troubled book 2: keep holding on

chapter 8: ill be there for you

Zoeya p.o.v

Its been a few weeks since nick got out of the hospital, and hes...improving, to say the least. Hes got his headphones on a lot more often, most likely crown the empire, a practical lifesaver for him. Im glad that there is still music that actually means something nowadays, besides bitches and hoes.

Sorry, im monologing again, sorry. You wanted a narrative, not my life story.

"Zoeya....ZOEYA!" Maddie shouts at me, getting my attention.

"Wha-what?" I say, jerking up from the covers, being unmindful of the slumbering nick i just jumped from.

" were going to in 'n' out burger, its lunch, wanna come?" She asks, giggling quietly at my scraggly morning hair, its red curls sticking out everywhere.nodding my head, i go into the en-suite (very fancy i know) and get ready, complete with dark green beanie, paramore shirt, black skinnies, vans, and all my piercings. I was officially......

EMO (QUE INCEPTION MUSIC!!!)

(..... i said, QUE INCEPTION MUSIC....never mind)

Sneaking past a sleeping nick, we get into the band van with kane, zack, jeff, bellE, ben and micky. With kane at the wheel, i expected a little joyriding. But he drove normally, slightly disappointed.

When we arrived, maddie started laughing. I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Oh come on, dont tell me you dont know" she says, acting as if i have a clue, "oh. I remembered andy valesquez when he shot that video of him and crown the empire at in 'n' out, so funny."

I shake my head in amusement. Shes such a youtube junkie.

Walking in, we ordered our food and took our seats outside, and started to gossip about random crap, like bands, clothes, andy biersack, andy, andy, andy, Andy!

Geez, kane likes andy biersack a lot. Yeezus!

"Jeff, ive told you a million times, stop mooching of my lattes, bitch!"maddie groans, giving jeff evil eyes as he sips her coffe latte, or whatever the fuck she had to drink.

Taking a bite into my bbq chicken burger, i noticed that mickayla was very distant.

"You okay? Your very distant today" i ask her, making her eyes dart across my face.she shakes her head, muttering "im fine".

"Dont lie to me, are you okay?" I pester, rubbing her leg in comfort (A/N get your minds away from dirtyland, yeah you with the cheetos stains on your shirt) , making her smile in thanks.

"Im just worried about nick, and how this shit is affected him, hes been very...quiet lately. Havent you noticed that?"she replies, looking at the cuts on her wrists. She does that often lately.

I nod slowly. "Hes been like this our whole relationship, ever since day 1. Id walk in on him gripping his hair muttering gibberish under his breath and once even saw him gripping a chair so tight the wood cracked.... i think he needs help.professional help," i murmur back, noticing the others leaning in.they nod solemly.

"But can we do that to him? Hed hate us for months, and i think the music and our love is the only thing stopping him from cutting.music is better than any shrink would be to him, you all know that!" Jeff reasons, making me regret what i said.

"Your right jeff, we cant do that to him. But what do you sugget we do?" I ask to no one in particular.

"Plain and simple, We be there for him." Mickayla says out loud.