𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒

~Personal talk and Drawings~

I hung out with my cousins for the rest of the night, playing video games, making jokes, just having fun. This is what I missed, having fun. It used to be this way all the time before my brother and dad died, I was always playing around and joking... but when they died... I sort of died too.

My cousins know I'm not the same seven year old, happy, bubbly, Cooper I once was. I'm now the sad, angsty, alone, Cooper. So they took great pleasure in seeing me smile and laugh like old times... hell, even I'll admit it was nice.

"So how long are you guys staying?"

"Harrison offered for us to stay as long as we wanted, we are going to be in Cali for one week so... one week!" Lilli said, making a smile spread over my face. It had been three years since I had seen my favourite cousins and now I get to spend a whole week with them.

"How are you coping with new step brothers?"

"Eh. I'm avoiding them in school, they are the oh so popular kids. They have all the sluts and skanks hanging off of them. It wouldn't surprise me if they've already slept with half of them." Danny, Jackson and Levi cracked up laughing while Lilli shook her head. "That's not nice to say even if it's true Cooper."

"Yeah well they're best friends with an asshole anyway." I sassed.

"You mean Zeke?" Yep, my cousins new about Zeke, about the bullying. They understood I didn't want to tell anyone, not mom at least. "Yup." I said, popping the p. "Today, he beat me up when I got to school, he slammed my head against the locker, kicked me in the mouth and stomach."

"So you didn't fall over?"

"Nope. But. Because of it, I met a girl named Felicity, she's Italian and she got bullied before she moved here. She knows how I feel so we hung out all day. At lunch, Zeke came up, kicked me in the balls. Felicity checked if I was okay, Zeke laughed and called her my little bitch, I then punched him in the jaw and ran with Felicity. We then had music, I got water poured on me by Zeke's main slut, Amy. Then in art, I got paint poured on me by his best friend Ashton and then later got kicked in the balls by Amy and punched in the stomach by Zeke and his little group."

Levi brought me into a hug, my other three cousins joining in. "If you ever, ever need help or it gets to much, we will gladly travel all the way from Florida to beat their asses."

"Thanks guys, but you already tried, that didn't stop him. He will be gone in a couple of years anyway, I can handle that, promise."

"Okay, but never hesitate to ask for help, yeah?"

"Always." I wish.

~~

I woke up the next morning, getting up and getting ready for school. I threw on some clothes, simple jeans and a hoodie. I put three sets of extra clothes in my bag, the first aid kit but I still had my spare money from yesterday. I grabbed my bag, walking downstairs to see mom making breakfast. I made myself a quick lunch before grabbing some bacon and making a simple bacon sandwich.

"Bye mom, see you after school." I grabbed my keys and walked out of the door, making my way to school. When I got there, Felicity was waiting for me, I smiled as I walked over to her. "Hello dear friend." I said with a warm smile, Felicity looked at me with a smile matching my own. "Hello to you too dear friend." She said with a small giggle, Awh...

No. Don't do that Cooper.

We both walked to our first class, Art. I was kind of looking forward to it, I like to draw. I draw a lot of depressing shit but it helps calm me down, it's my way of expressing myself outside of music. The downside being that Ashton is in that class, I'd rather not end up with paint over me today.

We sat at the back of the class, pulling out our stuff as we started to draw. Class hadn't officially started but we didn't care. We talked as we drew, nothing in particular just small talk. I found out that she is an only child, as am I, at the moment at least. She found out that I had four step brothers, the "leaders" of this school. She promised she wouldn't tell anyone and I knew I could trust her.

I had finished my drawing by the time people had started falling into class, I was just fiddling about with it now. It was a guy holding his head in his hands, you couldn't see his face and it was all shadowed over. It was how I felt most of the time, how my depression felt on a daily bases.

I looked over at Felicity's drawing, very similar to mine. The person was on their knees, their face and detailed features were smudged out, leaving a black smokey affect.

Someone grabbed my drawing from my hands, I looked up and saw of all people, Blake. "What is this?"

"Why the fuck does it matter?" I said, snatching it back, he simply glared at me. "Just fuck off Blake, don't want to ruin your reputation by hanging out with me, right?" I said as I looked back down at my drawing, making the lines more vivid. Blake let out a huff before walking away. Honestly, I'm so glad no one saw our little encounter, I'm not having anymore attention than I already get. "That's one of your step brothers?" Felicity asked in a hushed whisper, I nodded in response. I leant over to her, my lips close to her ears.

"He doesn't know I hurt myself, I don't even think he knows I get bullied." I moved back, looking Felicity dead in the eyes. She gave me a small smile back, she looked down, fiddling with her fingers. "Sometimes it's easier if people don't know." She muttered, only loud enough for me to hear. I reached over, grasping Felicity's small hand in mine, preventing her from fiddling with them. She looked up and I gave her a sorrowful smile. "Sometimes it's better if it's just one." I whispered in her ear, she knew full well what I meant. We were perfectly fine with each other knowing, I still might not know everything about Felicity, as she doesn't know all about me but just knowing she has felt my pain makes me feel....

I don't really know how it feels...

I'm just glad I have someone to talk to, someone I feel comfortable around and can go to if shit turns bad. And I know she feels the same way, just being around each other gives us this unspoken comfort, we feel safer and shockingly...

Happier...