I wake up to the obnoxious shaking of my leg. "Valdez, wake the fuck up now!" Rhys shout whispers. I pick up one of my pillows and throw it at him. "Go away, I had a late night, fucker." I groan. He grabs the lower part of my stomach — which makes me flinch because I'm a ticklish piece of shit — and turns me over so I'm laying on my back.

I'm about to jab him the stomach when he speaks. "Your dad is downstairs." My body reacts immediately by freezing. Rhys' blue eyes are ready to pop out of his head. "Are you serious?" I ask, praying that it's some sick joke.

"Yes." His never serious face is looking pretty damn serious right now.

I sit up quickly and I feel like someone just banged my head against the door. I got wasted as fuck last night, we all did. I groan and rub my temples with two fingers. "Hurry!" Rhys says, before rushing out of the room.

I chug the water on my nightstand and get up from bed. My hairs a mess, so I fix it quickly before making my way downstairs.

I immediately catch sight of the old, grumpy-looking man standing in the living room with his arms crossed over his chest. Dad's not that old, he's got short, brown hair that hasn't gone gray. Maybe that's just because he colors it though. He's rocking a clean shaven face and he has on the only pieces of clothing you'll see if you look through his closet.

A suit.

His eyes wander around the house, which is surprisingly super clean, until my heavy footsteps catch his attention. His cold, icey glare fixates on me. His lips are in a straight line like always. Cgc, Rhys, and Xander sit uncomfortably on the couch.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him. This is the first time he's been to mine and the guy's place. He's not someone I necessarily like inviting over and he doesn't bother coming to see me either. "Heard the big news, didn't think about telling your old man?" I see the guys heads shoot up.

Did mom tell him? Since when do they talk again? I'm not surprised if they do though. Mom's stupid. "Ah, I knew you'd find out on your own." I shrug lightly. He lets out a husky chuckle, shifting his gaze towards the door momentarily. Yes, please leave.

"I found out from Jonathan Ritchie, actually. Says he's excited to potentially have you on the team next year." What? Fuck, of course. Being a former NFL player, dad still has connections and friends from the league. "I had to pretend I knew that my own son, got called up to play in the NFL next year. How shitty is that?" He doesn't raise his voice, but I could hear the obvious annoyance in his tone.

"It's not a for sure thing. I might finish off my senior year here." I know I probably should have not said this, but I don't care. I can see the are you dumb? look on his face. "And why would you do that?" Because I'm not like you? I want to stay.

Dad declared for the draft after three years of playing college football. He only played four years in the league before he suffered a career ending back injury. Now he miraculously tries to live through me.

"Because I've been wanting to since my first year here."

"Don't be stupid, Christian."

"I'm not."

"You'll regret it." He retorts. I was highly considering declaring for the draft after junior year but my dad wanting me to, makes me not want to anymore. If I do now, he'll think it's because of this conversation. If I'm going to declare for the draft, it's going to be because I want to.

I have never done anything for Matthew Valdez and I'm not going to start now.

"We have practice in thirty minutes, Valdez." Xander breaks my gaze from my fathers eyes. My roommates all stand up and walk to their rooms. "Well, I gotta go get ready." I finally say, wanting this conversation to be over with.

He takes a step back and glances at the house again before walking towards the door. "Call me when you realize you need me." He says before leaving.

+

Mom and Dad are fighting again and this time it's because of me. It's about me.

"I told you he's going to Campbell High, Ava!"

"He wants to go to Liberty, he told me himself!"

"I don't care what that boy wants. He's 14, he's going to do whatever the hell I tell him to do!"

"Matthew.."

"That's fucking final, if neither of you like it, well too bad. I run this fucking house."

That's it. I throw my phone across the bed and get up, heading downstairs. Both mom and dad shoot their heads towards the stairs when they hear the door to my room open. They probably assumed I was asleep and I was, until their screaming woke me up.

"Stop fighting." I say. My dad shoots an icey look my way. I start to think it's the only look he has. He's never happy. "Go upstairs, Christian." He says tersely. I look towards my mom who doesn't say a thing.

She was right. I did want to go to Liberty. Campbell had a great football program and dad went there when he was in high school, but all my friends were going to Liberty. Campbell's rival.

"I do want to go to Liberty." I say and my dad looks at me again. Confusion draws all over his face. "Don't be an idiot, Christian. You're going to Campbell and that's final." He turns back to mom and right before he can say something, I speak again.

"No, dad. I'm going to Liberty and that's final." I talk back to him— something I've never done before — and finally walk closer to where him and mom stand. When he turns to look at me, I can see mom shake her head at me. Her and I both know talking back to my father wasn't a good idea.

I instantly regret it when I feel his heavy hand slap me across the face. I wince, pressing my hand against my cheek like that'll ease the pain. "Stop it, Matthew!" Mom says, and dad pushes her to the ground. He bends his torso to look down at my mother. "Nobody talks back to me in my house!" He yells down at her.

I can see the horror in mom's face, but this is nothing new. My father has been the same piece of shit for two years straight. He doesn't hesitate to lay a hand on me or my mother.

"Fuck you." I breathe out, still holding my cheek that feels warmer by the second. Mom's eyes widen and dad slowly stands up right and turns to look at me. I get ready for a fist to my jaw, but I don't get one.

Laughter breaks free from his throat. I slowly open my eyes that were shut before. My mom is still on the floor, looking at my father with the same confusion. He starts catching his breath. "What did you say, boy? Say it again." He challenges. He cracks his knuckles on both hands while looking at me.

I swallow the lump in my throat. I know I should keep my mouth shut, but it's not like he didn't hear me already. Even if I stay quiet, he's still going to do something about it.

"Fuck. You." And then there was nothing but darkness.

When I finally regain consciousness, I'm laying in bed and mom is hovering over me. She holds a warm, damp cloth to my lip that feels like it has its own heartbeat. My vision clears and I see my moms red cheek. I don't know if it's from dad or from how much she's been crying.

"Christian." She says softly as she notices my eyes open. "Where is he?" I sit up and lean my body back against the headboard. "He's gone, baby. He went out." She assures me, tears soaking her t-shirt. I hate seeing her cry.

"Is he coming back?" I mutter. She looks down and shakes her head. "You know he is."

I feel my face heat up from anger. Mom and I have had multiple opportunities to leave all of this behind. We've been going through this for far too long, but she doesn't want to go. I have no idea what's holding her back. I can't just leave without her, so I have to suffer alongside her.

This is the first ever time I've stood up to him and even though it didn't go well, I wasn't going to stop. My father knew I didn't like him. He knew I hated him for the way he treated us, but I don't think he cared.

Matthew Valdez was a family man who had a picture perfect family. Wrong. He was a complete narcissist. He didn't deserve me or mom. He deserved nothing at this point. I prayed every day that something bad would happen to him as bad as that sounds.

I couldn't live like this anymore, I just couldn't.

I look over to the clock and it's past two in the morning already. It was one when I had gone downstairs. "Pass me my phone." I tell my mom who's now sitting at the end of my bed.

She picks it up and hands it to me. "Novalee texted you, asked if you were okay." Her voice is soft and I see the small smile on her face. I look at her for a moment, grabbing my phone and unlocking it.

Novalee: chris :/

r you ok?

will you b ok?

"She doesn't know right? About your father.." Mom didn't want this to get out. She promised me to never to say a word to anyone. She'd help me cover up the occasional bruises dad left on my body and face so no one would get suspicious. I promised her I wouldn't.

"No." I say.

I lie. Novalee knows everything.

A little backstory on Christian who doesn't have such a perfect life like everyone thinks! Please leave a vote, comment, follow, or anything !