I walk over to the forest where I met the guys yesterday. Sure enough, Matt is there. Maybe he's not that bad. I tell myself. As I look around I notice that the guys invited someone else too. Cheerleaders. Great. Believe me, I don't have anything personal against cheerleaders, it's just these cheerleaders that I hate. "Yo! What's up?" I watch as Matt walks over to me. We do the fist bump thing.
Matt starts to wander off with some girl, so does Jackson and everyone else. Pretty soon, the only person left for me to go with is April. I didn't know April was a cheerleader, she doesn't seem like the snobby type. "Hey" I greet her as I walk towards the tree she's sitting under. "Hi." she greets me too.
~*~*~*~
"Peter!" I look behind me as a familiar voice calls out to me. "Steven?! What are you doing here? I told you to go straight home after school!" I scold. "I'm sorry. I missed the bus."Steven answers back to me. "Missed...." that's when I notice a bruise on the side of his face. "Steven. You better be honest with me when we get home" I grab the kid by the arm and drag him home.
I slowly open the front door, my old man doesn't seem to be here. Probably at the casino. "Okay, go to the room and you better start on that homework" I tell Steven sternly. Steven does this, of course, but dragging his feet the whole way.
I walk into the tiny kitchen and open the fridge. Beer and microwave burritos, it'll have to do. I heat up two burritos and crack open a beer.
"Here, Steven." I hold out a burrito to the kid. He takes it. "All right. Tell me what happened to your face." I demand. "I fell." Steven answers me. "Nope. I know that's not what happened" I don't accept his answer.
A heavy sigh later and Steven tells me exactly what happened, no lies. "And so, I hit him. And then he hit me." Steven finishes his story. "Ok. Let me get this straight. You hit a boy because he was making fun of you for not having parents?" I ask. Steven nods. "His name is Jake?" I ask him. Another nod. I sit up. I know that name.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, April. Hey, I found this really cool spot in the forest. Wanna come? I read the text and after a while I reply. Sorry. I have to watch this kid.... I send the text. Bring him.
"Wanna go to this cool spot in the forest?" I ask Steven. "What about my work?" Steven looks up at me. "Don't worry about it" I tell him. I get his jacket from the closet, he doesn't know I stole it from The Thrift.
~*~*~*~
"Hey! What's your name, little man?" April ruffles the kid's hair. "Steven" the kid smiles at her. April leads us over to the special spot she found. It's beautiful there, kinda strange though. Tall electric towers stick up out of the ground. But, all kinds of flowers grow around there.
I watch Steven out of the corner of my eye as I talk to April. "I found this place after everyone left. I didn't really feel like going home." she explains to me. "Yeah, I know the feeling." I tell her. "Do you ever feel like just leaving?" April asks me. "Sometimes..." I answer. It's true, sometimes I think how easy it would be to just leave. Only, I promised myself that I wouldn't leave without giving Steven the chance in life that he deserves.
"Hey what's this!" I turn to see Steven standing in front of an electric tower, about to touch it. "No! Steven don't!" I scream, but it's too late. That's the last thing I remember.
