Andrew ^

I just wanna stay in the sun where I find

I know it's hard sometimes

Pieces of peace in the sun's peace of mind

I know it's hard sometimes

Yeah, I think about the end just way too much

But it's fun to fantasize

On my enemies who wouldn't wish who I was

But it's fun to fantasize

I groaned as the sound of my alarm blared from my phone and reached over to turn it off. I laid in bed for a few more minutes and slowly I was beginning to fall asleep only to jump at the voices of my brothers yelling, doors slamming and feet thumping down the stairs.

I sighed and threw my blankets off of me before climbing off the bed and making my way towards the bathroom to do my morning routine; shower, brush my teeth all the works. Once I was done, I passed my way back to my room with a towel wrapped around my waist before walking over to my closet to grab an outfit for the day.

Dressed in a pair of dark blue ripped skinny jeans, a graphic shirt, and my black vans, I grabbed my phone, backpack and wallet my then made my way out of my room.

I could hear my brothers still arguing and my parents trying to break it off, they only quieted down when I walked in making me wonder that they were talking about me. I rolled my eyes, greeted my parents and Avery, my little sister, before taking my seat beside Ryder and across from Andrew.

"So we heard you made a new friend," mom began and I nodded

"I think he should break this friendship off" Casey interjected

"He's bad news" Matt added

"He'll only hurt him," Andrew said making me roll my eyes

"Riley is not a bad guy" I said and the three scoffed

"The he'll he isn't. He's friends with Mitch, Marcus and Adam, all whom have been bullying you for over 6 months" Casey snapped making the table fall silent and my head to snap to his guilt ridden features making me glare at him

"What do you mean bullied?" Dad asked breaking my brother futile way of apologizing making me glare at him.

"It's taken care of. They won't be bothering me anymore. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it sooner, I didn't want you to worry about me. You already have enough to worry about with Brian being over seas and Avery's illness." I murmured looking down at the table. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Ryder staring at me with a reassuring smile

"Sweetheart, nothing is ever too much for us. We worry about all of you in one form or the other. We worry about Ryder during his fights, we worry about Casey and Matt when they're on the field plying and we worry about Andrew when he's doing his races. And we will always worry about you too Alex." Mom said and I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked over at her

"I know, but I don't want you to worry about me getting bullied. They were arrested yesterday during school and I'm pretty sure they'll be there for a long time." I said and she sighed but nodded letting the subject to drop which I was glad

"Are you going to hang out with your friend today?" She asked and I shook my head

"He's got football practice, he's got a game coming up this Saturday so I might go watch" I replied and she nodded with a smile

"Well I'm glad you're making new friends hijo, and you three, leave him alone. I don't want to hear about you boys harassing this Riley boy. You're brother is 16 years old and he can be friends with whoever he wishes" Mom said looking at my brothers who all looked annoyed but nodded

"Drop it you three. I'm serious" Ryder said when we all left the house after breakfast and wishing our parent and sister a good day.

"He's just a kid who doesn't know what he wants." Andrew said making me clench my jaw

"He's 16 fucking years old Andrew. He's not a child anymore and you three need to get that through your thick skulls. Mom and Dad may only warn you but I'm not them. You leave Alex and Riley alone or so help me I will beat your asses for messing the only friendship he has" Ryder snapped and I wanted to be mad that they were talking about as if I wasn't there but at the same time was glad that Ryder was actually on my side.

"He's going to get fucking hurt and if he does it's on you. We've tried-" Casey started when Ryder cut him off

"Let him learn his mistakes. He'll never learn to be his own person if he has to rely on you three all the goddam time"

"He's our brother Ryder, that's what we're for. To help each other out" Matt said

"It also means to let them grow into their own person by giving them support and letting them know you're at their side ready to catch them if they fall. Alex isn't a baby any more and you know it so stop treating him like one." Ryder said and that look in his eyes gave no room for discussion and they clenched their jaws eyes blazing.

"Let's go Alex," Ryder said turning towards me for the first time in 5 minutes before he was walking towards his car while my other three brothers climbed into Casey's car. I followed after him and got in the passenger's seat once I had my backpack in the backseat,"Sorry for that back there."

"Don't be. They needed to hear that and so did I. I needed to hear that you were really on my side." I said and he looked over at me with a roll of his eyes before focusing back on the road

"I told you I had your back and I'm keeping my part of the deal. Now all you have to do is prove that Riley is actually a nice person like you say he is." Was his reply and I smiled nodding my head before turning my focus on the blurry scenery that sped by as Ryder drove down the road to school.

~~~

"So I was thinking we could hang out sometime. Like go to the skate park or something." Riley said as we walked down the halls of Lakeview High towards the lunch room making me look up at him. He was a good foot taller than me, with me being 5' on the dot. He was also more muscular and more built than I was and its all thanks to football.

"Sounds like a plan." I said and he grinned looking down at me as we waited in line to get our lunch. Once we had our food and had paid, we walked to a table where I saw a couple familiar faces and raised a brow.

"ALEX!" A voice that I knew all to well yelled from across the room making the room quiet down. I turned on my heels and saw Casey standing at a table by the windows with our friends giving me a look that said 'get your ass over here now' I rolled my eyes and turned back around to follow Riley to his table. He had asked if I wanted to have lunch with him and his friends and I agreed. I needed to get away from my regular table seeing as I didn't want to see or speak with my brothers at the moment.

"Who's this?" A beautiful blonde asked, her bright blue eyes staring up at me with a gentle smile, she was leaning on a handsome guy with black hair that was quiffed on top.

"This is Alex. Alex meet my friends Anna, Cory, Jason, and Bethany," Riley said as he pointed at each person," Guys meet Alex" They all greeted me and welcomed me with warm smiles. I sat beside Riley and across from Anna, the girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Cory was a good looking guy with a boy next door kinda look with soft chocolate hair and caramel colored eyes. He was about an inch or so shorter than Riley and was just as built as he was. Actually the other, Jason was just as built. Bethany was a beautiful brunette with light blue eyes.

"So Alex, how old are you?" Bethany asked as she leaned against Cory, his arm thrown over her shoulder as he leaned on the wall beside him.

"16" I replied once I had finished chewing and swallowing my food and she hummed

"So you're a freshman right?" She asked and I nodded again, then you might know my little brother, Brent,"

I furrowed my brows trying to remember if I've seen or heard of a Brent before nodding

"Yeah, he's in my English class." I said and she smiled

"How did you and Riley here meet?" Jason asked and I looked at Riley who looked sheepish making his friends give him questioning gazes

"We actually met three days ago on accident. He was in the front tossing a football with Mitch," upon hearing his name the four friends gave disgusted looks making me raise a brow but didn't question instead continued,"Mitch saw me and well the asshole threw the ball to high and too far for Riley to catch and it hit me instead and I knew he meant to do it since he hates my guts."

"Of course he would. He hates anyone that's smaller, weaker or different than him. He used to bully my little brothers before I beat the crap out of him last year," Cory said with a shrug

"Yeah well I guess he always looks for new pray and I happen to it when I came out a few more the ago." I murmured looking down at the table

"Yeah we heard about that, Marcus was your friend before wasn't he?" Anna asked and I nodded. I've known Marcus since I was 4 years old and considered him my best friend until he turned his back on me when I told him that I was gay when he came over one night. He punched me and called me names before Ryder walked in and pulled him of off me. The next day the whole school knew and my bullying began.

"He was. But I guess no one is really your friend if they beat you up for being gay and then tell the school." I said giving her a small smile and she turned it

"My sister went through that four years ago." She murmured her eyes looked sad and I bit my lip to keep form asking her anything else. These people's don't know me nor did I know them and yet I told them I was gay.

"Don't look worried. We're not like Mitch and those morons. We all bonded because we share the same thing. Our siblings are part of the LGBTQ community and when we heard about you getting bullied we wanted nothing more than to beat Mitch and his goons up but Riley beat us to it" Cory said with a smirk that made Riley roll his eyes

"What are their names if you don't mind me asking" I said and Anna smiled

"My sister's name was Brianna" she said with that same sad look in her eyes and I wondered what brought that sad look but don't say anything

"Well you know Brent. I have two older siblings a sister and brother, their names are Gabriel and Alice. Gabe is bi while Alice is gay much like Brent." Bethany said and I nodded

"My brother is bi and his name is Joey" Jason stated

"Mine are Kevin, Hunter and Rachel" Corey said afterwards and I looked over at Riley

"My brother Kennedy" he said and I was shocked. I didn't know people that were gay could be in the army and he smirked, "It's normal to be gay in the army Alex. Yeah they have a thing where they're not allowed to announce it."

"Oh." I mumbled making the table laugh and I felt my cheeks heat up with a blush and the girls cooed while the guys chuckled

The bell rang in that miembros signaling lunch was over and I sighed, and went to grab my tray when I saw Riley already carrying all our trays and putting them on the little shelf that garbage has before align over to us

"You didn't have to take it, you know" I said and he shrugged

"Cory, Jason and I usually alternate taking the trays and putting them away," he said as the six of us exited the cafeteria and I nodded before realizing he didn't mention the girls.

"What about the girls?" I asked and he smiled

"They take turns on where we sit during lunch. Like today was Beth's turn and tomorrow will be Anna's" Cory was the one to reply as he and Anna walked up beside me on my left and Jason and Beth were on Riley's left.

"That's cool." The girls giggled and the guys chuckled shaking their heads. To think that three days ago I didn't have any friends and today I made five new ones. It's thanks to Mitch that this all happened. Had he not hit me that day with the ball i wouldn't have made friends with Riley let alone met his friends and befriended them as well. So in some weird way he made it happen.

Now I just have to prove my brothers wrong about Riley and make them see that he's not like Mitch, Marcus and Adam.

This should be fun........not