The boy who grew up

2

Are you still with the loser?- Drew

Ya, he sucks at math so I'll be a while- Annabeth

I frowned at the texts that Annabeth and her friend Drew exchanged previously before she arrived at my house. Annabeth knew I had ADHD as well as dyslexia, why would she bluntly say I suck? I couldn't help what I was born with, I knew I was terrible at math but she didn't need to cut me down for that. "I'll be a while", she made it sound like being with me wasn't enjoyable at all. 6 years with her and she's always came to my house to play, until she met Luke. And the last thing that struck home was the fact that she didn't defend me when Drew called me a loser. She didn't comment on it at all which hurt because she's supposed to be there for me, did she think I was a loser as well?

I looked at the text Drew sent just now.

Luke is surprisingly nice to the dork, bet ya miss him rite now- Drew

I was aburptly sucked into painful memories that I could never seem to forget, because they happened daily. Luke was never nice to me, he put up this wonderful facade that showed he was nice to everyone. How would I know? I know from personal experience.

Flashback: last Monday after school

I timidly shrunk away from my advansors as I tried searching for an escape. I knew that escape was futile, I found out the hard way the first time I became a target. The goons reminded me of savage wolves, their lust for blood was evident as was their excited thrill for their next target. The way they constantly picked on the weak, like me. My back hit the hard tile wall and I frantically looked around for something to defend myself. I didn't have much luck, I'm in the boys bathroom and unless I could pick up a toilet I knew I was doomed.

"Well Perce, I gotta hand it to ya, your as weak as they come." Luke taunted and his goons laughed. Fear wracked my body as I stared at my personal bullies in horror.

"What did I ever do to you Luke? I'm weak and insignificant." I tried to reason with him, I tried to get out of my daily beatings.

"The thing is Jackson, you hang around my girl like a lost puppy. Not to mention you've got it good at your house. You have a perfect mom who gives you everything. My dad just sends me and my mental mom a bunch of money. That's a little unfair, don't ya think?" he sneered while I stared at him wide eyed. He didn't know the struggles my mom and I faced, the fact that my dad bailed on us the first chance he got. At least Luke got money to survive, at least he knew his father. My mom and I struggled to get through poverty and we had to work extremely hard just to get to the decent apartment we have now.

Albeit I felt bad about Luke's mother, but just because my mom is normal doesn't mean he has to beat me up about it. And the fact that he mentioned Annabeth as "his girl" made my blood boil. She wasn't his property, she's a woman not a car. But I was to fearful to retaliate and I hated myself for it.

As if his goons rehearsed for this, they both rushed me and slammed my back hard into the tile wall. I winced at my now throbbing back and shoulders. Luke took out a pocket knife and grinned wickedly at me, he began to lazily walk closer as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Now let's see...we scratched up your back, stomach, ego, dignity. Where, besides the noticable places, haven't we scratched? Ooh I know! What about that ugly little face of yours?" Luke asked, pretending to give me a choice. I began to panick, I was sick of feeling pain, of being hurt, of being pushed around, of being afraid. The problem is, I'm to weak to stand up for myself. I struggled against the two beefy goons that were securing my arms, I tried to escape but to no avail.

"Won't somebody notice if we scar this losers face up?" one of the meat heads asked while gesturing towards me.

"Only his mom, I mean who else would care? His wimpy friends? His own father didn't even want him." Luke said nonchalantly causing the gang to chuckle. I could feel myself grow angrier and unexpectedly lashed out, "A bit hypocritical aren't we? At least my dad had the decency to leave us alone for good instead of flaunt his wealth in our faces!" I knew it was a petty jab but Luke deserved it, speaking of my father naturally caused me to be angry. How did he even know that in the first place? The only people that knew about my dead beat dad were my mom and...Annabeth. She told him, she knew not to speak of it at all yet she told him. I felt betrayed, I hadn't shared her secrets ever and here she was stabbing me in the back.