Troubled Soul || Fall Out Boy

~19~

"Now, be on your best behaviour you four!"

"Yeah, what your Mom said!" Pete's Dad added.

Pete, Patrick, Hillary and Andrew were going over to Andy's house for the afternoon. It was the first time that they'd seen Andy and his parents outside of school since Patrick arrived. And Pete was very excited. Patrick just looked nervous.

Pete's Dad parked the car and they all got out, before heading up to the front door. Pete rang the doorbell, excitedly waiting to see his friend.

Andy's Mom answered the door and smiled when she saw the family. "Hi guys! Come on in. Andy's up in his bedroom if you want to go find him, Pete."

Pete went to go find his friend, but Andy beat him to the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey!" Andy smiled.

Pete grinned. "Hey!"

Andy looked over Pete's shoulder. "Hey, is that Patrick?"

Pete groaned. "Yeah."

The boys turned to face Patrick, whom Andy's Mom was trying to talk to. Patrick just looked semi-terrified, and was hiding behind Pete's Mom.

"Hi Patrick!" Andy's Mom greeted with a smile. "I'm Ann."

Patrick reached for Pete's Mom's hand. "H-Hi..."

"It's okay hun, you don't have to be nervous." Andy's Mom assured as she shook his hand. "How are you today?"

"A-Alright..." Patrick stammered.

Pete's Mom ruffled his hair. "Just give him some time Ann, he'll warm up to you."

Andy's Mom nodded. "Who wants some snacks? I've got chips and doritos and some cheese and crackers too!"

"Yes please!" Andy smiled, running towards the table. Pete followed him.

Andy grabbed the bowl of Doritos. "Me and Pete are going outside!"

"Why don't you boys take Patrick?" Pete's Dad suggested.

Pete and Andy froze.

"Uh... Um...."

"I-I don't w-wanna." Patrick whispered, curling up behind Pete's Mom.

"Are you sure? Andy and Pete are very nice boys." Andy's Mom tried to convince.

Patrick shook his head and sat down at the table with his notebook and a pen.

Pete looked at his parents for further instructions. Pete's Dad sighed. "Alright boys, off you go."

Pete loved Andy's backyard. It was big. Really, really big. But Pete's favourite part was how wild it was. There were patches of tall grass, and patches of bare dirt. And there were lots of things to climb on and jump around on. It was always exciting. It was sort of like playing in a junkyard, just without the threat of broken glass everywhere.

Andy was very good at navigating the junk, Pete had decided. He was very good at climbing right to the very tops of things, and he would even jump off them and land on his feet. Pete found this outrageously cool.

"Do ya wanna see the treehouse I'm building?" Andy asked.

Pete nodded. "Uh huh!"

Andy grinned and led Pete to the large tree, right in the back corner of the yard. It didn't seem like much at first to Pete, just the tree, but as they got closer, he saw the planks of wood that Andy had built and the ladder that went up to them.

"This is cool!" Pete beamed.

Andy grinned. "Yep. And when school finishes, Mom says that she'll help me build some walls and a roof and then we can have sleepovers out here!"

Pete had a sudden rush of excitement. "That's so cool!"

The two boys climbed the ladder and started eating their doritos as they swung their legs over the edge of the platform.

"Patrick is weird." Andy said eventually.

Pete nodded. "Yeah!"

"Does he not like you?"

"Um... I don't know. I think he likes me a little bit, but I don't like him at all. I hate him."

Andy frowned. "But isn't that mean?"

"NO!" Pete defended, standing up and holding onto a branch for support. "He's so weird and I hate him and all his weirdness! And everyone thinks he's the best but he's not! He's just weird!"

Andy nodded uncertainly. "But have you tried to be friends with him? Maybe he's not that bad."

Pete shook his head. "You can't be friends with both of us. If you're Patrick's friend, then we're not friends anymore."