Eric missed the bus. 

And he was in a lot of pain. 

A lot of pain. 

He hadn’t felt this kind of pain in many many years. Not since he left them. He honestly thought it wouldn’t happen again. He honestly thought he’d be able to defend himself should it happen again. 

He stupidly thought he’d be okay. 

He glanced at the time on his phone before unlocking the front door to his...home. It was nearing five o’clock and all the lights were off. 

For once, Eric was grateful he was alone. 

He did his best to climb the stairs up to his room where he dropped his book bag and painfully peeled his clothes off his body.

He ignored the bruises forming on his biceps and the blood that lightly coated his underwear. He ignored the pain in his backside and the way he felt numb from being forced open...

Wiping away angry tears, Eric forced himself to clean the blood off his underwear before taking a very hot shower.

The tension never left his shoulders but the aches in his body became a dull throbbing he could easily ignore. 

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard Susan’s light voice call him down for dinner. Rather than shouting back, Eric forced himself to stand even as he felt a flare of pain flash down his back. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was seven fifteen. 

He took his time on the stairs before hiding behind his familiar mask of annoyance.

“Please sit down, dear,” Susan said the moment he entered the dining room. “I’ll have dinner set out in just a moment.”

Eric looked up and was surprised to see a kindness in her eyes that seemed genuine. “Thank you,” he replied softly.

“It’s my pleasure, dear.” Susan cooed before heading back to the kitchen. 

Roth was nowhere to be found and Kayden was still gone on urgent business. Eric didn’t really like the idea of being left alone with Susan but he was startled out of his thoughts once more as Sam and Angela rushed into the dining room.

He forgot they also lived here. 

If it was a challenge to see Kayden, it was near impossible for him to see the two younger girls. He supposed that was mainly because Susan was always taking them places and Eric never felt welcomed enough to join in despite Susan saying it was fine.

“Eric!” Angela smiled widely up at him. 

“Angela!” Eric grinned back, the weight in his chest just a little bit lighter. “How’re you?”

“Sad.” She stomped her little foot against the floor and crossed her arms.

Eric raised an eyebrow, his blue eyes questioning. “Why?”

Angela pulled out a chair for Sam before plopping down in her own across from Eric. “Mom told me Kayden won’t be back until next week.” 

Sam made a loud agreement at this.

Eric forced his smile away, knowing it would upset the two younger girls. “It’ll be okay. Kayden will be back before you even know it!”

Angela shook her head like Eric was completely missing the picture. 

Before she had time to reply, Susan swept through the door and quickly placed dishes all around the table. She took a moment to greet her daughters and fill their plates before sitting down and filling her own.

Eric followed suit shortly after, grinning at Sam who had smiled at him shyly. She was starting to warm up to him. 

“How was your first day of school?” Susan asked him sometime later. 

Eric met her eyes and realized that she was trying to be nice and genuinely wanted to know. “It was fine, I guess. No homework.”

Susan let out a soft laugh. “Of course not, dear. Did you make any friends?”

“Not yet,” Eric replied back, keeping his tone as normal as possible.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends quickly. You’re a good kid, Eric.” Susan said with a smile.

Eric was surprised by her praise. Ever since they first met, he had just assumed she didn’t like him. He made a sound of agreement before taking another bite of steak.

“Roth tells me you like running.” Susan started again after asking Angela how her day at school had been.

Eric nodded the affirmative. “I do. I’ve been running since I was fourteen. It’s relaxing.” 

Susan smiled softly. “Have you thought about trying out for track? I checked the school’s website and saw there’s a meeting tomorrow for potential members. What do you say for trying out? I wouldn’t mind covering any expenses you’d need should you make the team.” 

Warmth spread through Eric’s body at Susan’s words. Despite their rough start, he could tell she was trying. And that’s all he could ever ask for. 

“I’ll think about it, Susan. I’ll stop by the meeting after school tomorrow and see if it’s something I’m interested in.” Eric replied back with more warmth in his voice than normal.

Susan gave him another smile. “Don’t feel pressured to join a team just because I said something. I know I didn’t treat you kindly when you first got here and I’m truly sorry for my behavior. When we adopted Kayden, neither me or Roth was prepared for what happened next.

“But, as Kayden so kindly keeps reminding me, your situation is very different than his and I shouldn’t judge you for that. Can we start over?” Susan finished in a soft voice. 

Had Eric not had the day he had, or had time over the past two months to get acquainted with life in this house, he might have spurned her offer of reconciling. 

“I’d like that, Susan. Thank you.” 

The rest of dinner passed by in a comfortable manner and Eric found himself falling asleep much easier than normal. 

* * * 

Eric woke the next day to an empty room and a note on the dining room table saying Susan had to take Sam to the hospital because she caught a fever in the middle of the night. 

Roth ended up leaving for a short business trip and wouldn’t be back until next week. 

Eric didn’t mind as he quickly ate a small breakfast and left the house to make it to the bus stop on time. 

His body was still sore from yesterday but he forced those horrible actions away and focused on something more positive like Susan’s offer of starting over. 

Kathy quickly pulled the bus to a stop and gave Eric an over exaggerated wink as she opened the bus doors.

“Morning, Kathy.” Eric mumbled as his eyes filled with amusement. 

“I missed you on the way back yesterday.” Kathy said as Eric entered the bus.

He avoided her eyes. “I got held up by one of my teachers. I’ll probably miss again because I’m going to a track meeting after school.”

“Good luck to ya!” Kathy cheerfully replied back though not missing the slight pause in Eric’s speech. 

* * * 

Eric’s day went much better than yesterday. Despite his quiet insistence to himself, he was starting to make friends. There were two boys who shared P.E. and math with him and a girl who was in his science class. 

They all had the same lunch period together and none of them seemed to mind forming a group as they sat down to eat later in the day.

One of the boys had black hair and brown eyes while the other was a natural red head with blue eyes and a face full of freckles. They went by Timmy and John respectively. The girl’s name was Abby and she was Mexican. She had beautiful black hair and caring brown eyes. 

All three were seniors like him. 

“Wait wait wait wait wait!” Abby excitedly exclaimed once they were all seated. “You live with the Kayden Smith?”

Timmy and John let out amused laughs as they took in Eric’s face.

“Yeah, is he famous or something?” Eric was enjoying himself immensely.

“Is he famous or something?” Abby mocked with a role of her eyes. “Do you know what he’s done for this town? For so many other people?” 

Eric had a pretty good understanding of most of Kayden’s businesses by now. He did so much more for people other than helping orphans. 

“I know,” Eric raised his eyebrows in mock excitement.

“Oh stop it!” Abby gushed. “He’s an absolute god!” 

John shook his head in amusement, his freckled face becoming a little red as he laughed. “You’re crazy, Abby.”

Abby rolled her eyes as she started to eat again. “Kayden Smith is one of those people that just needs to exist, you know?”

Eric and Timmy shared a look before the conversation slowly took a different turn to more mundane things of teenage conversation.

Eric was surprised that people seemed to like him at this school. Granted, unlike the last few schools he went to, he wasn’t being a complete ass to everyone that spoke to him. And he wasn’t going out of his way to annoy his teachers. 

The rest of the day flew by for Eric and he was happy to see Timmy joining him for the track meeting. The other boy had a lean body that was a dead indicator that he ran for most of his life. 

“I’ve been on the team for the past three years,” Timmy explained as the two made their way onto the track. “But I’ve been running track since I was in sixth grade.” 

Eric nodded as he set his book bag on the ground next to the fence. “I picked up running when I was fourteen. I haven’t joined any track teams though.” 

“That’s okay,” Timmy replied just as more students started joining them. “We all start somewhere and everyone on the team is really supportive of newcomers.” 

Eric smiled at that and watched as one of the coaches approached the track.

“That’s Coach Henderson,” Timmy said once he spotted the man. “He’s the assistant coach. Just don’t get on his bad side and you’ll be fine.”

Eric chuckled at this before turning his attention back to Coach Henderson. He had a lean build and his dark skin stood out against his white tank top and shorts. His dreadlocks were pulled back into a ponytail and his brown eyes looked kind and welcoming. 

“Afternoon, everyone!” Coach Henderson called out once he stepped onto the track. 

A hush fell over the gathered students. 

“Today we’ll just be going over the basics of what to expect and when official tryouts will be held. I don’t expect you to be perfect when you tryout. Just do your best.” 

Eric felt a sense of relief at the coach’s words. He wasn’t a bad runner per say. But it would be pretty obvious that he had never ran track before. 

The rest of the meeting went by fairly quickly and tryouts were scheduled for next Monday at four. Eric was really looking forward to it. That is until...

Another person was walking towards the track just then.

“That’s Coach Rick,” Timmy whispered softly. “Never get on his bad side.” 

Eric could spot those unforgiving eyes anywhere. Before he had a chance to panic, he quickly said goodbye to Timmy with the excuse that he was going to be late for dinner while grabbing his bag and running back towards the entrance of the school. 

Susan said she would be waiting for him and, true to her word, she was parked in the visitor section with Angela and Sam in the backseat.

Eric took a few moments to calm his breathing before waving at Susan and entering her car. 

“How was it, dear?” She asked with a smile. 

“It was okay,” Eric lied.