Tuesday, October 30th

     Mrs. Milonas had taken Jesse to see a doctor for his ankle, and now he was walking on crutches with a splint around his ankle. He didn't break any bones, but he did have two torn ligaments. 'Nothing too bad' according to the doctor, it would heal on its own over time. For the time being, Jesse needed to give his ankle as much rest as possible.

He didn't sulk a second over the fact that he wasn't able to play soccer for a while, but it did make him feel shitty when he found out how disappointed Calix was over the fact that 'he didn't have his buddy' with him on the field.

As soon as Calix had shown his disappointment, Jesse felt bad. Even though he knew it wasn't entirely his fault. Loek hadn't even warned him about the ditch or told him that their way to run required him to jump the ditch in the first place. If Jesse had known, he could've made the jump since he would've run at full speed.

Yes, this was all Loek's fault.

Jesse was tired and lounging on the couch after he had a meeting with someone who explained the consequences of his arrest. He would indeed get community service, but he wouldn't start until after his ankle healed enough.

The woman had seemed caring and forgiving, which calmed Jesse down a bit. That was until she started asking questions about the bruises on his face and arm, and why Mrs. Milonas was with him, and not his actual parents.

Initially, Jesse had refused to tell her, but since she kept prying, he spilled the tea, and told her everything that was going on in his life.

And to his luck, she was taking the stressful situation into consideration when she decided on a punishment. He wouldn't serve 12 hours of community service, but 8. She had also called in child support, since he was still a minor, and they were going to intervene.

Jesse didn't want them to start meddling in his life since he wasn't even living with them, but according to Mrs. Milonas, they needed to make sure Jesse was in a safe and supporting environment, with parental figures.

He felt like a complete bother to the Milonas family, but Mrs. and Mr. Milonas said they didn't mind. They were willing to talk to child support and let them visit to see he was in the right place.

Jesse was alone with Calix' sister Iris, while Mr. Milonas and Teddy—their youngest son—were picking up Jesse's stuff at home.

At the same time, Mrs. Milonas was picking up his stuff at Loek's and Mees' place, so Jesse would have access to all of his clothes and belongings while he was staying with them. They had offered the guest bedroom for him to use during his stay.

Calix went to soccer practice, and Jesse wondered if Loek would be there, and how he would react as soon as Calix would demand an answer as to why he left Jesse behind. It could become an ugly fight if Loek didn't show signs of remorse.

Iris, who always acted shy around Jesse whenever he visited, was hiding in her room, when Jesse's phone started buzzing.

For a second, Jesse thought—hoped—it would be Loek, calling to apologize. But when he took his phone from his pocket, he saw his brother Ivy was the one calling him, and that surprised him.

Mostly because he didn't know Ivy had his phone number in the first place. He wasn't that caring about Jesse.

But Jesse, curious by nature, couldn't ignore the call, wanting to know why Ivy contacted him.

"What do you want?" Jesse asked as soon as he answered the call.

"Jesse," Ivy said, sounding relieved. "Calix' parents just picked up your stuff. Don't tell me you're moving out?"

"As far as I can remember, I was kicked out by your father," Jesse replied dryly, shifting in his spot to find a better and more comfortable position.

"Well, that's why I'm calling. Mom and Dad have been fighting for hours and hours after you left, and when we came down this morning, Mom told us she's filing for a divorce. So, you can come home again."

Jesse snorted in response, shaking his head in disbelief. "So after 17 years of ignoring me, neglecting me, mentally abusing me and now physically abusing me, you think I'll just grab my stuff and run back home and pretend like nothing ever happened? Do you think I want to go back just because he's not there anymore? He wasn't the one ignoring everything that was going on. If anything, at least he paid some attention to what I was doing. Just not in the right way."

"Jesse... you know Mom wanted better..."

"Then she could've refused to marry him in the first place. Did you know he wanted her to get an abortion? Because I'm not his biological son? He never wanted me there, and she never protected me from him. Nor did you, or Greg, or Hayden," Jesse spat out in anger, reminding him that Felipe wasn't the only one who did him wrong.

"Mom loves you..."

"And she can do that from a distance."

"You can't seriously pull through with this Jesse. She's your mother and child support visited and both Mom and Dad will get in a shitload of trouble—"

"Good," Jesse said, cutting his ranting short. "Maybe they'll understand what I went though wasn't right. Maybe, just maybe, they'll regret some of it. I don't even expect them to regret everything."

"Jes—"

"You know, I don't even expect Felipe to show any remorse at all. Maybe he'll regret beating me up and getting child support sent his way."

"Jes—"

"Stop Jesse-ing me," Jesse seethed in anger. "I'm not coming home, Ivy. Not now, not ever."

"You can't stay with them forever," Ivy weakly replied.

"No, but I can stay here until I go off to college, far away from here where I never have to see any of you ever again," Jesse said in anger. He knew he wasn't going to be able to avoid them for the rest of his life. He still loved his mother, no matter how much had happened under her watchful eyes.

She was still his mother, she still showed him love whenever Felipe wasn't nearby to sneer at him.

But when it came to his brothers, or Felipe? He didn't feel any need to see them again. He had no bond with any of his brothers, and he hated Felipe. Besides, Felipe wasn't his father, so there was no need to see him again. But in that moment, while calling with Ivy, he wasn't going to admit that he still wanted to see his mother. They needed to understand that what had happened for 17 years, wasn't good, and it couldn't stay unpunished.

"Sorry, not sorry," Jesse continued when Ivy remained silent. "I'm gonna hang up now."

He did hang up, and threw his phone aside, while letting himself fall to the side so that he was laying down on the couch. He pulled the blanket Iris had given him over his shoulders and sighed deeply, staring at the bright blue crutches on the floor.

If he thought his life was a mess before, he was wrong.

Right then, it was a bigger mess than ever.

Jesse had fallen asleep, and Calix was the one to wake him up when he got home after practice. His hair was still damp, and he was wearing his usual sweatpants and sweater that he always wore after practice.

"Hey, dude? Maybe you should talk to Ivy?" Calix told him, holding his phone in front of his face. "Maybe it's urgent."

"Nothing about them is urgent," Jesse muttered, rolling over while he bit his lip. Every movement hurt his ankle, even rolling over.

"Well..." Calix awkwardly cleared his throat. "It was urgent enough for him to stop by at practice."

Jesse dramatically rolled his eyes, sighing deeply. "If he showed up at practice in hopes of finding me, he's an even bigger idiot than I already thought. Because he saw that I couldn't place weight on my left ankle."

"I'm sorry, I didn't think about that," Ivy's voice sounded behind Jesse, and he shot up-right in response to his voice. "But you need to listen to me."

Calix sent him an apologetic look, before he hurried out of the living room; taking Jesse's crutches with him.

Apparently, Calix thought that Jesse needed to listen too, and since it was Calix, Jesse obliged, sitting up a bit so that Ivy could take a seat close to his injured ankle. His eyes darted around Jesse's face, from bruise to bruise, before he settled to look at Jesse's ankle.

"Well?" Jesse crossed his arms defensively. "Are you here to look at the damage Felipe caused?"

"Eh, no..." Ivy drawled, lolling his head a bit, before he took in a deep breath. "I wanted to apologize for my behaviour towards you, for years. I shouldn't have ignored everything, and I should've helped you out. But I was afraid, and so was mom, and Greg, and Hayden..."

"I don't get why  any of you three would be afraid. Felipe loves you, Greg, and Hayden. Like, Mom being scared? That I understand. But neither of you has the right to claim Felipe treated any of you poorly."

"I mean, yeah... but we were all afraid he'd lash out at us too if we said anything..."

"Still, I really don't care. Because, at the very least, we could've helped each other, instead of letting me fight my battles alone," Jesse snapped at him. "Why are you here? To throw a pity-party?"

"No, to tell you that Mom kicked him out after you left. Mom filed for a divorce and she really wants you to come back home..."

"I won't, sorry. It's too late. I can stay here for the time being, and I feel safe here." Jesse shrugged. It did something to him to hear that his mother finally kicked Felipe out, but it wasn't changing the fact that she lied to him for 17 years, she took Felipe's side for an equal amount of years, and Jesse simply couldn't just forgive her after all that time.

"Jes, please think about it. We don't expect you to come running home right now."

"Quite literally no running..."

Ivy rolled his eyes, but then smiled a small, sad smile. "But we would love to have you home again. Things will change..."

"Let's see the change first, and maybe I'll change my mind once I see that this is all permanent."

"Sounds fair..." Ivy nodded, biting his lip. "I just hope we can all get past this and be somewhat of a normal family."

"Stop doing that, Ivy. Don't go and guilt-trip me because you feel bad for treating me the wrong way. We will never be a 'somewhat' normal family. Because I am not your full brother and Mom lied about it for 17 years. So stop the pity-party, go home, and tell Mom I'm fine and I don't need any help."

Ivy opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again while he nodded. He got up from his seat, and he looked a bit like a kicked puppy to Jesse. But Jesse didn't feel too bad about it to stop him and tell him it was okay. He had felt shitty for years—he still did—and maybe Ivy would now start to understand how angry Jesse was for his treatment.