We Protect Each Other

Chapter 12

Mitch's pov

I fell back asleep and made it through the night without another nightmare. I don't know why my nightmares decided to come back now, I'm happy now, I'm not with anyone in those nightmares anymore. Before, when I started getting them, it was a whole different situation, my parents hated me, they abused me and my sister was too scared to help or even speak up. I couldn't fight back even if I wanted to. I hated them so much, they made my life a living hell. Even when I wasn't with them, I was at work which was barely better. My boss hated me and my coworkers looked down on me. At least I wasn't in school anymore. I graduated last year but that doesn't mean I didn't worry about running into those jerks that bullied me in public. Scott would probably disagree but that nightmare wasn't even as bad as most. Hopefully this doesn't become a thing that happens often.

Scott. Scott. How? That's my question. I've known this boy for what, a month or two? How the hell is it that he is the first one to ever pull me out of a nightmare? What is it about him that helped me come out of this trance that I'm usually stuck in until I wake up on my own. Boys that I have been crazy for have tried to kiss me awake but how come it only ever worked when Scott did it? There really is something special about this one.

*****

"Wake up sleepyhead." I said to Scott when I heard Kirstie and Alex coming into the crawlspace.

"Huh?" Scott responded as he slowly opened his eyes. I laughed at his reply.

"It's almost show time." I explained and he nodded then sat up.

Kirstie looked over to us and noticed the same blanket was covering my legs and Scott's body. She smirked at me and I felt my cheeks turn red as I looked away. I ripped the blanket off of my legs and continued looking at the wall until my cheeks weren't as red. She giggled and shook her head at me.

"You ready to go?" Kirstie asked.

"Jeez man, I just woke up! Let me at least eat." Scott replied which caused Kirstie to roll her eyes.

Scott grabbed the half empty water bottle and an apple then started eating as I had a conversation about the song with Kirstie and Alex.

About 5 minutes later I felt something hit the back of the head. I whipped around to see Scott smiling and giggling a bit. I looked to my right and saw the lid from the water bottle he was drinking from. I grabbed it and weakly threw it back at him. "Asshole." I murmured and we both laughed. When I turned back to Kirstie and Alex, I noticed that Kirstie was smiling and wiggling her eyebrows, I shook my head in response.

"Okay, I'm ready." Scott finally announced and we all got out of the crawl space and started heading towards my usual spot by Starbucks. I grabbed an empty cup and placed it on the ground.

"We know what we're doing?" Kirstie asked and Scott, Alex and I nodded in response. We found a way to get Alex involved, even though he can't sing, he is great at clapping and snapping.

"3, 2 ,1" Scott said quietly before we started singing our updated version of Dear No One by Tori Kelly. I really liked this cover that we arranged yesterday. Apparently a lot of others also liked the cover because a crowd was gathering around us. We sang until the end then was met by an applause. Scott, Alex and Kirstie seemed to love the attention but I didn't so I tried to hide behind Scott. He obviously didn't understand because he moved to the side so everyone could see me. I gave a weak smile as I blushed.

After everyone dispersed, I grabbed the cup and walked back down the alley and sat down against a wall. I was soon joined by the other three. I pulled the money out of the cup and my eyes widened when I counted how much there was. $43.80. That's nearly double the highest I got when I was on my own.

"So," I started, "how are we doing this?" The three looked at me, confused, so I explained what I meant. "The money, split it 2 ways? 4 ways? Or use it for everyone as a whole?" Everyone looked at each other, we never really thought about that.

"I think we use it as a group benefit thing, to provide for all of us." Scott suggested and everyone agreed.

"Lets gather everything we have and see what we need." Alex said and everyone nodded.

Scott and I headed back to our place and Alex went back with Kirstie to their place. We are meeting back at our crawlspace once we gather everything.

Scott and I grabbed everything we had and brought it out into the alley while we waited for the other two to arrive.

When they came, we realized that they had a lot less than Scott and I. We threw everything into one large pile and split it up equally between us. Scott and I ended up with about 5 bottles of water, 3 apples, 4 oranges, the jar of peanut butter and like 6 pieces of bread. That was what we had for food.

We realized that all of us had enough food for a couple days so the money we had now would go towards clothes for Alex and Kirstie. Scott got a bit riled up when I suggested that we bought the other two new shirts but nothing for me. He kept saying it's not fair that this was all is my idea and I'm the reason that we have the money but I refuse to spend it on myself. I argued him with the fact that I have the newest clothes other than him and he gave up, or I thought he did.

"Wait." Scott spoke up as we walked down the street, heading towards a clothing store. We all stopped and looked at him as he spoke. "I'm a genius!"

"Okay?" Alex questioned sassily.

"Listen to me Kirk." he spat at his friend and then smiled so we knew it was a joke. "Thrift stores."

"What?" I asked.

"Thrift stores! Inexpensive clothes, we can get something for each of you and still have money for more!"

"Oh my goodness, you are a genius!" Kirstie exclaimed.

"So you're good with that then?" Scott asked and Kirstie and Alex both nodded. Scott looked over at me and I hesitantly nodded as well. "Perfect."

We walked to the nearest thrift store and went inside. I have to admit, it's much bigger and more organized than I had expected.

"Ladies first." Alex said and gestured for Kirstie to go look at the aisle of women's tops. She quickly came back with a nice t-shirt.

"Only 3 dollars!" Kirstie exclaimed.

"Told you this was a good idea." Scott smiled ignorantly.

I wandered until I found a nice button up, it was floral and it was basically love at first sight for me. I found the other three again and looked at what they had gathered. Kirstie had found a hoodie to go with the shirt, Alex had a plain black tank top and a nice sweater, and Scott had a blue tank top as well as a snapback, it was leopard print with a black brim.

"Two things each Mitch, we have the money." Scott said to me and I rolled my eyes. I turned and walked around until I found an orange sweater that I liked. I grabbed it and walked back over to the group. "Okay, lets go pay." Scott said and smiled.

We walked out of the store with 2 bags, 1 with Kirstie and Alex's stuff and one with mine and Scott's. As soon as we got outside, Scott put on his new snapback, he wore it backwards, it suited him.

We all headed back to the crawl space so we could work on some more arrangements, we're hoping that if we perform more, we can get more money so we have more things to help us out here. I don't care how materialistic we sound, being able to buy more than just food today, made me happy because I saw how excited my friends were about it.