Why won't Nico believe me? Why won't he believe that he's beautiful and amazing? Why can't he see that?

"Nico, I'm not lying! I wouldn't lie to you."

"You would if you thought it made me feel better."

How should I respond to this?

"I wouldn't be lying. I would be telling the truth."

He sighed, showing I had won.

"Hey....so if they do make me go back to my dad's...." Nico said. Fear flooded into his eyes as he looked up at me.

"We already decided, remember? I'll call my mom and she'll pick us up so it looks like we are going to your dad's house.

"But what if only my dad can pick us up?" His hands were shaking.

"Then we ride with him but when we get out of the car, we run to my house."

He nodded. "Okay. Thank you so much, Will."

"No problem."

Then the nurse walked in, "Is Nico ready to go?"

"Yes." Nico said.

I dialed my mom's phone number and it rang a couple times before she picked it up.

"Hi, it's Will and Nico. We need you to pick us up from the hospital."

"Okay. I'll be right there."

The nurse talked to us about rather silly things.

"So what's school like?"

"Uh, it's Summer."

"Oh. So....are you're grades up?"

"We don't go to school during summer."

"Oh. Oh, okay. I understand."

She kept rambling on about random things and finally my mom came to pick us up.

"Are you ready?" She asked.

"Yep."

We got our stuff and headed out the door. Once we were in the car she told us something, "I had an idea."

"What was it?"

"So we go to Nico's dad's house and-"

"No." I inturupted, "If we go there, we're putting Nico in danger."

"Let me finish. If you hear the whole plan I think you'll agree it's the best thing to do."

She told us the rest of the plan.

We agreed to it. It was pretty smart.

We arrived at his dad's house and I turned to Nico.

"You're going to have to fight him today. Are you sure you're able to do this?"

He nodded but I could see his doubt.

We got out of the car and walked up to the door. I rang the doorbell but nothing happened, so I knocked.

I stood to the side of Nico, even though I wanted to be standing in front of him.
I wanted to protect him.

Soon the door opened and I could tell all of the confidence Nico had gathered up shattered.

He whimpered and took a couple steps back. But then, as if to protect me, he stepped forward and in front of me.

"I see you don't want him any more."

I bit my lip to keep from saying something about how amazing Nico was.

His dad grabbed him and shoved him into the house.

"No one wants you, freak!" He screamed at Nico.

Then he stepped right beside Nico and punched him. "You're worthless."

Nico looked terrified. "Please-"

He punched him again. I wanted to yell, to scream, to help in some way, but I had to wait. It was killing me to see Nico so afraid.

Then my mom stepped out of the car holding her phone, pointing the camera at the scene.

"Step away from him or I'll report you to the police!"

He shoved Nico away from him. Nico ran over to me and I hugged him. He cried into my shoulder.

"Fine. Here. You can have him." He growled.

I brought Nico over to the car and grabbed my phone, ignoring a text from Hazel. Surely it wasn't as important as this. We were calling the police.

"911, what's your emergency?" A woman said calmly on the other side.

"Hi, I'm Will Solace. My neighbor's dad is abusive and we have proof."

"Okay we are sending help."

Nico's dad was angry.

"You...called....the police?!" He bellowed. He stomped up to us.

"Nico get in the car." I said as calmly as I could.

"N-no. I'm going to help you fight him." He said. He was trembling, though, so I knew he was terrified.

"Nico, please, just get in the car," I pleaded.

"No."

"He wants you, he doesn't want me. You'll be safe in the car, and I can come in with you after you get in."

I think he knew I was lying, but he got in the car.

I shut the door behind him. He screamed at me to open it, to get in with him, but I knew it would take away from his own safety.

I faced his dad.

He raised his fist, about to punch me.

Nico screamed again.

But, as he brought down his fist, a police car showed up so he couldn't hit me more than once.

A couple of policemen jogged up and grabbed him. He yelled something at me, but I couldn't hear it over all the other sounds.

I opened the door to my car and Nico yelled, sobbing, at me.

"How could you?! You got hurt for me, Will! You knew I didn't want you hurt!"

He tried to run away, but I grabbed him. "Please, Nico. I needed to protect you! Please don't run away!"

He struggled, but I pulled him closer to me and hugged him. "I'm sorry, Nico."

He stopped struggling and cried into my shoulder.

Then Lou, Cecil, and Hazel arrived. I guessed they were originally going to my house, but had seen the chaos and came to Nico's instead.

"What happened?!" Lou asked.

"You're both bleeding!" Hazel worried.

Cecil just stared at the scene, speechless.

I told them what happened. When I got to the part when Nico's dad punched him, Nico whimpered.

"....and then he punched me and the police arrived." I finished. Nico hugged me tighter, as if I would float away if he didn't hold on tight enough.

"Nico, it's okay." I whispered.

They couldn't think of anything to say, so they didn't say anything at all.

Eventually a police man came over and started interrogating Nico about his dad.

"How long has he been abusing you?"

"Years." was all Nico said.

"Okay. What's your name?"

"Nico Di Angelo."

"Do you have a mom? Does she know you're abused?"

"I have a mom but I haven't seen her in years; she got divorced and my dad didn't allow me to see her."

"Um, Nico?" Hazel said quietly, "That's why I came over here.... mom.... she.... she died."

Nico started shaking. "No....no she can't be! She can't be dead!" He screamed.
"Nico, it's okay calm down! Calm down! Take deep breaths! It's okay...that's it." I said.

He was still trembling, but he calmed down a little. "She can't be dead. She can't be! I didn't get to see her again!"

"Nico, shhhh. It's okay. It'll be okay."

I couldn't imagine what it was like for him at that moment. He had just recovered from hearing his sister was dead, and now he learns his mom is dead, too? It was probably terrible.

"She's dead, Will! I didn't get to see her again!"

"Nico, it's okay. You still have Hazel. Look, Nico."

He looked up at me.

"We'll get through this together, okay?"

He nodded. "I'm so sorry, Will. You shouldn't have to put up with me."

"It's okay, I love you Nico."

Sorry that I haven't updated! I was in Chicago and I didn't have Internet so I couldn't post.

Well the word count is:
1305 words