Riley and Alex Bennett are brothers. They have had a hard life. I mean their 12 now but when they were five their parents got divorced. They used to visit their dad but now they don’t even know where he is. Their mom never remarried; she barely went on another date. She would say “ I work and have kids I don’t need any other problems in my life” but they knew she was joking. They just wanted her to be happy so they tried to be the best kids ever.
They lived in Hollywood so it was hard to walk to school or go somewhere quiet to hang out but Alex and Riley figured it out. They are shy and don’t have that many friends. “ Alex, I know I really, really don’t want to but I think we need to make some friends” Riley said “ for mom. If we make friends maybe she will.”
Alex agreed and that day after school they tried making new friends. They didn’t really ever talk to anyone so they didn’t know what to do. They saw some kids and tried to go over there but they couldn’t work up the courage.
They decided to just head home. On the way home they saw a comic book store. They didn’t have money but decided to look around. There was only one other person in there. A twelve year old boy. “Hi. What’s your name?” asked the boy.
“I’m Alex and this is Riley” he replied “how about you?”
“I’m Austin,” he said “are you going to buy anything”.
They just stood there. Not knowing what to say. They didn’t have any money so they knew they weren't but they just froze. Austin asked if they were okay and no one replied. He started to walk away when he heard something. “We were just looking.” Riley said “We don’t have any money on us.”
“You know what. If you go over there you can have something for free.” Austin said. At that moment they didn’t know what to do. They thought he was telling them to steal. He then mentioned that his parents own the store.
When they got home they told their mom everything. She was so happy for them. A few weeks later Austin was at their house.Helping them pack. Their mom is going on a business trip so they are staying at Austin’s house. He had to ask his mom Ruby first and she said yes. That night Riley was watching the news while Austin and Alex were reading comics. Riley burst into tears. Alex and Austin run into the living room. Austin's mom is out getting food so they're the only ones home. They try to calm him down and ask what's wrong but it doesn’t work. Then they see the T.V. Alex hugs Riley while Austin tries to call his mom. Then she walks in. She already heard the news. Their moms' plane crashed. No one survived.
After dinner it was time to go to bed but Riley didn’t want to. He stayed on the couch. Austin and Alex stayed with him but they fell asleep. He couldn’t. Finally after a few hours he fell asleep. When Austin mom woke up she just let them sleep. She left a note saying she was going to work. She wasn’t. She was really going to the court house. Sense Alex and Riley don’t know where their dad is. She wanted to see what was going to happen to them.
When she gets back Austin and Alex are awake but Rileys still sleeping. She tells them that they would be in foster care. “Would be?” Alex asked.
“Yes you would be in foster care but I couldn’t let that happen so you will be staying with me.” she said. Alex looked at her then at Riley then back at her. “Thanks”.
Alex and Austin decided to go to school even though they didn’t have to. They went late but still went. Riley didn’t. Ruby didn’t make him do anything he just kept thinking about how he was never going to see his mom again.How he never should have let her leave. Riley did start going back to school but he didn’t get good grades. In the beginning Ruby was so sweet letting them stay here but that side was only for Austin and Alex. When they got home from school Austin and Alex decided to stop at the comic book store while Riley just went home.
Right when he walked through the door Ruby started yelling. Saying she knows what he did and that he should be ashamed. Once she stops yelling Riley asks what he did. She gets so upset. “YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID” she screams. When he keeps saying he doesn’t she breaks. WHACK! She hit him. His face is red and tears are in his eyes. She pushes him into a corner. Telling him not to tell anyone then hits him again. He's crying and goes to his room. He still doesn’t know what he did.
Alex and Austin get home and Ruby tells them that Riley is crying and won’t say why. They go upstairs and ask if he’s okay. “LEAVE ME ALONE” he yells. So they do. After a while Alex comes back and doesn’t ask to come in.
“Why did you yell at us.” he asks sincerely “We just wanted to see if you were okay and you just told us to leave.” That's when he saw his eye. Riley’s eye is black and blue and looks like it’s throbbing. Alex is confused. The comic book store was really close to his house and he didn’t have that eye when he left. Also how did Ruby not notice. He asks Riley about it and he just looks away.
“I’m not supposed to tell.” Riley says. Alex then leaves the room and goes to get Austin. He brings Austin back and Riley still won’t exactly say what happened. Then he says “If I tell you will you promise not to tell anyone?” he asks. Austin agrees Alex refuses to. He won’t agree to keep it a secret until he knows what it is. Riley knows he would do the same thing but now doesn’t know what to do. He can’t tell them he doesn’t know what Ruby would do. He decides to just keep it to himself. That was a bad idea.
The next day is early out. Alex and Austin kept wondering what happened but tried to get it out of their head for school. Riley just hopes no one will ask about it. Of course that didn’t happen. Anytime anyone saw his eye they asked. He hated it. I mean he did not like talking to people that's why he didn’t have friends. He didn’t want to answer so he only answered the first few questions he just walked away from the other ones. At the end of the day Alex and Austin waited for Riley but he never showed. After thirty minutes they decided to go look and see if he stayed for a club. When they walked past the principal's office they saw him. He was sitting in a chair talking to him.
They couldn’t hear what they were talking about; they did see tears in his eyes though. When he came out he was surprised to see them waiting for him. They asked him what they were talking about and he simply stated that his eye brought a lot of attention to him and the principal wanted to make sure he was alright. As they were walking home Riley was nervous. No one called Ruby and he has no idea how she is going to react. They got there and he didn’t want to go in. Alex and Austin talked him into it.
As they went through the door Ruby tald Alex and Austin to go to their rooms because she wanted to talk to Riley. They did as they were told but then they came out and stood on the stairs where no one could see them. That's how they found out what happened. She did it again. She hit Riley. They both ran down stairs to make sure Riley was ok. She went in to hit him again when Austin and Alex blocked her. So she hit them all. She forced them to promise not to tell anyone then told them to go to their rooms. Instead they went in the same room. Alex and Austin then realized why Riley didn’t tell them what happened.
The next day at school the principal called all three of them to his office. He said that he has got a lot of reports from both the teachers and students about the bruises. Riley kept his mouth shut and didn’t say anything. When Alex saw this he spoke up. He told Mr. Zoney everything and Zoney called the police. With the boys testimony and all the bruises they have a good chance of winning the case. After all this the boys were called into Mr. Zoneys office one more time. He asked them if they would be okay if he adopted them. They said yes. Mr. Zoney was there for them while this whole thing happened even when they wouldn’t talk about it.
A few months later…
The boys decided to go to a Domestic Violence Support group. It really helped them open up. They feel better now that they don’t have to be scared of what will happen when they go home now. They get to have fun and hug their dad. They are happy they don’t have new bruises. They are happy they get to be happy. That is the story of how the Zoney Family became The Zoney Family.
