Troubled Soul || Fall Out Boy

~18~

When morning rolled around, Patrick was sleeping again, except this time he'd just fallen asleep on the couch. Pete's Mom and Dad refused to wake him, with the reasoning that they didn't want to trigger another attack. Pete understood this, but he was still a little peeved that he wasn't allowed to watch cartoons.

"Mom, I'm not feeling well..." Pete murmured at breakfast. "I don't think I can go school today."

In reality, the only thing wrong with Pete was that he was overly tired.

Pete's Mom nodded. "That's okay sweetie. Did Patrick wake you up last night."

"Y-Yeah..." Pete mumbled nervously, knowing that the truth was actually the other way around.

Pete's Dad grabbed his car keys. "Hillary, Andrew, grab your things. Let's go."

Andrew and Hillary grabbed their school things and followed their father out to the car, being particularly quiet as they walked past the lounge room.

"Mommy I have something to tell you..." Pete murmured once they were alone.

"Yeah Petey?"

"I-I was the one who woke Patrick up..."

Pete's Mom blinked.

"I had a nerf gun and I shot him on the nose and then he woke up. And then he started screaming and I thought I'd broken his nose or something..." Pete finally admitted, sinking into his chair.

Pete's Mom was silent for a moment. "That's not a very nice thing to do, Peter."

"I know, I know, but I was really mad and I wanted to get back at him!" Pete tried to defend.

"Why were you mad?"

"Because he's being a suck! Every since he got here, nobody talks to me much! Everything's always about Patrick!"

Pete's Mom sighed. "Peter, we told you before he even got here that for a while we'd need to spend a lot of time with him."

"But it's been a whole month and he still acts like a baby and you let him!"

Pete's Mom started to look angry. "Why are you so nasty to him?!"

"Because I hate him Mom! I hate him!"

"Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz! You do not hate him, you hear me?! He has done nothing at all to you! And as for me 'letting' him, Patrick has been through more in his seven years than you will in your whole life. So just shut up and be nice for a change and stop pre-judging other people!"

Pete sunk back into his chair and nodded. "W-What are the things that he's been through?"

Pete's Mom tightened her lips and leaned back in her chair. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't, Peter. I just can't."

He frowned. "What if you basically just tell me what sort-of happened, but not the little things?"

Pete's Mom considered. "Do you know how sometimes you think Dad and I are mean to you?"

Pete hesitantly nodded.

"Well, Patrick's Dad was mean to him all of the time."

"Did he do a lot of bad things?" Pete asked.

Pete's Mom shook her head. "No, he didn't."

"Then why was his Dad mean to him?"

"Because his Dad was a bad man."

"Oh, okay..." Pete murmured. "How was he mean?"

"Huh?"

"Did he call Patrick names?"

Pete's Mom looked pained. "Yeah. He'd hit him too. Look, I've told you too much. You're probably tired, go upstairs and see if you can get some sleep."

"But!"

"Just, go to bed Peter."

Pete sighed and headed back upstairs.