"Well, I'm have to go to bed now. I'm just so tired." Ben yawned. We were in a Skype call. We had just logged off of Minecraft. We had been playing Super Smash Mobs on Mineplex. Boy, was it intense. Today was Sunday, which meant we had school in the morning, the incident from yesterday out of our minds for the moment.
"Wait..." I couldn't stop myself before the single word passed through my lips.
Ben took a sip from his drink and then turned back to the screen. "Yes?"
I bit my lip. "Nevermind."
"You sure, dude?" His green eyes were glowing with concern.
"Um, yeah," I reluctantly replied. "Go to bed."
"Alright man, see you tomorrow morning!"
I turned off my computer as he hung up. Why did I try to stop him? I wondered. It was surprising, even for me, and I was the most unpredictable person i knew. I sighed. A knock on my bedroom door startled me from my thoughts. "What?" I called through, sounding more irritated than I'd intended.
"Ian, open up." The deep voice on the other side of the door startled me, as I had expected my mom's voice. "Ian!" he called to me again, knocking on the door once more.
I jumped out of my computer chair and opened the door just enough for my whole face to show through. I looked up into bright blue eyes, my eyes, but not belonging to me. My gaze fell to the floor. "Y-yeah, dad?"
"It's almost midnight. Why the hell aren't you in bed yet?" I flinched at his harsh, but quiet tone. Mom must've been sleeping.
"I was on the computer," I admitted. "I...I just turned it off." My dad reached out his hand and pushed the door open further so he could confirm my claim.
"What were you doing that kept you up this late?"
"I-I was...I was playing Minecraft and talking to Ben." I looked up at him. He didn't particularly like my friends. Suddenly a thought came to mind, and I accidentally blurted out, "Why are we even still talking?"
"Excuse me?" He sounded slightly taken aback.
I averted my gaze once more. "N-nothing, sir..." I flinched as he turned away, expecting him to hit me. I relaxed slightly as he started walking away.
I tensed again as he turned back around. "Get to bed now, or you'll have me to deal with tomorrow."
--------------------
I watched as Ben stood up and handed our paper to the teacher, who smiled at him. "Thank you, Benjamin." He turned and walked back over to me. Since we had nothing to do, he decided to start a conversation.
"Hey, Ian."
"Hmm." My mind was somewhere else as I answered him.
"Why did you try to stop me from getting off skype last night?"
My mind raced, searching for an answer, but I didn't have one. "I don't know, to be honest. Maybe I just didn't want to be alone."
"You were technically alone anyway, dude. I was at my house." He tried to lighten up the conversation with his humor. It worked. We started having random conversations about whatever popped into our heads while we were waiting for class to end. The door opened and closed and someone walked into the room and over to the teacher. There was still five minutes left of class. He handed the teacher a note and looked at me. I swallowed as I saw it was another one of Adam's friends, Mitch.
"Ian," the teacher called. I looked at Ben and then looked back to the teacher and Mitch.
"What do I do?" I asked, panicking. He was usually pretty nice to me, but when he was around, Adam wasn't too far away.
"Just go see what's going on. I'll keep my eye out." I stood on shaky legs and grabbed my backpack before walking over to the teacher. I felt the stares of others burning into my back.
"Hi, Ian." Mitch smiled, seeming knowing what I was thinking.
"Hey." I raised my hand in a slight wave before turning to the teacher.
"Your counselor wants to see you." She handed me the note.
"I don't understand. I see him on Wednesdays."
"Your mom is here to dismiss you," Mitch explained. "But Mr. G wants to see you before you go."
--------------------
I walked in silence with Mitch to the counselor's office. I texted Ben on the way and explained what was happening, but put my phone in my pocket before I reached the office. My mom thought I turned off my phone at school.
Oh, boy. What did I do this time? I could feel her hard stare as I walked into the office.
"Ian, come in here please." I followed the call through a door into an isolated room within the office and closed it behind me.
"Why am I here?" I asked, my voice quivering slightly.
"I just wanted to check and see how you were doing. I noticed your injuries this morning." That's impossible, my arm is wrapped up, I thought before facepalming inwardly. He means my head.
"I'm fine."
"How did you get those knots on your head?"
I took a deep breath. "I...I kind of...I don't know how to explain it."
"Ian," Mr. G's bright hazel eyes burned into mine. "I'm here to help you. You can tell me if something is going on at home."
"No, that's not it at all. I just kind of... lost it the other day. I was angry and started slamming my head into a wall." It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the full truth.
I watched as he pressed his lips together, his eyes giving nothing away. I wasn't too sure he believed me. But after a few moments, he dismissed me from the office and I was going home.
--------------------
"Give me your phone," my mom said to me when we walked into the house.
"Why?"
"I'm taking your electronics until you start getting better grades." My heart sunk. "Yes, I found your report card."
"But, I'm trying so hard! A-and besides, you don't pay for my phone. Neither does dad! So what gives you the right to take it?"
"Neither do you, so what gives you the right to own it?" she sneered.
"Ben bought it for me! Not for you to take because of a bad report card!" I slapped my hand over my mouth as I realized I'd made a mistake. I saw the glare in my mom's eyes. She was pissed.
~~~~~~~~
"Come on, man. Answer me," I growled at my phone. I was sitting with my mom at the table.
She was hungrily chewing away at a piece of pizza, but heard me and swallowed it before asking, "What's wrong?"
"Ian was dismissed from school today and I haven't heard from him since." I looked at the time on the stove. It was nearing ten o' clock. Maybe he would be on skype or Minecraft.
"I'm sure he's just busy," she tried to reassure me.
"But he always has his phone on him. And who the heck is busy at this time of night?" Her eyes flashed in understanding of my concern. "I'm going to go see if he's on skype." I headed to my room and pulled my laptop out from under my bed. I pulled up Skype and Facebook, but he wasn't online. This was usually his social media hour. I took my phone from my pocket and dialled his number. I didn't have time to wait for a text. I was worried sick. Just before I hit call, I received a phone call. Ian's name appeared and I sighed with relief.
Before I could say anything, I heard a weird noise coming from the other line, sounding like a strong wind blowing right into the phone speaker. I soon realized this was Ian breathing as heavily as though he'd just ran a mile. "Ian?"
"Ben, please come get me!" he shouted into the speaker. My heart skipped and I pulled the phone away from my ear, not expecting him to be so loud. I walked back out into the kitchen, heart pounding so loud I was sure my mom could hear it. She glanced at me curiously.
"Ian, calm down, what's going on?"
"I don't have time to explain. I need you to come pick me up, now...alone! I need somewhere to stay."
"I'll be there soon," I quickly replied. The opposite line clicked and I hung up. "Mom, I need to borrow the car."
--------------------
I pulled up in front of Ian's house and he ran from his front steps to the car with his backpack in one hand and a suitcase in the other. He threw them in the back seat, then hopped into the front. He was still trying to calm himself, his face buried in his hands and his chest heaving as he tried to breathe through choking sobs. I drove without speaking to him until we reached my house. We didn't go inside right away, however.
I turned off the engine and unbuckled my seat belt. Then, I put my arms around Ian, who was horribly trembling. He flinched at first, but then i felt him shift so his head was on my shoulder and he finally began to relax. "What the freak happened back there?"
Ian lifted his head and I felt like throwing up when I saw his face. His lip was cut and still bleeding, eyes bloodshot with tears and panic, the left one swollen and discolored underneath. "M-my mom...f-f-found my report card. She t-tried taking my phone from me b-but i wouldn't let her...I...I said something before thinking about it and...and she...I should've called sooner...I..."
"Hey, calm down," I cut him off in a hushed tone. "You don't have to go through the whole thing. Let me just call my mom and ask her if we can clean out our spare room in the morning, alright?" He nodded and I took out my phone, my stomach was in knots from seeing the blood, my heart wrenched for the poor soul sitting next to me.