I Loved You

Chapter One

My dad is a Filipino who came to the US to build his own business. His business was successful, and soon enough-he found the love of his life. His life was great, he had a loving wife and a wonderful son. He couldn't ask for more until last year when his business went bankrupt.

After that, our lives went downhill. My parents started arguing a lot, and dad was a drunken mess. This went on for a few months until my mom couldn't take it anymore and left us.
Of course, everyone had heard the news and started treating me differently.

I stare out the window of my classroom while I rest my head on my palm. School is already over, but I chose to stay a little longer, all of my classmates have gone home except for me and the students who are still playing outside—I hate school, but I hate home even more.

I gasp when someone pulls my hair from behind. "Surprise, surprise!" Jake grins. I spaced out for a while, so I didn't notice him coming in.

He is still clutching my hair tightly and chuckling as he pulls me up by the hair—causing the chair I was sitting on to fall. "What're you still doing here, Mr. Outcast?" he snickers.

He lets go of my hair and kicked me hard enough to make me fall along with the chairs nearby, I groan in pain while he laughs uncontrollably. I put my hand on my stomach where Jake kicked. "Are you afraid that Daddy will hit you as soon as you enter the house?" he says, kneeling in front of me.

I tried to run away when Jake suddenly grabs me by the collar. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" he leans in toward me until his face is only a few inches away from mine. "P-please... stop..." I plead, but this only made Jake laugh. "Stop?" he says in a sarcastic tone." he then punches me in the face, making my nose bleed. "What do you mean?" he punches me again, but this time he punches me in the stomach. I was coughing blood, but he showed no mercy.

He continues to beat me up while I struggle to avoid his punches. Every time he punches me, he keeps saying, "Get out of my school, you lowlife!" over and over again. He only came to a halt when he notice someone enter the classroom.

His uniform is different from ours—so he must be from another school. "What are you doing?" He asks. "You said you're just going to get your stuff," he says with an annoyed voice. Jake chuckles and grabs my hair while shaking it aggressively. "It's because I saw this poor man all alone."

The boy who just came in got more annoyed. "Whatever, stop playing around. We're late," he says. Jake let go of my hair and click his tongue. "Fine," he replies and gets his stuff from his desk, and left the classroom.

I sat in the same spot where Jake left me, I stayed there staring at the wall, covered with bruises. My dad would probably scold me if he sees these bruises. But it's not because he cares about me, it's because he thinks that I was the one causing trouble, and is afraid that he needs to pay the "parents of the kid that I bullied" I got up and went to the school bathroom to wash my face.

I didn't go home because I didn't want to hear my father screaming at me, Instead, I went to Austin's house. Austin is my best friend—he's my only friend, and we've been friends since we were kids because our houses are right next to each other. Unfortunately, we don't go to the same school.

I knock on their door, and as expected, Austin immediately opened it. He gasps as he saw my face. "Again?" he asks, with a worried look. I didn't answer and just look down, feeling ashamed. I'm so pathetic.

He grabs my arm carefully and lets me in. He led me to the sofa and made me sit down. "Wait here, I'll get the first aid kit. My mom isn't coming home tonight, so stay here," he says and rushes upstairs to get the first aid kit. I look at the instruments laying on the carpet. So he's practicing?

Austin has had a love for music ever since I can remember. He loves singing and playing instruments, especially the guitar. It's no surprise that he suddenly joined a band last year. Their band is famous because of their appearance—They play with masks on, and people call them the "No Face Five." on top of that, they make good music. I don't usually attend their performances. I just supported him by listening to their song at his home, so I know nothing about the other members.

Austin soon came down, carrying the first aid kit along with an ice bag. He sat down next to me and place the ice bag where the bruises were. "Hold it." I held the ice bag as he told me to while he opens the first aid kit.

"I really can't believe they are doing this to you," he says as he pulls out an ointment along with some bandages from the kit.

"Everyone is so cruel to you! Even your dad! I get that his business went bankrupt, but that doesn't mean he has to be mean to you!" he complains as he rubs the ointment on my wounds with his index finger before applying the bandages.

"Well, at least I have you." I smile at him. "Oh, you're so optimistic," he replies in a sarcastic tone. I laugh and that made him frown.

"I'm going to practice. Do whatever you like," He said while he went to sit on the carpet right in front.

He grabbed the guitar laying on the carpet and starts practicing a song from their brand that is soon to be released.

Because of Austin, I learned to play guitar. Every time we hung out, we would always play songs.

He then starts to sing while I listened quietly. Whenever he strums the guitar I can feel his determination, he plays guitar like there's no tomorrow.

After an hour of practicing, he finally got it right. He places the guitar on the carpet and stretches his arm while shouting, "Finally!" I look at him with a smile and clapped my hands, "As expected from the vocalist of the group, that was so good!" I cheered.

"Really?" he says as his face lit up. He yawns and stretches his arm one more time.

"Then, shall we go to bed now?" I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah."

He stands up and goes upstairs to his bedroom, and I followed him. As we enter the room, I immediately jump onto his bed while Austin went to his closet to look for clothes.

I was still laying on his bed when he suddenly threw a pair of pajamas at me. "Go shower, I'll sleep in my mom's room," he says.

But before he could leave the room, he turns to me with his eyes furrowed."You know the rules, don't--" he glares at me while pointing his index and middle finger at his eyes then at me.

"Yeah, yeah-touching your precious stuff is forbidden, I get it." I brush him off.

"Good." He smirked and closes the door. I immediately got up and went to the bathroom.

After I finished showering, I went straight to bed. I stared at the ceiling while remembering the time when we used to be happy and how fast my life changed. I can't sleep.

I kept wondering what would happen if my dad's business hadn't gone bankrupt. Would Jake still bully me? Will people would still treat me like a normal person? I don't know how to answer these, but I know one thing for sure. My life would be so much better if my dad's business hadn't gone bankrupt. My eyelids were getting heavy, so I curled up onto the blanket and closed my eyes.

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