Five's a Crowd

Chapter Seven

Dedicated to TheTenthLetter because of your amazing, AMAZING feedback :) Btw, you don't have to read this chapter, it's just dedied to you <3

Keagan rolled over, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. After fourth period he ditched, deciding he was too tired to continue with the rest of the day and that if Mrs. Valen caught him, oh well. He could care less about the detention he got too, he was over trying to please people. But there was one person in particular that he wanted to please, get to know better…

“Get up!” he heard his step brother, Duck, shout from the other side of the room. Keagan shook his head quickly, getting whiplash before he rolled off his bed and onto his feet.

“Did you hear the truck?” Keagan panicked, seeing the fear in his brother’s eyes. There was one thing Keagan never told anyone and that was the fact that he had a step brother in middle school to look after and a drunken bastard of a father to worry about, but he was worried more about himself than anything. Weekdays were tough on him, trying to keep his brother safe and withstand the blows his father gave him every night. He only lied to Mrs. Valen to protect his brother, saying his father was finally attending counseling, but they were all lies. He couldn’t have Duck taken away from him. He wouldn’t let that happen.

“No, but I saw his coming down the street.” They lived in a small neighborhood where everyone knew everything about anyone, but them. The Thomas’ were off limits and though neighbors had a vague idea of what was happening in their household, they never once bothered to ask, as if Keagan would tell anyhow.

“Grab your bag,” Keagan ordered, watching Duck reach under his bed and pull up his backpack. Usually Duck stayed at his best friend, Stevens’ house, so he’d be okay, but they still needed to get out. Keagan actually hoped that he could stay home tonight and forget about the party Torin invited him to, but when he heard the slam of his father’s truck, he knew all that was too good to be true. He was going to that party tonight and only because he needed somewhere to stay for a bit until his father winded down.

“So, can I go now?” Duck asked, raising his eyebrows. Keagan gave him a small smile and waved his hand, just as Duck hopped off of his bed, slung his backpack over his shoulder and jumped out the window, climbing down the big oak tree that ran down the side of the house. When Duck’s mom was still alive, Keagan used to sneak out all the time to hang out with friends and she kept it a secret until the day she died, knowing her husband would kill Keagan if he ever found out.

Keagan slowly stood up and stretched, listening as he heard the front door open from downstairs. Quickly running a hand through half of his curly hair, he bent over grabbing his black, worn leather boots and sliding his feet in. Earlier, before coming home, his main mate Dodge had shaved half of his head, carving two thin lines on the shaved side, with an HG for Harley Gang, the local motorcycle gang he sometimes hung around with.

Keagan yawned and then looked around for his black My Chemical Romance t-shirt he had been wearing earlier. He wasn’t big on presentations at all, so he could care less about what others thought about his wardrobe. As soon as he spotted it hiding beneath his pillow, he snatched it up and pushed his nose into it, sniffing. It still smelt fresh so he shrugged and then pulled it on. Seconds later he heard the kitchen sink turn on from below. Moving quietly, he grabbed one of his leather jackets hanging on the back of his computer seat and shrugged it on. It was time to go, before his father decided to pounce.

“See ya later,” he whispered to no one but himself and then ducked out the window, jumping on one of the thicker branches of the oak. He had climbed the tree so many times; he could do it with his eyes closed. As soon as his boots hit the ground below, he made a run for the side of the house and hopped on his black, 1982 Yamaha. The only reason he had started riding it was because of Harley Gang but after a few months, it had become his baby, even if it was his father’s at first.