This Is Me

Multiple Problems (Part One)

Multiple Problems (Part One)

"Pete," a familiar voice carried me out of my sleep, and God I hated them for that.

"Go away," I mumbled, digging my face further into my pillow.

"I need to talk to you." Paying more attention to the voice, I realised it was Brad, which made me hate him even more.

"I'm going to rip your throat out. Let me sleep."

"Pete, your alarm is going to go off in ten minutes, and I wanted to catch you before school."

"Brad, ten minutes, means everything before school."

"This is important," Brad pressed, and I groaned.

"What do you want?"

"Get up and dressed and meet me downstairs."

"Fine. Now get out of my room."

After a few moments of silence, I heard Brad make his way out of my room. Weighing up my options for another minute, the thoughts of being a good brother and seeing what Brad wanted were too overpowering, and I flung my blankets off and rolled out of bed.

Soon, I was down in the kitchen, sitting on the middle island, eating my patented cheese on toast, and Brad was sitting on the other counter, avoiding eye contact.

"Oh, gee, I could have sworn someone woke me up for some Goddamn reason," I said sarcastically, and Brad finally looked at me.

"Look, I don't know what to say," Brad said, before shaking his head. "No, I mean, I know what to say, I just don't know how to say it."

"Jesus Christ, Brad."

"Maybe I shouldn't say anything at all," Brad mumbled, and I almost flung myself across the kitchen to attack him.

"I swear to fucking God, if you woke me up ten minutes early for no reason, I'm going to rip your intestines out."

"That's a little graphic."

"And you're a little slag."

"Okay, I'm just going to say it," Brad said, taking a deep breath and finally looking at me, though continuing not to say anything.

"I'm seriously going to kill you," I threatened, finishing off my breakfast and glaring at Brad, feeling more tired by the second.

"I saw," Brad mumbled, which made me even more tired and confused.

"What?" I mumbled, struggling to keep my eyes open.

Moving closer to Brad, and rubbing my eyes in the hopes to wake myself up, my mind started to run his words through my mind. As they echoed in my mind, my heart began to beat faster as my brain began to focus on one particular thing.

"On Friday night," Brad said, and I could feel my hand begin to shake as I clenched my jaw.

"Don't say it," I muttered, wishing I could get out of this situation. Hoping that I hadn't done anything to get myself into it in the first place.

"I saw the video," Brad said, jumping off the counter and closing the gap between us.

I could feel my heart almost bursting out of my chest, and my stomach falling to the floor. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"How?" I managed to get out, feeling my hands shake.

"Your computer was on, the video was minimised, I know I shouldn't have, Pete."

"You haven't... told anyone?" I asked nervously, trying to stop my brain from thinking of the worst possible scenario.

I was failing.

"What? No, Pete!" Brad said, quickly shaking his head, and I felt my heart steady for a moment, before the realisation that Brad had seen the video set back in.

"You weren't supposed to see that," I mumbled, stumbling into the seat next to the counter, keeping my eyes off Brad.

"I know, and I've spent the past few days thinking of telling you that I saw, but I didn't know what to say because I didn't want you to react like this."

"Like what? Paranoid? Scared?"

"I thought it would be best if you knew that I know."

"I didn't want you to know!" I yelled, feeling my body shake as I found it harder and harder to keep myself composed. "I just wanted to be normal!"

"Pete, you are normal." Brad got up from his seat and started moving toward me, but I stood up and walked away.

"No, Brad. Just... leave me alone."

Pushing past Brad, he reached out to me, but I brushed his hand away, heading out of the kitchen.

"Pete!"

"What going on?" my mum's voice came from the bottom of the stairs as I walked into the hallway and made my way toward the front door.

"Nothing. I'm going to school."

Quickly grabbing my car keys from off the dresser that sat in the hallway, I reached the front door, walked outside, and soon I was sitting in my car, breathing heavily as I gripped the steering wheel.

My mind raced as I thought of the video, and I cursed at myself for making it.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" I growled through clenched death, slamming my hand against the steering wheel and feeling a tear slide down my cheek.

Anger boiled in me. Anger at Brad, but also at myself. I knew I shouldn't have acted how I had toward Brad, as it seemed as though he genuinely cared, but I couldn't help it.

Doing all I could to calm myself down, I started my car. Deciding that I couldn't keep sitting in front of my house, I began the journey to pick up my friends. I tried to make it seem like nothing was wrong. I tried to act as normal as I could. I laughed at Andy's jokes when he told them, and I smiled at Blaire when she got in the car. I nodded along with Leroy when he spoke about his soccer game and made a loud announcement when it was time to stop for coffee.

I tried.

"You seem to have been zoning out all morning, Pete. Are you all right?" Blaire had waited for me to park my car after we had arrived at school before pulling me aside, away from the growing crowd of students.

It was customary for me to drop my friends off right in front of the school before circling to find a place to park. Usually, Andy and Leroy also would have waited, but something told me that Blaire had made sure we could get some alone time.

"Yeah, I'm good," I lied, though, I had no idea why I lied and quickly corrected myself. "Well, no. I'm not good."

"Oh?" Blaire questioned, looking around at the students passing us, and I replicated her, before speaking to her in a softer tone.

"I have a problem."

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A/N: The apology chapter I promised!

Goddamnit, Brad! But, also, Goddamnit, Peter!

You like that sentence? Four commas, six words, and it makes complete sense.

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Question:

Do you think Pete was right to freak out?

There won't be any more 're-write' questions as the chapters from now on are... well, new. And never had a question to begin with :o