Chipless

Chapter 17- Family problems

*Anthony's POV*

It's 11:00 at night and I'm exhausted. Lily and I walk side by side to the 7'11. Just when I think it can't get any worse it starts raining. I flip my hood up and Lily does the same. Nearly everything she owns is from Japan or has a kawaii vibe. Her dad goes to Japan for business sometimes and during the summer he takes her with him.
The 7'11 is less then five minutes from her house so we don't have to walk that far. As soon as we get there I throw my arms around Ze. "I missed you so much." I say.
"I missed you too," He tells me, "are you ok?"
I have two options. One, tell him the truth and goes all psycho boyfriend. Or two, hide the truth, because what he doesn't know can't hurt him. "I'm fine." I spit out.
"Are you sure?" He asks, "You hesitated."
It hits me that I can trust him with anything. I sigh, "I'm not ok," A tear slides down my cheek, but I don't stop it, "Quinn beat me and staved me. What the hell does she want from me?"
"Oh my god," His eye twitches, "she's gone to far." I kiss him and he kisses me back. I missed this, having someone tell me they love me and feeling the warmth of another person. We pull away from each other, "She's not gonna give up until she sees your head on a stick, and me at my breaking point."
Lily walks over to us, "Anthony? Don't you think you should introduce me to your boyfriend?"
I laugh a little, "Lily, this is Ze, Ze, this is Lily, my best friend."
They shake hands, trying to not get each other more wet than they already are, but that's not happening. "So you're mysterious Prince Charming Anthony's been talking about?" She giggles.
Ze shrugs, "I guess so."
Lily looks at me and smiles, "You did good."
"Thanks." I respond.
"Anthony!" I turn my head and see Gavin, Tessa, and Ana walking out of the 7'11. He runs over to us, "I'm so glad you're safe."
I just smile and nod. I glare at Ana, I'll never be able to look at her the same. Instead of a good friend all I can think about is how she's Jared's older sister. She slowly walks over to me as if I'm a wild animal and she doesn't want to anger me. "Hi Anthony," She says, "You sounded kinda mad on the phone, is something wrong?"
I fold my arms, "I didn't know you and Jared Massey are related."
"What did he ever do to you?" She asks.
I sigh, "Jared was the first person I came out to and he just went ahead and told everyone."
A look of shock fades into a look of disappointment, "My little brother? He's not the kinda person who would do that!"
"Why don't we go pay this Jared kid a visit?" Tessa smirks.
We all look at each other, "Why not!" Ana says.

Time skip

The next thing I know I'm at Jared's house. Ana takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. As much as I don't want to be here, I'm doing this for Ana.
Jared opens the door. "Hi Jared." Ana smiles.
"Ana?" He raises one eyebrow. I notice that Ana and Jared look a lot like brother and sister, same deep blue eyes, light skin tone, and blonde hair. Ana nods. "You're alive?"
"Yeah," She responds, "I'm ok."
The smile fades from Jared's face when he catches a glimpse of me. He crosses his arms, "What's Darth Gaydar doing here?" Darth Gaydar? Is that the best he can come up with? That's pathetic.
"Hey, leave him alone." Ze says.
"Who's this?" Jared snarls, "Your boyfriend?"
"Actually, he is." I retort. It feels so good to rub it in his face.
"Can we come in?" Ana asks, trying not to snap at him for the snarky comment he made earlier.
Jared shrugs, "Sure." Everyone walks inside a sits down, he was watching an episode of 'Brain Games' before we got here. "Don't get to comfortable, my parents are off on a business trip and will be back on Saturday."
"That's fine," Ana says, "we're not gonna stay long anyways."
"Someone's looking for us," Tessa crosses her legs and swallows, "and they'll stop at nothing to see us as splatters of blood on the wall."
"Why?" Jared asks.
"Because we're threat," Ze tells him, "and going offense will only hurt us more, they're greater in numbers and have more fire power."
Jared nods and looks me in the eye, "Ok, explain this," he says, "you've gotten in trouble once maybe twice in five years and now you're wanted by an entire society, what the hell is that all about?"
I shrug, "I'm a 'threat'." I add air quotes around the word threat, "At least that's how they see me."
Lily butts in, "So you're sort of a bad boy huh?" She elbows my shoulder. Pain courses through me, but I just bite my tongue.
"I'm not trying to impress anyone, but at Walmart sometimes I enter through the exit." I raise and lower one shoulder. Everyone laughs, even sour puss Jared.
"My god, you must be wanted by the FBI." Ze jokes. He wraps his arm around me and pulls me in for a kiss. Lily lets out a high pitch squee and claps her hands. Everyone acts like it's the cutest thing they've ever seen, well, everyone except for Jared.
"Aren't you two just fifty shades of gay?" He mutters. I pull back from my kiss with Ze and shoot Jared a dirty look.
I turn back to Ze, "One second." Jared is scrolling through his Twitter but I make the split second decision to punch him in the face. The room goes silent. I regret nothing.
"What the hell?!" He wipes the blood off his face, leaving a smear on his cheek.
"I'm tired of you being a jerk!" I yell, I grab hold of his shirt collar, our faces only inches apart, "I'm done with you, your insults, and your stupid face. If you think for one second that I am a door mat, or a push over, you have never, ever been more wrong." I let go of him and he stares at me. I can tell he's shocked, at school, I'd never stand up for myself.
I walk to the bathroom and slam the door. It felt good to stand up for myself but I've also just earned a never ending lecture. I stand in front of the mirror, "What do I do?" The colors of my eyes and pupils have never matched, hazel eyes and ebony pupils. When my parents where still around they'd tell me it's beautiful, a gift almost. But I've always know the truth, I have a disease.
Someone knocks on the bathroom door, "Anthony?" It's Lily, "Can I come in?"
"No." I respond.
She laughs, "To bad." She opens the door. I notice how she has put her hair up in a ponytail.
"Ugh," I groan, "what do you want from me?!"
"I think you should apologize to Jared." She sighs. I stare at her and shake my head. "Come on! Jared said he'll apologize if you do."
"Do I have to?" I whine.
"Yes." She nods.
I roll my eyes and reluctantly walk into the other room. Jared is holding an ice pack on his cheek where I punched him. "I'm sorry I punched you," I fold my arms, "but next time you insult me it better be creative."
"It's ok, I'm also really sorry," Jared sighs, I open my mouth to except his apology but he continues, "for everything, sharing your secret, bullying you, being a general douchebag."
I'm shocked, he looks like he actually means it. "I forgive you."
For a second we just stand there. "Come on you two," Lily smiles, "hug it out." We do just that. It's over. The pain and suffering of this hatred is finally over. I can go back to having Jared as a friend.
We pull away from each other and the hug. "Wanna finish watching the movie with us?" He asks.
"Sure." I respond, "I have nothing else to do."
For a good twenty minutes everything goes fine. We eat popcorn and gummy worms, everyone breaks into song one to many times, Tessa does her Miley Cyrus impression which is actually quite accurate, normal stuff. But then it all goes wrong. A image flickers up on the screen then quickly disappears. "Did anyone else see that?" I ask. Everyone just shakes their heads, "I guess it's just me."
But then it comes back, and stays there. "Hello citizens of Aspen," Ze's grip on me tightens and he pulls me in close, the person on the TV is Quinn, "My name is Quinn Alexander, and I'm looking for someone you might know as Anthony Baxter. But I, unlike you, won't have much trouble finding him. I've inserted a tracking device in his brain, and I know he's in Aspen. He's also lead me to his friends Anastasia Massey, Gavin McCoy, Steven, or 'Ze' Andrews, and my long lost daughter," the smirk on Quinn's face grows, "Tessa."