"Nole. Don't do this." I yell and cover my face. "Damien. Look at me." His voice is soft. I shake my head and crawl out of the bed, standing up. "Damien?" He asks as I grab my shoes and coat. I grab the lighter and cigarette, running out of the room. It's 2am. I run up the stairs and stand on the roof. I sat on the edge swinging my legs.

I take a drag from the cigarette and let the nicotine calm my mind. The hours pass as it starts to get lighter out. Kids start to walk around and I stand off dusting my knees. I put out the stub of the cigarette and slam the door. I quickly go downstairs to the dorm and change after making sure Nole was gone.

I put on my workout clothes and grab my bag. I'm skipping today anyway. I walk to the mess hall and grab a banana. I walk out and hear someone call out my name. I ignore them and throw the banana in the trash. Charlotte grabs my wrist and pulls me to the side. "Damien. WHY THE HELL DID YOU MANIPULATE ME LIKE THAT. AM I JUST A GAME TO YOU."

I blink and shake my head at her words. "No, no no." I whisper and she glares at me. "I should have listened to Elly." She snarls and I just laugh bitterly. "Yeah you should. I know." I mutter and push her back. She looks surprised at my words and let's me stalk off.

I quickly make my way out the school gates and to the gymnasium. I take my shoes off and practice on the horizontal bar. There are younger gymnasts practicing, lot's of them were toddlers. I gulp down water and look at the places, taking a break. Jamie walks over. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" He asks. 

"I didn't feel like dealing with them." I say quietly. He noticed the bruises on my arms and legs. "Damien, are you getting into fights again?" He asks quietly, sitting beside me. "No." I snap and stand up. "Jamie just leave it. I have to pay for my problems." He sighs and stands up, walking back to the office. I practice on the vault for a bit before stopping and changing.

"Fuck." I mumble and prod my stomach. It has a nasty bruise on it. I sigh and finish changing, slowly walking back to the school. It's noon now. I fix the collar on my uniform and walk in through the gates. There are parents coming into the school "Oh yay. It's parents day." I mutter to myself and slowly walk to Mr. McRay's room. I knock on the door lightly. 

"DAMIEN." He yells, opening the door. I jump back to avoid his arm grabbing my wrist and slouch inside. "Damien, throw the damn cigarette away." I blow out a puff of smoke and smirk at him. "Ah, but that would be a waste." I take another drag and sit in my seat. He rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything else. I finish the cigarette and flick it into the ashtray he has just for me.

He opens up the windows after a students complaint. I roll my eyes and drum my fingers on the desk. "Alright, now we are gonna head down for parents day." Mr. McRay says after finishing a lesson. I roll my eyes at the other students excited chatter. Nole try's to walk up to me but I push by him and disappear into the crowd of students. Jack grabs my arm after he sees me.

"Mom and Dad are here." He mumbles and I sigh. "Hi Jack." My mom says her face lighting up and hugging him. I cross my arms and lean on the wall. "You got on the boxing team. Good job!" My dad praises and my mother turns to me. "What?" I mutter and she sighs. "Mr.Roberts is here. Go meet with him." I roll my eyes and stalk off.

I feel eyes on me as I enter the med ward. "Roberts, I'm here." I call out and he looks up, a smile forming on his face. "Good. Come here." I follow his directions as he makes sure my blood is ok. "Ok, well you look fine. Tell me if you feel bad at all." I nod and wave goodbye. I turn, my face falling and slouch into the courtyard. I glance around and take out a cigarette. Most parents point at me and ask their children about me.

I feel eyes stare at me as I make my way to the gates. It's only one'o'clock. "Fuck." I mutter and stomp out the cigarette. I'm about to climb over the wall when Nole calls out my name. I ignore him and jump, starting to pull myself up. "DAMIEN." He bellows and grabs my feet. "SHIT." I yell as he pulls me down.

"God dammit go hang out with your family." I mutter and dust my knees off. "Well my mom and dad got the flu so I don't have parents to hang out with. Can I meet yours?" He asks eagerly. I groan. "DAMIEN, STOP BOTHERING THAT POOR BOY." My mother yells, storming over. "I'm so sorry. Damien say sorry." I cross my arms and glare at her.

"No." I mutter and move to walk off. Nole smiles at her. "It's not a problem miss. It's lovely to meet you. I Nole Wick." My mom smiles and shakes his hand. My father does the same. Jack elbows me and I glare at him. "What." I mutter. "How was Roberts." He asks quietly. "Fine. My blood is normal or whatever." I cross my arms and he nods. "This is Jack." My mom says proudly. "He's our pride and joy." I mimic and my father grabs my arm.

"Damien, you do not talk like that." He growls in my ear. I snort and he glares at me. "Oh dear, I don't know what you mean father." I say innocently. "Damien, I don't give a damn how much you hate us." I smirk. "You are right, I'm only an experiment. I get it. I was raised by a doctor for my entire life Niel. I know damn well that you just wanted to see if you could make the perfect son. Well obviously you did. Obviously I'm not it." I snarl.

He blinks in shock and slaps me. "Damien Joseph Byrd. You do not speak to your father like that." I rub my cheek. He goes back to my mother. Jack looks at me. I turn my head away and walk to the wall. I jump and climb over it. "Fuck this shit." I mumble and make my way through the streets. I end up in the abandoned building. My body quickly makes it up to the roof. I can see the school from here.

I stand on top of it and light a cigarette. I stare at the waning sun. I look around for what I needed. Good my stuff is still here. I wrap myself in the thermal blanket and blow out smoke through my nose. My phone starts buzzing and I pick up the call. "Hey it's Luci. Come to the club we need you." I sigh and mumble and ok. 

She hangs up and I quickly get to the club. She grabs my wrist and pulls me backstage. "Ok let's go." She pushes me onto the stage. "Dammit Luci, I haven't changed out of my unifo-" She hands me my guitar and Charlotte starts to sing. I sigh and play the guitar like I always do. People cheer as we walk off. Elly is standing in the room and Charlotte runs to kiss her. I sigh and avoid her glares. Aaron pulls me to the couch. 

"Hey, are you ok?" He asks quietly. I put my head on my hands as Luci comes over. "Aaron have you seen him at school? He does not look ok." She said softly. I rub my eyes. "Where are you staying?" Aaron asks. "Somewhere." I mumble and stand up, stretching. "Anyway, I'm off. Call me when we have another gig." I say and walk out of the club.

I hear giggles and chattering. Of course they came to Charlotte's gig. I ignore the little group of 'em and cross the street with my head down low. "DAMIEN, I SWEAR IF YOU ARE IN THAT-"  Luci stops Aaron from yelling the rest. I roll my eyes and glance back. Aaron is grinning and talking to the people in Elly's group.

I hunch my shoulders over and quickly make my way back to the abandoned building. I get to the roof and sit on the edge, my legs swinging methodically. I light a cigarette and slowly exhale the smoke. I end up falling asleep on the ledge and I wake up to cars honking. "Fuck it's 12pm." I mutter and stand up. Luci calls me. "We have a gig. Get your ass down to the club to clean up." I hang up as an answer and rub the sleep from my eyes.

I quickly make my way to the other club and go to the back. She throws a huge bag at me and I got take a shower. I change and come out. she smiles and I put in earbuds. Charlotte comes a bit later but ignores me and chats with Nole and Elly before the show. Aaron glances at me before walking up to them. Luci pokes me. I grunt and pull out an earbud.

"What?" I ask. "You gonna tell me that you are fine and you aren't staying  in the fucking abandoned building." She states and I smile weakly at her. She frowns and stands up. "Well anyway." She mumbles and stands next to Aaron. I stare at my phone when someone stands over me. "Go away." I mutter and the person chuckles.

"ANGEL." I yell and bounce up, hugging him. "Jesus Christ Damien." I blush, embarrassed and release him. He smiles. "So are your parents ok?" I ask and his eyes soften. "Yes, Damien we don't blame you at all. Noel already had a problem. It was never you." I blink, my mind still can't get over what I believed for so long. Damien, just think about it." He said softly and hugged me tight.

I pulled away when Luci told me it was time to go on. She gave me a list of songs so I put in my earbuds and watched for the cues. When we finished I quickly bolted and let the cold air fill my lungs. Someone grabbed my wrist and I snatched it away, ready to punch them. Nole stood there looking tired and sad.

"Damien.." He said softly and I blinked. "I'm sorry. I'm really truly sorry. I didn't mean to scare you away." He sighs while I stare at him. I laugh bitterly and turn to leave. "Nole just forget about me, I'll be gone soon anyway." I say softly and walk away, leaving him alone. He grabs my wrist again and hauls me backwards. I yell and try to get away but he just picks me up and carries me back to the school. 

"LET ME DOWN GOD DAMMIT." I scream and he covers my mouth. I bite it and he glares at me, not moving it. I start to shake and try not to break down. He notices and quickly opens the door to our dorm room, setting me on the ground. I shook and he went to touch my shoulder. I smacked him away and curled up on the floor. "Damien?" He asked softly and I stand up.

"I SAID THAT I WANT YOU TO FORGET ME." I screamed and went into the bathroom, locking myself in there. Nole bangs on the door but I just sit in the tub staring at the razor blades. Nole sighed and retreated, searching for something. I let the blade sink into my skin, looking at the blood bloom. I carved a words into my arm, lying back, letting it bleed.

I felt tears roll down my cheek, crying silently. My mouth couldn't form words as Nole barged in and gasped, staring at me. I stared at him with empty eyes and he scooped me up in his arms. My arm was covered in blood as he ran through the hallways, finding the med ward. He gasped for a breath before knocking on the door frantically. Roberts stood there confused, his face turning to horror when he saw me. 

"Not again." He muttered and took me in his arms. Nole bit his nails, watching as Roberts stitched up my arm. The irony smell made me puke, Nole looking worried as I did. "He is extremely sensitive to blood." Roberts explained, patting my back. He helped me to a bed and lied me down. Nole bit his lip and stared at me. 

"He's fine." Roberts mumbled, pushing Nole into the office. I fell asleep, the pain meds and sleep meds hitting me. I awoke to Jack asking Roberts questions. Nole was sitting in a chair beside me. I blinked and stared at ceiling. Jack sighed and went over to me. "Damien, I know you're awake and that you can hear me." He said softly.

I sighed and opened my eyes, blankly staring at him. "Damien what did you do this time." He muttered and carefully pulled my arm out so he could read it. Nole read it over his shoulder. Their faces turned pale. "Damien, you are not a killer." Nole said softly. Charlotte burst in. "NOLE WHY THE HELL-" She stopped staring at me. "Nole, I told you-" Nole took her by the arm and pulled her into a room.

Jack sighed and sat on the bed glaring at me. "Speak Damien." He commanded and I blinked at him. He rubbed his eyes and Roberts quietly told him that my brain patterns were erratic at the moment. He nodded and left, presumably to tell our parents. More like his parents. Charlotte and Nole came back out. Charlotte looked worried.

I turned my attention back to the ceiling and Charlotte walked over. "Look, Damien I'm sorry. I- I was impulsive and I just." She stops collecting herself. "Look I just want to say that I hope you are ok and that you can forgive me someday." She turns away and leaves the room. Roberts sighs when another student comes saying he thought he was dying.