The Outback

Chapter 2

“You ok?” JJ asks. I was limping, couldn't walk straight and my nose was still bleeding.

“Yeah” I say, taking the rag out of my back pocket, trying to get my nose to stop bleeding. “Why'd that guy have to keep trying after I said no?” I was still pretty mad.

“I don't know" JJ says, shrugging. He knew that I would never give in to that guy. Not even if Derek had threatened me. I wasn't afraid of some guy who just wanted to use me for a one night stand, and brag about to all his stupid little goons.

The house wasn't that far of a walk, But tonight it felt very far. Every minute felt like hours.

We finally made it to the house. The house has two bedrooms, a small bathroom, and a conjoint kitchen and living room. In the backyard there is a small dock that me, JJ and Deacon fish off of, there was a John boat. My mom and Tom don't have jobs so me and JJ pay the bills.

We walked in the house and leaned our surf boards against the wall.

“Cam Cam” called the voice of a young boy. That was my little brother Harley. He's two years old and has dark brown hair that's super wavy and covers his ears. I named him Harley because that was my dad's favorite motorcycle.

“Hey Harley, anyone else home?” I ask while sitting down next to him. He was playing with knockoff hot wheels on the cardboard race track I made him.

“Yeah, da da in bedroom" he replies “What happened to eye?”

“I fell off my skateboard and hit my head on the ground” I say. “Is he alone?”

“Yeah, he have black eye too”

“What happened to him?”

“Me no know” Harley responded while rolling his race car on the track.

JJ grabbed a beer from the fridge and laid down on the ground next to us.

At midnight there was a loud crash. I nearly jumped out of my skin. JJ jumped up and turned the light on. Tom ran out of his bedroom in just his boxers with a wooden baseball bat. The loud crash was mom knocking over me and JJ's surf boards. She was really tipsy and started laughing at us.

“Scaredy cats” she mocked.

“Yeah, well how would you feel if you thought someone broke in” Tom snapped “oh wait, dumb question, you would have stayed in bed as me and those kids of yours scare them off”

“There not just my kids, that one isn't even family, he's just a hobo that sleeps on our couch” Mom yelled pointing at JJ. JJ just stared at his feet.

“JJ is family, me and him pay your bills while you and your dirtbag boyfriend sit around, drinking twenty-four seven” I yelled back. I don't know what I was thinking, but I knew that it wasn't going to end well.

Mom's face turned red. She took the empty bottle of Jack that was on the table and threw it at the wall right next to me and Harley. It shattered in a million pieces. Harley was sitting on my lap and looked terrified. Tom started yelling at her to stop but that just made her even angrier and she threw more stuff.

I looked down at Harley and there were tears streaming down his face. I looked up at JJ and he had the same expression that he had when we watched his dad drive off. A combination of anger, fear, shock.

I picked up Harley, grabbed JJ by the arm and brought them into my room. My room is small and doesn't have much furniture. There's a bench in the windowsill that is just long enough for me to lay on. I turned it into a bed kind of thing and Harley had a bed against the wall, there was a small desk in the corner with a chair, a bunch of boxes, and a small closet. Me and JJ built a fort out of some boxes and a blanket. We sat inside and turned the radio up to block out the yelling in the kitchen.