Bad Boy And The Emo Fall In-Love (remake)

Chapter 7

"I'm proud of you," Zane glances at the younger sibling with a small glare in his eyes. "You managed to speak to someone finally."

"Shut the fuck up," mumbles the older of the two, nudging the younger one.

A simple reply, but both brothers knew it meant nothing harsh. Though, while Chance kept talking aimlessly, Zane was checking ever slot in his brain why his classmate would be so curious about him. He was just a stranger helping, is that really odd?

"Really though, you finally spoke to someone outside the house. I don't know why you stopped talking, but I'm glad you finally did. You not talking is so damn weird."

Zane shakes his head. He's very talkative with his family, but the moment they step out of the safety of the walls, he won't speak until back inside, the gym is an exception.

"Yo, you listenin'?"

Zane ignores the boy beside him, continuing his stroll through the halls.

"This is the completely opposite way of your class?"

Zane nods, grabbing his brothers wrist and pulling them towards the downward staircase.

"No class for me, skipping day," Zane mumbles, very quietly at that. Chance cranks his head over to hear.

"If you're skipping, why still stay in the school? Incase theres another fight with the boy?"

Zane gives a small shrug, Chance gives a knowing laugh, but ventured off from the topic. Chance knew there's was more than just "defending someone like him", he just didn't know what that was. Chance knew his adopted older brother was more curious about the emo boy than he should've been. Zane would find himself in Chances room one day asking about the emo boy, asking if his brother shared classes with the boy, or was friends with anyone who knew anything about that boy.

Chance didn't know many in the school, but he had met some students he thinks are pretty interesting. He's gotten quite the questions about his adopted older brother,  every time he respected his brothers wishes and would just change the subject. He didn't know why his brother wished to be so secretive, he remembers when Zane was the complete opposite. Zane was always open, talkative, and wanted to be out there with people and have multiple friends; he was lively. Then, four months before the move, Zane went quiet. Chance never understood why, no matter how hard he tried to understand. Chance wasn't blind though.

Chance noticed how Zane only got quiet after he went out one night and didn't come back till the next afternoon. Chance knows he wasn't with Ethan or John, they would send a picture of them together whenever Zane didn't show up for a night. So when he asked Ethan, and Ethan said yes but didn't send a picture, he knew his brother was elsewhere.

Shortly after that lie, Zane got a night job, and he would be gone for hours. Chance knew high schoolers couldn't work more than four hours, and had to work morning or afternoons, never nights. Zane would sneak back into the house normally around 1-2 in the morning. Whatever Zane was doing for work frightened Chance; no teenager had hours like Zane. Zane would get paid loads for whatever he did, even without working 5 days a week like most would to get that pay.

Zane never told them what he did for work though, he always avoided answering what company, or a location. He was secretive, he changed, he didn't act normally. Chance was always so curious about this, but whenever he asked the topic was always shut down.

Chance has been overly cautious about his brother working even when Zane quit a month ago. A month ago, Zane started calling out of work and school, laying in bed all day for a week straight. Then he disappeared for a day with Ethan, when he came back that night it became apparent how fragile his brother was at the time. 2 weeks after that, Zane started going back their personal trainer Gavin. Zane didn't work out through, he would do different exercises; Chance found out they were physical therapy exercises.

Chance isn't blind he's just missing a part of the puzzle, and he's been trying to gain this piece but it's just not there.

Chance knew Zane didn't want the students to know his name, and Chance knew Zane didn't ever want to go out in public anymore, and Chance knew Zane is still acting weird, he just didn't know why any of this was happening.

All he could do is observe his brother, and  respect his brother wishes.

Zane thought Chance and his parents were oblivious, his parents to caught up with the move and keeping their jobs in order while paying bills, and Chance strolling away through high school like normal. But, it didn't matter if they didn't know or not, because Zane wouldn't ever talk about what happened again... he was too scared of the consequences that came along with the truth.

He told himself he would start new, but he was told it would take a while to move on. So, he's trying to move on; no matter how long that takes. He would hate anyone that was like his old self, which makes him a hypocrite. He wishes now that he would have declined the offer, and got a normal teenager job, but it's already too late.

Zane knows he messed up. The type of mess up that will fuck you over backwards; the type of mess up that can get you killed... and he knows it's already to late for him to fix it.