The Abuse of a Friend

Chapter Five (Nick)

You ever get that feeling that you have forgotten something, but you can't remember what you've forgotten. This pretty much sums up my life right now. As I'm walking home from the bus stop, I got the feeling that I had forgotten something. I kept racking my mind trying to figure out what it was that I had forgotten. But no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn't remember it.

"Gosh damn it..." I swore as I kicked at some loose cement pieces, I needed to figure out what I had forgotten. Hopefully it would come to me later, I slid my backpack off my shoulders as I walked up the driveway. I opened the door and slid my shoes off before slinging my backpack onto the dining room table.

"Hey look at that he's home." My dad proclaimed as I walked into the kitchen, I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him as I walked over to the fridge. I needed something to eat, seeing as I didn't eat lunch at school again. Me and my father's relationship was good. We bickered back and forth, but when it came down to it. We were always there for each other and loved each other.

"You gonna tell me about this morning Nicholas?" He said as he took a sip of some coffee, I sighed and looked down at my feet. I nodded my head and then shrugged my head as I tried to think about how to tell him. He hated fighting ever since he was kid.

" Kid took my necklace and wouldn't give it back so I hit him." I said as I started to make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He hummed and thought for a couple minutes before speaking again.

"And is that all happened?" He said peering at me through his glasses. He didn't hate the war, but he didn't like it either. Frankly he think we should just stay out of it and stay out of other countries. Which I can't blame him for that. At least he wasn't like the other at haters where they go out and spit on military members and their families.

"Well he was also bashing the military and Justin." I said grabbing a handful of chips and putting them on the plate next to my sandwich. All he did was hum and walk away and out of the kitchen. But before he left he clapped a hand on the back of my neck and squeezed lightly. I smiled softly before walking over to the dining room table.

"What homework do I want to start first?" I asked my self as I brought my homework folder out of my bag. I decided to start math first seeing as that was my hardest subject and would most likely take me the longest. You should always start with your hardest subject first before moving on to the more easier subjects. I took a bite out of my sandwich, and almost moaned in delight.

"Having fun?" Someone spoke from behind me, I turned around to see my younger cousin Matty behind me. He was only younger than me by two years, but it still bugged the shit out of him. His parents were more strict than mine, they didn't let him have a phone until he was 14. He wasn't allowed to go over to his friends house unless both his mom and dad knew the kids parents. Plus, he had a strict bedtime of eight o'clock. I felt bad for the kid.

"What the hell are you doing man?" I asked as I smirked at him, I kicked the chair next to me out a bit so he could sit down. All he did was smirk and shrug as he slung his bag onto the table and plopped down.

"Ma and Dad both are at work, so here I am." He said as he brought out what looked history homework. All I did was smile then shake my head at him. His mom and dad was always working, so he either went to Aunt Tina's house or mine. He was a bit weird, but like a good kind of weird. He was also extremely smart. He was a sophomore in a junior math class. And in two AP classes. I know I could never survive in any kind of AP class.

"Do you want anything to eat?" I asked him before he got too focused on his homework. He was like that. If he got too focused on something, he would just zone everything else out.

"Some of this chips would be great." He said as he ate yet another one of my chips, I looked down at my plate to see about half of my chips gone. I glared playfully at him, but all he did was smirk and raise his hands in surrender. I laughed as I grabbed a bowl from the cupboard then poured some of the chips into it. I sat them down in front of him then snatched a chip from his bowl.

"Shithead." He said glaring at me. But all I could do was laugh. He looked like a kid who just gotten his candy taken away. The fact that he wasn't allowed to cuss, made it even funnier. After I was finally done laughing, he rolled his eyes and began focusing on his homework.

"How long ya gonna be here for?" I asked while finishing up one of the math problems with what I hoped was the right answer. Probably wasn't but oh well. I tried my best and that's what matters. Luckily I only had around five left.

"Probably around six or seven o'clock." He said as he opened his book and began writing down some notes, which was basically telling me that it was time to shut up. I nodded and began trying to figure out the next math.

*Two hours later*

It was now a little after five, and I had finished my math and reading homework. Matty had completely finished all of his homework, and was just reading for fun now. I don't get how he could do that read for fun. But hey it's his life. I just had science homework left and it was by far my favorite subject.

"Hey boys. How are y'all doing?" My mom said as she walked into the house finally getting home from work. She was a nurse and loved her job. I just hated the long grueling hours and when she would come home crying from not being able to save someone. I smiled at seeing her happy. She must have had a good day.

"Doing pretty good Auntie." Matty spoke as he looked up from his book just for a quick second before looking back down again. Ma smiled at him before chuckling and shaking her head then looking to me.

"And you Nick? How are you doing?" She asked me. All I could do was shrug my should and flex my fingers and knuckles, I winced a bit when a tiny amount of pain shot through my hand. She grabbed my hand and looked at the knuckles a bit, she flexed my fingers and then hummed.

"Well it doesn't look broken which is good, but its gonna be sore for the next few days." She said as walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. I nodded and turned back around to focus on my science homework. Matty looked at me completely confused, but all I did was shake my head at him. He pouted a bit which made me smirk and chuckle just a tad bit.

"Does hot dogs sound good for dinner tonight boys?" Ma said while rooting around in the fridge to get the ingredients out to cook. We both said yeah before I started finishing the last question I was on for my homework. Matty got up and started to help her prepare the dinner for tonight. They began making small talk as one of them cooked the hot dogs while the other began cutting up some carrots so they could get steamed.

"Hey Ma. Do you think I could call Alex real quick before dinner gets done?" I asked after putting all my schoolwork back into my backpack having finishing it all. She nodded her head, I smiled shyly before grabbing my phone out of my pocket and making my way upstairs towards my bedroom,

"Nick!" Alex screamed into the phone the minute she picked up the phone, it hadn't even been ringing for a minute before she picked up. I immediately straightened up and stopped where I was.

"Alex what's wrong?" I asked frantically. I could hear heavy stomping from her side of the call, I could also hear someone screaming her name.

"Don't worry for me. I'll be fine." She said into the phone, but the fear in her voice told me other wise. She sounded out of breathe and completely terrified. She was terrifying me. She said one more thing before the call went dead. She told me that she was sorry.