home // freddy freeman [1]

13

Billy sniffled as he limped his way up the driveway and towards the group home. His ankle was on fire, but not even that was more painful than the pain in his heart as he thought of his sister.

He had messed up and she was beyond mad at him. He didn't even know how he was going to be able to fix this, but he didn't get much longer to think about it because the front door was being thrown open and Rosa came running out.

"Oh my God. Are you okay?" Rosa asked as she rushed over to the boy. "Are you okay?" She reached Billy and gently grabbed ahold of him as she looked him over. "Yeah," Billy muttered. "What happened? Are you hurt?" Rosa asked. "Come inside."

"We need to have a talk," Victor announced as he stopped at the edge of the front porch. Billy looked up to meet his disappointed gaze and let out a small sigh. "Just don't be so hard on him, okay?" Rosa said as she gently grabbed Billy and began helping him up the stairs.

But as Billy made his way up the stairs and passed Victor, he knew it was going to be more than just a 'talk'.

- - -

"Running out on us! Lying! Huh? Then I get a call from the school telling me you've been cutting class, getting in fights?" Victor yelled. Billy looked down at his hands while Rosa carefully cleaned the cuts on his face with a washcloth.

He knew he was in trouble and usually he would've cared less. But after arguing with Freddy and Riley, the words Victor was yelling at him actually bothered him.

"I mean, what were you thinking? And then you bring Freddy into this?" Victor asked as he shook his head. "And I'll be having a talk with Riley as well because she-"

"No, not Riley," Billy muttered making both Rosa and Victor look to him. "She didn't do anything. It was all my own fault."

Victor blinked in surprise and glanced at Rosa. She just sighed and lovingly stroked Billy's cheek before standing up. "Come on, Victor. I think he gets the point," Rosa said. Victor nodded and the two adults walked out of the room leaving Billy by himself.

The boy looked down at his hands as he let everything that had happened today wash over him. Rosa and Victor were mad at him. Freddy was mad at him. Riley was mad at him.

A strangled cry led this mouth at that and he put his face in his hands. Riley was mad at him. He had pushed the one person that meant more to him than life itself to the point where she wanted nothing to do with him.

She was the only person that had ever cared. The only person who had stuck by his side through everything even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness and he had ruined everything by being stupid enough not to see it.