Lander- I won't let them hurt you

Chapter 1

(By the way, Hailey's not in the thumbnail bc I originally made it from her perspective. Thumbnail by me DON'T USE!!)     (Click on the banner if u want to see the full image)
TW: Toxic parent/child relationship, Brief Domestic Abuse                                                                                       
Two years later...
    I'm sorry if the POV goes from 1st person to 3rd person I'm not going to fix it-

"Well maybe if you stop distracting us, we'd actually get something done!" Zander said, clearly pissed off. "I-I'm not trying to!" Milly yelled. "It's your fault you have such a short attention span!" "Excuse me-?!" "Guys." Hailey sighed. "Just stop. Practice is over now anyways." Luke sighed as Hailey slowly broke up their fight. He was at another music club meeting, and as usual Milly and Zander were fighting. The music club was his refuge, really. The members included Zander, Me, Milly and Hailey, Zander's stepsister, Sean, and our newest member Jake who'd just joined. He was overall pretty nice except for the fact that Zander hated him and he was best friends with Drew and his other friends.

"Guys, we have to go home now..." I say quietly. "Come on, Zander, let's go." Zander looks at me, pouting. "...Fine, let's just go." He takes my hand and leads me out of the classroom. He can be so arrogant sometimes but, y'know that's what I love about him. Once we're out of the school he starts ranting. "Agh, she's so...so immature! Honestly..." "I'm sure she just cares about our practice." I hesitate. "...but you have a point, I guess." Zander blushes contently and looks away before breaking into a more guarded face. "Hey..." I say, somewhat slowly. "Do you think I could come over tonight? Maybe till' like, tomorrow?"

Zander frowns pitifully. "Is it that bad? ...are they mad at you or anything?" I sigh. Am I putting too much pressure on Zander? I mean, I always run away to his house whenever I have a problem. Plus, I like spending time with him and his family... Still, I know I should deal with my own problems. "I'm sorry, nevermind." I say quickly. "It's nothing." "But Luke, you can always tell me-" "Ah, I go this way from here!" I interrupt him as we get to the intersection. I give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, love!" With that I hurriedly walk home leaving him in the dust.

                                                                                                            *
As I open the door to my house, I regret leaving Zander so quickly like that. I probably should've just told him the truth, he probably felt hurt now. I worry, imagining Zander's hurt face. I'll have to apologize tomorrow, then. My thoughts are interrupted by my mom's shrill voice. "Luke!" She yells, pissed as usual. I sigh in annoyance. "Why are you late!? You could've been taken by a stranger! I was worried!"
Worried about your only opportunity to get money when I get older and get a job-
"I was at music practice and it ran a bit late." I say, rolling my eyes as I walk into the living room. "No 'strangers' just five minutes late."
My mom looks me up and down with her sharp dirty green eyes, then quickly looked away, annoyed. "Whatever." She scoffs, like she always does. "It doesn't matter anyways, since you won't be going to those... music things anyway." "Wait, what??" I ask, aggressively, a but shooken.

"I already told you, we're moving away a few thousand miles south to a more prestigious school. So you can get a better education!" She says enthusiastically. "Honestly Luke, you need to remember more-" "WHAT THE F*CK?! YOU NEVER TOLD ME THAT!!" I scream, unable to process anything. I never scream like that, though, I- She slaps me swiftly in the head.

"Shut up!" She shrieks. "Don't you dare swear at me! How DARE YOU?! You know what I'm going to do to you...!" Suddenly, it all pours into my brain. Jake. Sean. Hailey. Milly. ZANDER. No, I can't lose them! They're all I have! Before I knew it, I start to cry, silently. "LUKE!! Are you listening to me?!" "How can you just do this to me!?" I cry. "I can't just leave everything behind!" "Oh, don't be so dramatic!" She scoffs. "It's not like you really have any friends, anyway, right?" "Of course I do! You just never bother to ask!" I yell. "I have the music club, mom! They're my friends! You can't just make me leave them to go to a stupid school!" "Well, WHO CARES!" She yells back, spreading out her hands and smiling sarcastically. "You can always make new friends, they're not that important! You don't have a GIRLFRIEND, now that would count-" "NO!" I interrupt her. I don't care what she says I can't just leave- "I have I boyfriend and he's important to me! I can't just leave him behind!"

My mom says nothing. She's shocked. I knew it, I said too much. "Mom, I..." "Oh." She says. "That's funny. You mean your girlfriend." I can't pretend. "NO. He's my boyfriend mom." She scowls in disgust. "You're so stupid. Always getting confused like that. Break up with him right now. He's confusing you." She grabs my shoulders. "You're confused, Luke! This isn't you!!" I shove her off. "No, I'm not. I love him, and I'll kiss him a million times and you can't do anything about it!" She flinches. "That's it." She says opening her phone. "Who is this boy, I'm calling his parents. What would your dad think of this?" He wouldn't care. He's on vacation. Again. "I HATE YOU!" I scream, and run up to my room, slamming the door behind me. I'm a crying mess. I crumple up under the covers of my bed.

I immediately pull out my phone, my hands shaking as I swipe over to Zander's texts.
LUKE: We need to talk.
LUKE: It's important.
ZANDER: What's wrong?
LUKE: Can I come over?
ZANDER: Yes, please lol
LUKE: I'm coming, then.
I grab my sweater and my phone and run out my room. "I'm going to over to a friend's." I tell my mom, opening the door. "Which friend?" She asks sharply. "Erm, Hailey." I reply. "Ok." She says.
*****
I knock on the door to Zander's house. Zander opens the door, and grins. "I thought you were mad at me earlier." He says mischievously. Just the sight of his smiling face hurts me. Before I know it, my face crumples up and I start crying. Zander's smile fades into surprised worry. "Woah, what happened?" He asks calmly as he leads me up to his room. We settle onto his bed and he hands me a tissue. God, he's such a good boyfriend...

"Zander..." I hold his hand, trying to speak. "I...I don't know how to s-say this, but..." Zander is silent, clueless. It hurts me to think how he'll feel when I tell him. "Zander...I love you, you know that right?" I smile weakly. Zander's grip on my hand becomes tired. "Yeah, of course." "Well, I'm going." I bury my face in my hands, I can't let him see me like this. "Wait, what?" Zander's voice says, confused. "Going? Where?" "They're shipping me off to a different school." I say, quietly. "What? Wait, where? We can still see each other, I'm sure-" "NO! It's away." I cry. "...a few thousand. Miles." Zander says nothing. I finally remove my hands from my face and look up at him. He looks scared, sad. Shocked, even.

"Luke..." he pulls me into a really tight hug. "Luke, no..." I knew it. Now I've gone and made him sad... "I'm sorry..." Zander pulls away, his hands still on my shoulders. "Don't say sorry." He says, looking me in the eyes. "If anything...it's your parents' fault. Wait, did you talk to them about it?" I look up at him, sadly. "My mom. I told her...about you. She doesn't..." I trail off. "Zander, I-I can't go back there, I don't know what she'll do to me, I can't just say no, but I can't just leave you, the club, everything...I'm sorry." Zander strokes my cheek comfortingly. "Well..." he says softly. "You can always...stay here. At least, until we figure something out. Like, tonight, if you want? Shannon and Micheal are on vacation, and Hailey just took Bethany to her friend's house, so we could have that sleepover we were planning?"

I start to cry, god, he's so supportive. "But Zander, I can't just keep burdening you, like I said, my problems are my problems and-" "Shut up!" Zander says, seriously. I stop talking. "I'm your boyfriend, and I'll be here to help you whatever you need. Ok? So don't feel sorry." "Th-thank you..." I smile, and give him a quick kiss. Zander blushes. "H-hey, that was so random!" He said, flustered. I chuckle.

"Wait here for a sec, I'll go find a spare sleeping bag!" Zander says, still flustered, and leaves the room. I look around his room and see, there's this notebook labelled... 'Lander' ? What's that... "Um, Luke..." Zander mumbles, as he comes back into his room, empty handed. I look up and shove the notebook away. "Yeah? What's up?" I ask, nonchalantly. "Hailey, Shannon, Micheal, and Bethany took all the sleeping bags...there's none left." He mumbles, blushing. "You...have to sleep with, well, me."

WAIT WHAT-
I USED THIS AS A CLIFFHANGER?
Hi guys, sorry this took so long, it's probably because this chapter ended up being super long, and I had no idea where to end it, BUT IM FRICKIN GLAD IT'S DONE
I also maaay have tooken a big break and abandoned thiss
Anyway, the next chapter is probably going to be a SPOICY ONE but, to make this kind of fun, I wanted to see if you guys had any ideas for what should happen. Or just tell me if it should be spicy or wholesome :P
If no one participates I'll just make it lime or smth lol
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading, and have a nice night/ evening / morning / day / noon / afternoon / 3AM
Word count bc I'm cool: 1700