Dad didn't say anything when he came home Sunday evening. He was oddly quiet and calm, not what I'd expect from him just coming home from my mother's. Even without the situation at hand, their relationship was strained.

After I cleaned off my face and grabbed some ice for my swollen skin, Fox and I sat in the living room waiting for my father to return. He hadn't been gone long, but I was still nervous about what might have went on.

"Dad?" I timidly called out as he sat down on the recliner.

"Hm?" he hummed, looking over at me.

"What happened?"

He sighed, looking to Fox and then back at me as if debating whether he should say anything in front of him. I nodded, assuring him he could speak in front of Fox.

Dad sighed. "Your mother is not allowed to contact you anymore. If she does, you need to tell me."

I nodded in agreement. I assumed he would do something like that, and at the moment it didn't bother me too much.

"And I'm pressing charges against Dave," he added.

I groaned, pressing the ice harder against my face. I exchanged a look with Fox, who had an emotionless expression on his face, before looking back at my father.

"You don't need to do that," I told him.

"He assaulted you," Dad retorted, raising his eyebrows.

"Please," I pleaded, "I don't want to deal with going to court or whatever."

"You probably won't have to," Dad assured me. "He'll probably just end up with a fine."

I was about to argue with him further, but Fox put his hand on my shoulder, signaling for me to stop. I knew I wasn't going to win this argument with my father. He cared too much for me to let Dave get away scot-free.

"Then what's the point of pressing charges?" I asked with a pleading look.

"To send a message that I'm not going to let him get away with touching my kid," Dad seethed in a low tone.

I had never seen him look so angry. He was always such a laid back guy, but I watched as he huffed and puffed in anger, not even looking like himself. Dad glanced over at me and his face softened.

"Are you alright, Elijah?" he asked me, glancing toward the ice I was holding up to my face.

I sighed. "I'm fine." I stood up from the couch and looked down at Fox. "I'm going to just head to bed."

Fox nodded and stood up as well.

"Keep icing that," Fox told me with a stern look before moving to leave the living room. Dad pulled him to the side and said something to him too quiet for me to hear as I was already heading toward the stairs.

The next morning, I got a good look at myself in the mirror to see that the side of my nose was swollen and underneath my eye was bruised. There was still a dull ache in the area of my wound, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was yesterday.

When I went downstairs, I was met with three pairs of wide eyes. Mindy looked as if my father had already told her about what happened, but Josh and Ava looked completely shocked when they saw my bruised face.

"What the hell?" Josh asked, pointing toward me. Mindy slapped him lightly on the shoulder and shook her head at both of her children, Ava looking as if she was going to speak up as well.

I didn't want to discuss what happened with any of them, so I just walked through the kitchen to get myself some breakfast, not paying their intrusive stares.

Josh didn't say anything else to me until the two of us were alone in his car. He turned the radio down and looked at me briefly as he stopped at a red light.

"What happened to your face?" he asked me, sounding calmer than he did earlier.

"Don't worry about it."

Josh scoffed and shook his head at me.

"Did you and Fox get in a fight or something?" he questioned as he continued driving toward school.

I let out a frustrated sigh. "No. Drop it, Josh."

I could tell I annoyed him by not telling him what happened, but he let it go anyway. I didn't want to have to tell him about it anyway.

When we got to school, I kept my head down and stared at the floor as I walked in hopes of keeping my face hidden from everyone in the hall. I focused on my feet shuffling on the floor and ended up bumping into someone when I reached my locker. I moved my eyes up while keeping my head down to see that Trevor was staring back at me.

"Elijah?" he said, trying to level his face with mine.

I sighed and looked up at him just in time to see his shocked expression as his eyes zeroed in on my face. His hand cupped over his mouth in a surprised gesture.

"Are you okay? What happened? Who did that to you?" Trevor asked in a quick succession.

I didn't want to deal with him or anyone else who was going to be asking me the same exact questions. All I wanted was to keep my head low and avoid contact with everyone.

"I'm fine, Trev," I replied with a sigh, opening my locker. "I really don't want to talk about it."

Trevor nodded. "As long as you're okay."

I sent him a small, grateful smile as I rifled through my locker for my things.

"Anyway, I just wanted to come over here and apologize for being so stand-offish with you," he said with a sheepish smile. "I guess I just got kinda awkward after what happened, but I feel bad about it."

"It's fine," I assured him. "Really."

"You should come back to sitting with us at lunch," he offered kindly. "Everyone was asking about you last week and I had no idea what to say to them."

"I'll sit with you guys today," I promised, shutting my locker once I had all that I needed.

"Perfect," he replied, his smile widening.

Trevor and I went our separate ways after the bell rang. The day went by without too many people asking me about my injuries until hockey practice after school ended.

When I entered the locker room, I received stares from everyone I passed. Some of the guys looked around at others in the room, probably thinking one of them was the person who had done it.

After getting onto the ice, Coach Silva's eyes widened when he caught sight of me. While everyone was warming up, he pulled me aside.

"Did someone on the team do that to you?" Coach Silva asked in a low tone.

I shook my head. "No, sir."

"Okay. Did someone at home do that to you?"

I shook my head again. "My dad knows about it and it's been taken care of."

Coach Silva nodded. "Good."

He looked over to where the others were warming up and then looked back to me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"If anyone ever gives you a hard time, you can come to me," he offered, looking straight into my eyes with a serious expression. "I don't care who it is, I will straighten them out."

"Thanks, Coach," I gratefully replied.

After one last nod, he sent me back toward the team where I continued getting questioning glances. Ryan looked as if he was going to question me about it before Coach Silva blew his whistle and gave us commands for some drills.

As I paired up with Ian for some defensive drills, he stared at me with a hard expression.

"What?" I snapped when his eyes never left my face.

"Did you at least hit them back?" Ian asked, moving the puck on his stick.

I shook my head, my expression matching his. "No."

Ian scoffed, shooting the puck my way with a strong force. The puck almost bounced over my stick when it hit, but I was able to gain control.

"You should have hit them back," was all he said before his face went back to a stony expression, waiting for me to pass the puck back.

We continued our drill in silence.

I didn't know much about Ian, but I did know he confused the hell out of me.

***

While I was sitting at home on Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving, my phone rang to interrupt my attention on the TV. I made sure to check the caller ID to make sure it wasn't my mother before answering it when I saw that it was Fox.

"Hello?"

"My mom's makin' me take Fawn to the mall," Fox said without a greeting. "Come with me."

I sighed, leaning my head back on the couch to stare up at he ceiling.

"I'm not in the mood for the mall," I told him.

"Tough shit," Fox retorted. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

I groaned when he hung up the phone and got up from the couch to get ready in my room. As I walked up the stairs, I passed by an angry looking Ava.

"Hey, you wanna go to the mall?" I asked her.

She stopped and looked at me with her scowl, silently staring at me for a few moments before nodding her head.

"Fine," she said, continuing her way down the stairs.

Ava was waiting for me downstairs by the time I finished getting ready. She sat on the couch, staring down at her phone.

"Are you ready?" she asked, looking up at me.

"Yeah, we're just waiting on Fox and Fawn to get here," I replied to which she stared at me with a blank look.

"Fawn Ridley?" she wondered with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Yeah? What's wrong with her?"

Ava rolled her eyes, standing up from the couch. "She's one of the popular girls and she's kinda bitchy."

She sounded like someone I knew.

I sent her a stern look. "Don't say that word, you're twelve."

Her eyes narrowed as she put a scowl on her face. "I'm almost thirteen."

Before I could say anything, Fox blew on the horn outside the house. I motioned for Ava to follow me to the door and the two of us walked outside to the car. Fox and Fawn looked like they were in an argument and ultimately Fox won, Fawn getting out of the car and moving to the back seat.

I slid into the passenger's seat while Ava wordlessly made her way to the back seat.

"What's wrong with your face?" Fawn questioned, sticking her head between Fox and me.

Fox shoved her face back with his hand, causing her to let out a strangled sound of protest.

"Exactly what's going to be wrong with your face if you stick your nose up here again," Fox threatened, the two of them wearing matching irritated expressions.

Fawn sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. "You won't hit me."

"No, but I'll sick Ava on you," he told her with raised eyebrows. "She's scrappy."

I glanced back to see Ava's smug expression and chuckled at her. Fawn and Ava shared a look but didn't say anything before the both turned to face forward.

I looked to Fox. "Who pissed in your cereal this morning? You're moodier than usual," I pointed out with an accusatory expression.

"No, I'm not. I'm always like this," he said as he pulled away from the curb.

"He's just mad because Mom is making him take me to the mall," Fawn spoke up. "You're lucky I didn't convince her to make you take my friends too."

"I would never do that," Fox retorted. "You're lucky I'm taking you and not just dropping you off at an animal shelter."

Fawn scoffed and reached up to smack the back of his head.

Fox reached back while he was still driving, trying to reach her. Fawn just snickered as she sat out of his reach.

Eventually we made it to the mall in one piece. The four of us walked toward the entrance, Fawn ahead of the rest of us. We followed her to the escalator and she led us to Pink.

Fox stopped short, glaring at his little sister. "You can go in there alone."

"Mom told you not to leave me alone," Fawn pointed out with her hands on her hips.

"You're fourteen, I think you can handle going into a store alone," he retorted.

I looked over to Ava who looked as if she wanted to go in the store as well. Knowing her, she wouldn't want to be alone with Fawn.

"Fine, but have fun explaining yourself to Mom if I get stolen," Fawn sassed.

"They'd bring you back, trust me," Fox told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

I sighed and spoke up, "We should just go in with them. I don't want to leave Ava alone."

Ava scoffed but she didn't protest. Fox shot me a glare while Fawn looked at him with a triumphant smirk and then the four of us made our way into the store.

Fox looked around the store with a disgusted look on his face as we followed Fawn to where she wanted to go. He wasn't doing a very good job at acting like he wasn't gay.

I shook my head at him and looked down at my sister. "Did you bring money?"

Ava nodded. "I took some from my stash."

"Your stash?" I asked with a quizzical look. "You know what, I don't even want to know."

We followed Fawn over to the leggings and sports bras where she rifled through piles of the clothes to look for what she wanted. Fox crossed his arms over his chest as he watched her, jutting his knee out as he placed most of his weight on his right leg and tapped his foot.

"Do you need anything, Ava?" I asked her.

She just shrugged. "I don't know. I usually do this with Mom. She knows what to get."

Fawn looked over to us, seeming to have heard what Ava said, before holding up two pairs of leggings for all of us to see.

"Which ones do you like Ava?" she asked, looking toward my little sister.

Ava thought about it for a moment before pointing to the black and white pair with see through mesh on the sides that Fawn held in her right hand.

"I like those, and they have pockets," Ava answered.

Fawn smiled at her. "Good choice, I like these too."

Ava gave her a slight close lipped smile as Fawn put the other leggings back, keeping the ones Ava picked in her hand.

"Come on," Fawn said to Ava, motioning for her to follow. "Let's go pick something out for you."

With that, the two girls sauntered through the store together, leaving Fox and me alone.

"Great, Fawn's gonna corrupt Ava," Fox spoke up as we watched the two girls look through a rack of sweatshirts.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him with a playful smile resting on my lips.

"I think they're both already pretty corrupt," I responded with a laugh.

"That's true," Fox agreed with a sigh.

The girls looked around the store for a little while longer and even ended up buying a few things. By the time they were done, the two of them were chatting together like they had been friends for years. Fawn led us to a sports store and immediately walked over to the Bruins shirts.

"Since when do you like hockey?" Fox asked her in a suspicious tone.

Fawn rolled her eyes as she looked through the rack of shirts.

"I've always liked hockey," she retorted.

"Yeah, but not enough to buy yourself a shirt," he pointed out with raised eyebrows.

I looked over to Ava for an explanation, but she just shrugged.

Fawn sighed and turned to her brother. "Eddie likes hockey."

"Who the hell is Eddie?"

Fawn just waved him off while Fox glanced at me with wide eyes. I couldn't help but laugh at him.

Fox put his hands on his hips and glared at his sister. "You're not buying clothes just to impress some guy."

Fawn sighed. "I don't like anything in here anyway."

With that, the four of us headed to the food court by Ava's request.

After we all got our food, we sat at a table near the window, Fox and I on one side while Fawn and Ava were across from us.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Fox started, his mouth full of food. "We're meeting up after Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow for Black Friday."

"I want to go!" Fawn exclaimed to which her brother just shot her a glare.

I didn't. She could take my spot.

"I think I'll pass," I told him.

Fox just shook his head. "You're not passing."

I sighed and nodded in agreement. It wasn't worth getting into an argument with Fox because I knew he would always find a way to force me.

And for some reason, I would always listen to him.

**