Warning: abuse

"I know you don't want to walk inside but it'll be fine," Payton says, pulling me into the high school before I can argue anymore. She lets go of my hand after we walk in through the front doors and I follow her over to her locker, waiting patiently as she grabs her books out of it.

I try to make myself smaller as one of my bullies walks down the hall with the two other guys that always seem to be with him. Payton doesn't seem to notice as she slams her locker shut and pulls me towards our first class, the only one that we have together. "Are you going back there tonight?" She asks me as we walk into the classroom.

"I probably should," I whisper softly. She looks over at me with the same concern on her face as always and I ignore it as I sit down in my seat and take out my book for class. I don't want to go back but it's been a week and a half since that day at the boardwalk and if I don't show up back at the house, he'll be sure to make a scene at work.

He doesn't go to Payton's house to try and get me after her mother filed a restraining order against him, not allowing him to be anywhere near her house. Her father is no longer friends with my father, but he never filed a restraining order like her mother did, and he's the only reason that Payton is still allowed to work at my father's store. I guess my father can't deal with so many things changing at once.

I open my notebook and doodle on the sides of the pages, knowing that Payton would let me copy down her notes later. I focus on the swirling flower pattern that I'm drawing, curling it around the margins and drawing tiny leaves in between. "Mr.Grover!" the teacher yells at me, making me startle and draw a dark line across the page.

I quickly look up at her as she saunters towards me, her huge scowl making me shrink back into my chair. Payton looks over worriedly but doesn't say anything, knowing that she would just get me in even more trouble. "What in the world do you think you are doing!" The teacher yells, slamming her hands down on my desk, making me jump and fall out of my chair.

My ears turn red as the class starts laughing, making me try and hide behind my chair. "Two hours detention today afterschool. No excuses," she says, walking back to her desk while talking to the class about discipline. I slowly get up from the floor and sit back down in my chair, staring at the clock and willing this class to be over already.

Unfortunately, the time does not bend to my will and I'm stuck in the class for another absolutely boring hour where I manage to think of every bad thing that could possibly happen while I'm in detention. The worst being the school calling my father about it and me getting in a lot of trouble when I get home. Well, more trouble than I'm usually in.

The bell finally rings and I bolt out of class as fast as I can, leaving Payton behind. I walk into my next class and sit down in the back of the room, desperately hoping that nobody pays attention to me in this class. I look up slightly as a group of people walk into the room, watching as some of my bullies walk into the room and sit down in the back near me.

I look away and grab my backpack off of the floor, taking out my notebook and setting it down on my desk. I draw in it, not paying attention to the teacher, him being used to me not paying attention and not minding giving me a copy of the notes after class. I draw a picture of the boy who came to the store the other day, making him sit on the pool floatie he bought while the waves lap at the sides of the rainbow popsicle.

The bell rings when I'm done with the first sketch of it and the rest of the day is spent with me drawing in classes while I ignore my teachers. "Ready for detention?" Payton asks me as I walk over to my locker after my last class and put away a couple of my books. I scowl at her and close my locker, not wanting to go to detention but knowing that I have to unless I want my father to be called.

"I'll pick you up when detention is over," Payton says to me, gently patting me on the shoulder before walking down the hallway towards the front doors. I walk in the other direction, towards the library where they hold the detentions after school. I walk through the open doors of the library and sign into the detention, looking up to see that it's one of the nicer teachers who lets people talk and play on their phones.

I walk over to an empty table and sit down, pulling my phone out of my pocket and scrolling through Instagram. Payton sends me a message asking why I'm on Instagram during detention and sneakily take a picture of the teacher, sending it to her. I go back to scrolling aimlessly while I wait for detention to be over already.

Someone sits down beside me and I look up, seeing a boy in a green shirt sitting next to me. "Hi! I'm Desmond!" He exclaims happily. I wave a bit and he takes that as an okay to spill his whole life story to me. Not that I mind, I like listening to people talk, it's just that I don't want gonna be to tell a complete stranger my life story in turn. I sit back and listen to him, watching how animatedly he moves his hands when he talks. "Oh, and this is my boyfriend Oakley!" He says, pulling his phone out of his pocket and opening his photo app.

He clicks on a picture and hands me his phone so I can look at the boy. "He's the boy I sold the floatie to," I mumble out loud, not really meaning to. Desmond looks over at me in awe as I hand him his phone back. "Wait, so you work for the guy that cussed my boyfriend out?" He asks me, turning off his phone and putting it back in his pocket.

"He's my dad," I whisper reluctantly. Desmond gapes at me and I shrink back in my seat, trying to make myself as small as possible. He frowns as I try to make myself smaller and sets a hand on my shoulder, making me flinch. "Are you alright?" He asks me worriedly, taking his hand off my shoulder and looking me in the eyes. I nod and then away from him, opting to stare down at my phone.

"Detention is over, you can all go home now," the teacher says, looking up from her book and waving us off. I get up and grab my backpack off the back of my chair, slinging it over my shoulders. I feel a tap on my shoulder and I whip around to stand face to face with Desmond who looks as startled as I feel. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering if I could have your number?" He asks softly.

I think about it for a second before nodding and handing him my phone. He enters his number into it and sends himself a quick text before handing me my phone back. "I would love to talk more but me and Oakley have a date in half an hour. I'll see you around..." He paused and I realize that I still haven't told him my name. " Linc. Linc Grover, " I tell him, making him nod and smile at me. "See you around Linc!" He exclaims, walking out of the library.
 
I text Payton that I'm walking outside and then I walk out of the library, almost bumping into some of the other kids that were in detention. They glare at me and I walk faster as I go past them. I make it to the front doors and push them open, happily accepting the warm breeze that hits my face when the doors open. "It's always so cold in there," a voice says from beside me and I almost jump a mile into the air.

I look over and see Payton standing there with a grimace on her face, probably because she scared me again. "Sorry Linc. Ready to go?" she asks me, twirling her keys on her finger as she leans against the wall. I nod and follow her to her car, getting into the passenger's seat and setting my backpack on the floor.

"Can I turn the radio on?" I ask her softly as she pulls out of the school's parking lot. She nods at me and I turn on the radio, letting music fill the car. "You don't want to go," Payton states as she stops at a stop light. I look out the window and watch as the person in the car beside us smokes, dropping the ashes onto the street. "Of course not," I whisper.

She pulls onto my street and I freeze in fear as she rolls up near my house. "If you need me, call me," Payton tells me as she stops the car in front of my driveway. I smile at her and open my door, slinging my backpack over my shoulders. "You know I won't," I tell her as I shut the passenger's door. I can see her sigh as she waves and drives back down the road.

I turn to face my house, looking around at the wilted flowers in the front, the ones my mom used to tend to. I turn away from them and walk inside, walking on the tips of my toes so I don't make any sound. I stop as I hear a grunt from the living room. I peer in and am surprised to see that my father is already back as the shop is usually open until six at night.

I move back and stand against the wall, looking over at the clock that tells me it's only four thirty. "Linc? Is that you?" My father grunts out from the living room. I hold my breath and try not to make a sound, shaking in fear. I hear the couch groan as my father gets up and I cover my mouth, trying desperately not to let him hear me.

He rounds the corner looks over, locking eyes with me. "What did I say about not replying?" He growls, walking towards me with a terrifying look on his face. I try and move back, quickly realizing that I can't and by staying here, I've cornered myself. "Answer me!" He snarls in my face. "Y-you said to always a-answer you," I say softly, looking away from him.

He grumbles something and then grabs my shoulder harshly, pulling me forward and then pushing me into the ground. I look up at him and scramble towards the wall, my whole body shaking. "You've been gone for days!" He roars from above me, walking to where I'm curled up by the wall.

"You know what that means," he whispers, grabbing me by the scruff of my shirt and holding me up. He wraps his other hand around my neck and I grasp at his hands, trying to pry them off my neck. "Stop fighting, or I will make it worse," he growls into my ear. I quickly let go and let my hands hang at my sides as he choaks me.

He lets me go just as I start to see black spots in my vision, letting me fall to the ground. He kicks me repeatedly in the side and I feel one of my ribs crack when he kicks me especially hard right below my heart. He kicks me in the face and I feel blood gush from my nose and spill onto the floor beside me.

"Clean that up," he says before giving me a final kick in the arm and walking away. I slowly sit up, carefully using the wall so I can lessen the amount of pain. I sit against the wall and gently touch my nose, wincing at the pain that shoots through it. I slowly stand up, using the table beside me to pull myself up. I wince in pain as I feel my broken rib poke me in the side.

I slowly shuffle up the stairs, stopping a few times to rest for a minute, my whole body feeling as if it's on fire. I make it up the stairs and practically crawl into my room, not having the strength or energy to stand all the way up. I close my door behind me and crawl to my bathroom, sitting down on the cold tiles and looking up at the ceiling.

He must have been really mad, he's never broken any of my bones before. I take the first aid kit out of the cabinet under my sink and open it up, grabbing some gauze and disinfectant for my nose. I clean up my nose and then sit back against the tub, knowing I can't do anything for my broken rib or the bruises. 

I take my phone out of my pocket and see that Desmond, Payton and another random number texted me about half an hour ago. I open them and reply to Desmond, saying that I was making myself something to eat. I see that the other one was from Oakley and I send him a quick reply, telling him that this is in fact my number.

My phone starts ringing almost immediately after I send him a text and I quickly answer it, not wanting another beating tonight. "Hello?" I whisper into the phone. "Linc! I was worried, you weren't responding to any of my texts!" Payton exclaims from the other end of the phone.

"Are you alright?" She asks me. I look down at the blood stains on my shirt and then back at my phone. "Yeah, I'm fine."

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A.N./ And so it is finally here, Chapter 3. I wrote these author's notes right after I finish the Chapter so if you ever wonder why it seems weird that I note about different days when I post a few chapters on the same one, that is why. I have a very important question, do you scroll or have the paging thing as your reading preference? I personally like scrolling better but I was wondering. As always, any feedback is much appreciated and I hope you are enjoying the book so far! Have a great day!