The Cat on the Balcony

19- I Love You

UNEDITED

A/N- The song is another one off of No Phun Intended called Prove Me Wrong, and it's my favorite one. It's the song Tyler sings later in the chapter, so that's why I put it up there for those of you who might not have heard it before :)

Friday was a blur of worksheets, essays, and tests. Nothing major happened in regards to Kellin and Max. After school on Friday, the five of us went to the park again to just relax and de-stress after this week.

We had stopped by the store and grabbed a bunch of junk food to eat, so that's what we were doing at the moment, sitting under a large oak tree and bringing ourselves another step closer to diabetes, but none of us cared.

After most of the food was gone, I stood up and started climbing the tree, quickly followed by Brendon and Jack. Patrick and Tyler stayed on the ground shouting up at us to be careful and not fall. Brendon and Jack kept calling them Papa Patrick and Momma Joseph, and I joined them after a bit.

When we all got down out of the tree, we decided to start walking around the park. Except for the occasional jogger or cyclist, we were alone on the path. After we had walked around the whole park twice, we ran into some people we knew, and most certainly did not like.

Kellin, Max, and Ronnie were all standing by one of their cars smoking and laughing. We all stopped in our tracks and just stared. Without a word, I turned around and began to walk the other direction, but was stopped by Jack grabbing the collar of my shirt and pulling me back.

"Uh-uh, you shouldn't have to be scared to even walk in their general direction Josh," he said while giving me a serious look.

"I'm not scared per-say, I'd just rather not." I said with a little shrug and tried to walk away again, but Jack didn't release his grip on my shirt.

"No, we all agreed we were ready to go back to your house, so we're going to walk to that parking lot, get in our cars, and go there. Got it?"

Before I could answer with fake reasons of why I suddenly wanted to stay out longer, Tyler grabbed my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze.

"They won't do anything with all of us around Josh, let's go. It'll be fine." I nodded my head and reached down to hold his hand. As we started making our way to the parking lot, I kept my head down and refused to look up. The purple had almost completely faded out of my hair so it was a little easier to blend in.

"Hey, Dun!" Damn it. I looked up from the asphalt and saw that it was Ronnie who had called out my name. "How you feeling bud? Sill a little sore?"

"Don't you dare call him bud you asshat!" Jack shouted back. Ronnie held up two hands in a 'chill out' gesture.

"Ok ok, sheesh dude who shoved a stick up your ass? Maybe it was that creep with blue hair and big eyebrows." Jack lunged forward, but Brendon and Patrick grabbed his shoulders and held him back.

"You shut your fucking mouth! You have no right to talk about him, or any of my friends! I will kick your ass, I swear to God I will! If these two weren't in the way you'd be on your back bleeding by now!"

Jack continued shouting profanities, threats, and insults as Brendon and Patrick dragged him over to Patrick's car. Tyler and I were following closely behind.

"See you at school in a month!" Ronnie shouted after us with a laugh. I grabbed Tyler's arm and sped up, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.

Patrick and Brendon had just finished stuffing Jack in the backseat of the car when we reached Tyler's car. Both cars sped out of the parking lot, and headed to my house. By the time we got there, Jack had calmed down a considerable amount, but he was still pissed.