The nurse cleaned Jace's cuts while I sat in the chair next to him. Nora kept blowing up my phone, apologizing for leaving my brother and I alone with Brody. I rolled eyes, not bothering to respond. I understood that she didn't want to get in trouble, but it was kinda shitty that she left her best friend in the hands of a person who was willing to go all psycho on us.

"Ok young man, when you get home, you need to ice your eye and re-apply ointment on your cuts after a couple hours," the nurse explained as she turned to look at me. "I'll write a pass for both of y'all, so you can take him home without getting in trouble."

"Thank you so much Mrs. Smith," I smiled.

She went over to her small desk hidden in the corner, grabbed a pen from the drawer, and started writing on the small piece of paper she got from a red folder. I watched as her frail fingers gripped the pen tightly, trying to steady her shaky hand as she wrote along the dotted lines.

Her hand reached out a few moments later, giving me time to take the small slip away from her weak grasp. I took the note, my sleeve slightly rising up in the process, revealing the somewhat bloody bandage. I stiffened when I felt her gaze lingering on my arm.

I slowly looked up to see her gaze already focused back on me, pity swimming through her chocolate brown eyes. She looked at my arm again, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as if she was trying to figure out my whole life story, right then and there.

She looked at me again, slightly tilting her head as if she's expecting me to give her answers. She opened up her mouth to say something, but I pleaded with my eyes, trying to tell her to let it go. Thankfully she understood as she hesitantly nodded with a small frown sketched onto her face.

I sometimes came to the nurses office when the wounds my mother gave me were too difficult for Jace and I to clean up. Mrs. Smith is a very kind, older lady and she has always helped me with everything. She never questioned when I came in with a new injury everyday, but I could always see the uncertainty and sadness that flashed through her eyes.

She continuously asked me how I kept getting hurt, but I always made something up, never giving her the full answer. She's said multiple times that if I ever needed a shoulder to cry on, she'd be right there for me. She knew I wouldn't tell her the full story, because I couldn't take the risk of her reporting my mom and the possibility of my siblings and I getting separated in foster care.

"J-Just make sure he gets some rest, he needs to give his body some time to heal, okay?" She sighed, softly running a shaky hand over her face. I hesitantly nodded, giving her a sad smile as I slowly started walking over to Jace.

I put my arm around his waist as his body slightly leaned onto me for support. We walked towards the principles office, giving him the pass as we tried explaining the situation that happened in the halls. He looked through the security footage, frequently running his hand through his hair in frustration. He apologized for the inconvenience and mentioned that Brody will be suspended for a week, with detention after school for a month when he got back.

We walked out of the principal's office and headed towards the front of the school. While walking out of the building, I heard Jace grunt and mumble a few curse words under his breath causing me to frown. I hated seeing him be in this much pain.

We reached my car and I opened the passenger door for Jace, watching him slowly slid in.

The car ride home was silent, the only sound was the low volume music coming from my old car radio. I would occasionally ask him how he was feeling, but he always answered with 'I'm fine'.

We reached our house about ten minutes later, noticing how my mothers car was not parked in the driveway. I got out, slammed my door shut and walked over to the passenger side. Jace had his eyes closed as small snores escaped from his slightly ajar mouth. I tapped his shoulder, trying to wake him up as gently as I could. His eyelids fluttered open, slowly bringing his fingers to his eyes as he tried to rub the tiredness out of them.

I gave him time to stretch, then I helped him get out of the vehicle. He leaned on my body once again as a tired yawn escaped from his mouth. I locked my car door and we walked to the front of our house. I got my key from my back pocket, put it in the door, and twisted it until the door fully opened.

The house was completely silent, with Liv still at school and my mother probably at a bar downtown. I rolled my eyes just thinking about how many days she would be gone before she'd eventually think to come back home.

I told Jace to go upstairs and lay in bed, while I went to get him some ice for his jaw. Knowing he didn't have lunch, I also brought him some food. Since we didn't have much food, I had to give him some of the food I was going to eat, but that's okay. I needed him to make a full recovery, so if that means eating enough food, I didn't mind giving that up for him.

I saw him slowly walk upstairs as I headed towards the kitchen. I got some ice from the freezer, and put it in a plastic bag for a makeshift ice pack. I then grabbed him a bowl of soup with some crackers, and quickly headed towards his room.

I knocked on his door, entering after I hear a quiet 'come in'. He was laying in bed, under the covers, with a pillow behind his head, as he leaned against it for support.

I handed him the ice pack and put the soup on his nightstand table. "Put the ice on your jaw for 20 minutes, then take it off for another 20 minutes. It's important you don't keep the ice on your face the entire time," I explained as I watched him slowly place the ice pack on his bruised jaw.

"I'll be downstairs if you need anything, and don't hesitate to ask, okay?" I advised.

"I will, I promise," he yawned. "Thank you for taking care of me Dak."

I gave him a small smile. "Get some rest, Jace."

~•~•~

For the past couple of hours, I just stayed downstairs as I watched tv and picked up the empty beer bottles around the kitchen, trying to make the house look cleaner. I would occasionally check up on Jace, to see how he was feeling, and I would provide pain meds if needed. He fell asleep about an hour ago, so I let him rest, not wanting to bother him.

It was almost 2:45, so I drove over to Liv's school, and picked her up. I wrote Jace a note telling him where I would be and put it on his nightstand, not wanting to wake him up.

When I picked Olivia up, she told me all about her first day, and how many friends she made. I decided to bring her to my favorite ice cream place, celebrating her first day of kindergarten.

We had so much fun, just eating our ice cream as she talked about playing tag at recess. It was the happiest I've ever seen her and it made my day ten times better, just seeing her face light up as she mentioned her new best friend, Stacy. Seeing Liv's beautiful smile is what keeps me going. Just seeing her and Jace happy made me feel like I'm finally doing something right for once in my life.

We were at the ice cream shop until closed, laughing uncontrollably at the silly jokes Olivia would make. I would occasionally text Jace to see how he was doing, making sure he was alright staying home by himself in his injured state.

We eventually drove home, finally noticing how late it actually was. Liv fell asleep as soon as I buckled her up in her car seat as her small snores filled the air.

While driving, I thought about all the shit I needed to get done when we got home. At least I finally had a few hours of forgetting about mom, and not stressing about how I'm going to find enough money just to put food on the table. But sadly, It was now back to reality and I needed to find solutions for all of these problems, fast.

I gripped the steering wheel tight as one hand ran through my blonde locks. My head was pounding, just thinking about how I was going to be able to do this all alone. I sighed, looking at the rear view mirror as I saw Liv's chest move up and down peacefully, indicating she was still sound asleep.

I huffed, this was going to be a long night.

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