Saving Madison

Chapter Eighteen

Tyler's p.o.v »»

"One month, taking the bus,10:00 curfew, you can only go to school, practice and out with Will. Am I clear?" My mom asked standing in front of me, her arms crossed and her eyes weary. Will had taken me to the hospital, driving slowly but surely, and my right hand was wrapped in a black cast.

"Clear. I can have the payment for the wall in your account tomorrow," I mumbled, rotating my shoulder.

"Damn right you will." She brought me in for a hug, ignoring my wince at the pressure on my arm.

"What's going on with you, Ty?" She asked, putting my face in her hands and looking into my eyes. I looked away, not in the mood to talk or explain myself.

"I just want to go home," I muttered, standing up and grabbing my jacket off the chair.

"You punch half a dozen holes in your wall and you can't give me an explanation?" She asked as Will joined us, having been sitting in the waiting room for a half an hour.

"I just got mad, ma. No big deal."

"No, you get mad and go for a run, or take a long shower, or just turn on your music really loud. You don't punch your wall, breaking your hand." I moved the fingers in my cast ridden hand, feeling slight pain from doing so.

"We need to move. Or, I do."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want to be here." I said simply. "I could go live with Aunt Caroline for my last two years. It'd be a lot less stress for you and I'd be away from all this mess." We walked out to her car, which was parked next to my truck in the parking lot.

"You're not going anywhere but home. And you're going to tell me what happened later on, whether you like it or not."

+++

"Woah, man, that's crazy," Jake said in awe as he stood in my room, looking at the holes in my wall. He had come to stop by my house on the way home from school, seeing as I hadn't been answering my phone. "Are you the fucking Hulk or something? I'd hate to get on your bad side."

"That's six months of pent up rage," I said, taking out a math worksheet and looking at it. Ugh, math was the worst, and trying to write with my non dominant hand was harder than writing with my foot.
"I guess you're benched for the first few games, then." He said, laying on my bed.

"That's shitty because Drisdale would've been slaughtered if you could play." I nodded, writing an answer slowly on the paper.

"I don't even care about football anymore, man." I told him, sighing annoyedly when the tip of the pencil broke.

"What do you care about? You haven't been you for a while, T, I want to know what happened to my best friend."

"Your best friend died when Madison Taylor did." We sat in silence, uninterrupted until I heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, Will appearing at my door. He looked between us before his eyes settled on me.

"I need to talk to you,"

"I gotta go anyway." Jake said, grabbing his book bag from the corner. "Bye, T, see you later, little man." He said to Will.

"You're like two inches taller than me," Will mumbled before he walked into my room, putting his own bag down on my bed, opening it up and taking out a folder.

"I got your homework for you since you were out." I took the folder with thanks.

"I talked to Kate today." I paused my work to look at him, trying to see if he was serious.

"We're going to the movies."

"William James Hastings look at you!" I raised my hand for a high five, one he returned with a smile.

"But you and Madison are going with us."

"I take my high five back," we high fived again to signify taking it back, something we had developed when we were kids.

"I'm not going anywhere near Madison, and she wants nothing to do with me."

"She agreed." I raised my eyebrows, disbelieving his words. The girl who basically told me to fuck off wants to go on a date with me and my little brother.

"I can't go out, remember? House arrest."

"Mom made it clear that you can only go outside the house if it's with me. So, we're going. You and Madison don't even have to sit together, I just want to know that I'm not alone, because I will have a panic attack."

"I'd rather do almost anything else in the world. If you're a chicken now, you're not going to get anywhere with Kate. Ask Madison to bring her boyfriend, what's his face."

"Luke. And no, I don't know him."

"You know her. If not, go alone." I shrugged.

"Who went to Emma to find out if she liked you last year?" He asked, and I knew where he was headed. "Who went to all your football games with binoculars to look at her from the stands to see if she ever looked at you, no matter how creepy it was? Who drove you to the hospital when you broke your hand for Christ's sake?"

"Will-."

"I ask for one thing, and all I need is you to be a big brother, putting your issues aside to help me. That's all I'm asking." I sighed, throwing my head back dramatically.

"Fine."