I'm Not A Girl, I Swear [Discontinued]

XXXIV

Things had gotten ten times more complicated. Nick thought he might actually explode. He didn't have the excuse of his mother as far as telling anyone went, he could lose Jeff now- there was so much more riding on his identity. His identity, which he couldn't figure out for the life of him.

Sometimes he wished he had never even seen that shirt, but he knew it was much deeper than that now. He would have ended up questioning it anyway.

Now, to add to this mess, the weekend had come, and he was going to his father's house. Especially after what happened, he knew it wouldn't be a fun trip.

"Nick, what's wrong?"

He blinked, pulled out of his thoughts by Wes. "Hm? Oh, just, um, a lot on my mind." They were both waiting for their parents to pick them up for the weekend.

Wes nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry about your mother." Seeing Nick's panicked look, he elaborated. "My parents told me about it. But, um, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, go ahead." He could use a distraction.

"Did she actually hit you?"

Nick frowned, confused. "What do you mean? I mean, she mostly kicked me, but yeah, she hurt me."

He nodded again, looking out at the parking lot. "It's just... Our parents- well, my parents and your mother- have known each other a long time. My parents are convinced she'd never do something like that, and it doesn't help that your father reported it. I don't know, from knowing you, I don't doubt it for a minute. But they only know her."

"Wes, where are you going with this?" Nick asked cautiously.

"They're going to defend her at the trial," he said quickly, the words rushed as he finally said them. "I can't talk them out of it, no matter how hard I try. I just wanted you to know, I'm trying to stop them, but I didn't want you to think that I had betrayed you when you saw them there. I needed to tell you before then."

"Wes, Wes, calm down," Nick said, setting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not mad at you. Thank you for telling me. I think there's going to be a lot of people on her side, but we have evidence and she has empty promises and lies."

He sighed softly, looking down. "I'm sorry," he half-whispered. "I- I really don't want you to lose this."

"Hey, there's nothing you can do, and you still tried. I'm going to be fine, because I have people like you at my side."