"This is boring," Nick complains for about the tenth time.

Demi looks across the table at him. "Can you please shut up?"

Nick narrows his eyes at her. "I don't take orders from a nerd."

"If you hate me, if you hate school, why don't you just drop out?" she wonders.

Nick shrugs. "Because I need something to do. If I dropped out, I'd just be bored all the time. In school, at least I can have fun with my friend."

"Your friend?" Demi shakes her head. "I've seen you two, Nick. He doesn't act like much of a friend."

"You're way out of line." Nick stares at her. "You're just jealous, right?"

"Jealous? Why would I possibly be jealous of you?"

Nick smirks. "Because I have friends, and you don't."

Demi closes her eyes for a second. "I think you should leave." She opens them back up and wills herself not to cry. It isn't like she's never heard that before. She's used to it, so why is she upset now? "We can continue working on the project tomorrow."

Nick doesn't even bother to say goodbye. He stuffs his book into his bag and leaves.

When the front door slams shut behind Nick, Demi puts her head into her hands and begins to cry.

"Nick?" his mom wonders when he walks into the house a little while later.

Nick looks at her for a second but doesn't answer her. He makes his way to the stairs.

"Nicholas," his mom tries again.

"Don't call me that," he growls, turning to her. "Only Joe calls me that. Or...only he called me that."
"You're acting like he's dead. He's not, Nick. He just went to live with your father."

"He's dead to me," Nick mumbles to himself.

"Are you mad at me about the divorce?"

"Yes!" Nick cries. "I am! You work all the time! You drove him away because you were never home!"

"Nicholas," his mom says once more. Nick glares at her so she quickly stops talking for a second. "Your father cheated on me, Nick. He cheated on me with a lot of women." She pauses for a second. "He also used to hit me."

Nick's eyes widen for a split-second but then rolls his eyes. "Nice try. You almost had me there with the whole 'cheating' thing, but there's no way he used to hit you."

"Ask your brother," his mom says when he turns his back on her. "Ask Joe. He knew. He saw it one night, and then the next day your father filed for divorce and soul custody of Joe."

Nick turns back to his mom and frowns. "That's why Joe went with him? Because Dad has soul custody?"

His mom nods. "Yes," she replies. "I got soul custody of you, and your dad got soul custody of Joe. I tried to fight it, but your dad knew the judge, and I lost."

Nick scowled at his mom. "That's low, even for you. Trying to turn me against my own father. Just because you were a lousy wife and mother doesn't mean that he's a lousy husband and father." He flips his mom the finger and walks upstairs to his room.

His mom sighs and slides down to the floor. "Oh, Nick," she says quietly, closing her eyes, "I'm so sorry."

Demi walks into school the next day, her head buried in a book. She bumps into someone and her book goes flying.

Zac laughs. "Watch where you're going, nerd."

Demi bends down to pick up her book and then begins to get up but Zac walks by her and pushes her down again.

"Oops." Zac laughs once more. "My bad." He walks away.

Demi picks up her book and walks to her English classroom.

"I tried calling you last night," Zac says over the phone later that night. "You didn't answer. Let me guess, you were with a girl, weren't you? Whenever you don't answer, you're with a girl."

Nick rolls his eyes, glad that Zac can't actually see him. "Maybe," he replies, which isn't actually a lie.

"Is she hot? Is she a good fuck? Can I get her number?"

Nick rolls his eyes once more and thinks back to what Demi said last night. She's right, he knows. Zac isn't a very good friend. But he's the only one Nick has and he's not about to jeopardize that friendship now.

"Look, Zac, I'm tired," he starts.

"That chick keep you up all night?" Zac interrupts. Nick can practically hear his smirk.

"Bye, Zac," Nick says and hangs up.

"Did you get hit with a softball again?" Nick wonders, staring at Demi's black eye.

Demi pulls her hair down over her eye. "Yeah," she replies after a second, "Um, let's get started, huh? I just want to get this over with."

"You and me both," Nick mumbles.

Demi sits at the table and takes her glasses off of her face. She opens her English book.

"You know," Nick says, looking at Demi, "you're actually really pretty without your glasses. Why don't you ever go to school without them?"

Demi glances at Nick. "Because that's not who I am."

"But aren't you tired of people always making fun of you? Don't you hate being the school's laughing stock?"

Demi nods. "Of course I am," she replies, "but why should I change myself just so I can fit in? If they don't like me, that's their problem. I promised my brother that I'd never let anyone change me."

"Your brother…?" Nick questions.

"He went to fight the war in Iraq," Demi begins. "He never came home." A single tear escapes from her eye. "Before he left, he took me into his arms and made me promise that I'd always stay true to myself, no matter what anyone said about me." She looks at Nick once more. "I have to keep that promise, Nick. Besides, why should I become someone I'm not? Yes, I hate getting laughed at all the time." She shrugs. "But I'm used to it by now, anyway. I've had to deal with it for four years."

"Is that your brother?"

Demi follows Nick's gaze. "Yeah, that's Kevin. That was taken the day before he left for Iraq."

"How did he die?"

Demi looks at him.

"I'm sorry," Nick begins to apologize. "If you don't want to talk about it—"

Demi cuts him off. "I'm glad you asked, actually. I know you didn't know Kevin, but every time I bring him up to my father…" She stops. "Well, he doesn't like to talk about it. I like having someone to talk about this with."

"So…what happened?"

Demi smiles a little, obviously proud of her big brother. "He died a hero," she tells Nick. "He saved a little baby from an explosion, plus ten of his fellow soldiers. He's a hero."

"What about your dad?" Nick asks then.

Miley shrugs. "What about him?"

"How long has he been hitting you?"

Demi looks at Nick once more, her eyes wide. "Wh—what do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. You don't really think I actually believed the whole 'I got hit with a softball' thing, did you?"

"He doesn't hit me," Demi says in a soft whisper, looking down at her hands.

"Demi–" Nick starts.

Demi raises her head to look into Nick's eyes. "He doesn't hit me," she says forcefully. "Okay? He doesn't."

Nick nods. "Okay," he replies hesitantly. Then he pauses. "What about your mom?"

Demi shrugs, looking down at her English book again. "I don't know who she is. She left us when I was only a few weeks old."

Nick stares at her, a shocked expression on his face.

Demi clears her throat. "Um, let's get back to work, huh?"

"Yeah," Nick agrees. He's still looking at Demi. "Yeah."