Just your regular high school day (The pack FF)

Chapter seventeen: We All Have Problems.

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory" ~Dr. Seuss
🕊♡ .°
Mitch's pov:

"Uggggggh!" Preston wined as he sat down next to me at lunch. We were inside the cafeteria, sweating bricks. Even with the air conditioning on, it felt like we were in hell! Stupid California and its heat! "My back hurts!"
"I know" I sighed. Three months into the school year and I want to quit.
"Hey guys, what are we talking about?" Rob greets as him and Vik sit down at the table.
"Preston's back pain" I answered as I took a bit of my sandwich. "Eww, What is this?" I put the sandwich back on my paper brown bag.
"Can I have it?" Preston asked.
"Preston!" Vik laughed at the second eldest actions.
"By all means" I shoved the sandwich across the table. Preston took a bite and grinned, Lachlan came and took a bite of my formal sandwich.
"Wad'up?" He asked with a mouthful of....of whatever that was.
"Hey!" Preston wined. Rob scolded Lachlan for talking with a mouthful.
"Why are we sitting inside? Let's go outside, it's hot today" Mitch asked as he finally reached us. We looked at him curiously.
"Why not, lets go" Rob agreed to Mitchell's suggestion and that's why we're sitting outside, backs agents the brick wall.
"Hey Jerome, are your parents home?" Vik asked. Jerome shook his head.
"I have to do everything myself, anyone know how to do laundry?" Jerome asked. He rubbed his nose.
"I can teach you, Ive been doing it by myself for months now" Rob spoke up.
"Oh, are your parents like, making you be independent?" Vik asked.
"Uh, no. If I tell you this, you guys can't tell anyone." Rob hesitated "I live on my own, things were getting really bad at home and I couldn't " we were all gased, Preston choked on my formal sandwich and looked up at him.
"Isn't that illegal?" Preston asked him once he got his voice back.
"No, well yeah" Rob looked confused.
"Actually, it's legal to run away from home in some states" I nudged in.
"How do you know that?" Lachlan asked as he tried to steal another bite from the sandwich.
"Not to steal the spotlight from you Rob-" I looked at him for permission.
"Go ahead, were all sharing our pain here" he agreed.
"-but I looked into it before. You know the reason why" I answered.
"Hey get your own-Was your mom always like that?" Preston asked after he kicked Lachlan away. He was trying to sneak another bite of... whatever was in that sandwich.
"Not really, we were a happy family. One day my mom found alcohol and become addicted, she couldn't stop and that changed her. She would fight with dad all the time and sometimes us" I hesitated. The memories flooding back, Jerome rubbed my back for support. "Thanks, but she was out of control. Dad left and she became a whole mess. He promised to take us with him, safe a-away from her. O-our mom only yelled and screamed at us, n-never h-had she hit us, until..."
"Until?" Preston pushed when I stopped talking in total. I curled up into a ball and rocked myself back and forth.
"Y-you guys can't tell anyone....She took m-my arm and h-h-hit me with her glass bottle. I've had a nasty scare on my arm ever since..." I told. I covered up my arms, being ashamed of myself.
"Did she?" Lachlan gasped.
"Why didn't you tell the police?" Jerome asked me.
"No!" I shouted. My yelling had taken them back, I-I didn't mean it, I have to fix it. "N-no...they'll separate us and I won't be able to see them again. They'll separate Samuel and Theodore and they'll never see each other again...."
"Oh..." it was quiet after that. The unsteady silence filling in...
"One of you guys can go now, we can all share our problems" I insisted.
"A-alright, are you sure?" Preston asked me before he began his rant.
"Yeah, go ahead" I ensured.
"Ok, my story's not upsetting or anything. It's just that my parents don't pay any attention to me, it's Lizzy or Lorenzo, never Preston. It annoys me, t-thats kind of why I always have a dad attitude with everyone. I'm just mad at my parents and reflect it onto everyone else..." He quieted down at the end of his sentence, I gave him a bear hug and he returned it.
"Can I go next?" Vik asked. We agreed for him to go, "I've been bullied.....about my hight and eyebrows. I-I never really knew how to handle it, until JJ and the....the gang did something to make them stop. I-I was so thankful......f-for the lifesaver t-t-that I...couldn't see how they were the bully's as well...." Vik started to tear up, Lachlan held him, he played with his hair.
"Sometimes, the person you'd take a bullet for ends up being the one behind the gun.." Lachlan mumbled from next to me.
"What?" Jerome asked.
"It's a line from the song 'Miss Missing you' Fall Out Boy 'Sometimes, the person you'd take a bullet for ends up being the one behind the gun" Lachlan repeated as Vik let out another sob. He squeezed him tighter.
"Woah...deep" Jerome mumbled as he leaned back. His back hitting the wall. "I'll tell my story now. My parents honestly, flat out, don't care about me. Ever since I've been able to walk and talk, I've taught myself everything. Dressing myself, feeding myself, walking to school all started at the age of four..."
"Four? Isn't preschool start when your at the age of five or six?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I went to an earlier school for an head start. Everyday I would get up and walk threw the empty streets of my neighborhood at six A.M just to get their" Jerome continued after he answered my question.
"Wouldn't you get kidnapped or someone come up to you?" Lachlan asked.
"Well....actually no, I was to small for anyone to realize anything and I would take a bunch of twists and turns to get their. Some involved climbing to the rooftops or walking threw shady backstreets" He has to think about this for a moment before he gave his answer.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Rob asked.
"Yeah, but I learned how to defend myself a bit. Like, Rob, remember when we fought together of JJ and his friends? I took what I learned from when I was little." Jerome proudly stated.
"You need to tell me that story guys" Vik wined. Previously, we refused to tell the small one about the fight until the right time.
"One day, Vik. One day" Lachlan joked as he waved his arms to the sky. Vik pushed him, braking their hug. Lachlan just hugged him again.
"What about you?" The small one asked. This caught Lachlan off guard, startled, he looked at Vik.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"What about you? What's your exiting experience?" Vik clarifies as he looked up at the younger.
"T-.....I.....I'll tell you another time, just..not now.." Lachlan tensed up. Vik changed the Youngers position and had his head onto his lap. His small fingers smithing his soft hair. I wonder how it feels? I looked down to the short Jerome, I lifted my arm awkwardly and put it slowly to his head. I-Is...is his hair soft or is it hard because of the jell he had in his hair? But he isn't wearing any now? He snapped his head at me. Snap...
"What are you doing, Mitchell?" He laugh as he used my real name.
"Not- ok, I wanted to feel your hair.." I confessed. He tilted his head and nodded, I squealed like a school girl and put my pale fingers threw it. "ITS SOFT!"
"I sure hope it is, I spent a lot of time on this ding dong thing" Jerome laughed. The school bell rings indicating that lunch is, unfortunately, over.
"Guys, meet here after school" Rob ordered. We agreed for the mama bird and headed of to our classes.

🕊♡ .°