the forest.

~skittish~

                          ~
   I woke up hurting all over, the mattress I slept on though comfortable was now starting to wear down. It's springs were becoming visible, even after we had multiple quilts laid on top it still was able to go through and poke your back. It reminded me of The Princess and the Pea, but I was no princess, I was just a worn down fag clinging to any sorts of comfort.

The interior of the tree house was slightly messy. Some of the books and drawers were moved around by the police and detectives when they had arrived. If you looked outside it was a bigger mess, mud and footprints littered the floor along with caution tape that I had previously broke through to get into the tree house. You could still see the faint spot where 'He's used to be, my body felt cold and I deterred my eyes from it. It was clear that they were finished since the case was closed, they couldn't do much for an animal attack.

I tried to tidy up the place a bit, which wasn't hard considering we didn't have much. I was still in yesterday's clothes since I ran out in a panic so I searched through the boxes to find my chest filled with clothes in case of an emergency. The chest was littered with stickers of flowers and characters I liked, it used to be black and gold but painted it a nice navy. I remember buying it a few months ago at Party City. When opened you could see all of my colorful clothing. I changed into a fresh button up with pink aliens on it and a pair of black jeans to go along with it. I only had one pair of shoes so I didn't have much of a choice there. All throughout the process I could feel those stupid eyes again and in the middle of changing my pants I closed the blinds to all the windows. It went away after that.

I threw my bloodied shirt and pants into my bag that sat near the door, overturned after I carelessly threw it in a bit of anger. The contents were spilled all over the floor and I cursed myself for allowing myself to do that. When I was done I climbed down the ladder and started my way to school. Since it was just down the trail i didn't have to worry about being late, not that I cared anyways but I wanted to keep a good record even if now it was looking kinda shit. We didn't have any water in the house so I had to sadly enter the bathroom to wash up the remaining blood. I looked like shit, I mean I already looked like shit but right now I looked I Fucking Shit. My eye started to turn a yellowish purple and was a bit swollen, my nose that had been broken lovingly by Brendon was in the same condition. It bled again after my dad. I was glad I didn't bump into anyone on the way here cause I wouldn't know how to explain why I look like I fought a bear and lost.

When I had cleansed up i went to our usual breakfast table. More people started to enter the lunchroom, all with the same tired look. Roe was always the second one their besides me, she was currently reading a book and occasionally running her hand through her short dyed hair. When I say down she looked up to greet me and went back to reading. She did a double take and after realizing it was me she gasped and put her book away. "Oh Pat what happened to you!?" She yelled as she cradled my face in her hands. She softly touched my cut lip and black eye. I blushed in embarrassment but let her continue checking my wounds, liking the feel of her warm hands on my cold face. She stopped for a bit as if waiting for me to respond. "It was from yesterday's fight." I mumbled out.

She let out a huff and I knew she didn't believe me "You didn't look this bad yesterday! When we took you to the nurse you only had a busted nose not a black eye!" "Fine Fine it was my dad again" I finally admitted "But the rest was from the fight." I knew nothing can get behind Roes' observant eyes. She grew red in anger and I knew she was gonna start yelling, I put my hands up to cover her mouth. "Mgh mghhh ghm hmgh" "Shhh Roe please they are starting to stare." I mumbled to her, she nodded her head on understanding so I let her go.

"That son of a bitch how could he hit an injured child. How could he hit HIS injured child, q sometimes I wonder if he even has a heart that brainless asshole." She claimed, her foot started to tap on the floor, a sign she was either angry or nervous. She still had her hands on my face. "You should report him to th-" "NO!" I quickly said, the kids turned to look at us again. I turned 3 shades darker as I repeated again "No I can't do that. I know it looks bad but I deserved it, I talked back to him." "You don't punch people because they talk back to you, dose he have any idea what conversations are? My word Patrick you didn't deserve that at all." "I know but I can't report him. Nobody would believe me, who would be live the crazy fag? Plus he works for the station, he'll just twist the story to fit his narrative." H

She slapped my thigh but at last she sighed in defeat. She knew just as well as me we were alone. "Don't call yourself that. You're more then that so stop it, I don't want to hear it." "Hey but it's tru-" it was her turn to interrupt me. "Don't even finish that sentence cause I swear to god I'll... I'll I don't know just stop." She held my hands for a bit before she held them in front of her, playing with them. "What I'm saying is, be careful Pat. I'm here for you if you need anything because I love and care about you so please remember that." "Yeah...Thank you Roe." I said, we both went silent after that.

The rest of our group came after our talk. The were both clueless to what had happened, as they should be but I knew they knew what had happened. It wasn't just Brendon they had to look out for but my dad as well. 'I swear maybe sooner or later Mrs. Mock would join in on the hate party' I jokingly thought to myself.

While I was being babied by the group I meet eyes with Angelo across the room. He sat with his friends but didn't pay them any mind as they loudly conversed. His blue eyes seemed to brightened up when I looked at him, he smiled and waved wildly in my direction. I was rather surprised he would even want to see him again after I was so rude to him yesterday, but there he was bright as ever. I felt my cheeks get even redder then before, if that was even possible and looked back to my friends. 'This dude' I thought as we all stood up to go to class.

The day dragged on but hey at least Brendon and Katie weren't present. Throughout the day I was dreading having to go to detention, I could be doing millions of other things. When it was time I had to enter the designated room, today it was the library. The nice nurse was on duty today and I hoped she would for the whole week I was in detention. She greeted me at the door and as I walked by she patted my shoulder in sympathy. I sat down in the middle row and began the rest of my work I had yet too finish. The rest of the students filed in and the room became silent, just the quiet sounds scribbles and typing. Just then the door was slammed open and in came a rather sweaty Angelo. The nurse looked up and playfully glared at him like if it was a common occurrence. "Angelo what did I say about being late you man." She stated which Angelo returned with a rather annoyed response of "Not to be late I guess. Sorry mom." "Yeah you better be now sit down" She said as she returned to her work, shaking her head.

He stuck out his tongue out at her childish before the turned to face the room. His eyes scanned the room before they met mine again. His face lit up again and he quickly walked towards me before sitting in the seat next to me. "Hey" he said as he pulled the desk and chair a bit closer to me. "Hey" I mumbled back and turned to my work but he wasn't gonna have that. He continued "Hey I'm sorry if I acted insensitive and a bit forward yesterday , I just wanted to get to know you better." He fumbled with his fingers as if nervous.

He sounded sincere, he looked like a kicked puppy. His lower lip stuck out into a pout and his blue eyes shined as if he was gonna cry. "You know for having such menacing looks you sure are a big dork." I finally said, I could hear the nurse snicker from across the room. "But I forgive you, just don't do it again." I blew my hair out of my face and tried to get back to work. "Well thank you kind sir, I'll take that as a compliment." He laughed, he Now has his face resting on his hand as he continued to look at me. I could feel myself blush again, I wasn't used to people staring.

"You know you kinda remind me of a bunny." he started again after a long period of silence. "Why'd you say that?" "Because just like bunnies are you're very skittish, always looking at your surroundings. It's kinda cute." He now had his hands on his head trying to create a pair of ears. I swear is today Make Patrick Blush day? "Don't say that, someone can hear you, you dork." I told him but he was hearing none of it. "Ah you're blushing! so cute!" He gushed as he punched my cheeks "Quit it!" I swatted his hands and tried to move my desk away. "Aw I'm sorry I'll stop okay." "You better."

"Anyways I still need your name." "Fine it's Patrick." "Hmm I like bunny boy better." I hugged at him and instantly regretted telling him my name. "Oh shut it."

Detention went by with witty comments and snarky remarks. It felt rather familiar, like when 'He' was still here and I would jokingly say stupid things to get him mad. It always ended up with us laughing something me and Angelo did as we got out of detention. We got to know each other more during that time and though he made me angry or flustered on many occasions i felt as if I had made a new friend. I did make a new friend and I was proud of that.

I even forgot it was suppose to be a punishment but with Angelo there it felt like any normal after school activity.