any form of illegal substance before in my life. Kids were so cruel it discussed me. I knew the second someone asked about my father I would hit them. The last thing I needed was their false pity when I knew they didn't give a flying fuck what happened to me. My father was the same; he didn't give a shit what happened to mom or me enough to stick around.

As that thought sank in, the feelings of abandonment crept back to me. Mom didn't have a job, I didn't have a job, we had no source of income now. Everything was going to be twice as hard and ten times more stressful. My life was falling off the deep end and I didn't even know how to tread the icy waves.

~oOo~

Seven o'clock came too quickly the next morning. At first I was confused as to why I had woken up in Monte's room, until I remembered what had happened. The beeping alarm signaled the beginning of a new day, but I had absolutely no motivation to do anything. My stomach still hadn't settled completely and now my head was pounding.

Monte rolled out of bed and started getting ready while I laid on my back watching the ceiling fan rotate over my head. The movement of the blades were hypnotizing, and before long, Monte was pulling me to my feet.

"I let you lay there as long as possible." he said.

"I don't want to go." I whined.

In all rights, I was allowed a day or two off for the death of a family member, but Monte obliviously didn't think so.

"You have to go, I'm sorry." he said. "Maybe it will get your mind off of everything."

I helped put away the sleeping bag, and as soon as we were ready, we left for school.

A/N: Okay so sorry it took forever to update this... but i got an idea for another multichapter that i had to start...you should check it out. the first chapter is posted, the story is called WHO KNEW i think you guys will like it. anyway...the chapters are gonna starte getting longer soon so YAY! and leave me a review my lovelies! xD

*Thanks for the reviews last time guys... you all make me smile! xD

***also I'm writting a collab fic with Whatsernamelambert, which is posted on her page and is called LOST AND FOUND...that one you guys will love! it's completely opposite of this depressing crap im writting on here haha, no boubt it will make you laugh, at the very least smile...so yeah check it out. xD and don't forget to reveiw that one as well!

~Jackie