Chapter 5

Hangout

We were walking up the stairs to Kyle's room and I was trying to think of something to say. Kyle Was looking down and I could see some of his bruises. After A 30-second walk upstairs that felt like forever. I got my bag which was filled with clothes, sweatshirts, a pillow, and a blanket. Kyle helped me set up a little comfy spot for the both of us to sit and hang out. It was silent and awkward the whole entire time. We sat down in the area we made and just were awkward.

I looked at his face, lifting his head. “ Do those hurt?” I asked, touching the bruises on his face.

“ A little bit.” He responded. “But I’ll be fine.” He said ruffling my hair around. “Ok.” He said with a long pause. “What do you want to do?” He turned to me smiling.

“We could watch a movie or play some board games with your mom, but it was pretty awkward when we left so, let's watch a movie,” I told him.

“Great. You pick the movie while I go get the snacks.” Kyle responded.

When Kyle left I decided to pick our favorite anime. I thought it would make things a little less awkward, hopefully. I was texting my mom asking why she didn’t tell me about staying at Kyle's place.

“I forgot to tell you.” She told me 

“If you forgot then how come you didn’t remember when I asked you for my hoodie?” I replied to her text, really annoyed.

“Ander, I’m sorry. It just slipped my mind.”

Now I started getting really pissed off.

“MOM, that’s not my name! I've told you before.”

“Oh please, this is just another one of those phases like how you said you were “Pansexual”. Your father is full of how this is a “real thing” and I should treat my SON with respect.”

 As soon as I saw that text, I threw my phone to the other side of the room and placed my head on my knees. This is so stupid. Why is my mom like this? I’m the reason that my parents are always fighting. I’m the reason Kyle got hurt. He was trying to protect me. I’m just a pathetic loser, maybe Jace was right. Then I heard Kyle coming up the stairs.

“Is everything ok up here? I heard a loud bang.” Kyle said walking in with a handful of snacks. 

I avoided eye contact and calmed myself down. “Yeah, just dropped my phone is all.”

“Ok. what movie did you pick?” He asked sorting the snacks around.

“Oh, I picked carrot juice,” I replied.

“Ok, anyways I made popcorn, brought up some butter sticks and crackers with Nutella! Yum. You grab what you want and I’ll turn on the movie.” Kyle said walking away to put the DVD on.